Howdy people of the web, it seems about time that I give my blogs a variation, so I am reintroducing a series of blog post I used to do on Gametrailers entitled the ‘Random Blog‘. These posts were completely random and they be made if I was bored and needed something to write or if I wanted to right about multiple subjects in one blog post. With that in mind, I’m gonna start t his thing off and hopefully you’ll enjoy what you read. Let’s get started!
Gaming
It’s strange, in these days of video games I haven’t really been on the gaming scene that much, besides playing Sonic Generations, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and Mortal Kombat 9 in 2011, I’ve barely touched any other games last year and that’s really tragic yo. By my standards (or at least my old standards) I should be out there playing everything that I can touch, but in a way I guess I don’t play that much these days purely based on the fact that I’m primarily a Nintendo gamer. But now most Nintendo-based games are on the 3DS and I don’t currently have one means I have no games to play. Another factor to consider woul be that my interest in gaming has dwindled a fair amount over the course of 2011.
Even though there’s a few small titles heading to the Wii like Mario Party 9 and the long-awaited Dragon Quest X, let’s be honest, no one really cares for Mario Party these days and DQX will probably be better housed on the Wii U anyway. So why don’t Nintendo just declare the Wii dead already, the rest of the gaming community have a in a lot of ways. Though not all hope is lost for me. My sister finally obtained a PS3 at Christmas and I’m feeling good. Only problem is that the console is back in my home town, so I’ll have to wait a while before I play the PS3 while I’m at uni. I still ahve my friend’s Xbox 360 so I think I’ll survive. But enough about that, 2012 looks like a great year for gaming, there’s many major games showing up and I want a good few of those games especially: Street Fighter X Tekken, Sonic 4: Episode 2, SSX, Soul Calibur 5, Resident Evil 6, Resident Evil Revelations, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Kingdom Hearts 3DS & Animal Crossing 3DS are games that stick clearly in my mind, anything else either doesn’t apply to me or I just forgot to mention it.
This is a game I really want to play 😀
Obviously I have listed a few 3DS games and I don’t have one now, but I will obtain one eventually purely for those games I have listed there and eventually getting Mario Kart 7 too because I need Nintendo juice. It seems like Nintendo are finally getting its act together even though they are losing stupid amounts of money because they didn’t meet their predicted sales with their hardware, but I assume once the rest of their good games come later in the year and with the release of the Wii U near the end of the year, Nintendo will be back on form as long as the software line-up that’s better than the 3DS.
Everything Else
Well there’s not much else to talk about really. January has been a very slow month and I just want it to be over. Don’t get me wrong things haven’t been all bad it’s just been really slow and the majority of it has been extremely boring and lifeless. I’m still in my break time between Christmas and since uni starts again this week I’m trying to live up my freedom from education, but with nothing to do I might as well be in university instead of letting my mind turn to mush. I currently have only a few days left of freedom before the wheels of education start spinning, though from the way in which my timetable has changed and the awkward new project we have to do with random people from other courses I am not sure that returning would do me any favours either. Currently in my world I am still quite bored, I have no fun activities so I doomed to stay in seclusion in my flat. Since I have no games to play because my consoles are back at home and with no parties to go to due to lack of funds and people who want to come out with me I just stay attached to my laptop nearly every day. Whether I’m playing music on iTunes to keep me awake at the early hours of the morning or watching ridiculous amounts of videos on YouTube or watching TV shows like Community, 30 Rock, Boardwalk Empire & Sherlock, there feels like there’s the right amount of stuff going on in the world of my laptop to keep me at bay from being completely bored.
I’ve also been rewriting one of my old sci-fi stories I’ve been working on and I’m currently getting back into a working groove to do YouTube videos as I have the review of Spider-Man the Animated Series Season 2 recorded and in editing mode. Plus on the social side of things I have had a few nights out around Sheffield and it has been nice to hang with my people again. I even got to go to London to celebrate my cousin’s 30th birthday which was awesome, but besides that everything else has been a drag. Anyway I just wanna get things in order so I can stop worrying about everything before March when my birthday comes around so I can be happy again.
Well that’s it for this installment of the Random Blog series, this is a sort of test run of the Random Blog series to see if it’ll work on WordPress so tell me what you think of this format in comment section below. So until next time catch ya later people! 😀
Howdy to all who may be reading this blog, today I return with another film review in the form of the Danny Boyle film 127 Hours, an adaptation of the book Between a Rock and a Hard Place, which documented the true events of a mountain climber, Aron Ralston whose played by James Franco in this film. Now I saw this film just after it came out in cinema back in 2011, but I didn’t watch again until I went to America and caught it on the plane while travelling over. So now that I’ve had time to reassess the film I think its time to review this film again with my better understanding of it, I’ll shall try to make it worth reading 🙂
Ever since I heard about this film I was continuously wondering just how it was going to be done. I mean here you have a film based on a real life situation of a very gruesome nature, plus it’s a film that’s primarily going to be based in one location for the main duration of the film, how long will the film be able to hold up before audiences get bored? Those were the main aspects I kept thinking about before seeing the film. It’s not that I didn’t have faith in Danny Boyle as a director because I know he’s brilliant, at that point in time I had only seen Sunshine and Slumdog Millionaire but both films I enjoyed immensely so I wasn’t overly worried. However making a film about a man who goes climbing in the wilderness, gets his arm stuck beneath and boulder and then has to cut his arm off to get free doesn’t sound like a very inviting film. Plus the filmmakers and actors would have to portray it properly, so it wasn’t the easiest task to try and get right. But thankfully due to some clever direction by Danny Boyle, some wonderful cinematography, a great soundtrack by A. R. Rahman, a lovely script and fantastic performance from the leading man James Franco, the film all comes together in a very heartfelt and memorable way.
So let’s start with the story which is the main aspect of the film, now what makes a 127 Hours such a good film is the fact that it’s story is so interesting from start to finish. The introduction is fabulous with the use editing and great music to start the film off and straight from that point you are engaged, you establish the kind of lifestyle that Aron lives and get sucked into his world as he travels from the city into an isolated canyon in Canyonlands National Park, Utah. Along the way he meets two girls and goes along with them to point them in the right direction while also hanging out and having fun. After leaving them he travels alone and while climbing grabs onto a loose boulder, he falls and then the boulder lands on his arm. And then the rest of the film is about how he survives through his traumatic situation of the course of time and the events leading up to how he frees himself.
Even though 127 Hours has a very difficult subject matter at the center of it all, the film is full of a range of different things like adventure, joy, pain, suffering, temptation and the concept of cause and effect. This film easily could have just been about one man stuck in a canyon for 90 minutes slowly succumbing to death and then escaping in a heroic and clichéd manner. But the way in which the filmmakers have tackled the problem of 127 Hours being potentially tedious and boring is by using flashbacks, hallucination sequences, having a well written screenplay and having one fantastic and varied performance by James Franco as Aron Ralston. Before saw this film I had only seen James Franco in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man film trilogy as Harry Osborn in which he was pretty darn good in my opinion. Since then I’ve only seen him in Date Night, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the one episode he was in 30 Rock, but from what I’ve seen so far he doesn’t disappoint and commits to whatever role he gets into and that is especially the case with 127 Hours. I think James Franco gives his best performance to date in this film and it was truly incredible. He portrays the many levels of emotion that one would go through in that situation, he has great range, more so than his previous work in my opinion, but I think the best parts is when he’s on edge, at those emotional breaking points and in a frail state. Those are the moments where he really shines and it all feels authentic and most importantly you connect with him too.
This film isn’t for the casual film watcher as it is a film based mainly in one location for the main duration of the film and while that doesn’t bother me too much, I know some people who wouldn’t watch the film purely based on that fact alone. As I just said I have seen a few films where the main location of the film doesn’t change like Lifeboat, Conspiracy and more recently Buried, all of which I highly recommend. One other thing to note is that this film isn’t for the skirmish either, there is also the point where he actually cuts his arm off which is pretty nasty and not for the faint-hearted, but it is very impressive to look at because of the level authenticity that went into it and how well James Franco deals with it. Gruesome but awesome! And just before I finish I just want to mention the film’s soundtrack, A. R. Rahman is man who knows how to craft a bloody good soundtrack. All of his tracks sound incredible and really add a great layer of emotion and atmosphere in the scenes its applied to. There is literally always the right kind of music for the right situation from A. R. Rahman’s compositions to use of songs in the film too which always seem to be on form especially the song that used in the trailer that’s also used in the film, “Never Hear Surf Music Again” by Free Blood, it’s very addictive.
Overall I think 127 Hours one of the best films I’ve seen for a while, it’s a wonderfully crafted, really raw and well worth a watch. If I were to rate the film I’d give it an 8.5/10.
Well thanks for reading and I’ll see you guys later!! 😀
Last night before I went to bed I said to myself “I want more out of life.” In a way that’s what I’ve always wanted for myself in the final years of college leading up to university and so on but the more I dwell on it, the more I actually feel those words as a statement have more meaning and that I’ve actually always wanted something like it.
Its strange, for a while now in the back of my head ever since I was a teenager I’ve always felt like things in my life could so be much more than it was. I’ve always considered my life to be something of a mystery, like something I am constantly trying to figure out and I while I like the normality of it all, I think that I’ve hoped that it would expand further, that I could become more and I would live a much more fulfilling life. That’s not to say that I don’t like my life, heck I’d be lying if I said that. I’ve had some incredible experiences with my family and friends in many different places. I guess I’m just greedy. But it’s true, I think this feeling really has been lurking around in the back of my mind since I feel in love with superheroes in comic books back in my childhood.
Even though I knew that these characters were purely fictional and obviously none of the stuff that applied in their lives would apply to me I think it was just the fascination with their lifestyles, adventures and charismatic personalities that made me believe that somewhere down the line that I would be able to create a life for myself where I could have a fancy life similar theirs, something that felt amazing, beyond the basic status quo. I think one of the those feelings I had of a greater fulfilling lifestyle came when I went to Canada a few years ago and it felt incredible, after only a few days of being down there I felt like it was a place of opportunity and new beginnings. Even though I had only gone to Canada twice once in 2006 and once again in 2007 I could imagine starting my life down there in a few years after I had done away with college. And to be honest I still think that I can obtain that kind of thing, obviously not the superhero life (even though that would be frigging sweet.), I mean to have a life beyond the norm, to have something special, fantastic, inspirational, maybe even magical.
Maybe I’m just talking crazy, maybe I don’t know what I am talking about, but I honestly feel that my heart and soul is telling me that I can have more and I yearn for it, I don’t how I’ll get it or when or whether it’ll even happen but I guess we’ll see what the future says and live in hope. 🙂
Good day to all who may reading this blog post, since 2012 seems to be the year of major happenings in the world of video games I feel more inclined to do more blog posts relating to video games. So hopefully this review will be the first of many to come in the area of video game reviews both new and old. And with the announcement of Sonic 4: Episode 2 just at the end of December I thought it was time to revisit Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (the Wii version). Now I reviewed this game on my old Gametrailers blog game back in November 2010, but back then my opinion was fairly conflicted. So I’ve decided to revise the review with a much clearer opinion on the game. Also there’s a video review available at the bottom if you wish to watch that instead haha.
Not exactly the triumphant return to form that Sega was hoping for with Sonic, but still pretty good.
Now this was a Sonic game that had been eagerly anticipated by many fans since its announcement back in the early quarter of 2010 and since then there was a lot of talk about the game continuously with many fans excited to see a return to the “Genesis/Megadrive” style of gameplay, while others turned off completely thinking that the game would fall into the category of bad Sonic games. Just after the game came out it had made some degree of impact on gamers and critics, while it was mostly mixed luckily it was more positive than negative, Sonic Team and Dimps had made a decent Sonic game. However the game is far from perfect and there are many imperfections about the game that has sparked off negative reviews and thoughts from fans and critics. So what are the good points and the bad points about this game? Well I shall present those points in my review which will begin now.
So is Sonic 4: Episode 1 a good game? Pretty much. Has it got problems? Yes. Will these two factors affect your purchase of the game? Well that depends on who you are. Your overall enjoyment of this game really depends on who you are and what kind of Sonic fan you are too. For me Sonic 4: Episode 1 is a delightful yet frustrating slice of fun, which is over far too soon.
Gameplay
Now let’s get into the gameplay of Sonic 4: Episode 1. In terms of the concept of what Sonic does and how he moves and plays, it’s the same as it was in the 16-bit games, just with the addition of the homing attack. Sonic runs, jumps and uses the spin dash on the spot and while running too. He navigates his way through levels destroying Badniks, moving through looped roads, bouncing on springs and avoiding environmental hazards like spikes, pitfalls, rolling boulders or moving walls and machines waiting to squash you. Now when you start playing the game there are a few aspects about Sonic’s movements that will take some getting used to like: Sonic’s slow acceleration, slow momentum when not being boosted along, the odd hit detection and the lack of speed from the use of the spin dash. But once you adjust to these differences the game can be fun. Blazing through loop-the-loops, hitting speed boosters and running up walls or being bounced around by springs, all that Sonic-style of gameplay is there and very enjoyable. Even using the homing attack is fun, it’s tight and responsive and while developers say you don’t necessarily have to use the homing attack, technically speaking that is a lie. The homing attack is set up to be used on several occasions and some sections of the game require you to use of the homing attack to advance through the level.
Also speaking about the physics, (one of the most important aspects of Sonic gameplay) in this game they feel a bit off. Sonic’s running animation gets to top speed before he does and Sonic’s slow acceleration is very troublesome. I also think that Sonic uncurling during the use of the spin dash when moving through a speed booster is bogus. And another thing with the spin dash, why does it stop and uncurl Sonic after he comes off of a ledge? It’s issues like these that will bug the hell out of Sonic veterans..
As with any Sonic game the first zone is the easiest and then the game gets progressively harder from there. Splash Hill Zone and Casino Street Zone have a natural progression in terms of difficulty. However Lost Labyrinth Zone slows things down with a lot more challenge and changes up the difficulty especially towards Act 3 and when Mad Gear Zone comes into play the difficulty is amplified and that’s where the death begins. The difficulty of this game is quite harsh and cheap in some areas; Lost Labyrinth Zone Boss, nuff said. Mad Gear Zone Act 3, monstrous. Egg Station Zone, death on many occasions. Other than there’s some new gameplay gimmicks to try out from Sonic bolder balancing to running through a while act in darkness with only a torch to light his way. Overall the gameplay and level design aren’t much different from the 16-bit games and borrow a few elements from the Sonic Rush games too, just don’t expect too much new or inventive gameplay.
Now I don’t think I can do this review without talking about Super Sonic. Once you unlock Super Sonic the game becomes extremely fun, as with previous Sonic games in the 16-bit series as Super Sonic your speed is at least 2 times faster and you can jump around 2-3 times higher and you are invincible. This makes moving through areas of the Lost Labyrinth Zone and Mad gear Zones a hell of a lot easier and makes speed runs much more interesting too. And Super Sonic overall just makes Sonic 4: Episode 1 a much better game to play. One thing that I feel I should mention is why when obtaining the shield as Super Sonic does the shield still show up when your invincible already? I just find that a bit weird.
Presentation
Now visually this game looks really good, the colours are vivid and the animation for the foreground and background is intricate. The art direction for the game seems to be mixture of the first Sonic games on the Megadrive just with a slight remodeling for this game. Sonic 4: Episode 1 seems to have a 2.5D look about it where it isn’t entirely 3D models, but more so 3D graphics in 2D perspective. And even though the Wii version of the game that only runs at 480p it still holds up pretty well when compared to its HD counterparts of the Xbox 360 and PS3. Okay and lastly let’s talk about Sonic’s character model, from the time it seen in the first teaser trailer nearly every Sonic fan has been hating on it and sure I understand their hate, if this is meant to be a continuation of the original series on the Sega Megadrive why doesn’t look the same as he back in the day? Well the director of the game said that since Sonic changed to his ‘Modern’ look back in Sonic Adventure in 1999 he would never revert to his old look (well at least until Sonic Generations showed up last year lol). And so the developers have tried to incorporate the old-school Sonic movements and animations into ‘Modern’ Sonic while obviously updating other aspects like the homing attack, and it seems to works for the most part. Though Sonic’s character model looks odd at certain times when wobbling over a ledge, or bouncing off of springs or posing at the end of a boss battle, but otherwise he looks fine.
When it comes to the audio department, the music of Sonic 4: Episode 1 has a nice collection of songs crafted by Sonic veteran composer Jun Senoue. Most of the songs have a nice sound and are reminiscent of Sonic 1 & 2. Though on a good few occasions the songs feel like imitations of Sonic 1 & 2 rather than sounding awesome, colourful and original like Sonic 3. And while the soundtrack is not nearly as memorable as the other Sonic titles, it’s still pretty decent and my favourite songs are Splash Hill Zone Act 3, Casino Street Zone Act 2 and the Lost Labyrinth Zone Act 1 & 3. When it comes to sound effects most of the sounds are from Sonic 1, 2 & 3 with a few new exceptions, and while it’s nice to hear a lot of these nostalgic sound effects I find it to a bit lazy on the developers part.
Longevity
Now let’s look at the longevity of Sonic 4: Episode 1. In terms of overall package of this game it has 4 zones, with 3 acts in each one with a boss encounter at the end of each zone. After completing the first 4 zones, a final zone is available to complete and lastly there’s also the 7 special stages to work through to obtain Super Sonic and see the small preview of Sonic 4: Episode 2. All zones can be accessed and played through a world map or played continuously when the button prompt appears at the end of each level. All levels can be played in normal score attack mode or time attack mode where times can be uploaded onto online leaderboards. And while doing speed runs in time attack mode, collecting Chaos Emeralds, playing as Super Sonic and trying for higher scores on score attack mode may keep some people playing, for me those modes only last so long. There are only 4 zones, which means that there’s only 12 acts plus the final zone. That is a far cry from Sonic 1 which had 6 zones, Sonic 2 that had 10 (minus the final zone) and Sonic 3 had 6 zones, but when you attach Sonic & Knuckles you do have a fair amount of zones there. Just don’t expect a long adventure with this title.
This game is full of nostalgic value for Sonic fans that were lucky enough to be around in the 90s, there’s many throwbacks to Genesis/Megadrive titles when it comes to the level designs, music, enemies, special stages and boss encounters. The levels mainly take their design from Sonic 1 & 2, not only in the visual sense but also in the level structure as well. Since this is a sequel I was surprised not to see some features that were made available in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Sonic 4: Episode 1 also limits itself in the items department too as they are the same as they were in the first 2 Sonic games, with there being rings everywhere and there being monitors containing only one type of shield, speed-ups, 1-ups, rings and invincibility.
Conclusion
Overall one could argue that Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 hasn’t done enough to establish itself as its own game, that it feels too familiar to the 16-bit Sonic titles and one could also argue that if the name of the game wasn’t “Sonic 4” the negativity towards it from the fans might have been lower. And I also find it funny how before this game came out a lot fans thought that Sonic Colours, the 3D game that was being released for the Wii just after Sonic 4: Episode 1 was going to be the lesser game of the two and yet Sonic Colours was a far superior game. However for better or for worse Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 is here and for what it’s worth Sonic Team and Dimps have done well to construct a game that mimics the 16-bit games. While it has obvious problems with the physics, level design, fluctuation in difficulty and a very short length, the game is still for the most a joy to play and I’d say give it a go. Hopefully with Sonic 4: Episode 2 on the horizon and set to show up at some point in 2012 on PSN & Xbox Live the developers can deliver an experience far beyond this previous adventure.
Rating: 7/10
So that’s my review of Sonic 4: Episode 1, hopefully you enjoyed reading it 😀
Today has been another one of those slow days of unproductive activity, though I haven’t been completely bored, over the last few days I have been revisiting on of my favourite television shows, 30 Rock. Originally I used to watch it at home, but I had never seen it the whole way through from the beginning so I have blazed through season 1 to season 4 and remembered why I love this show so much. I mean I hadn’t watched 30 Rock for ages and after leaving it for a while my love for the show sort of diminished. Though after finding and enjoying the amazing show that is Community I decided to give 30 Rock a second chance to make me laugh again and man it didn’t disappoint. I still love the show, its weird, funky, unnatural, but also very brilliant. From the range of interesting characters in the main and supporting cast to the crazy and wonderful plot lines that take place in each episode, I love it and I am in love with this show, it’s great and its my new obsession. Though I’ll have to put my plans on watching season 5 on-hold because while watching season 4 today, the show has inspired me to get back into the groove of doing my projects.
30 Rock, one of my favourite TV shows and my inspiration to get back into my work groove.
Like I have mentioned in my last two blogs (Giving up is bad, but I feel like doing it and What happened to the fun times?) I have a good few projects to do, many of which I set myself the task of completing long ago. Some vary from short projects that could be tackled in a week with the right amount of perseverance to some that have taken years with all of my conflicting ideas and crazy schedules with college and now university too. A lot of my projects are just writing stories that I hope to make into comic stories or animated films/television shows, right now I am just trying to focus on the more solid ideas and solidify them as much as possible. One involves a story synopsis I’ve been writing since 2006 which I have to technically rewrite from scratch because I lost the updated version and version I have now is atrocious so I am forced to make many amendments. I know have to create the script for this potential film I’m working on, but the problem is that I am no writer and while my english doesn’t suck by any means, it’s just a problem because I want the dialogue to be kick-ass and not completely generic or look like it was blatantly stolen from another film, but I don’t have the skills to pull that off yet. So this writing process continues slowly but surely.
I totally agree with this sign.
In terms of the other projects I have they are a little more manageable, those are making YouTube videos. On YouTube as TheHypersonic55 I do reviews of films, some video games and my very important review of one of my favourite TV shows of all time Spider-Man: The Animated Series. In this review I did back in May 2010 I reviewed the first season of this show and it catapulted me from being a nobody on YouTube to being at least a somebody. I think it might have been down to my american accent I was using at the time due to it being my first video, it was the video that got me a fair amount of views and allowed me to keep going on YouTube continuously, though obviously it’s been almost 2 years since that review and since then I have dropped the american accent, done many more videos and so on, but the problem is its been so long since that last review and I’ve had seasons 2 & 3 of Spider-Man on DVD for around a year and a bit so I’ve left those reviews for a long time so it’s really inconsistent timing. Though I figure with the new Spider-Man film coming out later on in the summer, now is as good a time as any to get these up there. So production on season 2 probably will begin soon enough, followed by season 3 because I am in a good mood 🙂
Spider-Man: The Animated Series, one of my favourite cartoons of all time and shall continue to watch this until I am an old man 😀
Well I think that’s enough writing for one this blog post, I’ve got enough writing to do elsewhere. I can sense that this will probably be a long night, but as long as I have my music to keep me alive through the night, then I shall survive! Onwards to the future! Peace out people 😀
It’s strange how fast things can change in a week, I mean last week everything was fairly turbulent and stressful but ended on a good note and my world was finally in a fun groove. But now I look at my life at this current point in time and its dull, ever so dull, with nothing to do, no one to hang with (well no one that wants to come out and hang at least) and terrible weather, its like some sort of force is in the air preventing me from having fun and enjoying life at uni. One may ask what exactly do I mean? Well I shall give you one basic example of how my world was incredibly fun and fantastic and then literally dropped into the area of bordem in a short space of a few days.
So let’s rewind back to last week Friday where I was facing one of the most stressful days of my life where I had a uni assignment to had in and a job interview to tackle as well and I was in a state of panic, stress and confusion. Needless to say things ended terribly in both departments, not intentionally of course but I encountered a number of problems leading up to my uni assignment hand-in time and I didn’t get in on time and that had messed me up for my job interview I had to do straight afterwards. The way in which my job interview went was just tragic, let’s just say I failed. And then after that I got lost when I decided to walk home from where my job interview was which clearly was not the smartest choice due to the fact that I barely know the geography of Sheffield already so walking was just a bad choice. I was in unknown territory and had to follow signs heading back into the city center and it took me around one hour and half to get back into town and took me an additional half hour to get back to my flat, so all in all it took me around two hours to get home. Thank god I had my music to hold me together or I would not have survived that ordeal. Sure one could argue that if I had taken the bus I wouldn’t have been in such an awful situation, but due to the fact that I left my wallet at home I wouldn’t have been able to get on anyway, plus I don’t like taking public transport and would much prefer to walk most places because I’m stubborn and an idiot in some cases lol.
So as you can imagine by the time I had gotten back I was completely tired and my feet and legs were not functioning very well, so after a quick conversation with my flatmate I crashed out for a few hours and awoke in the later hours of the night. And by this time my flatemate and my other friends had come over and were making noise loud enough to wake me up from my sleeping state (which is hard because I sleep like a rock). So then I ventured out and met them, then we went out to the pub and we actually had a very jolly night out. For me and flatmate it was great to get out and hang in such a cool environment on a social event like that one since we don’t do it that often. We drank, we conversed, we laughed and enjoyed each others company and I got to eat some fast food for the first time this year and it was delightful. That night was incredible, from the disgusting way Friday had started and panned out over the course of the day to the way it changed in the evening it was a massive transition and much-needed one too. So just by the way that night ended I knew that the day after would be just as good if not better. 🙂
So then Saturday came and it was one of my flatmate Matt’s birthday and for many weeks prior to that date he had spoken of the epic night out we were going to have. And so on that day I was woken up by him and his girlfriend, we sang a happy birthday for him and was treated to some lovely cake too. Then several hours went by and then we all got ready and the pre-party session began and my goodness it was incredible, the dancing, the games, the atmosphere, the alcohol, it was perfect. I shall not go into details about the exact happenings, but let’s just say it was very lively and crazy. So then we headed out to meet some other mates in the pub and from there the night just got even crazier, there was a lot of picture-taking, drinking, dancing and madness that ensued. It was a mad night, so much so that I actually forgot the majority of it. I was that far gone. The morning after I felt terrible, but I got a recap of the night from my flatmate Craig and then saw all of the pictures I took and it started to fill in the gaps for me. Even though I still don’t quite remember all of the night, from what I do remember it was the best night I have had in Sheffield for a long time, maybe ever. I was having fun, I was smiling, yes I was in my element… However I think that’s where the fun ended.
And on the day after I spent the majority of the day recovering from the worst stomach ache in existence and only saw one or two of my flatmates that day. And from there the times just got considerably dull, people barely came out of their rooms and when I did come out I barely saw anyone or no one at all. And that continued for days, it’s like the communication between us broke down and no one came out anymore and for the first time in this flat since coming here in September everything felt so disconnected. Which is a complete contrast to how we were for the first few months, just hanging in each others company in the living room all the time either playing games or just making food or just sitting around talking about whatever was on our minds. That was the kind of thing I was used to and to have it taken away felt horrible. I always knew there were going to be times where we weren’t always hanging out but I didn’t think it would end up like this. For me I like my alone time just as much a the next man, but communication and interaction with other people is something I need or I cease to function and get sad. It also doesn’t help that one my flatmates is constantly in and out of flat at the moment and he normally is the glue that holds us together in a lot of ways and he has the fun factor that keeps us together when we’re not all closed off in our rooms.
At at this point in time I’m not sure what the deal is, things are just extremely boring, dull and uninteresting and because of this factor I’m stuck. Without fun I’m not jolly or positive and since I’m still in this funk I can’t function, I don’t feel like being productive with my time and if I’m not doing my own projects or going to uni I have no structure to my life, so nothing happens. So at this current point in my life I write blogs to feel productive. I have YouTube videos to make, unfinished science fiction stories to write and yet I don’t feel like doing it yet because my mood is so wrong. Man this sucks. 😡
Its strange, I’m currently at this point in my life where everything has just come to a halt, like a stalemate, a deadlock. Even though I have many things that I would like to do or tackle in terms of my own side projects outside of university and all that, I just feel at this current point in time that everything has fallen apart, been scrambled and thrown into a tumble dryer. There is a level of indecisiveness that is floating around in my mind that is making feel very irrational and that’s made me think about something that I’m actually considering taking action on; quitting on the education scene.
Straight from the outset that sounds crazy, foolish and a coward’s way out. And under normal circumstances I wouldn’t say such crazy things but after last week things have shifted my mind into unknown territory and for the first time I’m questioning decisions I make and thinking I should undo some of the things that I have done recently. And strangely the majority of my thoughts have been edging towards my education and wondering if it is worth all of this trouble, the logical side of me says yes, but this erratic, indecisive side of me is saying maybe I should bail before things become more complicated or before I decide to continue on and somehow decide somewhere down the line that this isn’t the course of action that I wish to take, that doing that animation course isn’t my calling and that my skills could be applied in another field of work. Right now I’m not in a calm place, nothing is normal, everything is illogical and I’m questioning everything. So I don’t know, maybe I should just sleep on things, find a new hobby, find a creative structure in my life and maybe things will change, maybe I’ll find my way out of this funk and get back into my jolly groove and not think so unnaturally.
It’s funny how this is my first blog post of 2012 and it’s already starting out on a depressing note and subject matter. My first post of 2012 was actually going to be a lot different, though that post is still drafted and has yet to be completed and I still haven’t decided whether I’ll bother finishing it, so we’ll see what happens.
Howdy ladies and gentlemen, today I have another film review to give ya and this time it comes in shape of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol aka Mission: Impossible 4.
Now before this film came out I was very wary purely because it was the fourth entry in the Mission: Impossible film series. In most normal cases, most film series end in a trilogy or spin-off, so when you hear there’s going to be a fourth film in a film series that really didn’t need it, you can’t help but think it’ll be bad before it’s even going to come out. Though over time when it was announced that Brad Bird, director of The Incredibles was going to be on-board for the project I felt that there may be some hope for the film and then when Simon Pegg and Jeremy Renner were also attached to the film, so my fear turned into hope. So I went to watch this film just expecting to like it… But after I watched it I was like “Holy man this film friggin is awesome!!”
This latest instalment in the Mission: Impossible film series is an interesting chapter in the life of Ethan Hunt and is fantastic film in the genre of action movies. Basically in this film the IMF is shut down when it’s implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt and his new team to go rogue to clear their organization’s name. While the plot sounds simple enough, there a good level intricacy and layering to it, with the multiple characters involved on the good side and the side of the enemy. This film is a great action flick purely because rather than just being a mindless film full of explosions and having action with no substance like the latest instalment of the Transformers film series, MI: GP has a story, it has structure with characters who are interesting and engaging and most importantly things happen for a reason rather than just happening for the sake of a spectacle for the audience. Tom Cruise is still just as cool as ever as Ethan Hunt and he delivers a solid performance whether he’s just talking or jumping out of buildings. Jeremy Renner adds an interesting element to the film with his character William Brandt, while Paula Patton and Simon Pegg do equally well in the film as agents Jane Carter and Benji Dunn.
Now talk about the action sequences in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. The action scenes in this film are just ridiculously awesome. So much stuff happens in this film it’s unreal, straight from the beginning of the film it sets you up for a wide ride of significant feats performed by several of the characters involved whether they are the good guys or the bad guys. So many of the scenarios created are just unnatural, so many tension-building situations and heart-racing scenes are thrown in throughout this film that you don’t know what’s going to happen next. Another thing I noticed which Jeremy Jahns mentioned in his YouTube review was that when the action sequences come just when you think that it’s over, it throws a curve ball and continues, it’s mind-boggling. But one thing is for sure that the action sequences are pulled off in a fabulous way, all of it is very entertaining, well-choreographed and incredible to watch, some of it throws away the laws of realism and gets completely ridiculous at times, but I think that’s what I really loved about it, that level of impossibility that wouldn’t take place in the real world.
The amount of crazy action stunts that Tom Cruise gets into in this film is absolutely mad.
I also want to talk about the soundtrack which is wonderfully handled by one of my favourite film composers Michael Giacchino. In most of the soundtracks I have heard Mr Giacchino is nothing short of amazing as he always seems to get the music right in every scenario and it’s always so loud and present that you can’t ignore how great it sounds. As I listened to the soundtrack throughout the film I noticed subtle references to Giacchino’s previous work with Pixar and the more recent sci-fi film Star Trek. Now for me I find it interesting that both Brad Bird and Michael Giacchino found themselves working together again on a film of a similar genre to that of The Incredibles. And just like their last collaboration they work wonderfully together. And since I’ve mentioned Brad Bird now I think I should give him his credit as I feel this film really worked under his direction. Bird’s directing skills are pretty darn good, though it is all in the world of animation his contributions to The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Ratatouille can’t be ignored. In the end I am glad that he was picked as the director because he did so well with it and it also shows that Brad Bird is also capable of directing live-action films too so hopefully this is the start of bigger things to come in his career.
This picture here is just badass, such a fine team of awesomeness.
So in conclusion Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is a fabulous film and probably one of the best films of 2011. The film was handled very well with a good story, a solid cast, ridiculously awesome action sequences and a soundtrack that is just simply wonderful. After seeing this film I know one thing is for sure, Tom Cruise is still awesome! 😀 He can still tackle action films in such a great way and you can see in this film how much he really commits to the film with the amount of crazy stunts he pulls off. And director Brad Bird, he is a man of brilliance and he needs to direct more films because he has talent that shouldn’t be wasted.
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