Saturday, March 22, 2008
-Hello everybody. What's new? I've been on cruise control lately, though I just finished my days off and my dad and I finally got around to putting the toolbox for my truck on yesterday. We were going to put it off because of our first snow in a few weeks, but then said screw it and decided to do it anyways. But now I finally have some sense of storage space in my truck for having no cab whatsoever.
-So I've been watching a bunch of flicks lately on video and at the theater. So you know what that means........mini-review time.
Hitman DVD - I liked this in theaters several months back, but after being so cautious of watching and with several months of perspective and watching it again on DVD, I think I can say this finally eclipsed Mortal Kombat as my favorite videogame movie. Granted, that's not saying a lot, but I really still hold MK in high regard, but Hitman is freaking brilliant. Shot perfectly, captured the Hitman atmosphere to a T, and they make 47 look like a freaking badass!
Semi Pro - I am cautious about seeing most Will Ferrel flicks lately, he seems to try to go all out and is either hit or miss it seems. Talledega Nights was just way too fucking much. Blades of Glory was allright. Semi Pro is his first really good flick since Anchorman IMO. I really like the setting too, taking place in the last year of the ABA where Ferrel tries to get his fledgling Flint Tropics to merge into the NBA. Ferrell tries throwing a lot of paint at the wall to see what sticks like he seems to do lately, and more of his tricks work this time around than usual. Additionally, I may have missed it in the previews, but I don't recall seeing Woody Harrelson in the previews at all, who ended up playing almost as equal of a role in the film as Ferrell. Overall though, this film was a riot, and I highly recommend checking it out, especially if you love your sports flicks like me! 8/10
Be Kind, Rewind - Saw this in the theater yesterday as it didn't hit our town's screens until three weeks after its initial release. This was allright, but I was mildly letdown. Probably because the film's set of trailers were the kind that gave away 80% of the film, and this one barely left any surprises. I hope some of the DVD Extras contain the "full" versions of their "Swede" (remade) films, cuz the parts where I got to see those were the highlight. This was still good, but just not as awesome I was hoping for. 6.5/10
Southland Tales - This was one of the Rock's latest flicks that just hit DVD. I knew that Sarah Michelle Gellar and Sean William Scott were costarring in the flick, but there were also a bunch of other recognizable faces in here in supporting roles like Jon Lovitz, Justin Timberlake, Cheri Oteri, Kevin Smith, Booger from Revenge, Christopher Lambert, that other SNL chick from Citizens Brigade, and others. The flick is pretty out there, it's a political/sci-fi flick where the US has essentially went to hell after a nuke went off in Texas and troubles finding an alternate fuel source. it's by the same director who did Donnie Darco and it has the same kind of storytelling where you got to catch all the little details to make sense out of everything, which I love, but this one seemed to have a lot more going on as the story unfolded. I liked it, but I don't know what to think of it ultimately yet, I think I'll watch it again a month or two down the line so I can have a little perspective sit in by then on it and have a more solid opinion of it.
-I finally finished Evening with Kevin Smith 2, I watched the first disc right away, got about 15 minutes into the second disc and then it sat in my backlog for a good 5 or 6 months until now. Probably because I liked the first "Best Of" compilation a lot better than the whole show format in Evening 2, though the second disc in the UK feature far more fascinating and interesting conversation than the first disc. Speaking of Kevin Smith, I recently got his Book/2 year Blog off of ebay for $5 after reading many good things about it elsewhere, have yet to dive into it, but from the few Smith blogs I read in the past I got a feeling this won't disappoint.
-A week ago, I went to my first UND Hockey game in what was probably a good ten years. Chris got spare tickets from work, and we scored some great seats, fifth from rinkside! UND Hockey is the biggest sport up here, it's the only sport right now UND is division 1A in (all other sports this coming school year will upgrade from Division 2 to Division 1AA). I've been to plenty of UND Football games past several years, but the atmosphere is far more intense at the hockey games, where they absolutely loathe Minnesota, there were a couple "Fuck You Gophers" chants erupting when the camera zoomed in on a fan in a Gophers jersey, that's all well and good but UND was playing Michigan Tech that day so all evil chants should have been directed towards them. It was a fun game, but the Sioux lost in a heartbreaker where Michigan Tech tied with 5 seconds left in regulation, than won within two minutes into overtime. Booooo. Still a great time all around.
-In video game happening for me, I've been playing a ton of Rock Band. Had a couple of jam sessions with Scott and Chris past couple of weeks, and their may be a sample of one of our recordings floating around somewhere if you look hard enough. I finally got the 25 online ranked Score Duel wins achievement after suffering many losses and quitters, I did run into the first person who used voice chat online, and probably the second time I ran into a female since the near 6 years I have had Xbox Live since the beta in 2002. She was one of the few awesome Rock Band players who played to end and was a good sport, though I recall her beating me both times I faced off against her. Speaking of Rock Band, my latest podcast we practically dedicate the whole episode to it because we finally got around to our belated review for it that Scott, Chris and I have been putting off forever. Check it out.
-Guitar Hero 3 has been oonsuming a lot of my game time lately too. I have finally conquered the two songs that killed me in hard mode, Slayer's "Raining Blood" and Metallica's "One" so much so that I legitimately earned the "Fail 10 Songs in a Row" achievement. Unfortunately I'm finding the final boss battle to be a bitch, as Lou is just too damn difficult at hard level, and if you miss your first powerup collectible, which usually happens since Lou always gets to cast his powerup first and he almost always does when you run across a powerup, you're screwed! Oh well, I'll keep at it and keep my fingers cross, it took me damn near 20-30 tries each to best the two aforementioned songs, I'm sure to have my day with Lou anytime now.
-April should be awesome for games. I'm praying that EA doesn't manage to acquire Take Two by GTA IV's release so it doesn't get delayed so EA can brand their logo and EA Trax all over the game. I'm super psyched for it, I finally got around to reading some in-depth previews for it and some things just sound too damn good to pass up like the drunk driving minigame (if this were an EA game, it'd be sponsored by Bud Light). Also Persona 3: Fez comes out, I missed out on the first, but after hearing practically the entire Internet rave about I figured I will give the Platinum Edition a shot at its price friendly $30 mark.
-It pained me to do, but yesterday after having a subscription since they started a pay service around 5 or 6 years ago, I canceled my Total Access Gamespot account, I'll still have Total Access benefits until my yearly membership expires this July, but with one or two longtime Gamespot staffers I grew so fond of over the years leaving a month lately, it just pains me to still pay their yearly fees. The last straw was the departure of Brad Shoemaker, he joined the growing list of the Gamespot staff exodus which consisted of the likes of Frank Provo, Alex Navarro, Ryan Davis, and Jason Ocampo after Jeff Gertsmann was fired last November. All these aforementioned names put in at least 5 years at Gamespot too and now they're dropping like flies! All that's left I can think of off the top of my head is awesome sports dude Brian Eckburg, cool PC dude Andrew Park, and random Live host Ryan McDonald....and they'll all most likely be gone by the time my subscription is up.
-That's all I got for now, latez!
-So I've been watching a bunch of flicks lately on video and at the theater. So you know what that means........mini-review time.
Hitman DVD - I liked this in theaters several months back, but after being so cautious of watching and with several months of perspective and watching it again on DVD, I think I can say this finally eclipsed Mortal Kombat as my favorite videogame movie. Granted, that's not saying a lot, but I really still hold MK in high regard, but Hitman is freaking brilliant. Shot perfectly, captured the Hitman atmosphere to a T, and they make 47 look like a freaking badass!
Semi Pro - I am cautious about seeing most Will Ferrel flicks lately, he seems to try to go all out and is either hit or miss it seems. Talledega Nights was just way too fucking much. Blades of Glory was allright. Semi Pro is his first really good flick since Anchorman IMO. I really like the setting too, taking place in the last year of the ABA where Ferrel tries to get his fledgling Flint Tropics to merge into the NBA. Ferrell tries throwing a lot of paint at the wall to see what sticks like he seems to do lately, and more of his tricks work this time around than usual. Additionally, I may have missed it in the previews, but I don't recall seeing Woody Harrelson in the previews at all, who ended up playing almost as equal of a role in the film as Ferrell. Overall though, this film was a riot, and I highly recommend checking it out, especially if you love your sports flicks like me! 8/10
Be Kind, Rewind - Saw this in the theater yesterday as it didn't hit our town's screens until three weeks after its initial release. This was allright, but I was mildly letdown. Probably because the film's set of trailers were the kind that gave away 80% of the film, and this one barely left any surprises. I hope some of the DVD Extras contain the "full" versions of their "Swede" (remade) films, cuz the parts where I got to see those were the highlight. This was still good, but just not as awesome I was hoping for. 6.5/10
Southland Tales - This was one of the Rock's latest flicks that just hit DVD. I knew that Sarah Michelle Gellar and Sean William Scott were costarring in the flick, but there were also a bunch of other recognizable faces in here in supporting roles like Jon Lovitz, Justin Timberlake, Cheri Oteri, Kevin Smith, Booger from Revenge, Christopher Lambert, that other SNL chick from Citizens Brigade, and others. The flick is pretty out there, it's a political/sci-fi flick where the US has essentially went to hell after a nuke went off in Texas and troubles finding an alternate fuel source. it's by the same director who did Donnie Darco and it has the same kind of storytelling where you got to catch all the little details to make sense out of everything, which I love, but this one seemed to have a lot more going on as the story unfolded. I liked it, but I don't know what to think of it ultimately yet, I think I'll watch it again a month or two down the line so I can have a little perspective sit in by then on it and have a more solid opinion of it.
-I finally finished Evening with Kevin Smith 2, I watched the first disc right away, got about 15 minutes into the second disc and then it sat in my backlog for a good 5 or 6 months until now. Probably because I liked the first "Best Of" compilation a lot better than the whole show format in Evening 2, though the second disc in the UK feature far more fascinating and interesting conversation than the first disc. Speaking of Kevin Smith, I recently got his Book/2 year Blog off of ebay for $5 after reading many good things about it elsewhere, have yet to dive into it, but from the few Smith blogs I read in the past I got a feeling this won't disappoint.
-A week ago, I went to my first UND Hockey game in what was probably a good ten years. Chris got spare tickets from work, and we scored some great seats, fifth from rinkside! UND Hockey is the biggest sport up here, it's the only sport right now UND is division 1A in (all other sports this coming school year will upgrade from Division 2 to Division 1AA). I've been to plenty of UND Football games past several years, but the atmosphere is far more intense at the hockey games, where they absolutely loathe Minnesota, there were a couple "Fuck You Gophers" chants erupting when the camera zoomed in on a fan in a Gophers jersey, that's all well and good but UND was playing Michigan Tech that day so all evil chants should have been directed towards them. It was a fun game, but the Sioux lost in a heartbreaker where Michigan Tech tied with 5 seconds left in regulation, than won within two minutes into overtime. Booooo. Still a great time all around.
-In video game happening for me, I've been playing a ton of Rock Band. Had a couple of jam sessions with Scott and Chris past couple of weeks, and their may be a sample of one of our recordings floating around somewhere if you look hard enough. I finally got the 25 online ranked Score Duel wins achievement after suffering many losses and quitters, I did run into the first person who used voice chat online, and probably the second time I ran into a female since the near 6 years I have had Xbox Live since the beta in 2002. She was one of the few awesome Rock Band players who played to end and was a good sport, though I recall her beating me both times I faced off against her. Speaking of Rock Band, my latest podcast we practically dedicate the whole episode to it because we finally got around to our belated review for it that Scott, Chris and I have been putting off forever. Check it out.
-Guitar Hero 3 has been oonsuming a lot of my game time lately too. I have finally conquered the two songs that killed me in hard mode, Slayer's "Raining Blood" and Metallica's "One" so much so that I legitimately earned the "Fail 10 Songs in a Row" achievement. Unfortunately I'm finding the final boss battle to be a bitch, as Lou is just too damn difficult at hard level, and if you miss your first powerup collectible, which usually happens since Lou always gets to cast his powerup first and he almost always does when you run across a powerup, you're screwed! Oh well, I'll keep at it and keep my fingers cross, it took me damn near 20-30 tries each to best the two aforementioned songs, I'm sure to have my day with Lou anytime now.
-April should be awesome for games. I'm praying that EA doesn't manage to acquire Take Two by GTA IV's release so it doesn't get delayed so EA can brand their logo and EA Trax all over the game. I'm super psyched for it, I finally got around to reading some in-depth previews for it and some things just sound too damn good to pass up like the drunk driving minigame (if this were an EA game, it'd be sponsored by Bud Light). Also Persona 3: Fez comes out, I missed out on the first, but after hearing practically the entire Internet rave about I figured I will give the Platinum Edition a shot at its price friendly $30 mark.
-It pained me to do, but yesterday after having a subscription since they started a pay service around 5 or 6 years ago, I canceled my Total Access Gamespot account, I'll still have Total Access benefits until my yearly membership expires this July, but with one or two longtime Gamespot staffers I grew so fond of over the years leaving a month lately, it just pains me to still pay their yearly fees. The last straw was the departure of Brad Shoemaker, he joined the growing list of the Gamespot staff exodus which consisted of the likes of Frank Provo, Alex Navarro, Ryan Davis, and Jason Ocampo after Jeff Gertsmann was fired last November. All these aforementioned names put in at least 5 years at Gamespot too and now they're dropping like flies! All that's left I can think of off the top of my head is awesome sports dude Brian Eckburg, cool PC dude Andrew Park, and random Live host Ryan McDonald....and they'll all most likely be gone by the time my subscription is up.
-That's all I got for now, latez!
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