Friday, July 25, 2008
-Good day! I believe this past week at work will go down as to be one of the worst ever. Had to stay late nearly every day, and even though I was making progress, there was this constant vibe that I was barely getting anything done. Just one of those weeks, but I'll keep marching on and hope things pick up.
-Last weekend my brother and I journeyed down to my sister's in Montevideo. She invited us down there for their annual "Rock the Park" event, which featured 13 straight hours of tribute band goodness. There were four bands playing this year - tributes for Heart, Aerosmith, AC/DC, and wait for it........Journey. All the bands seemed like faithful representations of their true counterparts. I took some pics and video, but am going to wait to upload them until I get my laptop back. Random highlights of the day include chowing down on a seemingly overpriced $6 Hobo Taco, but after finishing the monstrosity it felt like it was worth every penny. Once darkness fell, my brother disappeared and came back with around a dozen glow sticks tied up all over his joints. Looked goofy as hell, but at least he was easy to spot in the crowd. Finally, after the show we saw the AC/DC cover band, Hells Bells, doing their meet 'n greet and we chatted it up with them for a few minutes. I would shill their website as they encouraged me to spread the word, but it's slipping my mind right now, sorry guys. The Journey tribute band site however I remember, justlikejourney.com. Overall, a great time, and one of the awesome highlights of the summer for me.
-SLIGHT SPOILERS ahead about the Dark Knight, so read at your own risk. I went to see the midnight showing with Joey and a couple of his friends. I think Dark Knight is the second ever midnight showing I have seen, behind X-Men 3. I never witnessed this before, but at our 10-plex, Batman was playing on 9 of the screens. I had no idea that was possible, but I'm assuming it must be possible because of digital technology and not having the hassle of having multiple film reels on hand. Nearly every screen was packed as we tried a few different cinemas before we found some decent seats. As for the film itself....wow! I was lucky and happened to avoided most of the previews and hype surrounding the film. I got a feeling if I would have paid attention to the hype that it would have foreshadowed a lot of key plot points and I wouldn't have been as shocked and surprised as I was at how the last hour of the movie unfolded. Let's just say I'm glad I forgot my Batman history too, and that I should have recognized all the hints they were throwing out early on about one particular event. Easily one of the best comic films of all time, Christian Bale is the freaking man. Insert obligatory mad props for Heath Ledger's final performance here. 9.5/10
A couple days after witnessing Batman, and still being hyped up about comic films, I went out and saw Incredible Hulk at the second-run theater in town with Chris. I never got around to seeing the 2003 Hulk film, minus catching about 10 minutes of it on cable a few months back, but I was satisfied with how this version played out. I don't know if this is a sequel or not to the last film, but I'm happy that they didn't devote a chunk to the film about the origin of the Hulk, and was very pleased with it getting the opening credits treatment. Ed Norton seemed to be the perfect choice for Bruce Banner, he nailed that part. Also loved all the destruction. Awesome action flick, but lacks something that prevents it from reaching the greatness that Iron Man & Dark Knight achieved this year. But I am relieved this isn't the disappointment I thought it would be. 8/10
-A few days ago, I vanquished game #10 of the year, The Bourne Conspiracy for Xbox 360. Pretty darn good representation to the super-fast pace of the films, nails a lot of aspects of gameplay like shooting, reinventing hand-to-hand combat, driving, but doesn't necessarily perfect them. I wouldn't recommend buying Conspiracy though, too short, took me around 7 hours to beat, probably will be shorter for most as I was trying to hunt down collectables for unlocks which should have added a solid hour of play alone. I would say if you dig the movies then at least rent this. Wrapped up a review already for Conspiracy, but it's not online yet, will try to update this entry with a link soon.
-Speaking of besting games, I beat the guitar solo tour in Rock Band on Hard. For some reason, I don't want to add it to my games completed list just yet, as I'm reserving Rock Band for that honor once we conquer all of the Band World Tour mode. I was pleasantly surprised that I also received the achievements for beating guitar tour on medium and easy upon beating hard difficulty so I don't have to go back and play at lower skill levels like I did for Guitar Hero II. I think the amped up challenge in Guitar Hero III help make Rock Band's hard mode nearly a cakewalk for me. Of the 45 songs, I only 3-starred 12 of them, and shockingly didn't fail a single song once. Only two songs that gave me trouble that I had to save up Overdrive/Star Power to save my ass was the crazy solo in that Molly Hatchet song and one part in Green Grass 'n High Tides where a slip of the fingers caused me to miss over 10 straight hammer-on notes.
-Let's see what else I've been playing lately. After seeing that demo-derby with Joey a couple weekends back, we have both been blowing each other to bits in FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage on Xbox Live a few times lately. Still surprised to see that game carry an online audience. Even if it's only around 30 people. Threw in Test Drive Unlimited again for the first time in nearly two years, surprised that game still holds up and that Eden Games somehow pulled off that ambitious Massively Open Racing game concept. I finally started up Metal Gear Solid 4. I can't recall if I posted it here or not before, but a coworker lent me his copy nearly immediately after MGS4 was released because his television was out for repair and he couldn't play it, and I neglected that game the past month I had it. I only put it in for about an hour, to the part where Snake just received the Solid Eye, but two significant improvements have me already loving the game a ton more than the last entry I played, MGS2: A user controlled camera, and the ability to move and aim/shoot at the same time. Of course I put the difficulty on super-monkey difficulty and am using very little stealth whatsoever, but that's how MGS should be played I say :)
-Been a while since I commented on my perspective of the current wrestling scene so let's have a quick rundown. On RAW, I'm digging the pushes of new talent lately with young guys on top with CM Punk, Kofi Kingston, and Rhodes & Dibiase holding gold on RAW. I also had a huge surge of nostalgia seeing Hacksaw Jim Duggan getting some interview time, and the way Jerry Lawler got him feeling good again worked on me too. Hacksaw is no ring technician by any means, but he's charismatic as hell and I can't help but cave in and chant "Hoooo" and "USA" along with the crowd. Smackdown is finally back to being a top show for the first time in years, I'll attribute that with the fact of Triple H being on the show and top announcer Jim Ross now handling the play-by-play duties on Smackdown.
On ECW, I like the new big silver belt they presented to Marc Henry, and say what you will about Henry, I'm happy for the guy to see him carrying a championship. Especially considering all the injuries and setbacks he had to endure in his career with the WWE since 1996, where these past 12 years we have only seen him on television for about 5 of them. Bringing back Tony Atlas from who knows where is oddly a good fit for a manager for World's Strongest Champion. Awesome to see Matt Sydal, aka the newly re-branded Evan Bourne receiving a push highlighting his signature style. In TNA land, I was finally happy to not fast forward through a Karen Angle segment for the first time in months with her interview with Kaz. Wrestlers I'm digging right now are Motor City Machine Gunns, Consequences Creed, and of course.......Curri Man!
-That's all I got for now, later!
-Last weekend my brother and I journeyed down to my sister's in Montevideo. She invited us down there for their annual "Rock the Park" event, which featured 13 straight hours of tribute band goodness. There were four bands playing this year - tributes for Heart, Aerosmith, AC/DC, and wait for it........Journey. All the bands seemed like faithful representations of their true counterparts. I took some pics and video, but am going to wait to upload them until I get my laptop back. Random highlights of the day include chowing down on a seemingly overpriced $6 Hobo Taco, but after finishing the monstrosity it felt like it was worth every penny. Once darkness fell, my brother disappeared and came back with around a dozen glow sticks tied up all over his joints. Looked goofy as hell, but at least he was easy to spot in the crowd. Finally, after the show we saw the AC/DC cover band, Hells Bells, doing their meet 'n greet and we chatted it up with them for a few minutes. I would shill their website as they encouraged me to spread the word, but it's slipping my mind right now, sorry guys. The Journey tribute band site however I remember, justlikejourney.com. Overall, a great time, and one of the awesome highlights of the summer for me.
-SLIGHT SPOILERS ahead about the Dark Knight, so read at your own risk. I went to see the midnight showing with Joey and a couple of his friends. I think Dark Knight is the second ever midnight showing I have seen, behind X-Men 3. I never witnessed this before, but at our 10-plex, Batman was playing on 9 of the screens. I had no idea that was possible, but I'm assuming it must be possible because of digital technology and not having the hassle of having multiple film reels on hand. Nearly every screen was packed as we tried a few different cinemas before we found some decent seats. As for the film itself....wow! I was lucky and happened to avoided most of the previews and hype surrounding the film. I got a feeling if I would have paid attention to the hype that it would have foreshadowed a lot of key plot points and I wouldn't have been as shocked and surprised as I was at how the last hour of the movie unfolded. Let's just say I'm glad I forgot my Batman history too, and that I should have recognized all the hints they were throwing out early on about one particular event. Easily one of the best comic films of all time, Christian Bale is the freaking man. Insert obligatory mad props for Heath Ledger's final performance here. 9.5/10
A couple days after witnessing Batman, and still being hyped up about comic films, I went out and saw Incredible Hulk at the second-run theater in town with Chris. I never got around to seeing the 2003 Hulk film, minus catching about 10 minutes of it on cable a few months back, but I was satisfied with how this version played out. I don't know if this is a sequel or not to the last film, but I'm happy that they didn't devote a chunk to the film about the origin of the Hulk, and was very pleased with it getting the opening credits treatment. Ed Norton seemed to be the perfect choice for Bruce Banner, he nailed that part. Also loved all the destruction. Awesome action flick, but lacks something that prevents it from reaching the greatness that Iron Man & Dark Knight achieved this year. But I am relieved this isn't the disappointment I thought it would be. 8/10
-A few days ago, I vanquished game #10 of the year, The Bourne Conspiracy for Xbox 360. Pretty darn good representation to the super-fast pace of the films, nails a lot of aspects of gameplay like shooting, reinventing hand-to-hand combat, driving, but doesn't necessarily perfect them. I wouldn't recommend buying Conspiracy though, too short, took me around 7 hours to beat, probably will be shorter for most as I was trying to hunt down collectables for unlocks which should have added a solid hour of play alone. I would say if you dig the movies then at least rent this. Wrapped up a review already for Conspiracy, but it's not online yet, will try to update this entry with a link soon.
-Speaking of besting games, I beat the guitar solo tour in Rock Band on Hard. For some reason, I don't want to add it to my games completed list just yet, as I'm reserving Rock Band for that honor once we conquer all of the Band World Tour mode. I was pleasantly surprised that I also received the achievements for beating guitar tour on medium and easy upon beating hard difficulty so I don't have to go back and play at lower skill levels like I did for Guitar Hero II. I think the amped up challenge in Guitar Hero III help make Rock Band's hard mode nearly a cakewalk for me. Of the 45 songs, I only 3-starred 12 of them, and shockingly didn't fail a single song once. Only two songs that gave me trouble that I had to save up Overdrive/Star Power to save my ass was the crazy solo in that Molly Hatchet song and one part in Green Grass 'n High Tides where a slip of the fingers caused me to miss over 10 straight hammer-on notes.
-Let's see what else I've been playing lately. After seeing that demo-derby with Joey a couple weekends back, we have both been blowing each other to bits in FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage on Xbox Live a few times lately. Still surprised to see that game carry an online audience. Even if it's only around 30 people. Threw in Test Drive Unlimited again for the first time in nearly two years, surprised that game still holds up and that Eden Games somehow pulled off that ambitious Massively Open Racing game concept. I finally started up Metal Gear Solid 4. I can't recall if I posted it here or not before, but a coworker lent me his copy nearly immediately after MGS4 was released because his television was out for repair and he couldn't play it, and I neglected that game the past month I had it. I only put it in for about an hour, to the part where Snake just received the Solid Eye, but two significant improvements have me already loving the game a ton more than the last entry I played, MGS2: A user controlled camera, and the ability to move and aim/shoot at the same time. Of course I put the difficulty on super-monkey difficulty and am using very little stealth whatsoever, but that's how MGS should be played I say :)
-Been a while since I commented on my perspective of the current wrestling scene so let's have a quick rundown. On RAW, I'm digging the pushes of new talent lately with young guys on top with CM Punk, Kofi Kingston, and Rhodes & Dibiase holding gold on RAW. I also had a huge surge of nostalgia seeing Hacksaw Jim Duggan getting some interview time, and the way Jerry Lawler got him feeling good again worked on me too. Hacksaw is no ring technician by any means, but he's charismatic as hell and I can't help but cave in and chant "Hoooo" and "USA" along with the crowd. Smackdown is finally back to being a top show for the first time in years, I'll attribute that with the fact of Triple H being on the show and top announcer Jim Ross now handling the play-by-play duties on Smackdown.
On ECW, I like the new big silver belt they presented to Marc Henry, and say what you will about Henry, I'm happy for the guy to see him carrying a championship. Especially considering all the injuries and setbacks he had to endure in his career with the WWE since 1996, where these past 12 years we have only seen him on television for about 5 of them. Bringing back Tony Atlas from who knows where is oddly a good fit for a manager for World's Strongest Champion. Awesome to see Matt Sydal, aka the newly re-branded Evan Bourne receiving a push highlighting his signature style. In TNA land, I was finally happy to not fast forward through a Karen Angle segment for the first time in months with her interview with Kaz. Wrestlers I'm digging right now are Motor City Machine Gunns, Consequences Creed, and of course.......Curri Man!
-That's all I got for now, later!
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