Hey! So, apparently I took a weekend off from blogging. Sorry. I wish I could say it won't happen again, but if you look at my track record, it is almost guaranteed to happen again. And soon. But I was in Vancouver last weekend! This is my excuse. I never seem to blog when I'm away. I started one in the airport on my way back but I got bored... But now it's my usual before-work-on-a-Saturday coffee and blogging time, so here goes!
Since my last blog post, much has happened. And by that, I mean not much has happened, but I can still make something out of it. The super-awesome weekend of TV came and went. I could tell you how awesome Doctor Who and Game of Thrones were, but you watched them so you already know. DON'T YOU.
While I was away in Van I went with my good buddy Andrea to her meet-up group, Nerd HQ! It's this great group of nerds that get together every Friday evening (as well as various other times) to enjoy some form of nerdy culture. The focus starting last week has shifted to Doctor Who and GoT, so it was a great night. It's always held at La Fontana Caffe, a great little place at Boundary and Hastings, and the owner makes some really great food. Plus he's awesome. So it was pretty great to hang out with some fun nerdy people, eat some delicious food, and watch some great TV. Plus there was karaoke. OH! And this one guy sang a song while doing a perfect Gollum voice. SO GREAT.
What else is new? Jurassic Park 3D is in theatres right now. I saw that with Rob, Andrea, and some of the nerds. That movie will never stop being awesome. I could take or leave the 3D, but I was a kid when it came out originally so this was my first time seeing it on the big screen. The movie STILL makes me jump, even though I know what's coming.
Also on the subject of movies, I saw the Host last night with my Mom, and we both really enjoyed it. I've never read the book, but she has, and apparently they did a pretty decent job of sticking to the story. There's plenty cut for time, but it was done well. I might have to go read the book now, 'cause it was a really good story.
I FINALLY finished reading the Mark of Athena this week. It only took me several months. I still don't know why it took me so long 'cause I liked the book! I love the story, the characters, the writing. I'm just a bad reader I guess. Except that I started the Rise of Nine (third book of the Lorien Legacies series, think I Am Number Four) right after that, and I'm already just about halfway through. This is another series I've really been enjoying. The books themselves are really good, but they've also got mini-e-books that they release alongside the main story, usually delving into the past of characters just introduced or mentioned in the main series. It's a good way to keep interest in the story even when there's not a new full book in the series to read.
Anyway, it's time to head to work now, so this is it for this week. Maybe one day I'll actually find a real focus to this blog so it's not so all-over-the-place. But that's kind of how my mind works. Oh well. Happy Saturday! And happy new episode of Doctor Who day!
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Do-you-think-he-saurus Rex
So, I'm not sure what's going on, but I seem to have a bit of a dinosaur obsession right now. Specifically with Jurassic Park. I've always really liked dinosaurs. Not enough to study them or know the difference between a brontosaurus and a brachiosaurus. But enough that I love the Jurassic Park movies, and I was devastated by the cancellation of Terra Nova.
For years now I've had the habit of occasionally doing a google search for Jurassic Park 4. And for years there have been little bits of news here and there that its coming, but never anything concrete. Just that there's a producer attached, and a writer is working on it, and then a new writer has taken over, and various bits of useless information.
But the wait is over! Sorta. There is finally a release date, and things are happening! June 13, 2014 is the date to remember. It's a ways off yet, and there's no director yet, but it's gonna happen! I'm seriously excited for this! I want to know what direction they'll take with it, which characters they'll bring back (if any), what dinosaurs will show up, where it'll take place, all that stuff!
I've also gotten somewhat obsessed with the Jurassic Park Builder app on the iPhone/iPad. It's one of those freemium games, where the app is free, and you don't HAVE to pay any money to use it, but to speed up building times and all that, you need to use you cash, which you can earn in game or buy for real money. Anyway! I've gotten obsessed with it. I keep expanding my park, and getting new dinosaurs, evolving them, levelling them up, and completing quests set forth by the characters from the movies. It's a very simple game, but it's a little bit addictive. I now split my time pretty evenly between that and DragonVale, my other favourite iOS app.
My other new obsession is Jurassic Park: The Game for Xbox 360. My friend Sylvie bought it for me the other day as my birthday present, and I've already played through most of it, but you know me! I'll have to play through again to try to unlock all of the achievements. It's a relatively simple game. You mostly just follow along the story, but it gives you options for dialogue and let's you search for what you have to do. And when action sequences come up you've got to hit various times commands to make it through the scene. Quite often these are dinosaur encounters, and I've already lost count on how many times I've missed commands and ended up dead. I'm starting to feel guilty at how many times I've had to listen to the characters cry over each other's deaths.
The game is pretty fun, and it gives a lot more backstory on the island, plus it follows up on the lost barbasol can with the dinosaur embryos hidden in it. None of the movie characters really appear, but there are plenty of references to the movie, and early on you come across a lot of familiar locations where the movie characters have clearly JUST vacated the scene.
So that's it, the past, present, and future of Jurassic Park (not necessarily in that order). I'm thinking after work today is going to involve some more escaping from dinosaurs. Oh! Last I played I had just gotten to a part with a giant underwater dinosaur! Gotta see what happens with that! Until then... work...
For years now I've had the habit of occasionally doing a google search for Jurassic Park 4. And for years there have been little bits of news here and there that its coming, but never anything concrete. Just that there's a producer attached, and a writer is working on it, and then a new writer has taken over, and various bits of useless information.
But the wait is over! Sorta. There is finally a release date, and things are happening! June 13, 2014 is the date to remember. It's a ways off yet, and there's no director yet, but it's gonna happen! I'm seriously excited for this! I want to know what direction they'll take with it, which characters they'll bring back (if any), what dinosaurs will show up, where it'll take place, all that stuff!
I've also gotten somewhat obsessed with the Jurassic Park Builder app on the iPhone/iPad. It's one of those freemium games, where the app is free, and you don't HAVE to pay any money to use it, but to speed up building times and all that, you need to use you cash, which you can earn in game or buy for real money. Anyway! I've gotten obsessed with it. I keep expanding my park, and getting new dinosaurs, evolving them, levelling them up, and completing quests set forth by the characters from the movies. It's a very simple game, but it's a little bit addictive. I now split my time pretty evenly between that and DragonVale, my other favourite iOS app.
My other new obsession is Jurassic Park: The Game for Xbox 360. My friend Sylvie bought it for me the other day as my birthday present, and I've already played through most of it, but you know me! I'll have to play through again to try to unlock all of the achievements. It's a relatively simple game. You mostly just follow along the story, but it gives you options for dialogue and let's you search for what you have to do. And when action sequences come up you've got to hit various times commands to make it through the scene. Quite often these are dinosaur encounters, and I've already lost count on how many times I've missed commands and ended up dead. I'm starting to feel guilty at how many times I've had to listen to the characters cry over each other's deaths.
The game is pretty fun, and it gives a lot more backstory on the island, plus it follows up on the lost barbasol can with the dinosaur embryos hidden in it. None of the movie characters really appear, but there are plenty of references to the movie, and early on you come across a lot of familiar locations where the movie characters have clearly JUST vacated the scene.
So that's it, the past, present, and future of Jurassic Park (not necessarily in that order). I'm thinking after work today is going to involve some more escaping from dinosaurs. Oh! Last I played I had just gotten to a part with a giant underwater dinosaur! Gotta see what happens with that! Until then... work...
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Thor! And Other Marvel Films
I have been really impressed with the quality of movies Marvel has been putting out lately.
Iron Man: Top notch! The first of the new Avengers themed/lead-up movies that really raised the bar!
Incredible Hulk: Great! Huuuuuuuuge improvement over the previous iteration (which I consider unwatchable, so anything would have been an improvement).
Iron Man 2: Almost as good as the first one, and still fantastic! And then...
Thor: Just all kinds of awesome! I have literally no complaints at all! (except that it was in 3D...)
I love these movies 'cause they all tie in together. Each one has little nods to the others and they build off of each other. Thor had it's fair share of that. They mention Tony Stark and refer to Bruce Banner, and the inclusion of Agent Coulson in a more prominent role, along with SHIELD making more of a presence made this movie a lot of fun. Also, Clint Barton (AKA Hawkeye!)!! And that is all just the extras!
I am really not much of a Thor fan, so I was going into this movie knowing very little about the character and his history, not to mention the cast of supporting characters. I really enjoyed my introduction to Thor and the other gods of Asgard, as well as Jane Foster (and the clever way they mentioned Dr. Donald Blake). So much so that I had to go online afterwards and spend hours researching.
It's interesting that these Marvel Studios movies are so fantastic, while all of their co-produced films are just kinda crap in comparison. I am really excited for X-Men: First Class this summer, but I know it won't be the same calibre of film. It's gotta be better than X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but really, I could make a better movie in my backyard (if I had a backyard) than that Wolverine film. Marvel needs to rope in the rights on all of it's different franchises and take creative control back 'cause all of these different co-productions are killing Marvel movies. I think it would be awesome if we could see little cameos and mentions in all of Marvel's movies. Have Spider-Man swing by in the background of an X-Men film. Have the Avengers consult with Beast. Mister Fantastic video conference with the leaders of the other major Marvel teams. Or just the casual mentions of other Marvel characters in the films. No more of these completely separate universes.
Anyway... The next major Marvel film will be Captain America: The First Avenger this summer (while Andrea and I are at Comic-Con!) and I really can't wait! It looks like another great one (even if it is gonna be in 3D...). What do you think of Marvel movies? Fan? Not-so-much? Lemme know!
If you'd like a proper review of this movie, visit my good pal Andrea's blog. I agree with her on most parts. Except Natalie Portman. I loved her in this movie.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Oscars
So, I am currently watching the Oscars. Not how I had planned on watching them, which was decked out in my nicest clothes at my friend Angie's place for her Oscar party. The plan was to dress up and bring some celebrity themes food and whatnot. But! Due to the crazy snow coming down outside, the party was cancelled, so I am sitting here in my Charizard pajama pants watching the Oscars on my couch.
Now, one of the fun parts about watching the Oscars is predicting the winners. Well, it's supposed to be fun. But I never seem to have any luck with the predictions. For some reason, all of the movies that I think look really boring are always the ones that make it into the Oscars. The movies that I think are awesome? Not a one. That's not actually true though, 'cause a few movies that I really liked were nominated, but I'll be amazed if they actually win anything.
It would also help if I actually understood what the categories meant. I have no idea what the eff cinematography is. And how in the world am I supposed to judge sound editing? Or film editing? Sound mixing? Is that different than editing? I've also got this problem with choosing the movies that I want to win versus the movies that I think will actually win. For example, The Social Network is probably going to do really well again, but I have no interest in watching a movie about Facebook. I already don't trust Facebook and think Zuckerberg is a douche.
So it is not surprising that so far my score is two for seven. I'm actually impressed with that score. I'm thinking I probably won't get any more right, but I will update you if I do.
I've never really paid attention to the Oscars before. Last year was the first time I'd ever actually sat down and watched them and did the whole prediction thing, and that was only because I was invited to an Oscar party at my good buddy Andrea's place. Since then Andrea has moved away from the frozen north, so we're keeping track online. Andrea, her mom, our friend Kim, and I all submitted our predictions, and Andrea is tracking them on twitter. Surprisingly, Andrea, the big movie buff, is not in the lead at the moment. Oh, correction, it's just been tied across the board... minus me...
This just kind of proves that I should never be a movie reviewer. I know what I like, but I don't know what makes a "good movie" apparently. I should be the nerd movie reviewer. Is the a geek awards show? There should be. If not, I'm gonna start the anti-Oscars. The awards show for all the movies that are actually good. The categories will be more interesting too. There will be Coolest Super Hero Movie. Best Alien Movie. Best Action Movie. And the best lead actor and actress would be whatever hotties were in those movies and not some boring people like most awards shows. And there would be a Suckiest Movie category. For movies that are lame. Like The Social Network.
Latest update, I am now at three points out of twelve. Rock on. My favourite part about this awards show is the hosts. Anne Hathaway and James Franco are both really awesome. Anne sung a song dissing the sexiest man alive (Hugh Jackman) and James has come onstage in drag. And there was an old man hitting on Anne at the beginning, and I thought he might die before he got through with the category. Apparently he's a big deal so I am probably being rude. But he was actually hilarious.
I think I've rambled on long enough for one post, so I'm gonna leave it here with my score sitting at 5 out of 16! Not as bad as I thought I'd be at! I'll give an extra update with my final score once the show is over.
Now, one of the fun parts about watching the Oscars is predicting the winners. Well, it's supposed to be fun. But I never seem to have any luck with the predictions. For some reason, all of the movies that I think look really boring are always the ones that make it into the Oscars. The movies that I think are awesome? Not a one. That's not actually true though, 'cause a few movies that I really liked were nominated, but I'll be amazed if they actually win anything.
It would also help if I actually understood what the categories meant. I have no idea what the eff cinematography is. And how in the world am I supposed to judge sound editing? Or film editing? Sound mixing? Is that different than editing? I've also got this problem with choosing the movies that I want to win versus the movies that I think will actually win. For example, The Social Network is probably going to do really well again, but I have no interest in watching a movie about Facebook. I already don't trust Facebook and think Zuckerberg is a douche.
So it is not surprising that so far my score is two for seven. I'm actually impressed with that score. I'm thinking I probably won't get any more right, but I will update you if I do.
I've never really paid attention to the Oscars before. Last year was the first time I'd ever actually sat down and watched them and did the whole prediction thing, and that was only because I was invited to an Oscar party at my good buddy Andrea's place. Since then Andrea has moved away from the frozen north, so we're keeping track online. Andrea, her mom, our friend Kim, and I all submitted our predictions, and Andrea is tracking them on twitter. Surprisingly, Andrea, the big movie buff, is not in the lead at the moment. Oh, correction, it's just been tied across the board... minus me...
This just kind of proves that I should never be a movie reviewer. I know what I like, but I don't know what makes a "good movie" apparently. I should be the nerd movie reviewer. Is the a geek awards show? There should be. If not, I'm gonna start the anti-Oscars. The awards show for all the movies that are actually good. The categories will be more interesting too. There will be Coolest Super Hero Movie. Best Alien Movie. Best Action Movie. And the best lead actor and actress would be whatever hotties were in those movies and not some boring people like most awards shows. And there would be a Suckiest Movie category. For movies that are lame. Like The Social Network.
Latest update, I am now at three points out of twelve. Rock on. My favourite part about this awards show is the hosts. Anne Hathaway and James Franco are both really awesome. Anne sung a song dissing the sexiest man alive (Hugh Jackman) and James has come onstage in drag. And there was an old man hitting on Anne at the beginning, and I thought he might die before he got through with the category. Apparently he's a big deal so I am probably being rude. But he was actually hilarious.
I think I've rambled on long enough for one post, so I'm gonna leave it here with my score sitting at 5 out of 16! Not as bad as I thought I'd be at! I'll give an extra update with my final score once the show is over.
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