Shoot me now

I think it's fair to say at this point that yes, I can blog. I know how, but I don't have the patience or desire for it. I have read some hilarious and interesting blogs in the past however. My favorite is Hyperbole and a Half. Check it out here for some good laughs Hyperbole and a Half.

Storytelling in video games

     I don't play video games very often. When I do it's usually just for an hour or 2 a few times a week. So when I get hooked on a game it's usually because it has a very engaging story. I almost don't like these kind of games because I get so hooked I spend hours at a time playing. The most recent 2 I can think of are Mass Effect 3 and Fallout 3. I beat Fallout New Vegas about a year ago I think, it had a decent story, I loved the world they created. The characters were fairly engaging and the amount of subplots was fun. The idea that depending on what I said and who I attacked would change the game across the whole game world was amazing. The world was huge, you could walk and walk and not know where the end was. There were good and bad that came with that. It took forever. Not because I was bad at the game, I was and died a lot, but you have to walk to places before you can fast travel there. That takes a long time. That may be my only complaint. The story didn't have me enthralled, it kept me playing but it was nothing I'd recommend or tell people about. It was a fun time with an interesting world that had tons of quests and characters.

Fallout 3 has an extremely similar layout, however instead of taking place in the desert, it mostly takes place in the subways of DC. I prefer the openness of New Vegas, the close quarters of Fallout 3 make me a little claustrophobic.

     The game I really want to mention here is Mass Effect. I bought the game for 5 bucks on steam because, hey, it's 5 bucks. I had heard the game was good years ago and decided I may as well try it out. I bought Mass Effect 2 at the same time because it was also $5 and I figured I may as well not pass up on the limited time deal. Mass effect had a slow start. I don't like spending a lot of time in an inventory menu, which is something that bugs me a lot about Fallout, so this game was hard for me to get into. The story was intriguing enough to keep me playing. I started out as a low ranking soldier. I commanded a small squad. That was all. They introduced soon after you begin playing a rank in the universe known as Spectres. These guys are basically above the law and trusted to do the right thing. There are several alien races which all use the mass effect relays to travel between solar systems. There is a race or rogue AI robots that has been causing trouble on the border planets, so you go check it out. You see a spectre betrayed by a fellow spectre, but the alien leaders refuse to do anything about it. You find out about something called a reaper and begin investigating. Long story short, you're eventually promoted to Spectre status. During the game, you get dialogue options, you can choose the good or 'paragon' option which is considered the generally peaceful or correct way or a 'renegade' option which is the tough guy rebellious choice. The game keeps track and if you are consistent it occasionally gives you addition options in dialogue that you wouldn't get if you were inconsistent with your choices. It had a great story, and at the end forces you to choose between 2 teammates that you can save. You cannot save both, and whichever one you choose will be alive in the next game. Never have I seen that in a game. It was incredible. The choices I made the first game actually carried into the next. I finished the second game which was by far the best game story I have ever played and the best ever made. After finishing it I was so happy to hear a 3rd and final addition was being made. For the first time ever I actually pre-ordered a game. Like I said, I don't play that many games and I sure don't get so into them that I pre-order them, so this was a big deal. I beat the 3rd game in 2 days, which meant I played it for way too long in a short amount of time. However it was cool to be able to beat it so quickly because I could remember every part of the story thus far. I finally came to the end. The battle for earth, I couldn't believe that a game was causing me to feel emotion for fictional characters even more than I have in any movie. The way they created this world and its characters was top notch, it was playing Mass Effect 2 and 3 that I realized that video games have the potential to be a far stronger medium for storytelling than movies because they aren't passive but interactive. I won't go on my rant about the ending of the series. With so many variables they must have tried to funnel it down into 1 option for all and that really pissed off a lot of people. So much so that EA was actually voted worst company in America, even over Bank of America. Back to my point, I actually considered changing my focus in digital media because of the franchise. I would still love get involved in storytelling through gaming. Maybe one day.

Music Videos

I find music videos very interesting. At the very same time I am completely baffled by them. What I mean by that is the bands I would expect to have creative stories told through their video tend to have really crappy incoherent videos. The bands I'd expect to have generic crappy videos actually have surprisingly good ones. I'll give a few examples of each.

#1 Good video
Stick with me here, I know there are a lot of Nickelback haters out there. I have become one myself recently since I found out he's dating Avril Lavigne who I consider to be the worst person in music. I got to give it to them on music videos, the guys they hire to make them know how to tell a story in about 3 minutes and pretty darn well.

I know right?! Pretty awesome storytelling for a short video by a mainstream band. It has a 6th-sensy charm to it.

#1 Bad
Now I love Breaking Benjamin, which is why it hurts me to write this video into the mix. There was a lot of story potential here.

 

Glad you wasted 4 minutes of your life to see what you already knew you were going to see in the first 30 seconds? The video is visually great, however it's just them walking in a swamp for 4 minutes and then a guy drowns in the last 2 seconds. No surprise, no story.

#2 Good
This video may not be an incredible story, but there is a fun story here with a beginning, middle and end. My standards for dubstep videos is very, very low. So when I see a video that is not only visually fantastic, engaging but also has a good story, I have to give it credit.

What happens when a pedophile follows a little girl into a basement? Awesome happens apparently. This video really gets your emotions going. Our society hates a lot of people, but I don't know that anyone gets more hate than pedophiles. People are disgusted with them, so when we see the opening shot we are immediately worried for the little girl and want to do something to stop him. As she enters the basement we see that this doesn't seem like a place she would be purposefully going to, and then we get the magic demon throwing him around before he's finally, and satisfyingly killed. We think to ourselves good, he deserved it. Few music videos can play with your emotions this much.

#2 Bad
For the sake of time and my sanity this will have to be the last one. Three Days Grace doesn't write the most intriguing songs however this is just, just watch.

They didn't even try, this has not story whatsoever. It's just guys standing in front of a green screen and then paint later. Zero to do with the song.

I have worked on music videos before, never on the story aspect but they have all had to do with the song. I don't get why some of these videos even get made.

3D

     I just want to take a minute here and vent about 3D. I generally hate 3D, it rarely adds to story and is a crappy gimmick to get people to say ooh and ahh as piece of something flies towards them via the screen. That being said if I don't have to pay for it, I find it much more enjoyable. I spend the last 30 minutes watching some 3D video reels on youtube on my Evo 3D phone and they look really cool. That being said, its just a compilation of ooh and ahh moments. I cringed a little inside when a baseball was coming towards the screen and sped up towards me but at no point was it related to any kind of story. I could see 3D adding a lot to stress of an audience if a main character is running from something or dodging things. I would be interested to see how it worked with 'My Bloody Valentine 3D'. I never saw it but it'd be interesting to see if it made it more frightening. Horror movies rarely have a story worth caring about however so I don't see the push for this generally unwanted tech. I realize that adding 3D increases profits by a lot, but how many of those people would have rather seen it in 2D and couldn't because the theaters only have a few freaking 2D showings and its more convenient generally to just see it in 3D. I had to go out of my way to see the Avengers in 2D as well as many other movies. The real issue here is that for me, after about 30 minutes I start getting headache. My eyes will generally start watering a few times during the showing and it's just not nearly as enjoyable. Perhaps it's because I don't have perfect vision. I still see well enough to read, drive and live day to day with no noticeable blur, however my left eye is farsighted. Maybe I'm just not getting the experience how the inventors intended. I hate wearing glasses. The benefit for me doesn't justify the stress. Many people who wear glasses or contacts may be shaking their heads and calling me lazy right now and I totally understand. The thing is though that my vision is really that close to being good. It's almost like I'd be wearing glasses to make a fashion statement because they don't do much. If I feel like my eyes are getting tired I may wear them to read but other than that I function as if I had perfect vision. Now that we're past that tangent, I really wonder if people would feel better about 3D if it didn't cost extra at the theater. I wonder if some people would still opt for 2D. Just an interesting thing to think about.

 Video I took with my Evo 3D

Cell phones suck

     So I decided to get a new cell phone. I'm not entirely sure why I decided right now is the time. I saw some deals, realized I could upgrade for about 100 bucks and was getting bored with mine. I use Virgin Mobile. I get a lot of crap from people since it's not a main national company like AT&T or Verizon. I couldn't pass up the deal however. I have used other pay as you go, no contract services for the past 4 years. I started out paying $60 for crickets unlimited. I switched a year later switched to boost mobile because they had better phones and a slightly cheaper price at $55. About 2 years ago my brother started with Virgin Mobile. He told me about a special deal for $25 bucks a month, 300 minutes, unlimited date and text. I was concerned about the coverage at that price, it seemed too good to be true. However I quickly found that it was the best move I'd ever made. I bought an LG Optimus V and ended up later rooting it and upgrading the android OS to gingerbread. It has done well until now. Technology has continued to move forward at a quick pace. I became annoyed with it's slow data, inability to use some newer apps, it was finally becoming annoyingly outdated. So I saw the HTC One V for $150 and made the jump. I was confused when it came from amazon and I couldn't activate it. I finally called Virgin Mobile customer service. She told me that the new phone was not compatible with the $25/month plan. I was not happy. But I finally obliged to pay $35 a month, which is what they have been charging for a year. I sold my old phone the same day for $55 which was nice. I was pretty happy with the One V, it had a bigger screen, faster processor and even newer OS. The trouble came when I charged it over night to find the next day it only showed 79% charge. I tried several things and was unable to get it fixed. I reset the phone which would kind of fix it, but the same problem would arise with the next charge. It showed that I had 16% power left, and then minutes later it just died. So I decided to return it and ordered the HTC EVO 3D 4G. It has been annoying so far. The phone is actually pretty cool, the 3D does work, it's not just a gimmick however it does have a very precise angle for it to work right. The 3D video works too. Not something I'll use a lot since as far as I know it only works with this phone. The phone is even faster than the One V, but it cost me another $80. With no contract services you are always buying the phone at its retail value because you are avoiding a contract. The front facing camera is HD which is great. I always think its funny when apple (who just introduced a front facing camera as a new thing) acts like old technology is the new cool thing. It's bugs me. Anyways the problems so far with this phone have been reception. It is SUPER spotty. So far I have lost signal quite a bit and the calls I have made are not clear. Hopefully I see some improvement soon. I love every feature so far. It is a big and fairly heavy phone but I really don't mind that. I guess we'll see how things turn out.

Movie Reviewers

     I have recently been intrigued by movie reviewers. There are so many things that influence whether or not a review of a movie is good and if a reviewer will be successful. They can't say that everything is great because they won't be reliable, and they can't hate everything because that would make them out to be a pompous douche. So you have to find a midway point, or not. Some are popular because they only like Oscar eligible style movies. Some are popular for their ability to predict what the masses will love. It is difficult to sift through and find a reviewer that has a very close taste to your own. I personally enjoy a youtube review channel called BeyondtheTrailer. They interview people that are leaving the theater, asking a few questions and making sure not to give away any spoilers. It's fantastic. Granted you are mostly seeing people who actually wanted to see the movie. Which makes total sense, why would you watch a movie review of a movie you definitely don't want to watch. At the same time it's great to know that some of the people may be like you and weren't sure if they would want to watch it. Sometimes even fans of the actor/movie/franchise end up hating the movie. I personally though for sure that the 3 Stooges movie would bomb terribly and get a terrible review. For some reason I didn't even think to account for kids watching it since they are a very old TV franchise. Kids loved it. I also found a movie critic named Jeremy Jahns, we mostly enjoy the same movies and I have been pretty happy with his reviews. Only once or twice have I ever watched a movie after seeing his review and wondered what Jeremy was thinking when he gave it a good/bad rating. Not sure why I decided to write on this subject. I just think it's amazing how many critics are out there, yet how incredibly difficult it can be to find one that agrees with you. I am also amazed that BeyondtheTrailer doesn't get more followers since it is a completely unbiased show of people leaving the theater. What more can you want?

Kick A$$ movie review

    
     Whoa, you aren't supposed to watch R rated movies are you? No, I try not to and am overall pretty successful at not doing it. However every once in awhile I break down and end up watching one that gets recommended to me over and over. First it was Tucker & Dale VS Evil, then Zombieland and now this. I must say I have wanted to see this movie for quite some time. Even when I do watch a movie I feel like I shouldn't, I always check the reason behind the rating. It's not always easy to tell with R rated movies however. The amount of gore I'll allow myself to be subjected to changes with time, it's also hard to know from someone's writing whether it will be too much gore for me. Everyone has their own opinions and I can only do my best to try and be true to me. Over the past few years I have become almost completely desensitized to swearing. Keep in mind I have never said a swear word in front of anyone, I don't feel the need to hold people to the same standard who aren't of my faith. The only time is bothers me is when it starts sounding unrealistic. I realize that depending on the part of the country your from that can vary to a degree, but for me its the west coast. I was raised in Vegas, I know how much people swear and if it starts sounding like they are trying too hard, or to little, by throwing in way too much swearing it bugs me and I'll watch something else. That being said, Kick Ass was right down my alley. Yes, it has a lot of swearing, but a realistic amount. Yes, it has gore, but its mild even compared to a TV show like The Walking Dead.

     The movie is about a kid who decides he wants to be a superhero, gets a costume and tries to fight some bad guys. He gets stabbed and hit by a car, and has pins and rods all over his bones. This makes him able to take more of a beating. He decides to keep trying even after almost dying. He finds out other people, who don't suck at crime fighting start to do things as well. The plot escalates from there. It is a near perfect blend of comedy and action. It is fairly dark however when you really start taking it apart and analyzing it. Casting is great, acting is great and the script is great. There are very few criticisms I can make about this movie. It got me to root for a character played by Nicholas Cage, a feat I thought impossible until I saw this movie. Nick plays a character called Big Daddy and his daughter Hit Girl fight alongside each other. Big Daddy was my favorite character. He was like Batman but somehow more awesome. No one has any actual powers and that's what makes this movie so great. I would recommend this to anyone who loves Scott Pilgrim VS the World. This movie definitely won't appeal to everyone, and numbers have proven that neither of these movies appeal to a ton of people and have so far been deemed cult classics. I give this 8 out of 10 however and if you're not put off by a lot of swearing and some occasional low level gore then you will probably enjoy this movie.