Who's Hands Are These?

So guess what guys.  I found tumblr; or maybe it found me...  I've always known it was there, and my friends have been on it for ages, but I've always refused to become involved.  Until now... Until now I've become the very thing I swore to destroy...

Whether I post anything original will be one thing, but re blogging is just as dangerous.

I will still be doing my reviews and such on here when I finally get around to consuming any new material, so don't worry I haven't abandoned you.

Until next time, tumblr.

Film Review: Vehicle 19

Vehicle 19 is a new movie starring Paul Walker (Fast and Furious, The Lazerous Project) that didn't really get the kind of prerelease advertising campaign it might have deserved.  Of course the lack of immediate popularity adds a little bit to it's charm, so maybe that's for the best.  Now I'm not going to say anything about it right now except for the 'back of DVD' equivalent synopsis.

Vehicle 19 is all about Michael, an alleged criminal from the US who goes to visit his ex-wife who works in foreign affairs at the US embassy in South Africa.  Little does he know, he's about to be catapulted head first into the middle of an international human trafficker's plot to murder a woman who's only crime is wanting to expose the truth.

Now if you want to see this movie without having any preconceptions about it, see it now and don't read any further.  I'm not going to go into spoilers yet, but the next thing I'm about to talk about may take away slightly from the unexpected cool-factor.  You've been warned.

So this film had a lot of good qualities about it.  You know, good special effects, significantly above par acting (mostly), and a good - albeit more simple - plot.  However the thing that really makes Vehicle 19 special and as awesome as it is, is the camera.  Oh there were a lot of cool angles?  Yeah there were a few, but that's not what I'm talking about. Good use of focusing?  Yeah a lot of that too, but still not what I'm talking about.  What I'm talking about is the fact that the whole film simultaneously takes place in two locations and in dozens.  Come on Nick, what are you on about now?  I'm going to start with the second of the two locations and work back for dramatic effect here.  The second location is a parking lot, and there is one shot there.  The camera zooms out and then tilts up.  Yup, that's the whole second and final shot of the movie.  It lasts about 20 seconds.  Now as for the first and (one could argue) only other location, it's the inside of a minivan.  That's right, the entire movie save 20 seconds at the end takes place in a minivan.  So now you see what I meant by simultaneously two locations and dozens.  Walker's character drives around for the whole movie and the camera never leaves that van except for that final shot.

It is not very common anymore to find films that both do something really awesomely artistic like that, and are actually good.  The first example of a similar movie which comes to mind that was really quite good as well is a movie called "Cellular" starring Chris Evans where essentially the entire film revolves around one phone call.  It's awesome, I love that movie, you should go watch that if you like Vehicle 19.  Even if you don't, it's different enough that you might still like Cellular.  Sounds like I have to do a Cellular review too huh?  I'll get on that I suppose.  Anywho, moving right along...

Having the whole movie take place in a minivan might seem like it would get tedious very quickly, but it is done in such a way that sometimes you actually forget you're watching everything happen from inside a little 6x12 foot space (or however big a minivan is).  Although the camera stays in the van, the characters do not share the same restriction, which is part of the reason it works so well.  There is plenty of interaction with people outside the van, but it's all received from inside.

As I mentioned before, the film also makes great use of angles.  The really cool and different thing about the use of angles in this film however is that you can't always use the same standard angles that you use to convey emotion in other films.  In Vehicle 19, the dashboard is a part of the set; it helps convey emotion in a lot of scenes.  The backs of the seats do the same.  So does the glove box and the steering wheel.  Everything in that van is able to help give mood and purpose to the scene.

I spoke about focus briefly as well, but that's just about what you'd expect.  Good use of racking focus, shallow focuses, depth of field, etc.

I don't think I'll go into any spoiler info about the story on this one.  It's not that I think there are any major plot devices I shouldn't be talking about, but it's just that it isn't that type of film.  The story is not the main focus, it's the journey and the style that make it what it is.

So there you have it: Vehicle 19.  I'd give this film a solid 8 out of 10 (it would be a 7 but I gave it an extra point for creativity).  I do recommend watching it if you are looking for something different or are just a fan of the Phone-booth style of movie.

Well that's all for me for now.  Stay tuned for that Cellular review, but there may be one or two before that, we'll see how it goes.  I'm off, keep reading, keep watching, keep listening.

Film Review: Fast & Furious 6

Fast and Furious.  This series is undoubtedly one of the most Bro movie series' of all time.  It has fast cars, big strong dudes, a lot of half-dressed women and - in the most recent installments - guns and explosions.  What more can you ask for in a movie?  Well some people would argue that a compelling story would be nice.  Normally I'd be that guy, but there are some movies in which the reasoning behind the events taking place just doesn't matter as much.  I would argue that with the first 5 Fast and Furious films, the question was not "why", but "why not".  This approach worked really well for them as the series quickly started to become the new Die Hard.

However in the newest movie in the franchise, Fast and Furious 6 changed the formula slightly.  Now don't get me wrong, I am definitely not saying there were any radical changes, so don't worry, F&F 6 is just as high octane, high adrenaline, and low riding as ever.  I won't even go as far as to say they put a spin on it; more like the wind adjusted some particles on it's way through the hoop.  Well come on then, what's this change?  What are these particles that have been moved?  Well in a word: sentiment.  The way the series has gone on so far has allowed for a lot of different locations and characters to be introduced.  Now some of us don't like to admit it, but we're all kind of suckers for nostalgia when it comes to something we really like.  Now if you haven't seen the first couple Fast and Furious movies (particularly the first 3), don't worry, this one is still awesome.  However if you have seen the rest of the movies, this one seems so much sweeter.  I won't get into spoilers but if you're a fan, or at least were a fan of the Fast and Furious movies before this, I highly recommend seeing it.

I have a bunch more I could say, but not without getting into spoilers territory so if you want to see this movie, stop reading here.

I already warned you once, but here's another warning...

*** SPOILERS AHEAD ***

Ok good, if you're still reading this far, I assume you're either reading ahead a little bit because you're curious, or you've seen the movie.  Or you just don't care about spoilers.  In any case, this section is going to go a little bit deeper into the movie.

So Letty's back, yay!  Now before I get into that whole kettle of fish though, just remember what I said earlier about sentiment.  Ok moving on.  So for those of you who have been following the series, you know that Dom and Letty have what people like to call "a history".  Now that history is mostly pretty awesome.  It's filled with them swashbuckling around the open roads, stealing stuff and racing cars (am I aloud to use the word 'swashbuckling' when it's on dry land?); pretty awesome right?  Well for those of you who don't know, Dom and Letty have been good ol' pals for ages, ever since they were about 15+.  I don't think the movies go a lot into their romance story beyond that, but that's not really important.  The important part is that they are shown as essentially the perfect pairing and suddenly, boom: Letty dies in "Fast and Furious" (the 4th movie in the series).  Naturally Dom is all torn up and that leads him on this revenge crazed mission with Brian who's with the FBI at that point.  It's a very convenient excuse to get Dom and Brian back working together and busting some heads.  But now that Letty's back (as foreshadowed in Fast 5), Dom's starting to get excited again.  Now that brings us to the part in Fast 6 where his new girlfriend from Interpol says something along the lines of, "If that were my husband I'd go after him too.  You need to go find her..." or something equally as strange and somewhat cheesy.  This is not the movie's finest moment but I figured I'd get it out of the way now so we're only going up from here.  Ok so we're going to get into some story stuff here, you guys ready?

As you will know if you have seen the movie, Letty has lost her memory. Yes, this is bad news for Dom and the gang as not only does she not remember them, but she's also working for the baddies.  Whoops.  However tragic the tail of Letty's accident and explosion escaping skills, this gives us a very good portal for motivation.  Dom sees Letty very early on, which eased my mind of a very serious question/fear I had that they would end up playing long-arsed footsies for the whole movie (forgive the British colloquialism but I can get away with it since the movie's set in London for most of the time).  This also gives Dom a reason to continue on.  Now this sets up our theme for the movie: Reclamation.  Why reclamation?  Well of course there's Dom and Letty; since one of them has amnesia, it's the other's job to bring her back to her family.  They both reclaim the lives they lost.  For Brian, it's about getting his old life back (not his old life as a cop necessarily, but his life of action and movement), and in the end of the movie, about literally getting his wife back.  For the rest of the crew, sure they get back in the fast lane too, but what's perhaps more important, is they reclaim their freedom.  Now here comes that nostalgia: at the end of the film, the crew gets their old house back.  Sure it is just a house, and yes it's kind of run down in a far from ideal part of town, but as corny as it sounds, fans of the series know that even though that house was really only a major part of the first installment, it's a symbol non-the-less.  It's a symbol of the 'good old days' and the freedom they all had before they started romping around the globe causing chaos and spreading mayhem.  The crew has changed slightly over the years, but they're still a family as they would put it.  Them getting the old house back is the rebirth of something old, but something that will turn into something new.  What something you ask?  What could possibly happen next?  We don't know for sure, but we have a few clues to work off of; Jason Statham to name one.  For this next part, we're going to mess with the timeline a bit here, so stay with me.

The third installment of the Fast and Furious franchise was called "Tokyo Drift" and was set, as you may well guess, in Tokyo.  This movie however, only had one character from the previous two Fast and Furious movies and he was only in the last 6 seconds of the movie.  This film introduced all new characters and a new style of racing previously untouched by the series: drifting.  Tokyo Drift however, is our first introduction to Han.  Now of course Han plays a pretty large role in Fast 5 and 6, but what appears to be his entire story is encapsulated into this one movie.  Now let's just take some time here and look at Han as a character.  He is technically speaking a supporting character.  Supporting who?  Well Dom and Brian of course.  However Han is a very complex and even somewhat dynamic character if you look at his 'story arch' over the course of all the movies he appears in.  Now things do get a little weird when he keeps saying he's going to Tokyo (like at the end of the 4th and 5th movies) but he ends up in the next movie all the same.  We keep assuming that he's going to Tokyo Drift, but he keeps coming back!  Of course I didn't mind, I thought he was a great character and I hated to see him go in T.D.  Although he is a side character, Han really has the capacity to be a main character if the story was geared a little bit more in his direction.  He has his little quirks right from the moment we meet him, such as the fact that he used to smoke and now pushes that urge to do something with his hands down by eating snacks all the time, but more importantly, Fast 6 gives him some trauma to work with.  He was given something great in his relationship with Ms Glow-kini from Fast 5, and had it taken away from him in the next movie.  Now of course this is a very localized and compressed sub-plot, but it's still quite impactful.  This of course gives him his motivation to go to Tokyo - for realz this time - and start his drift racing career just in time to become a mentor for some white hillbilly kid from the US with maturity issues.  Now at the end of Fast 6, we are forced to relive Han's death scene, but luckily from a distance as who else but Jason Statham decides to show up and set him on fire.  That's cold Jason, real cold... or you know, warm.  So now we've gotten some closure on one character who we've grown to know and love, and we've been introduced to a new villain, but even better yet, they're connected, and we have a perfect revenge sub-plot for the next film all set up and ready to go.  Who is this new guy? I don't know.  Will the next film take us back to Tokyo for some drift racing?  Maybe.  Will that kid from Tokyo Drift be in the next movie?  Maybe; I'm a sucker for references, I absolutely love them for some reason, I just think they're the best thing ever.  But I'd be perfectly happy if that guy didn't show up again.  I just really didn't get into him as a character, but that's an issue for another time.  Maybe I'll talk about characters some time because that's something I know a lot about.  But until then, you have this fabulous review of Fast and Furious 6 to mull over.

Have any theories on how the next Fast and Furious movie might go?  Post in the comments!  I'd be intersted to see if other people's ideas are similar to my own and what other shenanigans you think the O'Coretto family can get into.

Well that about wraps it up here for me.  I'm not going to bother talking about lighting and camera work and sets and blah blah blah because guess what?  It's a Hollywood movie.  I've said this before, but just in case you didn't read my last film review, I don't see the point in reviewing something's aesthetic quality from Hollywood unless it's either unusual, extremely outstanding and unexpected, or really bad.  As for acting, well again, it's a Hollywood movie with the Rock so... well I'll let you take that one as you will.

Until next time, "Ride or Die, remember?"

Movie Review: Oblivion

Who?  What?  When?  Where?  Why?  These questions, known as the five W's are the core of story telling.  A well constructed story will make the reader/viewer/listener (because this is a movie review we'll just call them viewers) ask all of these questions.  It will also answer all of these questions in one way or another.  Often times, a simply constructed story can be well done by creating and answering 5W questions.  For instance, the simplest way to include these questions may be as such:

-Who is the protagonist?

-What is he/she trying to accomplish?

-When does the story take place?

-Where does the story take place?

-Why do the events in the story happen?

To dive a little deeper, let's see what a more complex blueprint might look like based around those same questions:

-Who is the protagonist?  Who is the antagonist?  Who are the allies to each side?  Who are the factions involved?

-What is the conflict?  What fuels the conflict?  What is the plan to solve it?

-When does this story happen?  When will it finish?  If there is a time limit, when does it end?  When did it start?

-Where does this story take place?  Where are the characters from?  Where are they going?

-Why is there conflict?  Why are the characters here in the story?  Why did they make that choice?

As you can see, things can get very specific very quickly.  Of course some of these questions; specifically "why" and "what" can come up more often.  "Why did he let him live?"  "Why did she not push the button?"  "What is this thing?"  "What is that thing?"

As story telling techniques have adapted over the years, we have been getting more adventurous with mixing up these questions, therefore "who" has become a more popular question, and more of a mysterious one at that.  Of course mystery is something that adds to the thrill of the story and the payoff at the end when all of the viewer's questions are answered (or at least the important ones.  Some questions are best left either to the imagination, or unanswered entirely).  "Who is this new character being introduced 55 minutes into the movie?  I can't wait to find out!"

Now you're asking, "When are you going to get to reviewing the movie you said you were going to?"  Well the answer to that is, I have been indirectly criticizing Oblivion throughout this whole thing thus far.  How?  Here's how:

Oblivion starts out completely top notch. There is an immediate intrigue: Who are these two characters?  What are they doing here?  What year is it (when)?  Where are they?  And eventually, why are they doing what they are doing?

We soon find out who the two characters in the beginning are, but are soon introduced to a seemingly familiar face through a dream, but we don't know who it is.  We later find out where they are and the year.  Questions are being answered left and right, soon we even find out what they are doing and the reason why.  Great, all questions answered before the movie is half way done, what now?  Well now comes the twist.

A chunk of the way through the movie, we are introduced to a bunch of new characters, a few new settings, and even a new plot line.  Suddenly we have all new questions which we eagerly await the answers to.  As we receive a few convoluted answers to a few of these questions, the end draws near.

We have reached the final ascent on the plot line.  The tides have turned, the teams have changed, as have the stakes.  Preparations have been made and the plan to end the conflict once and for all has been set into motion.  The audience sits on the edge of their seats as they await a final and epic climax where our fearless hero is about to come face to face with the true villain of this tale.  However when finally the end arrives, we are left with only more questions:

The enemy was not who we expected, and its origin is unknown.  Its motivations are unknown.  Its very essence is unknown.  Although in the end, the hero fulfills his mission and the resolution is a happy one as demonstrated in the aftermath of his actions, we are still left wondering.

-Who?  Who was the enemy after all?

-What?  What did that enemy really want?

-When?  When did the enemy arrive?

-Where?  Where did the enemy come from?

-Why did the enemy even bother with any of this?

We can speculate, but we may never know.  Are we meant to know?  I don't know if we are meant to know, but as a viewer if I do not know if I am meant to know, then I feel like I am meant to know and simply do not.  Where does that leave me?  Awaiting a sequel?  Maybe, but I would more accurately describe it as unfulfilled and a little disappointed.

Should you buy Oblivion?  Sure, if you're looking for an exciting futuristic movie and have the coin to drop, do it!  Should you buy it on blu-ray?  Well it looks pretty dang good on blu-ray and you get that nifty digital copy with it, so if you want to drop the extra six-eight or so dollars/pounds, yes you should.  Should you rent Oblivion?  Absolutely.  The visuals are stunning and the soundtrack is brilliant (if you like the Mass Effect-esqu, futuristic style of music), so yes, at least rent it for a night, you will still enjoy it.

I could get into the details like acting and visuals but come on, it's a Hollywood movie, of course everything is darn near perfect it the technical department.  Plus, if you've made it all the way to here, you're probably sick of reading.

So there you have it:  Oblivion.

Thanks for reading this far if you did.  If you didn't, well you're not reading this so you don't get a thank you.  Check back here periodically for more of these reviews (seems to be what this blog has become) and some other fun stuff!

Until next time, keep watching movies, keep playing video games, and keep breathing (that's an important one).  Cheers guys.

Quick Update

So in case you were wondering, I got the drink before we took off, but drank responsibly and did not have to use the bathroom on the plane!  Anyway I made it to Hawaii a few hours later and I've been here for just under three weeks now.  I brought a friend with me, but she left last Wednesday because she couldn't get the whole three weeks off work.  Tragic I know.  Anyway, I leave tomorrow to head back to the wonderful and magical land of Canada.  My first order of business when I get back?  Well I've been working on a Dungeons and Dragons campaign I'm running so I'll be playing that with my crew.  I've also been hired to film a commercial so that will happen sometime in there when the guy running it gets me the times...

That's all for now.  Stay tuned for more semi-irregular updates.  Cheers.

Insomnia

I'm 3 hours into a 4 hour layover in Seattle and I'm trying to weigh out whether I want to get a drink or not.  If I get it, my thirst will be quenched, but then I might have to go to the bathroom on the plane as soon as we take off.  If I don't, I could wait for free drinks on the plane, but I have to wait... Decisions decisions...

Game Review: Bioshock Infinite (Spoiler Edition) Part 2

Alrighty, part 2.  Last part, I talked about the first level of the game, mainly covering the visuals and story telling elements.  I'm going to try to do the same thing here for the next, larger segment of the game.

When Booker sits down in the chair in the center of the lighthouse, something rather unexpected happens to him.  The chair, as if by it's own will, straps his arms and legs to the respective arms and legs of the chair.  The next thing the player may expect to happen judging by this rather devious twist of fate, is for Booker to be a) tortured by a madman who has been lurking in the shadows, b) dropped into the ocean through the middle of the lighthouse, c) electrocuted, or any other number of life threatening and equally horrifying things. What actually happens is quite the contrast to that expectation.  Instead of dropping or dying, Booker begins to very rapidly ascend up into the sky.  How does this happen?  He has no idea, but finding out isn't his top priority.

As he reaches "the top", his apparent destination (or at least the chair capsule's destination), Booker witnesses a city floating above the clouds: Columbia.  The place is breathtaking, but before he can get a chance to gawk at the scenery for long, his chair pod descends into a building which appears to be a cathedral.  The thing that really stands out about this place is that the entire floor is covered in almost a foot of water.  Floating on top of the water are candles, still burning since who knows when.  On the walls though, is the greatest spectacle of it all.  Massive stained glass images, mostly of an unknown old man who appears to be represented as some sort of savior.

So I'm going to stop here for a minute to take a closer look at this starting room.  All of the other rooms in this building are quite similar and not quite so grand, so we can afford to just focus on this one.  The first thing that the player should notice about this room (consciously or otherwise) in contrast to the lighthouse is the lighting.  The lighting in the lighthouse was very dim, and full of rather ominous blue-gray shadows.  The light itself was almost an amber colour, not a far cry from the style of lighting in this cathedral, except that in the cathedral the light shines through in shafts from the windows with a much more natural tint.  This, coupled with the candle light really gives the cathedral a warm feeling, despite the water and the fog coming off of it.  This an extremely effective technique really since even though the character has clearly arrived at a new location where things are very different from what he has seen before, it has a sense of almost ethereal familiarity.  It's the whole "same but different" concept.  This lighting contrast is just the beginning to the many strange contrasts in the game, and even in this very first level.  The water right below the character's feet and the fog hovering just above it speaks volumes to this.  We will later learn that the water actually serves a purpose in the story, albeit a small one, but almost nothing is done by accident when creating a visual story, especially not in such an involved artistic story.  The visible layers in this scene represent the layers of thought had by the character, and also very possibly the player.  The sunlight streaking through the windows is the light being shed on something new, but also the majestic nature of this new, unknown place.  The ambient candle light is the warmth of the cathedral and the welcoming feeling associated with the place.  The fog is the confusion and the mystery behind the place, while the water is the promise of things to change and the foreshadowing of hardship.

Now you're probably asking yourself, "where is this guy getting all this crap from?"  Well let me explain myself.  The light from the windows and the light from the candles are pretty straight forward concepts, they're essentially just a gut feeling that most people would get.  The fog is an archetypal element that has generally come to be accepted as meaning confusion since it obstructs vision and promotes cautious travel.  It is difficult to predict what is ahead when looking through the fog.  The water is a little more difficult to interpret.  In similar archetypal fashion, a flowing river is the standard to represent change or the passing of time.  An ocean is seen as a challenge to be overcome or as a long journey to take.  The water in the cathedral is really neither of these things, so you have to look a little deeper.  When you think about walking through shallow water, it may not be that big of a deal, but when you really imagine what it would be like, or actually do it, the reality is that it is much more difficult to walk through say, a foot of water than on dry land. The resistance from the water causes you to move more slowly, and if you aren't careful, you could easily fall in.  The other thing about walking through water is that if you aren't wearing the proper gear, your shoes and socks and feet are going to get very wet, very fast.  Push a stiff breeze through a wet body and suddenly things start cooling off too.  The long short of it is that you're going to be quite uncomfortable for a while, especially if you have to deal with it for a long time.  A lot of this symbolism stuff can seem like someone's just making it up as they go along (well in some cases, they are), but if you actually look at the reasoning behind it, it gets much easier to understand.

So let's recap.  Booker winds up in a rather grand looking cathedral-esq building.  He has no idea where he is, the lighting is good.  Symbols.  Boom, ok good recap.  Next part, I'll talk about the actual city of Columbia, so even though I know I said this would be a 3 part series, it's looking like it will be closer to 5 or 6 at this point.

Okey Dokey, so that's it for this part of the review, check back now and again to read the next bit.

Peace off...
boop.

Game Review: Bioshock Infinite (Spoiler Edition) Part 1

Alrighty, hello folks, one quick note before we begin: as stated above, this is the spoiler edition of the Bioshock Infinite review, so there will be spoilers!  Consider this as double warning.  Now let's dive in.

This has been a bit of a while coming, I know, but hey I got to it didn't I?  So what to say about Bioshock Infinite?  This game is ridiculous, the story is fantastic in so many ways, the gameplay is fun, almost never gets old, and the art style is a great mix of realism and a cartoon-esq feel.  I won't talk about all of the technical stuff again since I already did that, so let's just focus this entry on the story.  I'm making the assumption here that if you are reading this, you have played the game already.

The plot of Bioshock Infinite is intriguing right from the start.  It plants you in a boat with a couple of strangers, a box with some strange symbols, and a gun.  Boom, you're right in the middle of Booker DeWitt's journey.  Of course things get even crazier as you arrive at the rather ominous lighthouse seemingly in the middle of nowhere.  A note on the door is the first thing that hits you, and that is the mark of a great location.  When creating a location, the methods are very different in the way things are shown or explained in visual mediums and text ones, but the thing that makes one truly great in any case, no matter the medium, is the first impression, and the lasting details.  The lighthouse is a perfect example of this.  That note on the door creates a distinct first impression, and when the player opens the door and enters the lighthouse, that first room does nothing but add to, and compliment that impression.  The lighting is also extremely important here, but not for the typical reason in this type of game.  If you know anything about the original two Bioshock games, you know that they take place in the underwater city of Rapture: home to some rather scary-looking individuals and an antiquated (yet surprisingly advanced) and malfunctioning security system.  Those games are rightly placed in the horror genre.  The significance of the lighthouse in Infinite comes in as a reference to the first game.  The player enters Rapture through a lighthouse.  A very damp, poorly lit, likely mouldy-smelling, and extremely eerie lighthouse.  The lighthouse that Booker enters at the beginning of this game is a spitting image of that description as well.  The tone of horror is set well, and it really feels like Rapture, or even some other underwater city, is right around the corner.  As the player climbs the flights of stairs, ascending the lighthouse, they come across some sketchy looking tools, some empty boxes and crates, and eventually a dead body.  There isn't much of anything quite as foreboding as a good old dead body.  The lights are dim, the floor is damp, rusty metal objects litter the rooms, Booker is alone... Sounds like a good set up or a horror flick, but was it murder she wrote?  No, not yet at least.

Now I won't be talking you through the whole game like this, don't worry, I just want to set up the new locales as we get to them, and there are really only 3 major ones to worry about, with a little bit of a bonus one at the end.

As the player finally gets up to the top of the lighthouse, they will eventually head outside on the catwalk to ring some bells, "calling the elevator".  This of course causes the lighthouse to open up it's actual light.  This is where Booker enters the main setting for the game, the picturesque, good ol' fashioned, Columbia, in all her truth and liberty.  'Murica.

Since the way Booker gets to Columbia is really rather straight forward, I don't think I need to bother talking you through that part, so this is all for part 1.  This will likely be a 3 part series of entries, so keep an eye out.

Till next time, toodledoo.

Back Again (And a Novel)

So I'm back again, and actually it's from more than one thing.  I am of course back to posting on here (which I will try to be doing on a semi-regular basis again), but I am also back from a school trip over the past couple of days, and back to health (sort of) after what may have been a cold, but may have also been allergies, not sure which.

So I don't know if I've mentioned this or not, but this semester my school year is pretty low-key.  I only have the one core class happening right now along with a few options (three of which are musical options) so that gives me a lot of time to do a lot of nothing.  With all this time to spare I quickly found ways to fill it other than being in class.  My most recent way of doing that is watching what is now my favourite show, "Castle".  I already did a post about how I got writer blocked by them but never-the-less, it's still amazing.  As a writer myself (just like the main character in the show) I tend to draw a lot of inspiration from the show and one of the things I've thought about recently as a result of it was the fact that a lot of stories in movies and books and TV aren't as far fetched as we think sometimes.  Sure, the sci-fi channel doesn't exactly reek of reality but some of the plot devices that we sometimes take as exaggeration can really be true.  That got me thinking, and thinking got me... well thinking some more actually, and here's what I came up with.  Looking back at my own life, I realize that sure there have been some pretty boring moments, but a lot of the things I do and have done would make a pretty awesome story.  The only thing is that if I were to make a movie or TV show out of the key events in that timeline, there would be a lot of obscure references to things that happened "off camera".  Everything tends to play a part in new experiences.  For example:

Main character is on a band trip.  He's liked a girl that's on the trip with him for a while and it's a good opportunity for him to get a little closer to her.  They have a few moments that really stick: maybe she needs help with the tie on her uniform, they both wake up a little earlier than the others and spend a little time grabbing tea...

Good story, but where's the background?  Well then you go back a little bit:

Main character joins the live orchestra for the school musical.  Who else joins it too but this girl he's started to take an interest in.  That works out to his advantage a little because it's a little bit more of a secluded setting and there's no one else to get in the way of them interacting.  Of course the orchestra is invited to the big success party after all of the shows have been performed and they bump into each other a few times, hear a couple of good stories together, suddenly bam, that's an experience to talk about later, an excuse to talk again.

Hm, not bad but where does he actually know her from?  Ok, well just a little further back I suppose:

Main character shows up for his first day of a new school year.  He has an awesome full year class that essentially revolves around playing music with a band.  When you divide a class up into 3 groups you get to know your own group pretty well pretty quickly.  Maybe he knows a few of them from the previous year, but not really in the same caliber that he is going to know them by the time they get even half way through the year.  Maybe the band leader is kind of a cutie, who's a little crazy sometimes, but really fun.  It would be very easy for the main character to take an interest.

This is really starting to shape up isn't it?  Just if the main character knew this girl from before, where was that from?  Oh well yeah:

Main character get's roped into playing a gig for the school near the beginning of the year at one of the ice-breaking trips.  One of the girls that goes with him and the others turns out to be one of the people who did the same gig the previous year.  Way back then, how would our fearless protagonist know that she would be leading his band the next year?

Well that makes sense then doesn't it?  Solid timeline, good story.  Boy meets girl from school, probably in a lot of the same classes, yada yada, we've seen it before.  The thing is, to make a good story really great it needs a little something extra.  Something to break the monotony.  Usually that should have something to do with the characters:

Maybe this girl is a grade ahead, but she's really only 2 months older.

Aha, so there you go.  That adds a little bit of complication doesn't it?  A grade ahead means that not only is this girl surrounded by other guys that she is not only more familiar with, but are also quite possibly better looking.  There's an immediate challenge for the main character.  Another thing that good stories have is a looming problem, especially in a series (and let's face it, life is more like a series that a single movie).  Well our grade difference creates that looming problem too.  What happens if the main character succeeds and gets the girl?  She's going to graduate before him.  Suddenly that's another challenge for them to tackle, but by that time in the story, everyone who's keeping tabs on the characters will have some optimism.  They made it this far right?

Of course we could go one further still and say, "well if they are only 2 months apart, why is she a grade ahead of him?"  Oh well that's easy:

Main character is a December birthday and his parents decided to start him in school a year later because of it.

It could go on forever really.  There's a story in everything, and that's what makes TV so awesome, especially shows like "Castle", they radiate truth of life, with just enough fiction to keep things interesting all the time.

So, let's recap.  Reading those little snippets individually you might be thinking, "hm, pretty good premise..."  But let's take a minute and throw them all together.  For the sake of the story, we'll stop referring to the characters as "the main character" and "the girl" and give them actual names.  Since everyone is really the main character of their own story we'll call our protagonist "Nick".  Of course our girl needs a name too, so let's just call her "Mayzie".  Let's take a look at what our story looks like as a whole:

*note: I got a little carried away with this story, so I will include the first bit here in this entry, and then make you come back a few times to read the rest of it.

7:45.  That's what the sheet said, but was that the time everyone was expected to be there?  No, of course not.  Sure Nick was late, but it didn't really bother him.  If Mr Marks wasn't going to tell him what time to be there then he'd just have to deal with it if he was late.  Yeah that was a great way to start the morning before they left.  The school band was headed off to their annual band tour in less than an hour and they were just finishing packing up the equipment.

Nick dropped his luggage with the rest of the suitcases and backpacks waiting to be tucked into the bottom of the bus by a group of grade 10 students.  Keeners, he thought to himself with a tad of disgust.  A lot of the younger students bugged him to no end, and he couldn't help brooding over their inherent favouritism by Mr Marks, the band teacher, as he ascended the stairs to the upper floor of the school.  He stopped at the top and adjusted his "carry-on" backpack, then trudged on to the band room.  These mornings were killing him slowly, and had been since he got into the senior band last year in grade 10.  Why do I even bother?  He thought to himself.  He rounded the corner and walked into the band room and looked around at the people finishing their final packing and inventory-taking.

Then he saw her, Mayzie T.

"Oh yeah, that's why." He said aloud absent mindedly.

What wasn't to like?  She was smart, pretty, talented... Sure, she was a little bit crazy sometimes, but it was kind of cute.  Mayzie was only 2 months older than him, but was a grade ahead in grade 12.  She was the leader of Nick's band from school, as well as a part of the concert and jazz band programs.  Member of all three music programs, something else they had in common.  Their little band was made up of kind of a misfit crew, but they were close.  Originally it was just Mayzie and a bunch of boys, that was kind of a hoot, they drove her pretty crazy sometimes, not exactly living up to their nickname of "the sunshine boys".

"That's why what?"

Nick turned to find the source of the voice.  It belonged to his buddy, Esposito.  That was really his last name.  His first name was Xavier, but everyone just called him Esposito.

"Oh, nothing, don't worry about it," Nick replied.  He gave Esposito a curt nod and then started to slowly make his way over to where Mayzie was reading off a list and piling folders into a bin.  He tried to make himself look busy and talked to a few people in the long trek across the whole seven feet spanning the distance between them.

"Hey Nick!" She said as he approached.  She always said his name so that it came out more like 'Niek', but that was fine, he liked it.  It was kind of their thing he supposed.

"Hey Mayzie!" He chimed back, drawing out the 'ay' sound, trying to match her sing-song tone.  "What's going on over here?"

"Just making sure everyone get's their music in the box here," she said, smiling as she tucked a rogue lock of hair behind her ear.  "Which reminds me, I still need yours."

"Oh right, yeah sure," Nick said, breaking eye contact to slip his backpack off and retrieve his music folder, "Here you go." He said, handing her the black leather folder.

She smiled and put the folder in the tub with the rest before turning back to Nick and giving him a quick smile, then glancing back down to her clipboard.  Time to make an exit for now.  Nick started to shuffle towards the back of the room to 'check on some things'.  "Well I uh, I've just got to go... Make sure all of the percussion stuff is getting packed properly."

Mayzie looked up briefly, giving him another quick smile as he turned and left.


Stay tuned for the next part in the next little bit.


So anyways the point of that was... I'm not exactly sure, it's really late and I might be a little tired, so it may or may not just be an excuse to write something.  There's nothing wrong with that of course, but I'll try to pull some meaning out of this at some point.  Don't forget to check back for the next bit.

Toodles.

Writing Block (It's not what you think)

So I've been writing blocked. I know what you're thinking. "He probably means he has writer's block". Wrong. The ideas have been flowing like the Thames, but I'm sure you're familiar with the phrase "cock block". Well this is what I'm talking about, except with writing... I'll explain.

Recently (a few weeks ago) I had an idea for a new story. I wasn't sure what form it would take - book, book series, movie, short film - but I knew I wanted it to be a cop story, but with an unlikely protagonist, someone who sees a lot from the outside.

I myself have taken quite an interest in law and police work, and being a writer I thought to myself: how cool would it be if I could tag along with a detective for a week and take notes on their processes, watch what they do and who knows, maybe offer some advice. Then I got to thinking that knowing me, I'd probably try to be right in there solving the cases with them. Then THAT got me thinking: what an awesome idea for a story. Writer follows a detective around for a few cases and before they know it, he's practically a cop himself.

Then reality stuck me. That is already a thing. A couple weeks ago I finally got around to watching that show "Castle" on TV. Yeah, it turns out that's the entire premise of the show. In one way it sucks because of course now I won't be getting any credit for the idea at all, and it's likely that nothing will come of it for me; but in another way, it's kind of cool. Now every time my PVR records another episode of Castle, I get to see "my idea" on the semi-big-ish screen. What makes this even better is that it's written more or less exactly like I would have done it.

Anyway, there's a wee update from the mind of me. It is now early morning, so I'd better do some sleepy time. Chao.

Well Crap

I started watching Lost... I am forcing myself to only watch one episode (or two sometimes) a day because I tend to watch all the episodes of a series all at once. I have only watched 5 episodes of 100, but I was hooked after the first one. It is definitely one of the best shows I've ever seen, up there with the greats like The Walking Dead, Sherlock, Community, Medabots, Pokem- I mean yeah. It definitely holds a lot of mystery within the story but I did make one huge mistake. I thought I recognized one of the actors and looked up the show on IMDB to find out what other movies he was in and saw a couple of the characters' episode numbers (how many episodes they are in) so I know that some people could die before others... I'm trying to forget about who's who in that list to maintain some level of innocence when I watch the show.

Anywho if you haven't seen it, watch it, if you have seen it, watch it again. If you have seen it again, go watch The Walking Dead, Sherlock and Community. Then once you finish those, go watch Medabots, it's freaking awesome. Seriously, Mr Referee is a hero.

That's all for now, you may continue with your lives.

So... Bears n' Stuff

So I finally started watching Lost and holy crap I need to force myself to sleep now instead of watching it all night. In short, is REALLY good! The very first scene of episode 1 is one of the best scenes I've ever seen in a TV show. I won't spoil anything if you're reading this and haven't seen it, but even if you don't intend to watch the show, just watch the first bit, it's totally worth it. You can watch the entire series on Netflix (and Hulu I believe) but I'm sure you can watch that first bit on YouTube.

I still haven't seen any new movies recently but as this starts to shape up I'll do a couple of pre-marked spoiler review/hype posts, so watch for those as I progress in the series.

Alas it is now sleepy-time so I'll leave you with thoughts of islands and bears.

Toodloo.

No Seriously, Nothing...

Nothing has been going on lately. I haven't blogged about anything recently because I have had 0 things to blog about. I've watched a lot of TV... I'm considering watching Lost (finally, I know)... I played Minecraft today... So yeah, pretty much nothing. However, tomorrow marks the beginning of a new week and as dreadful as that is, it also gives the opportunity for something to actually happen though, so we'll see.

This is me, signing off now, good day and good night.

And The Winner Is...

Tonight I attended the first annual ElkFest film festival, having submitted 2 videos for it, I of course had a personal interest. I went 1 for 2 on winning, so I'm pretty chuffed with myself.

I don't know what else to say, so I'm just going to leave it at that I think. I'll have a link to both the winning and non-winning films shortly, until then, cheers.

Times Like These

It's times like these when I ask myself: why am I awake at 12:30am playing the batman theme on the GarageBand app? Leave it to me to procrastinate sleep, the thing that requires the absolute least amount of energy to do...

That is all, you may resume your life now.

YEG Filmmakers Live

Tonight I was at a local film event called YEG Filmmakers Live where a whole crew of people involved in the CineCoup film accelerator all came and presented their movie trailers, and answered a bunch of audience questions.

I ran into someone there who invited me along to take part in a short film she's doing this May, so that was pretty cool. It's definitely great to finally be getting in contact with all of these film people who actually really enjoy filmmaking as much as I do, I'll definitely be hanging around these people a lot more if I can help it.

There shall be more posts on this type of thing. Farewell for now lads.

Film Review - Jack the Giant Slayer

I know I said I would do a spoiler version of the last review I did (Bioshock Infinite) but I just saw Jack the Giant Slayer and I wanted to get this down while everything was still fresh.

Jack is your typical country boy living in the middle ages.  So that means that he didn't own much of anything, he was brought up to work the land, but he was still relatively happy living under a good King.  Jack's father was a good man who raised him well, but unforeseen circumstances lead to his father's death.  Now being raised by his uncle, all Jack has left to remember his father by, and one of his few possessions, was a book, a story of a great King from long ago who was forced to wage war on giants who descended from their land above the clouds to attack humanity.  The story tells of the lengths the King went to in order to protect his people, and in the end he was victorious.  Eventually, the tale became a legend, the details lost in time, and the legend became a myth.  Fast forward ten years and Jack is eighteen years old, still living and working with his uncle on the same land his father had owned, a ways outside the walls of the castle.  Jack is sent into the town by his uncle to sell their horse and carriage and if you know the story of Jack and the Beanstalk at all, you have an idea of what happened next.  The story does take an unexpected twist on the original story, however that is best left for you to find out when you see the movie.

From a technical perspective the movie was almost flawless, especially on a single viewing like I had.  The acting was top notch, especially from Ewan Mcgregor, who pulled off his character extremely well.  There is one particular moment in the movie which is a clear Obi Wan Kenobi reference, but I'll let you find that one yourselves.  Continuing on, Nicholas Hoult does a particularly good job as well but who can really be surprised at this considering his movie record?  X-Men First Class, Clash of the Titans... this is a guy who has certainly been around the big leagues before, despite his limited experience.  Of course every good fairy tale needs a good damsel in distress and this damsel's name is Isabelle, or as she is known in the real world, Eleanor Tomlinson (you may recognise her from the 2010 Alice in Wonderland movie as Fiona Chattaway).  Although she may not have as much professional acting experience as Ewan Mcgregor or even Nicholas Hoult, she also does quite a good job for all the screen time she had.  There are always ways to improve a performance of course, but for someone so early in their career, Tomlinson does an excellent job.  As far as special effects go, and they go pretty far, Jack the Giant Slayer knocks it out of the park.  First of all, beanstalks.  The amount of detail put into the beanstalks themselves is simply amazing, and since it was a 3D movie, it made it very easy to immerse myself into the story.  Following that strand of thought, the giants were done so well that I'm pretty sure if I had been sitting any closer to the screen, I would have smelled them.  Of course this level of special effects has become the standard for a Hollywood film, but when the modeling and texturing technology is used in creative ways like in this movie I can't help but applaud the SFX teams behind it.

I could go into so many more details about the soundtrack and sound design, the massive environments, flowing water, all that jazz, but the fact is that to get the full experience you really have to see the movie for yourself.  I give Jack the Giant Slayer a solid overall score of 8.5 out of 10, and highly recommend it!

That'll be all for now folks, check back later for more reviews and any other faff that I might think to post on here; check by semi-regularly even to keep up to date on any running series of posts that I may have, we'll see.  In the meantime, cherio you lot.

Game Review - Bioshock Infinite

What to say about Bioshock Infinite...

You play as Booker DeWitt who, at the beginning of the game, you know nothing about, he's just some guy living in 1912 who is for one reason or another, sitting in a boat with a man and a woman, traveling through the ocean off the coast of Maine.

At some point a little later on, I will release a spoiler version of the review, but right now we'll stick to non-story information, or information available in the trailers.

As is consistent with Bioshock and Bioshock 2, Infinite features a powers system, previously referred to as "plasmids", now called "vigors". These work exactly the same as in the previous games, allowing Booker to cast interesting powers such as fire balls, water blasts, and my favourite: crows (yes you can cast a murder of crows from your hand), along with a few others. In addition to the vigors, the player can find different pieces of gear that affect gameplay. So the character's wardrobe could quite possibly win the game for you. As for weapons in the game, there are quite a few to stumble across throughout the levels including a sniper rifle, an RPG, a machine gun, a shotgun and several more. Of course each of these weapons can be put to good use in a variety of different situations, however the real rub comes in the fact that your character can only carry two weapons at once, so you have to choose carefully when selecting your arsenal for an up and coming firefight.
Another interesting gameplay element is the use of the transit system. In the lore of the game, people move about the city by tram cars that hang on rails that cover many of the areas of it. In the game, the player (and some NPC's) uses a hook-type apparatus to traverse the rails alone, hanging from them and able to change speed and direction at will. With this type of transportation implement in place (that doubles as a melee weapon), there are of course air assassinations which are superb if you ask me. There aren't many things more awesome that riding what is essentially a zip line, jumping off onto a building and punching a guy 50 feet away. The last thing I'll touch on is the control scheme. The controls for this game (I played it on Xbox 360 so the controls will reflect that) are a little bit strange to be perfectly honest, yet still streamlined with the standard right trigger to shoot and left trigger to use vigors being among the only really common controls. The A button remains as "jump" as it has in many-a-game as well. In the traditional Halo style, the right thumb stick (click) is mapped to zoom by default, with the left stick (click) set to sprint, and the left and right bumpers are set to switching vigors and weapons respectively. As for the rest of the lettered buttons, X is set to the general "use" or "pick up" function, the B button to changing rail directions, and Y to the melee attack. The start button still pauses the game.

There isn't much more I can say about the game that doesn't involve story elements and therefore spoilers so I'm bringing this version of the review to a close. I'm hoping to do my reviews like this from now on, probably for games and movies alike: technical, non-spoiler version, followed by the story focused spoiler edition.

Anyway, until next time lads (and lassies).

Price Adjustment

Today I received an email from GameStop advertising their Spring Sale where a whole butt load of games were on for ridiculous sale prices (like 90% off). So I figured I'd take a jaunt in there to see what I could see see see. Upon rechecking the email on my phone I discovered that only select titles were 90% off, so my original plan of getting Skyrim was destroyed, but I did see Bioshock 2 in the email list for $4.99 which I figured wasn't a bad deal at all. I've been looking at getting Bioshock Infinite because it looks adequately awesome, so I decide I'd give 2 a play to get me back up to speed on the Bioshock Universe.

Anywho, that's all.

Drum Roll Please

Well folks the deadline is here and the judging shall commence shortly.  In case you are reading this and have absolutely no clue whatsoever as to what I'm talking about, I'll fill you in.  Recently I took part in a 48 hour film challenge and the submission deadline for the whole rest of the festival is today.  I personally don't have anything else to be handing in for it but this means that the judging should be starting within the next day or two here.  On April 9th I should know how my team and I fared, so I will be sure to post the results here, along with a link to the unlocked video on YouTube.  In the meantime check out the poster for the movie.

Cheers.

Film Review - Oz: The Great and Powerful

I am just doing a quick copy/paste job on this one under a new title to keep things uniform since I'll probably do more of these.

So today I saw the new Oz movie with James Franco: Oz, the Great and Powerful. I have to say although it sat a little strangely at first, Franco's over-acting really sold it for me in the end. It was very clear that it was intentional and I don't think he could've done that much of a better job than he did, so good job James Franco, you nailed it! The movie definitely had a few good 3D moments but I actually think the 2D version does it enough justice. Without spoiling anything, I will say the ending makes the whole movie worth it. If you ask me if I recommend it I would say yes, go for it.

Speaking Of Yellow Brick Roads

So today I saw the new Oz movie with James Franco: Oz, the Great and Powerful. I have to say although it sat a little strangely at first, Franco's over-acting really sold it for me in the end. It was very clear that it was intentional and I don't think he could've done that much of a better job than he did, so good job James Franco, you nailed it! The movie definitely had a few good 3D moments but I actually think the 2D version does it enough justice. Without spoiling anything, I will say the ending makes the whole movie worth it. If you ask me if I recommend it I would say yes, go for it.

Anywho, that does it for the film review post for now, tune in next time for some other movie, possibly Jack the Giant Slayer. Cherio humans.

Back From Outer Space

It's been a few days. I've been away in the mountains for a while, way outside my regular data coverage zone, and I'm just back yesterday, so this is my first opportunity to get back on posting. It was a pretty good trip, and I tell you the beds in the hotel were AMAZING. They were soft and for once sleep was actually a welcome part of the day. Then again the days of walking probably helped tucker me out a bit. I managed to get a supply of Mars Planets from the candy shoppe as well so I'm set for a while in the chocolate department.

Also, I found a sign with a Bruce Willis sticker on it.

There will be more posts to come, probably even later tonight, so stay tuned and stuff, I have a few things to talk about. Toodles.

Follow The Yellow Brick Road

Oh sorry, did I say yellow brick road? I meant snow-white, bumpy, icy, semi-asphalt excuse for a road. I'm off to see the wizard at any rate, the wonderful wizard of the mountains. That's right I'm headed off to Banff for a few days and hopefully get some severe "chillaxing" time in. Maybe it'll be a good time to get some writing done.

Ok that's enough for now. Bye bye now.

Title

Blog.

Oh So That's How This Works

I am very quickly realizing that when there isn't a lot going on, things are moving slowly, minimal homework to do, etc. it is more than likely that more nothing will continue to happen. But as soon as things start picking up, you make plans and you're back to being busy, every single opportunity you were looking for before comes up as a possibility.

Ok so maybe not EVERYTHING I wanted to do is coming up now, but after quite a while of a very calm existence, I'm starting to get invited places, asked for help on things (important things)...

On the bright side, I may be helping work on a feature film in the foreseeable future. So that's pretty cool. If you guys are interested go check out the trailer on the CineCoup film accelerator website:
http://cinecoup.com/autoscript
And then go check out the Facebook page for the film:
www.facebook.com/autoscript
As well as the production company's website:
www.beardedchicken.com

Anywho that about does it for this little instalment, stay tuned and stuff. Alveterzane.

3 Days More

3 days of rest left before I start filming all over again. If I don't have any entries between now and then, you can just assume I'm sleeping.

Bye bye now.

How Do You Sleep?

No seriously how? Before you ask, I am at 3 127 sheep.

3 127, 3 128, 3 129...

Feetstivus

I just finished walking around the set of our short film all day, from 9:30am until now. We think it turned out really well, but there were casualties. 10 in total. 5 pairs of feet are now almost completely obliterated. Well it was worth it, this was by far my favourite film project to work on yet, not because of the content of the story, the location, or anything else like that, but because of the crew I got to work with. I'm not used to being able to work with people who are just as committed, creative, and willing as I am, and it was a super amazing experience. Now that I know where to find these people, and they know where to find me, I can foresee myself working with them a lot more. We had great equipment, great actors, and a great crew, and now that we are heading off to post production, hopefully a great product. Wish us luck!

Cheers!

Film Festivus

Well it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas and today at 4pm I begin the pre-production for a local 48 hour film festival project. I'll actually have a team this time around so that'll be a nice change of pace, I'm sure it will be grand.

Bye bye now.

Crane Shots to Solicit Emotion

So the new episode of Community was pretty great. I really liked the old documentary style ones, but I also enjoyed the pov swaps in this one.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, go check out "Community" on NBC, new episodes air every Thursday, it is the funniest show on the planet! Also be sure to wait for the credit bit at the end!

Anywho, that be it for me, cherio lads (and lassies).

I'm Dreaming Of A Green Summer

Snow continues to fall in the Great White North. We were almost clear, but nope, more snow. We must be at almost a foot overnight. Sigh.

Hohoho.

On The Road Again

I am on a bus. A stationary bus, but a bus none-the-less. We are meant to have left by now, but the person who is actually supposed to be in charge remains MIA. Now we wait.

Bye bye now.

Pizza

That is all.

Skeletal Design

So apparently there is now a way to make a website without actually making a website. We in the biz call this wire framing and it's pretty much let's you make a fully functional website that has the potential to look as good or bad as you want. It's really meant for planning the real version but of course I am going to attempt to use it to find a way to cheat my way out of learning C++...

Anyway, bye bye.

Another Day, Another Destiny

I am writing this with one express purpose. People must go on the Internet and find the Golum version of "I Dreamed a Dream". It will change your life.

That is all. Farewell.

Close One

Just about missed a day of posting. That could have been catastrophic. Well today I slept in, watched last night's episodes of the walking dead and talking dead, had a massive bowl of Crave cereal, and played Sleeping Dogs, followed by listening to the cazzoo rendition of "one day more" from les mis. It was amazing.

But now sleep time. Cheers.

Does Whatever a Spider Can

Just some dudes on an electrical tower. Y'know, doing... Stuff.

T- 5 Days and Counting

Thus concludes my epic adventure to in both real life and fantasy.

The trip was crazy beyond all reasoning, and everyone is pretty much dead tired except the few of us who are accustomed to late nights and early mornings, but it was totes worth it.

In Dungeons and Dragons news, we completed the first encounter, but that's essentially as far as we ever got. Oh well, back to our regular characters now I suppose.

I also seem to really want to go see a movie today, so maybe I'll do that when I get back home. There are actually a lot of good movies playing right now, maybe I'll see more than one, who knows? I don't have any classes tomorrow morning so hey, maybe I'll see ALL the movies!

Any-who, this is getting pretty long so I'm going to sign off for now.

Cherio.

Home Away From Home

Well the good news about breakfast this morning, is that they have rice crispies here. This breakfast has been saved, thank you Kellogg's.

Anyway, that's it. Cherio.

If a tree falls in Blackroot...

Today, I played dungeons and dragons with a crew of folk and we cruised through the first encounter in a stunning 2 hours. We are currently taking an extended rest (in real life as well). Before the rest however, I cut down a tree which we intend to have our artificer who is also a master alchemist turn into gold when we resume. We'll see how that goes.

Any-who, we're taking a siesta to prepare for our late night continuation. Cherio.

Magically Delicious

Today I broke open the lucky charms. No milk or bowls to be had as of yet, so I'm going cakeless- I mean milkless, and just eating them dry. It's quite amazing.

Cherio

It's the Fuzz

We just got passed by a bunch of cops. Thought they were pulling over the school bus a ways in front of us for a minute. Sadly they weren't. Alas, my cell data is screaming in pain.

So cherio

Cheese With That?

For supper today, I went to Wendy's and tried to order a Jr. Cheeseburger, but apparently that isn't actually a thing... So instead I got a cheddar cheese burger and it is essentially cheese, with a side of burger. Not only does it have sliced cheese, but also cheese sauce.

In other news Korea. If this doesn't make sense to you, just type "Korea" into Google, the auto complete should tell the story for you.

Cherio.

Getting down

It's Friday, and thus the end if the school week. *content sigh*
Now since there's no wifi at the bank, this is chewing through my data so I'll make this quick. Tonight at 6pm I am headed off for a weekend of cabin life, complete with Cinnamon Toast Crunch, no-name sparkling pink grapefruit drink, and a potentially chaotic game of Dungeons and Dragons.

May not get the chance to post anything while there, but I shall try for pictures!

Toodles.

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Just figured out how to put a hit counter on here... you'd think Google would just have a wigit for that, but nope.  Oh well, although I will probably never get those precious minutes back again, it was a learning experience.  Anyway, just thought you should know.  As you were.

Nick Clark. Hi.

Welcome to the blog of me!  As fair warning to you internet, I am absolutely terrible at being regular about anything, especially when they require me to log in, but hey maybe my memory will actually keep me in line this time.  But enough of that, have some info about me:

Video games, internets, books, movies, and writings.  That's what I do.

Anyway, I don't know how to end this off so cherio.