Monday, June 23, 2008

People Who Comment On Things They Hate Based Off What They Hate = Stupidity

Alright, something has been bugging me for a while now. As human's, it's only natural for us to like somethings and hate others. I'd be lying if I said people and I didn't disagree with things regarding tastes: movies, music, books, etc. I myself am a cover artist on youtube for the most part. On that site, I get both praise and insults. Now here's the thing that bothers me: hating my work when hating the original work. For those of you who need me to elaborate, let me explain. I've done a few cover songs as a show of respect for the original artists. If you don't like my rendition, I'm fine with that; I don't care if you don't like my singing, my guitar playing, or just me in general. However, when a person who hates the original song played by the original artist comes up and says they hate my rendition as much as the original, I'm sorry, that's just plain stupidity.

The point of a cover is to try and entertain the people who like the original and/ or show your respects towards the artist. It doesn't make sense for a person who hated the song and/ or artist to come up and say something like "I hated the original and you suck just as much!" My only response to that is "If you hated the original than why the hell did you decide to 'listen' to mine you f**king troll?" It annoys me to think that there are people out there who are so starved for attention that they just decide to flame someone. I'm curious, do these people think that this makes them feel bigger and more important than they really are? If they do, they are sorely mistaken; their comments just make them look like jackasses, and let's face it, they probably are.

I'm up for free speech and all, and I don't care if you hate me or not. However, I'm never happy if people hate me for the wrong reasons like the one I just described about. Of course, this applies to many situations that go far beyond myself. This applies to all forms of entertainment: movies, music, comics, and whatever else adapted something. If you don't like the original, don't watch/ listen/ read the adaptation. All these people do is look for an excuse to say something and waste everyone elses time in the process. May these hypocrites get what comes to them be insulted to the point where they feel as low as desired level of misery they tried to inflict on others.

George Carlin Dead at 71; One Act No One Will Find Funny


Well, as many of you heard (or at least some of you) George Carlin has passed away at the age of 71 due to heart failure. The associated press had this to say:

"George Carlin, who died of heart failure Sunday at 71, leaves behind not only a series of memorable routines, but a legal legacy: His most celebrated monologue, a frantic, informed riff on those infamous seven words, led to a Supreme Court decision on broadcasting offensive language.

Carlin, who had a history of heart trouble, went into St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica on Sunday afternoon complaining of chest pain and died later that evening, said his publicist, Jeff Abraham. He had performed as recently as last weekend at the Orleans Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas.
"

I can honestly say this is probably one of the biggest deaths of the year. George Carlin was one of my favorite comedians/ actors to ever grace the stages. What can I say? He was a very, very funny man. The fact that he is gone is just sad. I remember him starring in my favorite movies, and it was him that made them more enjoyable when he appeared: Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike back, and several others.

His stand up was offensive yes, but he actually had intelligence behind it. His humor more than made us realize the stupidity or truths of various facts of life. The fact that nobody can hear it live again is definitely depressing. George Carlin, you will be missed.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Guitar Hero 4: World Tour and Why It'll Beat Rock Band

As many of you know, Rock Band is the greatest music game out, allowing people to play drums, bass and lead guitar, and allow singing as well. However, Guitar Hero 4, aka Guitar Hero: World Tour, is shaping up to be quite the game. After reading up on it, I have got to say... it isn't Guitar Hero. Instead, it's an even greater version of Rock Band. I'm very certain it'll put Rock Band to shame as well. After reading up on it, I have my reasons.

IMPROVED INSTRUMENTS
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I've just read up on some of the instruments, and I've got to say, I'm heavily impressed. They look awesome, and each instrument have had upgrades compared the Rock Band counter-parts. First off, the guitar now has multiple functions to truly simulate the feel of a real guitar. First off, there is now a touch strip that you can use to alter pitches. You can run your fingers up and down the strip to adjust the notes, which works considerably better than the whammy bar as reported by some. Of course, the whammy bar is still in for those holding-notes. The guitar has has guitar tilting to adjust the notes, and interestingly enough, the guitar allows palm-muting. They've made this into one versatile instrument.

The drum set has also been improved in several areas. First off, it's grown from 5 buttons (four pads and a base pedal) to 6 (5 buttons and a pedal). And with this add on, comes an adjustment in design, which works for the better. It's now a two level drum set that's been given a fairly sturdy design. With these designs come some new features as well. What's interesting is that they were able to make the pads pressure sensitive. Basically, the volume of the instrument is based upon how hard you hit. The harder, the louder! The other thing that's great is that the drum set is wireless. No hassle setting it up and trying to find a place to plug it in when there are wires all about. It's all ready for you!

MUSIC CREATOR
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A new feature to the game that I also welcome is the Music Creator. That's right, every musicians dream has come true; GH allows makers to make their own music, using drums, bass, and rhythm and lead guitar. Unfortunately, one is not allowed to make songs with vocals. Most likely this would be due to pitch problems, because we all know how the slightest waver in vocals reults in a huge change in pitch. Apparently, the game allows you to save up to a hundred songs as well, which is quite impressive.

CHARACTER/ INSTRUMENT CREATOR
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Yes, Rock Band has a character creator. Let's remember though, that this is Neversoft's game, who were the creators of the oh so great (but lately unoriginal) Tony Hawk games, which created a character creator system that was second only to the THQ WWE series. GH is going to have a character creation system that is just as good as the Tony Hawk games. So epect one that is more liberal than that of Rock Band. It's also possible to make your own instruments (technically). You're allowed to make custom shaped and decalled instruments for your character, which is another neat addition.

For those of you who are looking forward to this game, I can pretty much assure you that this game will be a major improvement. New features, new gameplay modes (apparently the boss battles have been changed to a "Simon Says" style game), and new instrument styles, I've gotta say this will be a game that will entertain me for years to come. I just hope that it meets my expectations. To anyone who wants to talk about it, what do you all think of it?

Movie Review: The Love Guru


I have to say, I found it impossible to love "The Love Guru." The movie was very juvenile, unintelligent, and rather "punderful." I've got to say, I expected to be some like "You Don't Mess With the Zohan," a stupid movie, but the good kind. Unfortunately, I found out otherwise. Zohan at least had some intelligence in some of its jokes (courtesy of Judd Apatow), and it was so unbelievably zany that I could look past its stupidity. Unfortunately, "Love Guru" had none of the qualities. Usually I like Mike Myers movies, no matter how bad they were. But this... there was no way I could appreciate it.

PLOT
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The plot centers on the Guru Pitka (Mike Meyers), a Guru who specializes in helping people with troubled relationships and self-help, but despite his success, he is only considered the second best, following the Guru Chopka. He hopes to get a fame boost by helping out a trouble hockey star named Darren Roanoake (Romany Malco), whose wife is together with rival hockey star Jacques "la coq" Grande (Justin Timberlake) when he is hired by the Toronto Maple Leaves' owner Jane Bullard (Jessica Alba) and coach Punch Cherkov (Verne Troyer). As he tries to help Darren, he realizes that he is bettering himself because, as he puts it so blatantly "my greatest student became by greatest teacher... or some bullshit like that." It's basically like any self help movie: he tries to help someone, falls for a woman, does something wrong and tries to make ammends, which results in a victory for himself and the others that he tries to help. I don't mind if it had been done before... I just want it done well, and other movies have done it better, like "Analyze This."

COMEDY
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As I said, the humor is pretty stupid and juvenile, lacking ANY intelligence that would make these jokes funny. I will admit, some of the jokes made me chuckle, but that's about it. It was more based on the delivery rather than actual humor. Jim Gaffigan and Stephen Colbert were sportcasters, who delivered their lines perfectly, which actually got me to chuckle as often as I did. As for the humor itself, as stated, they were incredible juvenile. They were basically sex puns that you'd hear fellow high schoolers throw about each other. Others were jokes that were trying to get laughs through shock value (one of them almost succeeded too, getting me to scoff and chuckle in one run). So long story short... the humor is meant for the young and stupid... and I was surrounded by the young and stupid apparently.

OTHER NOTES
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I've got to say, this was truly the most disappointing movie I've seen since Epic Movie. It wasn't quite as bad (I LEFT Epic Movie), but it was close. If it wasn't for the intermittent chuckles it gave me, I WOULD have left. I was also disappointed by the wasted talent that was in this movie: Mike Meyers, Stephen Colbert, Jim Gaffigan, Romany Malco, etc. There was one truly redeemable thing about this movie: the music. Hearing sitar and guitar renditions of some of my favorite tunes such as "More Than Words" or "The Joker" was entertaining. I found myself singing along to them and smiling rather happily. All I can say is that you need to avoid this movie unless you like completely idiotic humor. If it wasn't for some decent delivery from some actors that gave me chuckles, and an outtake with Troyer that made me laugh (that's right, an outtake was the best part of the movie), I'd say the movie was one of the worst movies ever made... actually it probably is.

Score: 1.5/10

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Movie Review: The Strangers



I understand what this movie was going for: the actual feel of terror that's based on mood, not by cheap shots. Well, it attained half of its goal. Throughout the movie, I felt that it was creepy, but not necessarily scary. Then again, the level of fear that's effective against one person isn't nearly as effective against others. So, I'll go point by point, and maybe that'll make a better understanding of what I felt.

Plot
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Couple of lovers who are apparently having a rather stressful day go up to a remote home, although under different circumstances than what was planned. Everything seems alright until a girl asks for someone that doesn't live there. Soon, the girl obviously comes back with others to bring havoc to the couple who try to find a way to outwit and escape their stalkers. Pretty generic, but serviceable. For those of you who want a comparison, think of "Vacancy," except with motives with as much meaning to it as "The Hitcher."

Acting
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I will admit for a horror movie, I was impressed. I found the acting from Tyler and Speedman to be very believable. As stated by some others, they acted like they were truly frightened and panicked. It felt like they really were being stalked by a bunch of psycho's.

Mood
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As I stated before, it constantly has a creepy mood to it. Sound and visuals are used in the appropriate place to set the mood. However, despite it actually being creepy, it was never actually SCARY. I found myself sitting in my seat calm and serene as I watched the movie play out. I suppose the reason it didn't really feel scary was because the movie felt predictable. Sure, I got a few shock jumps, but it was easy to see it all coming: when and where a person was going to jump out from, would the couple be alright by the end of the movie (I will say this, the beginning kind of gave you an idea, but even then, another moment with that ending felt predictable), etc. It just wasn't anything new, and therefore, I had no reason to be scared. I will say though, there WAS an instance that I definitely found surprising, and it was probably one of the more effective parts of the movie. I'm not gonna say much, but I will say a friend was involved.

DIRECTION
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These characters were given tight direction that resulted in a well paced, and intelligently acted (no pun intended) scenario. The actors were never idle and were always moving around the right way based on the scenario. They acted accordingly and intelligently in a situation that could have been deemed threatening or otherwise... of course, that's just my opinion. Also, I would have to say this would tie in with the mood, as it definitely kept the creepy mood going. However, it seemed that Liv Tyler's character was forced to do some rather... well, "curiosity killed the cat" actions that came right out of a teenage slasher flick.

OTHER NOTES
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I have to say, as a first try by the director/ screenwriter, he did a very good job in trying to break free from the traditional "horror" movie. However, despite intentions of trying things new, his efforts fell flat. It seemed like the movie tried a bit too hard and ended up feeling like your usual horror film. It's a little hard to describe it. All I can say is that despite trying to do something different, the director didn't do it the right way. It eventually became extremely predictable, relied on jumpy moments to deliver the scares (and as I said, you could see them coming), and felt like it eventually turned into another typical horror flick. It's good for a single watch, but after that... well, it's best to leave it alone.

Score: 5 out of 10

Get Smart and Love Guru: Double Contenders

Well, it looks like Get Smart and Love Guru are involved in more things things then one. As we all know, they are contenders for the #1 spot in the box office this week, with Get Smart being the predicted winner. However, they're already apparently predicted contenders in another competition: the Razzies. The IMDB studio briefing had this to say:

"Mike Myers's The Love Guru , which is being released on Friday, is receiving so many blistering early reviews that Los Angeles Times writer Tom O'Neil, who tracks films up for major awards in his column "Gold Derby," is predicting that the film may be a shoo-in for the Razzie for worst film of the year. For example, Moira Macdonald in the Seattle Times calls it "preadolescent humor with a few sitars thrown in." But Kirk Honeycutt in the Hollywood Reporter observes that Guru will have competition for the worst-film title from Get Smart, which also opens on Friday. Honeycutt concludes: "Quite possibly Love Guru will out-awful Get Smart.""

I have to say, I was a little surprised that these movies were already being thrown up for possible Razzies. I went over to Rotten Tomatoes, and I have to say that Get Smart seems to be in the clear... but Love Guru is understandably a a fair choice for a razzie. It already only has an 10% approval rating. I have to say that actually worries me. It's possible that it's just on a slow start, given how it hasn't hit its wide release yet. Or, it's just a crappy movie. I'm not too sure. Personally, I'm still going to watch both despite the reviews. I'm still going to be rooting for Get Smart though. I hope Love Guru isn't THAT bad. Well, time will tell this weekend. Hopefully I'll at least be entertained.

Gears of War Movie: Decent Director, Qestionable Writer


Well, as many of us learned, we have our main makers of the "Gears of War" movie, Len Wiseman as the director, who directed Live Free or Die Hard and the Underworld movies, and Chris Morgan to write, who was the writer of Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Cellular, and the upcoming Wanted movie. Now, some might wonder if this is good or bad. In my opinion, it's... possible it'll be good. I feel that the director shouldn't have any trouble, but the writer is another story. I have my reasons for thinking this.

Les Wiseman
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He did an excellent job directing all his movies. Live Free or Die Hard had the manic, crazy action that one would want to see in a Gears of War movie. We had plenty of mayhem going around, which was especially showcased fairly when all of the street-wide technology went down. In Underworld, we see plenty of action that resembles the Gears of War game play: military operatives taking out any enemy they see right on sight. Now I will admit, I didn't like the second Underworld movie that much. It had a lame plot, some pretty bad acting, and some other problems. It just shows me that Wiseman is a better director than writer. Let's all remember, he's sticking to directing. So basically, we have the man who can handle mayhem AND stylish action. So I feel we have nothing to worry about here.

Chris Morgan
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Chris Morgan... he's got two movies on his resume. One was (kinda) hit, the other was (fairly) miss. Cellular was decent in my opinion. The movie was written to be fast paced, sensible, and had some decent dialogue. The premise was pretty good as well. FatF: TD, on the other hand... well, let me just say it was entertaining at least. Of course, if you've seen this movie, you'll realize that this contrasts Cellular to a greater degree. The premise was meh (then again, it was the THIRD FatF movie... still better than the second I suppose), dialogue was pretty bad, but on the plus side, it was all about the fast paced action. Although when I think about it, Gears wasn't about the dialogue. Then again, it was a game. When it's a game, you want to just destroy everything around you... the dialogue just had to be well acted. I still don't know what to think about this writer. I'll officially know what to think when Wanted comes out. If the writing appears to be in his favor, than I'll be comfortable with him writing Gears. For now... I just worry a smidge.

So, in my opinion, Gears has potential. Decent director with a questionable writer (but one who has potential, and I have my hopes for Wanted). It looks like with these two choices, Gears has a better chance of being good than bad. I hope it goes with those chances. For those of you who have their opinions, talk about what you think about this. Do you think these were wise choices?

Movie Review of the Day: You Don't Mess With the Zohan


You Don't Mess With the Zohan is Sandler's latest comedy to hit theaters. I have to say though, this isn't necessarily his strongest movie. I'm not saying it's bad... I'm just saying it's not something I'd want to watch a second time. Normally I'm a Sandler fan; I loved Anger Management, Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison, and Big Daddy to name the ones I HAVE seen. This one... just felt a bit TOO wacky I suppose. It was the good kind of wack at first, but it soon became a repetitive wack that just became dull.

PLOT
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As most of you know from the trailers, this is a movie about an Israeli counter-terrorist named Zohan (Sandler) who fakes his own death at the hands of a super-terrorist by the name of The Phantom (John Turturro), in order to start his new life as a hair stylist. I think as a main plot, it was serviceable as a Sandler one. It was goofy, something that didn't have to be taken seriously, and for the most part succeeds in the beginning. However, watching this with my father (who for the most part is another Sandler fan), we noticed the story eventually became uneven, throwing in several other story arcs, including a revenge plot from an Arab who had his goat taken from him after insulting the Zohan, The Phantom trying to kill the Zohan sub plot (which occurs in the beginning and continues near the end), the romance sub plot, and the growing tensions on the street between Arabs and Israelis... and an evil corporate tycoon trying to use that tension to his advantage to buy out everything. Basically, it suffered from the Spider-man 3 syndrome (aka too much is going on at once). It made the story feel uneven and disjointed. Really, the tycoon story felt kinda thrown in there, as it really served no purpose to the plot. Although Rob Schneider was a funny character, his character and plot really didn't fit in there as well, making it drag on. The fact that it constantly went here and there with everything just threw the balance. Then again, given the fact that there were 3 writers, its safe to say it was bound to happen.

COMEDY
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I will admit it, the humor was stupid, but it was the good kind... at first. I admit that in the first hour, I laughed my head off as the movie progressed. However, as they basically used the same joke over and over again, I found myself laughing less and less... to the point where I was lucky to even chuckle. So basically what I'm saying is that the humor wasn't bad, it was just overdone. That was the key difference I found in this Sandler movie; usually it wasn't the same joke over and over again, and if they did repeat a joke, they gave it some time before they went back to it.

I have to say the cameos were probably the best part of the movie; seeing people like Chris Rock, Kevin James, and Mariah Carey pop up was delightful. I found it humorous how Mariah Carey was a complete self-absorbed diva (she might be, I don't know, but she did a good job acting out of character), and seeing Kevin James just compare Johnny McEnroe, who we all remember being a total "bad boy" in Mr. Deeds, to the terrorists was funny as well. I have to say though that seeing a red-neck fall into a gay party with George Takei and Dom Deluise just took the cake. I busted into laughter at Takei's reaction to his entry (if you've ever seen the Family Guy episode where Peter sues Dr. Hartman, you know exactly what to expect).

OTHER NOTES
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Granted, there are less things to talk about then my other reviews, but in a movie that begs to be taken seriously, you have to focus more on the acting, direction, and other factors compared to a movie such as this. I would like to talk about the movie's message though. Something that I did find decent was that it constantly tried to show a message of peace, comparing the Arabs and Israelis and showing how ridiculous the fighting really is. It's definitely on of the riskier group to preach this message to, seeing how tense the relationship is between the two nationalities. It's even riskier given how the movie makes fun of them. So in closing, it's a funny movie, and it gives a message... but it only stays funny for a little while. The unfocused and uneven plot really didn't help either.

Score: 4.5 out of 10

A Birth of a Blog

Well then, this is one small post for man... and, that's about it. Anyway, I'd like to welcome you all to the Multi-Media Blog headquarters. As stated, this will be a place where I will constantly talk about various forms of media regarding video games, movies, and most likely other bits of technology that appear to be major in our oh so interesting lives. Anyway, for those who come here, I hope you have an interesting time and receive the news and input that you all want and deserve. So sit down, relax, and read some posts. Have a good day, everyone.