Drew Carey, Heroes, Across the Universe

I should start writing these more often so I don't have as much to write about at one time.

So I'm watching Drew Carey on The Price is Right. First, how weird is it to see anyone else on that show? Just doesn't seem right. Drew doesn't seem to be taking it very seriously either. He just spent an entire contest laughing at the contestant. He could barely describe what was going on because he was laughing so hard. Even when he's not laughing he almost seems like he's phoning it in. On the other hand, he's probably mad that they didn't let him bring in all his Playboy playmate friends to be Drew's Beauties or whatever he'd call them. Or maybe they did. All those fake model types kinda look the same to me anyway.

So I'm really late on this whole Heroes phenomenon thing, but I just watched the show for the first time a few weeks ago. Just after I finished the first season on DVD, I started watching the new season on TV. It hasn't been going well. I have to say I'm surprised at the reaction that's getting. Everyone is acting amazed that this season is starting out so weak, but frankly the show ended really weakly last season. Seems like the writers gave up 3/4 of the way through the season and still don't care. Maybe they fired the good writers, or they quit, or something, but I was really disappointed by the ending of the show. It's been said before, but what kind of fight was that with Sylar at the end? It was crappy, that's what kind. And why in the world did Nathan need to fly Peter, when Peter could fly himself? I know, I've heard all the excuses about Peter not being able to control himself at that point, but I just don't buy it. The worst thing of all, though, was they made this big deal about all of them getting together in that place at just that time. It made it sound like they were all going to need to use their power together to stop Sylar or stop the blast, or something. Instead most of them just stood there and watched. It was pointless. All that lead up just to drop the ball at the 1 yard line.
Oh, and the biggest thing that bugged me about the show was the Haitian. He did a lot of bad things and didn't seem to have a problem with his orders, but then suddenly he did. Not only that, but suddenly he could talk? I have to admit, I missed the first few episodes of the show, so maybe I missed something in there, but his character seemed to have no motivation for his actions. And he wasn't the only one. Oh, and in the future episode they made a huge mistake. They said Sylar was able to regenerate because he'd taken Claire's powers, but then later they showed that he hadn't taken her powers, so how did Sylar regenerate after being stabbed. It looks like the only difference between what happened in the past and future was that Nathan flew Peter at the end instead of letting him blow up the city. So what was the point of the future episode? It should have given them some insight into how to stop things, but it really didn't, since it only took Hiro calling Nathan a bad guy to get Nathan to fly his brother away. Hiro didn't need to go into the future for that. It was dumb.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the show, for the most part, but there were definitely huge holes that needed to be filled. It doesn't make me really want to invest time into this season. I haven't watched all the episodes and I don't think I will.


I watched this movie the other night called Across the Universe. It was a pretty good movie. Well, it was a pretty good art piece, it was actually a pretty bad movie. They made a movie using Beatles and other era songs set in the 60's. It was a love movie, but there was a definite political overtone to it. Problem is, they couldn't seem to decide which way to go with it. Definitely anti-military, seemingly anti-establishment, but also anti-protester? It was confused. That and the dialog was not the best. Didn't always feel natural. Seemed like all the speaking parts were there just to get to the next song.
When it comes to the songs though, it's a completely different story. They did an excellent job with the singing. The actors and actresses were good singers and decent actors. The main character has some serious talent and hopefully this movie will get him some bigger roles in the future. The lead female was pretty good too, but I hear she's dating Marilyn Manson and that's not saying a lot for her personality in real life.
The movie is worth watching if you like artsy type movies. I'd say if you liked Moulin Rouge you'd probably like this movie. It's a little trippier and more political, but the music is just as good if not better. I would say the story in Moulin Rouge was better, though.

I don't know what to title this post...

I'm starting to realize that we eat really good food in America. At least, all my friends and I do. I mean, even our food that comes from a can or frozen in a tray is pretty decent quality food these days. Sure, I can make better, most of the time, but it doesn't take a lot of effort in America to get good tasting food. I think it's ruining my dining experience.
I went to a restaurant tonight and just didn't enjoy the food. Not enough for the price I paid anyway. It was alright, but not any better than something I could pop in the microwave. I had a ravioli type dish that was supposed to be filled with filet mignon, but I couldn't tell the filling from Chef Boyardee. I also ordered some saffron rissoto. I didn't eat more than a couple bites. It was the least creamy risoto I've ever had. Plus there was a ton of saffron in it. Saffron's not really supposed to be the main flavor, just a light flavoring plus some color. This stuff just wasn't good. Luckily for desert I got a lemon tart that was amazing. Light and fluffy with just a hint of lemon. Not too sweet but not sour.
Anyway, the point is, if I'm going to spend a lot of money of food, I want it to be better than the food I can have at home without doing any cooking of my own. I'm a pretty decent cook, so I'm not expecting it to be much better than what I can do, but you go out so you don't have to cook. Tonight I was disappointed and lately I've been feeling that more and more when I go to dinner. I've been so spoiled by good food I can't even enjoy paying too much for good food.

I'm getting tired. It's too late. I need sleep. Not making sense I'm thinking.

If you haven't read Harry Potter 7 and you actually care what happens, skip this post...

So I finished the book Sunday. Took a few days to sink in, I think. So, what did I think about the book? Well, it wasn't bad. I'm not a fan of the ending. Seemed a bit of a cop out. What happened to Luna, for instance? And with all the death eaters in charge of the ministry, surely it wasn't just an instant change. There's got to be a lot of things happening there. Then there's the entire career of Harry as an auror. Jumping ahead 19 years was nice, but without a single bit of information on what happened between Voldemort's death and then, it just isn't a satisfying ending. There's a reason for this.
If anyone has studied storytelling they will know about The Hero's Journey. There is a series of events that a typical story goes through. It's not something that anyone enforces, it's just something that fits in with what we have come to expect from stories. If a story doesn't fit in with this pattern, then it doesn't seem like a full story to us. This is a confirmed fact. Unfortunately Harry Potter 7 does not follow this pattern completely. Now, I admit that almost no story actually follows the Hero's Journey completely, and the stories that do usually seem cliched and predictable, there were important things left out of the end of HP7.
We don't get to see the return to the real world at all. Voldemort is dead and then it's 19 years later. There is no final scene with Ginny before they're married and have 3 kids. There was no final reconciliation with the Dursley's. You might say the scene with them at the beginning of the book did that, but they were sent into hiding with wizards, then they were never mentioned again. You can't make a big deal about something in a story and then just leave it to assumption and the reader's imagination. The Dursley's needed a Return of their own. It just wasn't enough. Also, what about Harry, Ron, and Hermione's last year at Hogwart's? Technically they're not finished with school yet. So are they going to have to go back or do they get a pass? And if they do, what about the tests that told whether or not they'd be able to do the jobs they want. J.K. Rowling, do you hear me?! We need more than this! This story is not finished!

So, on that note, I have a proposal. A TV show, based on what happened after Voldemort's death. Start with them after school. Maybe start with some sort of graduation or something. Then jump ahead a bit to Harry and Ron being Aurors. Then you have the setup for an action crime drama type show with magic. How cool would that be? And you know who would do a great job of it? The same people that are doing the Dr. Who show now. That show is so great. It's got that British charm and humor that would fit into Harry Potter's world very well. They're also willing to go absolutely random with the sci-fi aspect, imagine what they could come up with when they have wizards under their control. It'd be great. Plus it's not Hollywood, so they can do things Hollywood would never do, like come up with truly original story lines and actually kill off major characters. Or at the least take them out of the show. The Harry Potter world is dangerous and needs to continue in that vein. Many people have died, why suddenly make everyone invulnerable? If Hollywood get ahold of this show it would end up like another Smallville. An interesting idea that ends up just another teen romance drama.

Not that anyone's ever going to listen to me, but if suddenly they announce this in a couple years, you heard it here first.

It was my fault, Transformers are awesome, I can't wait for Cloverfield, and the flu sucks...

So, really, the Braves have suddenly picked back up this last couple weeks. Guess what? I solved my money problems and haven't been depressed about it. So suddenly they're playing better. It really is my fault! Guess I'd better keep myself happy.

Transformers was freaking awesome. Wait, not was, is. It is freaking awesome! I've seen it twice and I plan to see it at least one more time in the theatre and I will own it when it comes out on DVD. Have you seen it? If not, watch it. I never liked Michael Bay movies all that much before, although The Island was decent, but this movie is a masterpiece. OK, it has a couple plot holes. Some elements of the story are just kinda ignored. And the ending is a little weak. But it doesn't matter. It's no weaker than the old TV show was, and in many ways the story is much better done, and I still loved the old TV shows. Of course, it all comes down to graphics. If they hadn't made the robots look so good, it would have been an awful movie. Seriously terrible. But there isn't a moment in this movie where the robots aren't believable.
One of my biggest worries was that the robots would be just robots. Not really autonomous characters on their own, but just big machines that in the end just did what the humans told them. Instead they are full characters. Not quite the main characters in the movie. The hero is still the kid. But that's ok, because we got to see Optimus shove a sword through Bonecrusher's head. Just freaking awesome.

Ok, so the movie was great and I don't want to knock it at all, but after raving about the movie all the way home from the theatre, I immediately got online to try to find out more about another movie. The preview shot with a home camera. Starts with the kids throwing a going away party, then suddenly they hear a noise and feel a rumble. They go outside in time to see a huge explosion in downtown NYC and hear the noise again, now distinguishable as a roar. At the end you see the Statue of Liberty's head go flying through the air and then a date and producer, but no name. How cool was that? Well I looked and I looked and barely found anything other than the fact that no one really knows anything. It's a monster movie that is, apparantly, shot all with handcams. So you see the whole thing from the point of view of the people running from the monster. Pretty darn cool. Produced by JJ Abrams. Good producer. You can check out the wiki at :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloverfield, but there's not a lot on there.
They're running an ARG. I'm a sucker for ARG's. If you don't know what ARG means it's Alternate Reality Game. Or something like that. Basically it's a game that pretends it's not a game. Look up I Love Bees if you want to find out about them. That was a really well done one for Halo2. It's kind of like advertising for nerds. We really get into it for some reason. So far the ARG for Cloverfield is kinda leading some people to think the movie might be about Cthulhu. Could be interesting.

I have the flu. It sucks. Had it all weekend. So that means I've been sitting in my house all weekend. I did go out friday night, but probably shouldn't have. Hope I didn't infect the whole movie theatre. Although that would be mildly amusing, in a terrible kind of way. "Tonight at 7, an entire movie theatre packed with people all become infected with flesh eating virus." Man, I hope it's not a flesh eating virus. That'd really suck. I have to stop writing before I get too random.

I think it's my fault the Braves are losing...

No seriously, everytime I get depressed they start losing. Then I get more depressed because my team is losing. It's a never ending spiral. This year I'm having money problems, so all you Braves fans out there, if you want them to break out of this slump send me money. Leave me a message and I'll give you my paypal info and you can send it through there. I make no guarantee of any kind that this will actually work and no refunds will be possible.

So it's been a while. Been a rough quarter in college. Too much homework. Too lonely. Too little money. Too many toos. Everytime I get down I go to this certain website and it makes me smile. Tonight what made me smile on that site is a picture of a cat in a blender. No no, I'm not that disturbed. See:

Come on, tell me that didn't make you smile? I don't have a ton to say today. Oh, I can link to all the games I made this quarter. Before you laugh, I've never done flash and these were all done in 2-5 days each. These are listed in order of when I made them. You will quickly find that I am far from a good artist and yes I know the Simon game doesn't work well.

http://www.geocities.com/ilmbcvh4evr/AsteroidRescue.html
http://www.geocities.com/ilmbcvh4evr/TreasureHunt.html
http://www.geocities.com/ilmbcvh4evr/simongame.html
http://www.geocities.com/ilmbcvh4evr/Invasion.html

The GDC and Toilet Cover Tissue

I went to the GDC last week. For those not in the know, GDC stands for Game Developer's Conference. Ever since I got back I've been trying to decide what exactly to say about it. I still haven't decided, so I'm not going to say much today. What I will talk about is defining a little of what the GDC really is. Since I came back all anyone has asked me was about the new cool games coming out. Well, let's get this out of the way: The GDC is not about games. The GDC is about making games. There were hardly any game demos on the floor, and most of those were only to show off an engine, or an animation program, or new hardware, or something like that. A lot of those weren't even available to play, just to see. I did get to play a few games, and I will get to those eventually. It's probably going to take a few posts to really get out all I want to say about the conference. It was amazing. A very eye opening experience for me. One of those times when you learn how much there really is left to learn. I felt completely out of my league, but the really cool thing was at almost no point did I feel like no one cared what my level was. They all wanted everyone to be able to learn and adapt new technologies. The game development community truly is an awesome group of people. They love what they do and they want to help others do it and love it along with them.


Ok, one other thing I wanted to talk about today, and the real reason I'm writing this at work when I probably shouldn't be, is the tissue that you get to cover toilets in public bathrooms. Who actually thinks this stuff does the slightest bit of good? It's thinner than regular toilet paper. If there's even the slightest bit of moisture on the seat when you put it down it absorbs it instantly and the slightest touch to that spot will tear the whole thing. Whether it gets wet or not doesn't even matter, though, because as soon as you sit down the stuff just bunches up and stops actually covering the toilet seat. Then if you move the stuff tears so easily that now you're just sitting on a regular toilet seat with a bunch of thin tissue paper stuck to your butt. And stuck is definately the right word. Every time you stand up what happens? the whole thing comes up with you. Hope everyone else tears out the little middle section, cause if you leave it hanging you've now got a portion of tissue hanging from your butt that was just sitting in the toilet you just deficated in. Since it's so weak from being wet the gravity is enough to break it off from the rest so that it can plop down on the seat or on your shoes or at best in the water, where it lands with a splash which covers your legs in foul water. So, the whole point of trying to protect yourself from the horrors of the toilet seat with this hair thin piece of paper is pretty much nullified by the fact that you used it.
Yet every time I feel the urge at work it doesn't matter how bad I have to go, I can't sit down without that thin layer of paper acting like a child's safety blanket protecting me from the evils on a dirty toilet seat.

NSMB Extra, Cadbury Eggs, and the Game Developer's Conference

I was wrong, there are extra features in the game once you beat it! You can go back to the first world and there is a new mushroom house. In it you can spend a ton of the stars you collect in the game to purchase different backgrounds for the information screens. Isn't that exciting?

I know, you're wondering what happened to the Cadbury Eggs. Talk about exciting, I'm sure people out there must be salivating, literally, as they eagerly await this very special review. It's coming, I promise, and in an all new format for this blog.
Unfortunately it may take longer than I anticipated. Life has been busy and I was sick this last week. I have mostly recovered, but now I'm catching up with work and Wednesday I will be off to the Game Developer's Conference. There I hope to be able to update with pictures and maybe an interview or two. I bought a laptop for school coming up, but I am hoping they deliver it in time for me to use while I'm in San Francisco. Then I'd be like a real journalist or something. My goal is to have a conversation with Peter Molyneux, one of my personal heroes in the gaming industry. He's having a big lecture thingie. Or is that thingy? Spell check says thingy, but I like thingie better.

So, if I get my laptop in my next update will be on Wednesday or Thursday. If not probably Sunday or Monday. Wish me luck on getting something worth blogging.