Two things.
Oh Crap! 1
My Internet download cap hit it's limit for this month. ARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!! This means my computer takes about 5 minutes to load the IGN home page. Also I can't watch Youtube videos unless the video is less than 2 minutes and even then it would take 5 minutes at least.
Oh Crap! 2
SMASH BROS BRAWL IS DELAYED AGAIN?! GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! Even though I don't live in the US the delay means that it will take even longer than the US for the release in Australia.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Memories
In memory of Spot Patch Prentice
April 2000-January 2008
He was always there for me. He could always make me smile.
This is the first death that has been close to me. Handled it much better than I thought I would but it's hard to know that I can't touch or hear him ever again.
Goodbye Spot.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
My personal list: Most Dissapointing Fight scenes Part 1
We watch media to watch love, comedy and dogs pulling helpless children out of inconveniently placed wells. But let's face it, the main attraction is seeing people beat the crap out of each other.
Welcome to the noble fight scene. The one of the most popular entertainment in media today, and has been popular ever since that one monkey pelted his feces at his fellow chimp millions of years ago. But what happens when something builds up to the fight but it falls short? Then you have the disappointment. After all that Momentum, the fight falls short and you, the viewer is left wondering "how the hell could it have turned into THAT?!" while the creators laugh and laugh and laugh.
This list will be broken up into several parts. In this first installment I will be looking at Western Animation. Remember, these are my own opinion.
THE TENNYSONS VS THE NEGATIVE TEN: BEN 10
Even though Ben 10 is now being whored to death by Cartoon Network and the main character raises the standard for cartoon idiots, it was a watchable show. Now some of the greatest fights in the show came at the season finales. The first and second season had proved this (the third, less so). Anyway let's get to the point. When I read about the concept for this episode I couldn't wait! This would truly be the perfect finale for the show: all the greatest villians together and having one giant climatic fight! It sounded flawless, like nothing could go wrong.
Sadly, I said the same thing about Spy Kids 3D (my reasoning,:It's Spy Kids and Video Games! I love them both! And in 3D! What could go wrong? Turns out, a lot).
The first thing I noticed was that the show saw it fit to bring in a Marty Stu for the show's Grand Finale, which is one of the worst things anyone could ever do for these types of episodes. Going on, I sat throughout the episode watching, waiting for the likes of Vilgax, Kevin and Victor's team to show up. When the episode ended I realized the horrible truth.
The "Negative Ten" consists of average recurring villians and one-off villians. There was none of the major villains in sight. Words could not describe how disgusted I was. So they get to the fight and it involves the villians maybe getting one or two dueling strikes but otherwise getting flicked away when they attempt an attack. Then we get to the final battle: Ben VS The Forever King. The FK absorbs the episode's MacGuffin and messes up Ben (who has turned into Upchuck: one of his lamest forms. His powers are swallowing things and spitting out energy.) for a bit, then Ben as Upchuck swallows the MacGuffin, big blast, fight's over. That's it. This is how Ben 10 ends.
Never have I seen a show that collapsed so miserably on it's finale. There may be a new series of Ben 10 coming soon, but for now, we are stuck with this: a shadow of what the final battle of Ben 10 should have been. Sad.
CYBORG VS BROTHER BLOOD: TEEN TITANS
Recently, I have seen tones of backlash against the Doctor Who Season 3 finale. It was that bit where the Doctor becomes god like and reduces the Master to a pathetic, scared, quivering wreck. I would have to agree. That whole scene may as well have been a stage in Elite Beat Agents.
(I have no idea how to use photoshop, nor could I find an EBA picture of just the bottom screen, but replace the top half of the second picture with the fist picture and you should get the idea)
Anyway, what I trying to say is that the next fight scene on my list is more or less the same thing. In the Teen Titans season 3 finale had Cyborg fighting his arch nemisis Brother Blood. Blood is now powerful enough to rip Cyborg's arms and legs off and has his entire team captured, Blood rips into Cyborg's CPU to try and find out how he was immune to his hypnosis and then..........same thing as Doctor Who. Cyborg becomes god-like and rips off Blood's arms before K.Oing him, later we find out that blood has been sent to jail.
Now the Deus Ex Machina was bad enough (they justify it as a one off thing), but sening him to a jail? Sending this Homicidle Darwinist to a jail where he could easily break out (however, Blood subverted the Cardbord Prison trope and never appeared again) is childish. Could they have just KILLED Blood? Have Cyborg blast him to oblivion with his god powers, maybe? I know this is a kids show but come on. I wanted this after the season 2 finale where the big bad fell into LAVA. Well anyway, that mistake and the Deus Ex Machina puts this on my list.
Only two? Trouble is, I can't think of any, I have a headache and I am tired. But if you have any examples, feel free to put them on.
NEXT TIME: Part 2: Anime
Welcome to the noble fight scene. The one of the most popular entertainment in media today, and has been popular ever since that one monkey pelted his feces at his fellow chimp millions of years ago. But what happens when something builds up to the fight but it falls short? Then you have the disappointment. After all that Momentum, the fight falls short and you, the viewer is left wondering "how the hell could it have turned into THAT?!" while the creators laugh and laugh and laugh.
This list will be broken up into several parts. In this first installment I will be looking at Western Animation. Remember, these are my own opinion.
THE TENNYSONS VS THE NEGATIVE TEN: BEN 10
Even though Ben 10 is now being whored to death by Cartoon Network and the main character raises the standard for cartoon idiots, it was a watchable show. Now some of the greatest fights in the show came at the season finales. The first and second season had proved this (the third, less so). Anyway let's get to the point. When I read about the concept for this episode I couldn't wait! This would truly be the perfect finale for the show: all the greatest villians together and having one giant climatic fight! It sounded flawless, like nothing could go wrong.
Sadly, I said the same thing about Spy Kids 3D (my reasoning,:It's Spy Kids and Video Games! I love them both! And in 3D! What could go wrong? Turns out, a lot).
The first thing I noticed was that the show saw it fit to bring in a Marty Stu for the show's Grand Finale, which is one of the worst things anyone could ever do for these types of episodes. Going on, I sat throughout the episode watching, waiting for the likes of Vilgax, Kevin and Victor's team to show up. When the episode ended I realized the horrible truth.
The "Negative Ten" consists of average recurring villians and one-off villians. There was none of the major villains in sight. Words could not describe how disgusted I was. So they get to the fight and it involves the villians maybe getting one or two dueling strikes but otherwise getting flicked away when they attempt an attack. Then we get to the final battle: Ben VS The Forever King. The FK absorbs the episode's MacGuffin and messes up Ben (who has turned into Upchuck: one of his lamest forms. His powers are swallowing things and spitting out energy.) for a bit, then Ben as Upchuck swallows the MacGuffin, big blast, fight's over. That's it. This is how Ben 10 ends.
Never have I seen a show that collapsed so miserably on it's finale. There may be a new series of Ben 10 coming soon, but for now, we are stuck with this: a shadow of what the final battle of Ben 10 should have been. Sad.
CYBORG VS BROTHER BLOOD: TEEN TITANS
Recently, I have seen tones of backlash against the Doctor Who Season 3 finale. It was that bit where the Doctor becomes god like and reduces the Master to a pathetic, scared, quivering wreck. I would have to agree. That whole scene may as well have been a stage in Elite Beat Agents.
(I have no idea how to use photoshop, nor could I find an EBA picture of just the bottom screen, but replace the top half of the second picture with the fist picture and you should get the idea)
Anyway, what I trying to say is that the next fight scene on my list is more or less the same thing. In the Teen Titans season 3 finale had Cyborg fighting his arch nemisis Brother Blood. Blood is now powerful enough to rip Cyborg's arms and legs off and has his entire team captured, Blood rips into Cyborg's CPU to try and find out how he was immune to his hypnosis and then..........same thing as Doctor Who. Cyborg becomes god-like and rips off Blood's arms before K.Oing him, later we find out that blood has been sent to jail.
Now the Deus Ex Machina was bad enough (they justify it as a one off thing), but sening him to a jail? Sending this Homicidle Darwinist to a jail where he could easily break out (however, Blood subverted the Cardbord Prison trope and never appeared again) is childish. Could they have just KILLED Blood? Have Cyborg blast him to oblivion with his god powers, maybe? I know this is a kids show but come on. I wanted this after the season 2 finale where the big bad fell into LAVA. Well anyway, that mistake and the Deus Ex Machina puts this on my list.
Only two? Trouble is, I can't think of any, I have a headache and I am tired. But if you have any examples, feel free to put them on.
NEXT TIME: Part 2: Anime
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
The Fallen Defender
First off, I have to say that the Smash Bros Brawl update drought is OVER. The fun stages from Melee returning, A new Multi Man team that looks amazing and CAPTAIN OLIMAR AS A NEW CHARACTER. AWESOME!
But now for the main story.
I had heard about it, I had seen the damage, I knew about how the defenses could fail, but I never thought I would be visited by the curse of the Amazing Flying Wiimote.
I was wrong.
Well, not me anyway. See today my friend came over and his brother was here for a bit. I went upstairs to show my pal the Yahtzee "Zero Punctuation" Review videos (Which are brilliant, so go see them now), when my dad came and said to me that the hand strap on one of the Wiimotes had severed. See, my pal's brother and my brother were playing Wii Sports bowling when one of the Wiimotes slipped out of the grip and then the strap severed and the Wiimote hit the ceiling.
You know after hearing about this for so long it's a bit of a shock for it to happen to me. Oh well, time to order a new one from Nintendo....
I had heard about it, I had seen the damage, I knew about how the defenses could fail, but I never thought I would be visited by the curse of the Amazing Flying Wiimote.
I was wrong.
Well, not me anyway. See today my friend came over and his brother was here for a bit. I went upstairs to show my pal the Yahtzee "Zero Punctuation" Review videos (Which are brilliant, so go see them now), when my dad came and said to me that the hand strap on one of the Wiimotes had severed. See, my pal's brother and my brother were playing Wii Sports bowling when one of the Wiimotes slipped out of the grip and then the strap severed and the Wiimote hit the ceiling.
You know after hearing about this for so long it's a bit of a shock for it to happen to me. Oh well, time to order a new one from Nintendo....
Monday, January 7, 2008
Dojo Countdown
It is only 2 1/4 hours until the website to my most anticipated game EVER re-launches for 2008. This is the site for Super Smash Bros Brawl, the game that has gotten me more excited about it than any other game EVER. Maybe it's the fact that Snake and Sonic are playable. Maybe it's because Adventure mode has a story now and looks better designed than the one in Melee. Maybe because it's online now. Maybe because you can build your own stages. Or maybe it's all down to the fact that it puts all sorts of awesome factors together and unites them in one amazing package.
Let's just hope we get a bombshell this time instead of another bloody Pokemon. My bet's on Ballon Fighter becoming a character or another 3rd party one instead.
Let's just hope we get a bombshell this time instead of another bloody Pokemon. My bet's on Ballon Fighter becoming a character or another 3rd party one instead.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Fantasy stories: Dead in this age?
Face it. You know about fantasy stories. Dragons, Wizards, heroes with magic swords and all the rest. We all know about them. But there may be a problem after so long.
See after so many books, TV shows, Video Games and Movies, fantasy setting are beginning to become generic. Boy or girl with implausibly ridiculous name has to go on a quest to kill some nasty evil that may or may not be related to him (if he is related to the hero then it will be revealed after an ill-fated fight between the hero and evil dude or their last battle.) because he has some kind of unnatural power(he or she will also strip away any common sense avalible to normal humans, becoming Genre Blind and show such amazing displays of intelligence such as standing around and doing nothing while bad guy gets away with magic thing of doom/salvation). Along the way he will meet some people that will help him such as and old man, a tough guy (who will undoubtedly be the first one charge a certain tough minion of the evil dude and get tossed aside in the blink of an eye), a hot chick (or a dashing hero if hero is a girl) who team up and encounter magic people, dragons and blah blah blah blah BLAH.
Now tell me. How many fantasy stories have you seen with this kind of stuff happen, let it be Games, Movies, Shows ect? I would say A WHOLE FRIGGIN' LOT. And that is the problem. There have been so many fantasy based media that it has become nigh impossible to make ANYTHING that has the same fantasy themes and not be called generic, cliched or derivative.
To show how I felt let me tell you a story. Last year I had to do an assignment for my English assignment and this assignment involved making your own fantasy-themed movie and doing a speech about it. Now I was in panic, for I was horrified at the idea of having to write up a generic fantasy story (and you could not put any elements that had to do with sci-fi, which saddened me) and then having to do a speech about something I would find generic sunk me to depression(For the record: In the speach you were meant to pretend you were suggesting your ideas to a film company). I was anguished for weeks, I couldn't think of anything that I wouldn't find generic and so I repeatedly missed the deadline and lost marks until I got lucky and came up with an idea that I did not find cliched. The story I made wound up being the mutant love child of Doctor Who and Bioshock with a few Lord of the Rings elements thrown in, not to mentioned being set in 1928. (And trust me. If I had my way it would have had aliens in it as well)
That brings up a point, is the only thing left for fantasy is for the media to think outside the box? To slowly put modern elements and sci-fi in them till they make full sci-fi fantasy movies? But there is one thing I know. Making a traditional fantasy story these days is rough ground indeed.
So what do you think? Are traditional fantasy stories dead? Or is there still hope?
Please comment.
See after so many books, TV shows, Video Games and Movies, fantasy setting are beginning to become generic. Boy or girl with implausibly ridiculous name has to go on a quest to kill some nasty evil that may or may not be related to him (if he is related to the hero then it will be revealed after an ill-fated fight between the hero and evil dude or their last battle.) because he has some kind of unnatural power(he or she will also strip away any common sense avalible to normal humans, becoming Genre Blind and show such amazing displays of intelligence such as standing around and doing nothing while bad guy gets away with magic thing of doom/salvation). Along the way he will meet some people that will help him such as and old man, a tough guy (who will undoubtedly be the first one charge a certain tough minion of the evil dude and get tossed aside in the blink of an eye), a hot chick (or a dashing hero if hero is a girl) who team up and encounter magic people, dragons and blah blah blah blah BLAH.
Now tell me. How many fantasy stories have you seen with this kind of stuff happen, let it be Games, Movies, Shows ect? I would say A WHOLE FRIGGIN' LOT. And that is the problem. There have been so many fantasy based media that it has become nigh impossible to make ANYTHING that has the same fantasy themes and not be called generic, cliched or derivative.
To show how I felt let me tell you a story. Last year I had to do an assignment for my English assignment and this assignment involved making your own fantasy-themed movie and doing a speech about it. Now I was in panic, for I was horrified at the idea of having to write up a generic fantasy story (and you could not put any elements that had to do with sci-fi, which saddened me) and then having to do a speech about something I would find generic sunk me to depression(For the record: In the speach you were meant to pretend you were suggesting your ideas to a film company). I was anguished for weeks, I couldn't think of anything that I wouldn't find generic and so I repeatedly missed the deadline and lost marks until I got lucky and came up with an idea that I did not find cliched. The story I made wound up being the mutant love child of Doctor Who and Bioshock with a few Lord of the Rings elements thrown in, not to mentioned being set in 1928. (And trust me. If I had my way it would have had aliens in it as well)
That brings up a point, is the only thing left for fantasy is for the media to think outside the box? To slowly put modern elements and sci-fi in them till they make full sci-fi fantasy movies? But there is one thing I know. Making a traditional fantasy story these days is rough ground indeed.
So what do you think? Are traditional fantasy stories dead? Or is there still hope?
Please comment.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
My new year's resolution
Make a blog.
This is my first blog here. I was planning this for a while now and kept putting this off for a while. But I came around to doing this.
Welcome to my blog.
I am:
* A person who lives in Australia.
* A TV, Internet and Movie fanatic.
* A Nintendo fan.
* A book reader.
* And much much more....
This is my first blog here. I was planning this for a while now and kept putting this off for a while. But I came around to doing this.
Welcome to my blog.
I am:
* A person who lives in Australia.
* A TV, Internet and Movie fanatic.
* A Nintendo fan.
* A book reader.
* And much much more....
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