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2008-10-06 23:26:41
First off, I just wanted to take the time to help pimp this awesome video. Go check it out!
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=90983
For the past few weeks I’ve watching an unusually large amount of anime shows (and one movie). Actually, come to think of it, I’ve never watched so much anime in such a short time period. Anyways, here are my thoughts on them:
Aquarion:
Okay, so I finally finished off this series, and overall I thought it was...okay. As I mentioned in previous posts, one of the main problems that I had with the series was that it didn’t really give me any reason to actually care about the characters. Also, most of the characters just felt like anime “stereotypes” that you see in many other shows. That being said, starting at episode 19 (of 26), the series finally took off in the right direction. Everything from then on was great. The action was great, and there was finally some real character development. If all of the 26 episodes of this series were like the last seven, I would give the series 4.5/5 stars. But since you have to watch 18 episodes before you get to the good stuff, my final verdict on this series is 3/5 stars.
Gundam 00 (first half):
So, after a marathon session of anime watching, I finally got through the first 25 episodes of Gundam 00, just in time for the second half of the series to start. Admittedly, I am familiar with only three other Gundam series: Gundam Wing, Gundam SEED, and Gundam SEED Destiny. Still, I have to say without any doubt that this is the best Gundam series I have seen. In fact, this is some of the best anime I’ve seen. Period. The reason that I enjoyed this series so much is the fact it touches on (in a not so subtle fashion) current events, and it has characters that are interesting to watch right from the start. If I had to give a score to the series right now, I’d have to give it 5/5 stars. As you can probably guess, I’m absolutely stoked to see how the rest of the series turns out.
Vexille:
If you enjoyed the CG Appleseed movies, then I think you’ll probably like this movie. However, I’m not saying that Vexille (and to a lesser extent, the CG Appleseed) is fantastic. The plot and characterization is a little thin, but if your main intent for watching this move is to enjoy some kick-ass action scenes set to some really gorgeous CG animation, then this movie is right up your alley. Overall, I thought this was a good couple of hours spent. 3.5/5 stars.
Baldr Force EXE:
I got the Baldr Force DVDs as kind of an impulse buy. I heard some good things about it, so I decided to give it a chance, and in the end I was pleasantly surprised. The cyberpunk genre is nothing new to the world of anime, but this series is able to weave its own plot that gets more interesting as the series progresses. My only real complaint with Baldr Force is its length. At only four episodes long, the show moves very quickly, and I thought that it could have benefited from a few more episodes to further flesh out some parts of the story. Still, I had a good time watching this series, and would recommend it to fans of this kind of anime. 4/5 stars.
I should also note that I am progressing through a couple of other series, which are The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (season 1). I’m kind of a late comer to Haruhi, but when I saw the full series on sale, I decided to buy it. So far, it’s a really great series to watch. As for Code Geass, right now I've only watched the first two episodes from the DVDs, but just from those episodes alone, I can already tell (and as many have stated) this series is going to rock!
That’s all for now. Until next time! -
2008-09-02 20:15:14
Hey everyone! So, this will be another one of my multi-subject journal entries (i.e. Anime and AMVs, movies, and gaming), and this time around, I’ve used headings for your reading convenience ;)
Anime and AMVs
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Well, I got the DVDs for the second half of the Aquarion series, and as of now I’m now almost 75% of the way through the series. Overall, I’d say that the second half of the series is somewhat better that the first half, but I’ll reserve final judgement until I complete watching the whole anime. Another DVD set that I’m hoping to get soon is the first half of Code Geass. I’ve heard some good things about this anime series, and I hope that these comments are true.
On the AMV side, I’ve finally started working on my segment for the Gothik II MEP. So Autraya, if you’re reading this, I’m hoping I’ll get something to you by the end of this week.
Movies
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Suffice it to say, I’ve watched a hell of a lot of movies in the theatres over the past four months. There are many movies that I would like to give a review to, but I think that I’ll just go over the last couple I saw.
Tropic Thunder:
When I first saw the trailers for this movie, I thought it was going to be bad...really bad. However, a few things finally made me go see it, such as the high ratings it received on Rotten Tomatoes, and the fact that all my friends who saw Tropic Thunder kept pushing me to watch it. Truth be told, this is one of the funniest movies that I’ve seen in a long time. Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, and even Tom Cruise (whom I hardly recognized at first) all did a fantastic job. Robert Downey Jr.’s character in particular just made the movie for me. Also, those fake trailers that played prior to the actual movie were just plain awesome. 4/5 stars.
Death Race:
Yes, I willingly paid money to go see this movie in the theatre. The thing is, I do enjoy watching serious and thoughtful movies (really I do), but every now and then, I just want to go into the theatre and watch stuff blow up, and Death Race definitely delivers. If you’ve seen the trailers and TV spots for the movie, then you have a pretty good idea of what it’s about. The consensus on Rotten Tomatoes says that the movie is “Mindless, violent, and lightning-paced, Death Race is little more than an empty action romp.” Frankly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. 3.5/5 stars.
Gaming
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So, a few weeks ago I got a laptop to replace my old, outdated desktop. But, being the person that I am when it comes to gaming on the PC, I probably spent a little more on this laptop then I should have. The number of games I was able to play on my old desktop was dwindling pretty fast due to ever increasing system requirements, and most of the games that I could play had to have their graphic settings turned down more than I would like. With this new laptop, I’m now finally able to play all the games that I couldn’t on my desktop. I’ll give a quick review to some of the games I played recently:
Crysis:
Anyone who played this game on their PC knows that the graphics engine for Crysis can eat most video cards for breakfast. So, while I couldn’t max out all the settings for the game, I was still able to play the game on “High” with decent framerates. I should note that prior getting Crysis, I read many reviews that gave the game extremely high praise (e.g. PC Gamer magazine gave it a 98% rating). While Crysis is one of the prettiest games I’ve ever played, and its overall gameplay is much better than your average first-person-shooter, I personally don’t think it’s the “masterpiece” as some critics say it is. 4/5 stars.
Mass Effect:
Bioware is a game developer that has made some great RPGs in the past (e.g. Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic), and Mass Effect is no exception. It has everything that I could want: A great storyline, voice acting that doesn’t make you cringe, a good character customization system, nice graphics, and the option to treat your comrades like they’re your closest friend, or like dirt. I heard that a sequel is going to be in development, and I can’t wait to play it. Mass Effect is one of the best games I’ve played this year. 5/5 stars.
Halo 2:
If Halo 2 for the PC was compatible with Windows XP, I would have already played it when it came out a couple of years ago. However, since Microsoft, in all their wisdom, decided to make Halo 2 only work on Vista (I guess they were hoping that Halo 2 would spur more Vista sales), I couldn’t play the game until now. I should also note that I played Halo 2 <b>after</b> I play Crysis (don’t ask me why), so that didn’t really help my opinion of this aging game. Despite that, Halo 2 is still a decent shooter, and its storyline kept me interested enough to play the game to the end. Here's hoping that Microsoft doesn't wait until its next operating system to release Halo 3 for the PC. 3/5 stars.
Devil May Cry 4:
I really liked the Devil May Cry series on the Playstation 2, but since I don’t currently own a PS3 or Xbox 360, I decided to give the PC version a go. First off, this game is kind of hard for me to play with a keyboard, although this is probably because I’m so used to playing it with a gamepad, and so getting a gamepad to play this game was a must for me. Graphically, it looks really good, particularly the character modelling. The game itself plays pretty much like the other games in the series, so if you never liked DMC before, this game won’t change your mind. However, as a fan of the series, I thought DMC 4 great to play, and it is probably one of the best (if not the best) game in the series. 4/5 stars.
Assassin’s Creed:
I was interested in playing this game the first time I heard about it. I enjoy stealth action games like the Splinter Cell and Hitman series, and Assassin’s Creed setting during the Crusades seemed like a nice change of pace. However, after completing the game, I have to say that I’m a little disappointed. My problem with Assassin’s Creed is that while it was fun at first save a citizen, kill some informants, and assassinate some evil people, it kind of gets repetitive after a while. By the end of the game, I just skipped all the side quests, and just rushed through the game to get to the ending. Oh, and that’s my other gripe: let’s just say, without spoiling anything, that the ending is a little...abrupt. Still, one of the things I really enjoyed doing in this game is going from point A to point B on a map. That might not sound like much fun, but when you can run on rooftops and climb buildings like Daredevil or Spiderman, it’s just plain cool to watch. I heard that there may be a sequel to this game, and I hope that if one comes out, it will add a bit more variety to the missions, and tie up some of the loose ends of the first game’s story. 3.5/5 stars.
Whew! That’s a lot I wrote today. Until next time!
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Another new vid
2008-08-15 19:55:48
Have a look! :)
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=90064 -
2008-08-14 00:07:27
Recently I’ve been taking up another hobby. Well, that’s not entirely accurate...it’s actually an old hobby that I’ve decided to rekindle. Back in the early 1990’s, I started collecting comic books thanks to watching the X-Men cartoon that came on TV around that time. X-Men was the comic series that I stuck with for a few years, although I did read some other Marvel characters such as Spider-Man. Around the mid-1990’s I stopped collecting comics, because it started to become a little pricy for me and my limited income.
Flash forward to 2008. After watching the Iron Man and Incredible Hulk movies, I started considering getting back into reading comics again. Recently I found out (although I really should have discovered this already), that Marvel was putting out many if it’s major titles and major storylines into compilation hardcovers and trade paperbacks. I actually liked this idea because it saves me the time of having to go and find back issues, and all the relevant issues to a storyline are conveniently put together in one book. So, I ordered a few of these compilations. I started out with the House of M storyline, which focused on the X-Men but also included the rest of the Marvel universe. That got my interest piqued, and then I ordered more compilations...and then more...and then more again. Yeah, I think this is starting to become another obsession for me on par with anime and AMVs. I got through reading the Civil War crossover story arc (a really cool battle royal between the Marvel universe’s heroes), the World War Hulk crossover arc , and Messiah Complex (definitely one of the best X-Men stories I’ve read).
It’s really interesting to see how much the Marvel universe has changed since I last read these comics, although I might want to start toning down purchasing these compilations since they’re starting to eat a hole in my wallet :) -
Movie watching
2008-06-22 22:44:44
So, over the past week I saw an above average number of movies in the theatre (well...above average for me anyways). Instead of giving a full blown review of each of these movies, I’ll just boil down what I thought of each movie to just few sentences.
1) You Don’t Mess with the Zohan:
This movie wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be, although that’s not to say it was good either. It does have moments that brought out a few laughs, but nothing side-splittingly funny. 2.5/5 stars.
2) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull:
Hmmm…I’m a little mixed on this movie. Overall, I thought it was an enjoyable movie. It has good performances by all actors involved, the special effects were great, and the fight and chase sequences were all well done. However, as great as the effects were, they seemed to take centre stage over the characters in the movie. As such, this movie seemed to lack the “spark” of the original three. 3.5/5 stars.
3) The Happening:
M. Night Shyamalan is one of those directors whose movies I’ll probably go see no matter what the critics say, and even if my experience with his more recent movies have been less than stellar. I enjoyed the Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs, but after the Village and Lady in the Water, my confidence in his directing ability was shaken. Still, I held out hope that he could pull it off with The Happening. After seeing the movie, I thought it was nowhere near as good as his first few movies, but it’s still better than his last two. I’m not going to lie, the acting in The Happening was pretty bad, but it had enough of creepy sequences in it to help keep my attention. I’m holding out hope (again) that his next movie will be great, but as for this one, I give it 3/5 stars.
4) The Incredible Hulk:
I’m probably one of the few people in the world who felt that the 2003 Ang Lee version of the Hulk was actually okay. That being said, Louis Leterrier’s version of the Hulk was far superior. The action was a lot more intense in this movie, but it still left room for some decent character development. Also, I must say that I really thought Edward Norton did a great job playing Bruce Banner. After seeing this movie, I can’t wait to see the Hulk again on the big screen, whether in a sequel, or that rumoured Avengers movie. 4/5 stars.
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