• 19Oct 09

  2 Consoles Are Good Company But Is PS3 a crowd?

  

  I took the plunge and finally bought myself a PS3 a couple of weeks ago. Doing so now means that once again I possess every current gaming system in the States which is really not something I thought I would ever do again especially in light of Sony's dramatic fall from power. Every time a game came was coming out that I really wanted and everyone swore that it would never come out on the 360 and so I thought THAT would be the game that makes me buy the system, it would suddenly be released on the 360. This kept happening at an ever increasing rate and so it looked like I probably would never pick one up especially considering my ever dwindling funds.

  The pressure in my mind leaning towards a purchase started leaning a bit more heavily over the last year as I'm a bit of a movie buff and so it's only natural to desire the latest in movie viewing technology much like the Laserdisc provided oh so many years ago. I also was very impressed with Sony's presentation at this year's E3 and felt that not only did they have a lot to offer in terms of gaming, but that they didn't horribly embarrass themselves as I felt the other consoles did. Still though...it was mighty expensive and so I sat firmly on my spending hands despite the rather warm climate in which I live.

  Then a funny series of events happened. Well...OK it's not really funny per se but somewhat serendipitous I suppose. Sony suddenly created an all new slim version with oodles of memory and they lowered the price to the very acceptable $300. Due to a clerical error, I found myself with some Best Buy credit and resisting the urge to go to town buying more movies for my apartment wall, I decided to join the Sony family once again!

  

  With a small amount of excitement indicative of an older person that owns many gadgets already yet still harboring some of that boyish glee in purchasing a new techno fun box, I began to unpack my system and get it all set up. Luckily my friend (who already owned a PS3 due to his great need to be the all-consuming master of the Ryu Ga Gotoku series) was in attendance or I would not have been a happy camper as I encountered the first of a handful of confusing technology problems. I easily created my console profile and set it up to look all crazy sharp and awesome on my semi-respectable Philips 1080i LCD monitor. I connected it to my router and went online and got the system all updated and raring to go. Then I was prompted to create an online persona and I did as asked and hit the accept button.

  Then it died.

  Well, it didn't die but the connection to the internet suddenly died as did my friend's laptop and my desktop computer which were both connected as well. Luckily my friend was there and informed me he expected it to do that as his PS3 did the same thing and it took him a huhwhile to figure out why. Apparently there's this option to share videos or some such feature which is "on" automatically and is apparently incompatible with...um everything? I don't know why but somehow it kills your router and so I turned that oh-so-exciting feature "off" and rebooted my router and...WHALLAH! Everybody happy!

  

  I watched the Blu-Ray movie that I had and then...well then the PS3 just sat there. Gosh I haven't been this underwhelmed with a system since I finally had enough of the broken Animal Crossing game and realized I don't really want almost any other Wii games. I mean, I know I mainly got it as a Blu-Ray player but still it seemed kind of sad just sitting there. Then I realized my same friend had some games so perhaps I should just borrow some and play around with my new system. He brought over a small stack and lazily I picked the Wolverine Origins game as, though I already played through it on my 360, I really enjoy simple beat 'em ups and thought it would be a fun lazy late night kind of game. So I put the game in my machine...

  ...and it looked like crap.

  Then my friend came over and exclaimed "Hey, what's with the game looking like crap Mr. I have an HD TV?". Well, he didn't really say it like that but he did express curiosity as to the low resolution being angrily displayed by my new machine. I had picked the highest resolution and wondered what the deal was. I attempted to poke through the menus and fix the problem but nothing I did had any effect. Then I looked at the back of the game and noticed that the highest any game went was 720p -- even the exclusives! Could 720p look this bad? So (bear with me here) I called up a friend of mine that makes games for the various consoles and he confirmed that the PS3 indeed is a powerful but wicked beast that doesn't like to go to 1080. I was stunned. But then he informed me that 720p should look pretty darn good and so I was concerned that something was wrong.

  After more digging I found out that the PS3 had a problem with 1080i. Apparently some early HD units don't support 720p and so if the game doesn't find 720p it just shunts it down to normal resolution. I was saddened but again, since I mainly got it as a Blu-Ray player I wasn't too upset. Still it was annoying to think I was just out of luck and any future exclusive I would buy would look like crap. But wait a tick! I didn't get my HD LCD until just a couple of years ago?! So I started pouring through the many, many, MANY options on the Sony menus and realized that the PS3 wanted me to check off ALL of the resolutions supported not just the highest one like I did with the 360. Feeling foolish but relieved I put my game back in and watched all the shiny HD goodness dancing before my eyes. Still...those sad early HD 1080i folks.

  Also apparently 720p is better than 1080i anyways so gosh I feel really silly now.

  

  So now I'm enjoying my PS3 and falling back in love with the awesome and incredibly light controller that Sony still offers. I played around with the Sony Home feature and it's fairly boring but also very impressive at the same time. The media within media displayed is very impressive and I like the idea of going to a virtual movie theatre and sitting down to watch a feature. It would be nice if they had more short films or features to watch instead of just programs that are basically ads for product but still it's kind of interesting. I like the mall and the arcade but honestly there's just not enough things to do, see and purchase to keep it interesting. Maybe once more companies get on board it can get fleshed out with more desireable content and exclusive events.

  Still, I do find the place, small though it may be, to be oddly compelling and sometimes I just go there and sit under the ferns to the far right of the arcade or the far left of the theatre whichever you prefer. Attempting to be brutally honest due to hurt feelings I've suffered in internet land, I once again have made a semi-realistic but somewhat troll-like avatar to tool around in so everyone realizes I'm an older burnt out shell of a man who plays games. So if you're ever in that weird hub land and see me sitting there, stop by and do a funny dance in front of me or just say "hi".

  Oh yeah that Wolverine game I was playing? I totally platinumed that baby!

  • Posted Oct 19, 2009 1:06 pm GMT
  • Category: Games
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• 1Sep 09

  Movie review - Hallowe'en II - Electric Zombified Boogaloo!

  

  Title - Halloween II (2009)
  

  Director - Rob Zombie

  Country - United States

  

  Michael Myers is back in a sequel that few thought would actually happen least of all Rob Zombie who swore he wouldn't return as the first one was just too grueling to make. But the first movie made a decent amount of cash and with the promise that Zombie would have full creative control he soon found himself under a tight deadline but eager to do the part of the movie that he felt he neglected in the first Halloween outing namely putting the spotlight on his sister Laurie Strode (Angel Myers) played by Scout Taylor-Compton.

  The bulk of this film concentrates on the character of Laurie Strode who a full year after the attack of Michael Myers is completely unaware that she is really Angel Myers the sister of Michael. Laurie is having great difficulty recovering from the attack and loss of her family and is constantly plagued by nightmares in which she is stalked by Michael whilst everyone around her dies horribly at his hands. And when I mean horribly I mean repeatedly injured well beyond the point of death. All of Michael's killing involves him stabbing, slamming, crushing and/or breaking people repeatedly over and over and over almost as if he feels the need to overly punish his victims even well beyond their point of demise. It's supposed to convey a more realistic and vicious approach to violence by and overpowering madman but these scenes are filmed in a rather distant or confusing manner so the impact of shock is reduced to the point that I felt very detached and unaffected by the whole murdering process.

  

  Laurie's constant suffering is supposed to be the main source of sympathy for the viewer but unfortunately her character's attitude and actions vacillate wildly during the course of the movie and so she ends up becoming not much of an anchor for the film to revolve around. As a result, the only sympathetic character that the movie is attempting to build up throughout the film ends up being just an irritating little girl that appears ripe for slaughter in a typical horror film.As Michael looms closer and closer to Laurie her dreams intensify and eventually she develops dreams in which she is the killer wearing her brother's old clown mask while she slits the throats of her loved ones. Although she has become a vegetarian, the effects of eating her veggie pizza sickens her when at the same time Michael is shown busily eating the heart of a freshly killed dog. It's obvious the connection between her and Michael is becoming stronger but just how strong will it become? I bet you can guess.

  The other character which we spend a lot of time with is Dr. Samuel Loomis played once again by Malcolm McDowell. His character has changed quite a bit as he has become a best selling author by writing about his "star" patient Michael Myers. Although much in demand due to the infamous nature of Michael, many -- especially family members of his victims -- are greatly sickened that Loomis appears to be cashing in on the tragedy and attempting to make as much money as possible on it. Although Loomis enjoys the fame and money, he demonstrates a great hatred for his audience and seems confused and angered by their inability to ask him anything interesting.

  

  Loomis is obviously the symbol for modern man both need for and repulsion of violence in the media and in their daily lives. As much as people hurl hatred and anger upon killers and scoundrels, three times as many people can't get enough to feed their fascination for these same people. Loomis also appears representative of Zombie's own trafficking in the entertainment of killing as well as his great disdain for the viewing audience and the fans that gather around him at appearances. Several times Loomis is forced to put up with embarrassing and uncomfortable situations in order for him to peddle his wares to the public and I have to imagine that a lot of Zombie's own nihilistic hatred of these masses is shining through. Unfortunately these scenes only serve to strengthen the viewer's hatred of his character and the, at times, comical nature of his scenes greatly destroy the flow of the movie.

  Then there's Michael. In the first movie Zombie decided to step away from Carpenter's mysticism surrounding the character and decided instead to concentrate on Michael as a damaged person. Not an unstoppable evil creature bent on killing all who come in his way, but a damaged individual who is lashing out due to his childhood trauma and the trauma he received in the mental hospital. How then did he survive a shot to the face? The scene in which Michael is shown waking up and escaping from the ambulance is shown to be a bad dream of Laurie's. So when did he escape? Where is he exactly and why did it take him a year to start wandering to town?

  I'm going to have write between the lines and put in my own excuses that he escaped much like what happened in Laurie's dream (she "saw" it because they're connected see?) and then he wandered around the area in which he escaped somewhat aimlessly until anniversary of that fateful Halloween night once again arose and the ghost of his mother beckoned him to "unite the family". One of the hillbilly groups that he kills talked in such a manner that they appeared to know him and thus I would have to guess he was wandering somewhat dormant until he started seeing his mother and the symbolic white horse. Did I mention the white horse?

  

  So Sheri Moon Zombie returns as Michael's ghostly mother (with his internal child in tow of course) and pops in now and again beckoning Michael to find his sister and unite the family once more so they can all be together as one big happy family. This generally keeps Michael motivated to keep moving on down the road killing the horrible people that he encounters along the way. This is all well and good common movie symbolism but towards the last act of the movie she begins to pop in so often...

  

  that after a while...

  

  you just start to get annoyed when you see her...

  and then when she still won't stop showing up you just start to giggle after a while at her clumsy attempts to be the movie's big symbolic device that moves the film forward. She generally doesn't do much other than long for family unity, but in one instance she implores Michael to "have a little fun" with his victims much to his approval. Yesiree! You certainly won't miss or regret anybody's death in this film as pretty much everyone who is killed is just the most awful person you could ever meet. This oppressive nihilism of Zombie's really hampers the film as the over the top disgustingness of the majority of his victims just detaches one even further from the proceedings and pretty much destroys any tension that could possibly exist.

  Eschewing the shiny 35mm look of the first film H2 is shot in grimy dirty 16mm and is quite obviously every bit a Zombie film quite a bit more than the first. The '70s grind-house aesthetic is in full force here with blurry close-ups and off-centered shots being quite common. This is actually the best attraction to the film as I feel that Zombie does have a good eye for this s+yle of filming and I somehow keep hoping that he will find a good vehicle to showcase it. Unfortunately this film is not it as it is remarkably uneven and the flow of the film is hampered by quite a number of elements.

  I actually went into the film with positive thoughts. Zombie's first Halloween, although faulty, I thought had potential and I liked the fact that he approached it from a fresh angle as opposed to just makeing a retread. Zombie doesn't actually like slasher films and so I thought demystifying Michael and giving him a different persona might be interesting. But unfortunately the killings actually get in the way of Michael's justification to exist. In slasher films the killing is the thing. The body count is what drives the killer and the viewer. If you take the focus off of the killing and put in on the characters then you best develop those characters so the viewer has some kind of emotional investment in them. But Zombie just appears to hate all of his characters equally and so you just kind of watch the whole affair without any real interest or a care in the world.

  Stay away.

  

  Stay far away.

  • Posted Sep 1, 2009 3:27 am GMT
  • Category: Movies
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• 5Aug 09

  Give The Po' Man A Break!

  

  Things have been slowly coming to head for a number of years and decreased pay, less hours, mounting credit bills, some medical issues, car repairs, and my own massive stupidity have led to me to have very little cash in my coffers and the very real chance that things might take an increasingly ugly turn in the next year or so. But despite my history of depression and bouts of physical assaults against my own person I am attempting to saunter on down the road in a slightly ambivalent manner no matter where it may lead.

  Despite the rather realistic but dark tone of my opening statements this blog is more about the little things that I am doing or enjoying whilst I am cut off from what was once my regularly shed-yuled life. I do have a tendency to just accept the bad with the good and although I sometimes slip off into the abyss I have always had quite a gift for keeping myself occupied no matter what means I had at my disposal.

  

  Some years ago my car finally broke down for good and after years of adding to my credit debt in the hopes that each time a major problem occurred it would be the last, eventually I just couldn't afford to keep it running and sent it away to the graveyard. After a couple of years a good friend of mine gave me his slowly dying vehicle as he was getting a new car. This was AWESOME as I no longer had to bike for and hour and half to and from work and it greatly decreased the chance that I would be attacked on the street which has happened now and again during my life whilst biking around the big cities. Unfortunately after about 8 months the transmission died big time and thus it was back to huffing and puffing my way to work.

  Recently my bike fell apart as all the gears had slowly become stripped due to the heavy use it got. I'm particularly thin for cash and so I wasn't looking forward to having to pick up a new one as I imagined that the prices had probably increased since the last time I had bought one. So I wandered down to the local Target store to pick up a cheap but serviceable bicycle hoping that it wouldn't damage me too much financially. Much to my delight the prices had actually dropped quite a bit and it ended up only being around $170. I took the bike up to the register and I was told the bike was $95 which only furthered my delight and both mentally and financially (of course )!

  It's still a pain to bike around everywhere and I can't get to many places as it is L.A. but hey I'll take the good luck where I can get it.

  

  O.K. now you're going to laugh at this one. I've somewhat curbed my habit of eating out every day and I've been trying to buy more things to make sandwiches with and frozen foods that I can snack on that last a good week. I was sitting at the computer late one night and I realized that I couldn't remember the last time I had a grilled-cheese sandwich. It's odd but although it's a rather simple thing to make I realized that I've always lived with somebody that really liked to cook and that they always offered up the idea of cooking me up some cheesy goodness -- I've never made it myself. So odd. So I actually sat there for a minute or two wondering what does one do to a simple sandwich to make it all toasty and essentially a nummy-licious type of foodstuff?

  *thinks*

  Right! Right! Butter needs to go on the outside dummkopf!

  So happily I went about cooking me up my hot cheesy comestible...and I burnt it.

  Then I ate it and somehow it still seemed delicious even though burnt toast is usually the saddest thing ever. Honestly, when you burn toast you either throw it away or you just angrily eat it noting what a failure you are as you cry into your orange juice and the birds outside sing a derisive little song about your shortcomings. Bloody birds.

  But I sauntered on and now I'm a hot-cheese sammich making fool! I have a big preference for very sharp cheddar and occasionally I'll mix in some little bits 'o bacon. Good lord it's certainly a good thing that my metabolism is still somehow fairly high despite my ever increasing age otherwise I'd be quite a large-waisted man. But you know it's funny how something as simple as a sandwich can take me back to my childhood and make me feel all warm and happy inside.

  

  Sadly most of my good friends have eithered moved far away or they have acquired a regular working schedule that is the polar opposite of my regular routine. This has resulted in the fact that over the last few years I rarely get out to the theatre all that often. I don't have a problem going to theatre on my own, but as my always lesbian couple roommates (sorta odd factoid that) will attest, I have a tendency to putter around my house if left to my own devices as I easily can lose myself in the movies, books and music that I have littered around my place.

  But in an attempt to break that habit I've been venturing out into the big wide world and attending some viewings of movies that were actually released in the current year! As most people who know me know, I have a fondness for old movies and more often than not if I went out to the theatre it was some revival house featuring some silent or cult film. It's not that I dislike newer films, it's just that I tend to place a higher priority on movies that are hard to find or are rarely screened in a theatre setting. But since all those theatres are now on the other side of a small mountain I have been attempting to get out and watch some newer things while they are still all shiny and new to the general public as well and I actually find that I like that.

  I've noticed that writing tends make me a bit happier and so I've been attempting to write little reviews of some of the films that I've been watching for the past few months. My use of language is rather rough and pedestrian as I'm sorely out of practice and so it doesn't always flow as smoothly or as coherently as I would like. But I'm trying to ignore my shortcomings and just stumble along with the attitude that as improper as my language use may be, it's fairly representative of how I talk and so I suppose warts and all it's my voice. I do sometimes suffer bouts of mental confusion and have trouble focusing and have to take breaks now and again but overall I'm happy to do it as it helps me ruminate a bit more over the movies that I've just seen a bit more than I normally would. Here's where I've been writing my reviews but be prepared that I like to watch a rather odd assortment of movies.

  

  And finally we come to video games on my trusty XBox 360. The lady that you see above me is a comic book character from the Marvel universe so obscure that I'm fairly confindent that it would take you quite a long time before you found anybody who would recognized her. The lady's name is Lady Daemon and she is a character that I've had a fondness for quite some time. Along with Sumo Daemon she is my other alter ego profile on my 360 which I would use when I need a second player to get an achievement or my friend wants to keep a separate file for his accomplishments for a particular game that I have.

  For some reason despite the fact that I have unplayed games I've been going back and playing some old favorites on my Lady Daemon profile just to unlock the achievements that I already have on my primary profile all over again. Right now my big game of choice is the Tenchu Z game and after playing a series of stress filled moments of shooting and fighting as Sumo Daemon, it's kind of nice to relax and unwind late at night as a ninja who just slowly and very patiently waits for their next victim to stray too close...and then it's far too late.

  

  But when all is said is done I'm not attempting to garner sympathy or rail at the fates for the trials and tribulations that come my way in this rather wordy missive. I'm just merely taking note of how changes forced upon me are closing some door but opening others. Hopefully I'll be better off for the change when I'm eventually in a more healthy position, but for now I'm just going to make the best of what I have and try to live my little life in my little corner of the world. Besides, I'm sure my cat is happy with all the extra house time that I'm getting. Or is she? Hmmmmmm....

  • Posted Aug 5, 2009 12:54 am GMT
  • Category: Humor
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