If there's one trend in modern PC gaming that I do like, it's the so-called "freemium" model; a game is free to play but the player is able to spend his own money on in-game currency and experience points in order to buy new equipment and skills. A number of pay-to-play games have adopted this model and found entirely new leases on life, and now the trend is moving towards simply making the game free to play to begin with but allowing micro transactions whenever the player feels. I can say firsthand this works great. I'm very cyclical; I love the game Tribes: Ascend. But I only play it for a brief stretch at a time and then I go play something else. If I had a monthly subscription, I probably never even would have bothered with the game. But, by being entirely free, and using micro transactions to boost my experience and currency to acquire some of the items and skins that I want, I've probably spent a hundred dollars on the game with a combined play time of less than twenty-one days. They certainly wouldn't have gotten that kind of money out of me with a subscription model.
One of the new games coming out under this model is PlanetSide 2. Way back in the day, almost ten years ago now, I played the original PlanetSide, and I actually loved it. It was pretty revolutionary in its time, being an MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) title, but an FPS (First Person Shooter) with light RPG (Role Playing Game) elements. Due to the limitations of the era, it relied on hitboxes and fancy number crunching to calculate damage and accuracy. There were always some latency and lag issues creeping up, but for the most part, the game was fun and I played it for quite a long time. But, as with all things, it came and went. Other games came out which were more entertaining and ultimately played better, and while the servers kept running, the game population decreased steadily over time until finally the announcement came that a sequel was being made.
The game is not truly a sequel, but a kind of remake or re imagining. PlanetSide 2 has a much more detailed backstory about the origins of the factions and how they came to the planet Auraxis. Ultimately though, as there are no quests, the story doesn't serve much point. It makes for an entertaining read, but all it does is tell you how the factions in the game are different. The only real difference between the three are aesthetics and play styles. You have the Terran Republic, who are ruthless authoritarians and have a sleek appearance and a rapid fire play style, going for damage over time. You have the New Conglomerate, with a bulky, utilitarian look and a hard hitting play style, going for maximum damage per shot. And lastly, you have the Vanu Sovereignty, with a very futuristic look and a sort hybrid play style; they are are fast and hit harder than the Terran but are not as powerful as the Conglomerate.
Once you get through the opening cinematic, you give your character the briefest of customization, name him/her, and then immediately get dropped into the middle of a warzone. More than likely, you'll die within seconds of landing. Then you'll respawn and figure out what do from there. You'll have to choose what class you want to play, you'll have to learn about resources, about base capturing, and base defending. And you'll have to do it on the fly.
Oh, I should probably mention this - there is no tutorial mode. No training mode. No offline mode to figure out what you have to do. There are resources on the PlanetSide wiki, and a few tutorial videos floating about, but for the most part you have to ask those people around you what specifically is going on and what you're supposed to do. I understand that there's only so much room in the budget for things like voice acting, and even just for writing dialogue and AI scripts, but with a game that has as much going on in it as PlanetSide 2 does, you would think even a basic tutorial mode would have some priority. But, if you're aware of this going into the game, and you set aside enough time to be able to go over how things work and ask people to to help you, you'll be able to figure it out without too much trouble.
Certainly, the game plays smoother than the original. There's very little lag, even with a significantly larger player cap - the game is able to host approximately two-thousand players in combat simultaneously, which is extremely impressive. The best part is that even with a large population - I believe the largest battle I was involved in had five hundred players - the game still plays fairly smooth. Instead of using hitboxes and reticle bloom to determine accuracy, the game takes from Call of Duty, where you have a reticle when firing from the hip, but ideally you'll aim down the sights to be more accurate. It works well here, and you have to lead your shots on a moving target also, especially at range.
Most of your fights will take place either in a field, with you engaging vehicles and infantry at a moderate range, or in a tight corridor in a building at very close range. To this end, there is a large variety of weapons, being assault rifles, carbines, shotguns, machine guns, and more, with a variety of weapons in each category with some subtle distinctions between to suit your preferred method of play. There is no inherently "better" weapon here, only differences for different people. One weapon might have a higher rate of fire, but reduced damage, or a vastly increased load time. One might be more accurate and hit harder, but shoots slowly and won't be useful up close. So the choice of what to take is up to you and how you feel like playing at that moment. I should also note that the weapons are all faction specific and the differences are still unique to the style of each; a slow-firing Terran weapon, for example, is still going to shoot faster than most Conglomerate weapons.
What's really nice, and what most other games don't get right, are the air vehicles. The controls are more complicated than controlling a tank, but aren't too complicated and are nowhere near as twitchy as previous Battlefield games. Plus, aircraft can have a huge impact in the warzone. A Galaxy transport can drop an entire squad behind enemy lines and disrupt enemy vehicle production and repair. A Liberator can demolish the front lines, and the Scythe, Mosquito, and Reaver can harass the ground troops and chase off enemy aircraft. They function very well and add a whole new dynamic not present in other shooters.
Infantry classes are Infiltrator (equipped for sniping, and also hacking), the Engineer (as it sounds, equipped for repairing bases and vehicles, and can deploy turrets), the Medic (who can heal, but also revive dead teammates), the Light Assault (equipped with good armor and weapons selections, but also a jetpack to move around the battlezone quickly), and Heavy Assault (packing rocket launchers and machine guns). Each class can be tweaked with earned certification points to adjust to your preferred style of play, as well as different weapons for different purposes. As you learn more about the game and earn points to adjust your character, there essentially is nothing you can't do.
Another of the interesting facets of PlanetSide 2 is the MAX exosuit. These hulking power armors were present in the first game and make a welcome return here. A giant, heavily armored, armed, and shielded combat suit equipped with very powerful weaponry, these things completely change the nature of many fights. They can be loaded for anti-air, anti-tank, and anti-infantry duty, can take a lot of damage, and dish it back out in return. They make great defenders, and great attackers. Unlike the old PlanetSide, these are no longer a specific class. Rather, you actually need to save up points in order to buy them. That makes them somewhat different, and can be more common and more rare, depending on the circumstances of the battle. In order to use a MAX suit, you have to save up resource points and buy them from a terminal.
Those resource points come in three varieties; you have Aerospace resources, for buying aircraft, Mechanized for buying any ground vehicle, and Infantry for MAX suits, and each can be used to customize their respective fields and buy ammunition and gear. It's a decent system. If you want to keep that tank in the fight, more than just repairing it, you have to have the resources to keep it armed. You get these resources from capturing and owning bases. Every five minutes, you get a certain amount of resources for all the bases your empire controls. You can also spend real money to get these resources.
But all of those resources are for naught if you can't keep them flowing, or if you waste them on buying vehicles that get destroyed within a minute because your team doesn't bother supporting you. And therein comes the biggest issue with PlanetSide 2. It is not a flaw, but it is a polarizing issue. PlanetSide 2 is not a casual game. If you want to just shoot something and kill a few player avatars for an hour, this is not the game to do it in. I suggest you play Tribes or Halo. PlanetSide 2 is a game that requires teamwork in order for you to be successful. The best way is to be a part of a Squad (a small gathering of players, twelve at most), a Platoon (up to three Squads working together; even in a large battlespace a Platoon can get a lot of work done), or even an Outfit (a Guild, essentially). You can use your keyboard and chat with people, but ideally, you'll have a microphone and Teamspeak and you'll be able to effectively communicate with the people around you. Most people don't bother taking the time to type anything out, so if they don't have a mic then things can get a little chaotic. More than one person has been teamkilled by someone who didn't or wouldn't communicate and got frustrated with someone who didn't know what they wanted.
And that's the big rub. Even if everyone knows what they themselves want to do, and they have an overall idea of what is going on around them, without communication things can break down very quickly and stall out, leaving a lot of people frustrated when forty or fifty people (and often just three or four) cannot work together. You can be a lone wolf, but it doesn't really get you that far. You can just go with the flow of battle, as most people do, but it isn't as fulfilling as when you can get a group of people to work together.
So, in the end, is it a fun game? Yes, it is a fun, enjoyable game. If you have a few hours to kill and you want to play a game, PlanetSide 2 is a very good way to kill your time, and I highly recommend it. But, like most MMORPG's, it's not a very casual game. The best way to play it is to throw a good three or four hours at a time into it, and you definitely want to find a good group of people to play with. If you're just trying to play for a half an hour or so, there other, better games for that. In the end, I rate the game at 7.5 out of 10. It's definitely fun and enjoyable, but you have to be willing to devote a good amount of time to the game to really enjoy it.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Friday, November 23, 2012
Tron: Uprising - ongoing opinions
Well, now that we're about 10 episodes into Tron: Uprising, the series has gotten consistently better and never fails to entertain.
One of the highlights of the series is the voice acting; even veteran, award-winning voice actors can sound bored, flat, and wooden with poor directing. Luckily, in Uprising, this is not the case. All the voice actors, even those only featured for one episode, are fully utilized, emoting without overacting and adding a level of depth to their characters by giving their respective personalities more flavor. Of particular note is Lance Henriksen; while it seems people get him just for a certain level of star power, in Tron we get to see his talent on full display. His character sees a good range of emotion, from anger to elation, and concern and fear. And the best part of it is you don't just get that from his words, but from how he delivers his dialogue. All of the characters, from Beck to Tron, Mara, even Tesler and Pavel, feel like real people. They freak out, they're joyous, they're concerned, they're fine, they're angry, and they're real.
Things like that are what make the show. The dialogue is good and the plots are pretty well thought out, and the show expands on the established canon very well without stepping on any toes, which is very impressive considering they just did a two-part episode detailing Clu's revolution and Tron's capture. Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowtiz (both writers on Lost and Once Upon A Time) put together a very cautious, respectful script that meshes very well with Legacy (as it should, considering they wrote it, but it's still worthy of mention) but remains its own show.
Strange, then, that the episodes are airing in such a staggered manner. The pilot aired in May of 2012, the series ran the following 6 episodes starting in June, but after episode 7's release in July, the series didn't air another episode until October. 3 episodes then ran until November 2nd, but now (according to wikipedia, however reliable that may be), the next episode won't air until December 3rd. Frankly, i'm slightly worried. This is a phenomenal show, but such staggered releases make me feel that Disney has little faith in it. I may be wrong, there may simply be conflicting schedule arrangements and the network may love the show. But even if they love it, with the delayed releases it may mess with the ratings and hurt the show in the long run. I really want to see Tron: Uprising succeed, and I want to see Legacy get a sequel and go on to be a solid franchise. With Disney's recent acquisition of the Star Wars franchise, that may not happen regardless of how well the show does or how people feel about going forward. Disney could certainly make room for both if they felt like putting a little effort into it, and I hope they do.
One of the highlights of the series is the voice acting; even veteran, award-winning voice actors can sound bored, flat, and wooden with poor directing. Luckily, in Uprising, this is not the case. All the voice actors, even those only featured for one episode, are fully utilized, emoting without overacting and adding a level of depth to their characters by giving their respective personalities more flavor. Of particular note is Lance Henriksen; while it seems people get him just for a certain level of star power, in Tron we get to see his talent on full display. His character sees a good range of emotion, from anger to elation, and concern and fear. And the best part of it is you don't just get that from his words, but from how he delivers his dialogue. All of the characters, from Beck to Tron, Mara, even Tesler and Pavel, feel like real people. They freak out, they're joyous, they're concerned, they're fine, they're angry, and they're real.
Things like that are what make the show. The dialogue is good and the plots are pretty well thought out, and the show expands on the established canon very well without stepping on any toes, which is very impressive considering they just did a two-part episode detailing Clu's revolution and Tron's capture. Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowtiz (both writers on Lost and Once Upon A Time) put together a very cautious, respectful script that meshes very well with Legacy (as it should, considering they wrote it, but it's still worthy of mention) but remains its own show.
Strange, then, that the episodes are airing in such a staggered manner. The pilot aired in May of 2012, the series ran the following 6 episodes starting in June, but after episode 7's release in July, the series didn't air another episode until October. 3 episodes then ran until November 2nd, but now (according to wikipedia, however reliable that may be), the next episode won't air until December 3rd. Frankly, i'm slightly worried. This is a phenomenal show, but such staggered releases make me feel that Disney has little faith in it. I may be wrong, there may simply be conflicting schedule arrangements and the network may love the show. But even if they love it, with the delayed releases it may mess with the ratings and hurt the show in the long run. I really want to see Tron: Uprising succeed, and I want to see Legacy get a sequel and go on to be a solid franchise. With Disney's recent acquisition of the Star Wars franchise, that may not happen regardless of how well the show does or how people feel about going forward. Disney could certainly make room for both if they felt like putting a little effort into it, and I hope they do.
Reformatting
In light of the fact that i'm now out of work (again; such is the nature of being a temp), i'm getting back to my blog, and i'm going to be focusing on reviews. Not just TV and movies, i'll be throwing in games, tech reviews, and maybe even cars and motorcycles (much of which depends on me getting steady work and getting out of the temp game, but I have a few options).
I'll probably throw in some political opinions here and there, but i'm not really much of a journalist so i'm not going to delve into that much. I'll be sticking to reviews and exercise, and maybe with some luck I may be able to make a little money with it.
I'll probably throw in some political opinions here and there, but i'm not really much of a journalist so i'm not going to delve into that much. I'll be sticking to reviews and exercise, and maybe with some luck I may be able to make a little money with it.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Progress
Well, after about a month and a half of work, i'm weighing in now at a good 140. Definitely improving; my bench is slowly going up, my chest is expanding and my back actually feels like it's a solid, single piece of muscle. I'll get some pics up soon here.
I also did a 12 mile hike with a couple of buddies in a local state park, one of the best in Ohio actually. I have some pictures of that too to put up, i'll get around to it soon here.
I also did a 12 mile hike with a couple of buddies in a local state park, one of the best in Ohio actually. I have some pictures of that too to put up, i'll get around to it soon here.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Torso destruction
For my workout today, I did 2 sets of 7 bench presses, close grip, at 110 pounds, with pull-ups to failure after each set, and then 2 sets of 5 bench presses, wide grip, with wide arm decline pushups to failure between each set. My muscles are twitching just writing this. I didn't have to do any other exercises after this, my arms and chest are completely worn out.
Really short post, but i'm making progress and needed to share it.
Really short post, but i'm making progress and needed to share it.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
The facilities and starting pictures
Finally got around to taking some pictures. I got a few pictures of the gym in the basement and couple of myself; I plan to shoot some pics of myself once a month so I can rate my progress.
I've got the safety cage here, so that way when i'm doing squats or bench presses I don't crush myself.
A smattering of weight plates, a few of the weights, and a kettlebell and sandball.
My personal favorite, the heavy bag. Oh, the fun one can have on this!
This really is all the more one needs. I can do some seriously intense cardio on the heavy bag, it's great for boxing and even kicking. The nice thing about it is that it can toughen up your bones on it, which isn't a concern for me because I don't plan on doing any serious fighting, but it's nice to I know I can/will.
From here I can do a ridiculous number of different calisthenics and powerlifting exercises. I don't need to go out to any other gym to do any exercise, I can do it all here in the basement. Saves money, saves time, and saves annoyance because I can play the music I want to play without having to fiddle with my earbuds or put up with lame, not motivational music. The only thing I don't like is not having someone around to, well, compete with, more or less. It's much harder to be motivated when it's just me. That's part of the reason i'm putting all of this on my blog, i'm hoping this all being on the internet will help keep me motivated.
But enough of that, I've got a picture of myself to put up.
Yeah... I am *WAY* too skinny. That's why i'm training as hard as I can (and that includes eating as much as I can) so I put some weight on and feel like a healthy, normal person.
As I go on i'll keep posting pictures of my progress for comparison. Right now i'm at 132 pounds, hopefully by about this time next month that number will be a little higher and i'll be looking a little better.
I've got the safety cage here, so that way when i'm doing squats or bench presses I don't crush myself.
A smattering of weight plates, a few of the weights, and a kettlebell and sandball.
My personal favorite, the heavy bag. Oh, the fun one can have on this!
This really is all the more one needs. I can do some seriously intense cardio on the heavy bag, it's great for boxing and even kicking. The nice thing about it is that it can toughen up your bones on it, which isn't a concern for me because I don't plan on doing any serious fighting, but it's nice to I know I can/will.
From here I can do a ridiculous number of different calisthenics and powerlifting exercises. I don't need to go out to any other gym to do any exercise, I can do it all here in the basement. Saves money, saves time, and saves annoyance because I can play the music I want to play without having to fiddle with my earbuds or put up with lame, not motivational music. The only thing I don't like is not having someone around to, well, compete with, more or less. It's much harder to be motivated when it's just me. That's part of the reason i'm putting all of this on my blog, i'm hoping this all being on the internet will help keep me motivated.
But enough of that, I've got a picture of myself to put up.
Yeah... I am *WAY* too skinny. That's why i'm training as hard as I can (and that includes eating as much as I can) so I put some weight on and feel like a healthy, normal person.
As I go on i'll keep posting pictures of my progress for comparison. Right now i'm at 132 pounds, hopefully by about this time next month that number will be a little higher and i'll be looking a little better.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Progress
Well, now that I've been working at the warehouse for about four weeks, I can already tell that my shoulders and arms are filling out quite nicely. My weight is very consistently sitting at 130 lbs. instead of fluctuating a lot like it used to do, and my core (abs, obliques, back, etc.) is getting pretty solid. The only things I need to focus on really are my chest and leg muscles. I'm going to be doing yoga fairly regularly too, just to help reset my muscles and to get my flexibility back (when I was doing TaeKwonDo regularly, I could bring my knee up to my forehead without arching my back).
I tried taking some pictures of my last set, but that fancy new camera just doesn't seem to want to cooperate. So, with my next set I'll try again on my old camera. I'm working on some video but I'm not sure what I want to record just yet. I could always shoot a round of one-legged squats or Russian twists.
I tried taking some pictures of my last set, but that fancy new camera just doesn't seem to want to cooperate. So, with my next set I'll try again on my old camera. I'm working on some video but I'm not sure what I want to record just yet. I could always shoot a round of one-legged squats or Russian twists.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Health and training
I've never been a particularly buff guy; I stay in shape and work out but when the sun sets, i'm still only about 130 pounds. Now that i'm back to working regularly, this is something i'm going to begin changing.
My new job, being at a warehouse, requires me to be moving boxes between 30 and 60 pounds for ten hours a day, four days a week. That gives me three days in which to rest, recover, and work the muscle groups that don't get affected much at the warehouse. Working with heavy boxes all day, I don't really want to do too much weight lifting at home because I want to avoid overtraining (as it stands I get some pretty intense arm, back, and shoulder work at the warehouse). This leaves me with a lot of calisthenics, and not too much else. So i'll be doing lots of pushups, pullups, situps, and some other exercises.
As far as eating goes, that's going to be my biggest issue. I need to be able to eat over 5,000 calories a day, every day, and put down at least 150 grams of protein every day. At that point, eating is a chore, and annoying. I've done it before but it's a royal pain. But, it's the only way to put weight on; you want to get big, you've got to eat big.
But on the upshot, I wouldn't have to worry about fat; by working so much constantly and burning lots of calories (and also by eating properly) i'll be staying fairly lean as time goes on. I'll be taking pictures as time goes on, and posting some videos of some of the exercises that I do. As I come up with good recipes for shakes and meals, i'll post those up too.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Prometheus - Review and Opinions
A few years ago, Ridley Scott announced that he was making a prequel to Alien. A few months later he announced that due to budget concerns, it was no longer an Alien prequel, but a science fiction film that takes place in the same universe (same crap, different turd).
As it turns out, the film is very much a prequel to Alien, but not necessarily in a direct sense. It does in fact, take place in the same universe, and features the Weyland Corporation (not yet Weyland-Yutani, but we'll get to that), and their synthetic humans, but more importantly features the "space jockey" (that weird looking dead guy looking through something similar to a telescope in Alien), now referred to as an "Engineer". Also featured are a bunch of humans, who, as usual, get themselves killed horribly.
The film opens with a very tall, pale skinned humanoid figure in a robe standing near a waterfall. He opens a rather mysterious device and it reveals a bowl filled a dark, bubbling liquid, as a spaceship in the background flies off. As he drinks from the contents of the bowl, he keels over in pain, and ultimately collapses into the waterfall, dissolving as he does. We then see strands of DNA in the water changing and mutating, leaving us with the implication that in his death, he was responsible for the creation of humanity. Cut to the year 2089 and an archaeological team (two of whom are lovers, portrayed by Noomi Rapace of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and Logan Marshall-Green who's had a number of small roles) have uncovered numerous writings over the world supposedly painting the way to a world among the stars, and finally, in the Isle of Skye, get the last piece of evidence they need to secure funding for an expedition off-world.
The Weyland corporation finances a ship, crew, and voyage to the place the writings indicated, a moon known as LV-223. You find a fairly typical crew among them, a few nerds, a loving doctor, and a fairly rough-around-the-edges geologist, and the captain (Idris Elba, phenomenal as always), a very smart, yet very cool man. Also among them is the corporate tightwad, Vickers (Charlize Theron in one of her better performances) and the synthetic David (Michael Fassbender, the scene-stealer). Landing on the moon, the discover their share of Engineer artifacts, but then come to realize that some things are better left untouched.
I can't go any further with the story without revealing spoilers, so I won't do that until later in the blog when I give my opinions. This will go into the more technical parts of the review here and will remain spoiler-free.
Ridley Scott is not only a highly-talented director, he's also one of the greatest producers who ever lived, up there with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg in that respect (though he's a better director than both, I feel). As such, there are virtually no flaws with the sets, the CGI, the lighting... anything that has to do with how the atmosphere of the film is created is incredibly top notch. The ship feels very real, the holograms that feature heavily are believable (as is the characters interactions with them), and everything has a very well-grounded feel to it. The ship seems to be fairly realistic to an outside observer; according to some of the production notes, the designers looked at a lot of NASA and European Space Agency research papers and sketches when creating the Prometheus herself.
Also according to production notes, green screen was done as little as possible, and as much filming as could be done was performed on a set or on location. Filming was done in Iceland, Spain, and in studios in England, and it pays off quite well. Unlike Avatar and its magical CGI world, which awes and amazes audiences but has so little weight to it, Prometheus is exceptionally believable. You feel like LV-223 may actually exist and that you may actually go there and explore it, maybe even build a house there - not that you'd want to, but you could. If Avatar was supposed to be proof that CGI can do anything, Prometheus is proof that physical sets and real locations and usable props will always make a higher quality film.
The audio is very well done, too, with a simple score that fits the tone of the film and does its job very well (it seems there are ever fewer standout scores these days, but this one is adequate) and effects and vocals and screams that never seem to reach out and shatter your eardrums even in the mightiest theater. But even when the movie slows down and is more dramatic than suspenseful the levels are brought up and you can hear the dialogue and actions quite plainly without ever have to stretch for it. While some movies like to grab your attention with the flashiest action and effects and the loudest music, Prometheus knows you're here for the story and for the cast, and it relies on them to hold your attention more than it does explosive action, and rewards your patience with a very well balanced film.
Speaking of the cast... I am thoroughly amazed. While Ridley Scott movies never disappoint, Prometheus features some of the best acting in any of his films to date. Noomi Rapace, who hasn't been seen much by American audiences (unless you sat through the entire Millennium series in its native language), puts on a very solid performance here. Her character is not a weak woman by any means, but is definitely no hero. When things go bad she just tries to survive despite the very harsh circumstances around her. In fact, much of her motivation is simple survival. Logan Marshall-Green, having had a few minor performances here and there, such as in Brooklyn's Finest, Devil, and a fair role in the TV series Dark Blue, does a wonderful job here. He's a scientist, but he's the hyperactive scientist, the guy who wants to jump in feet first and just go for it. He brings a certain energy to the movie that would otherwise be lacking and the film would suffer for its absence; he also has a pretty good chemistry with Ms. Rapace. Idris Elba shows up here in a smaller but important role as the ships captain. He's a very intelligent and yet also very charming man, and the crew (as well as the audience) warm up to him almost immediately. Frankly, he's one of the best parts of the movie in my personal opinion, whose subtleties the film would suffer without.
Charlize Theron shows up and plays the corporate tightwad, but from the get-go you have the feeling she has her own agenda here. As usual, she's quite stunning; she's definitely one of the most attractive women in Hollywood, but in this film she is also quite the frigid bitch, very cold hearted and with little care for anyone and anything aside from herself and the bottom line. However, the ultimate performance in this movie comes from Michael Fassbender. You simply cannot guess as to his motivations. You are told very early on (in case you hadn't already gathered) that he is an android, but throughout the whole movie you have no friggin clue as to why he does what he does. Is he programmed this way? Is he heartless? Does he hate everyone? Does he care about the people but is forced to do these things anyway? Does he simply care about his own survival? And no, you don't get an entirely satisfactory to these questions, either, which is some of the beauty of the film and of his performance. It will keep you guessing all the way to the end and in the car on the way home as well.
Now, the film is rated R. The big question is, is that a hard R or not? No, it's not. It's not like any of the Alien sequels with their language and gore, dropping only one F-Bomb to my recollection. It does, however, have a few gory and brutal moments to it that did warrant an R rating, but nothing particularly over the top. While Noomi Rapace does spend some time running around in her underwear, it's not sensual, it's just because of circumstance in the film and she's still fairly well covered. Frankly I don't see why any fifteen year old shouldn't be allowed to see this movie. Anyone who does see this movie will get their money's worth; it's right about two hours long, and while it can be a little slow at times (especially in the beginning), it's a very, very good movie in every respect and of all the major releases up to this point is the chief contender for 2012's film of the year. This concludes my actual review and now I will go onto my opinions. There are spoilers ahead, so if you haven't seen it yet, continue reading at your own risk.
SPOILER ALERT.
One theme I noticed being played up was religion; once they find the Engineer's writings on Earth, the existence of a God is called into question; "Well, if these aliens came and created us, all religion is dead and useless!" seems to be the basic argument. But actually the movie handles it pretty well, using much the same counterpoint I would have come up with - I believe in my religion because I choose to believe it. Not because I was programmed that way, because I was forced into it, or because I feel an obligation, but because I choose to believe this way based on things I've seen/done/read. Having been raised in a Christian household myself, when I finally became mature enough to make my own decisions, I still chose to be a Christian based on what i'd seen and done through my life up to that point. Prometheus makes much the same argument in that we believe in something because it's what we've chosen to do. The same can be applied to Muslims, Buddhists, Evolutionists, etc... That's not going to change overnight just because some outside force/circumstance shows up and challenges what we think we know.
Similarly, this raises the point that the Engineers had to come from somewhere themselves. If they created us, who created them? Were they created by a deity, or another race? These are some of the questions the crew of the Prometheus intends to ask the Engineers when they find them, though these questions quickly become moot as it turn out the Engineers are quite malicious, the one survivor they find quickly dispatches most of the crew and intends to unleash a form of bio-weapon on Earth. But this is the most unsatisfying part of the movie - why? Why would they destroy humankind, which they themselves created? Of course, why create them in the first place? That question was asked by David (the android) to another crew member, and the answer was simple enough - because we could. Why create new life? To test ourselves, to see what we can accomplish, to see how far we've come... but why turn around and destroy it? That's the question the movie ends with. Literally; Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender get their mitts on an Engineer ship and intend to track them down to their homeworld and ask them why. That's how the movie ends.
Though this gives us room for a sequel, it still leaves audiences worldwide wondering the same thing. Why destroy us? My dad (I took him to see it with me) seems to think it's because they're afraid of us; humans are capable of great compassion, great intelligence, and great violence, all in the same day. Perhaps the Engineers are afraid of us, perhaps they feel we could surpass them. Personally, I think it goes back to "because we can". They were clearly testing all sorts of bio-genetic engineering, creating all sorts of life forms as we see in the film, and some of them were in fact trying to kill their creators. It may be they were in fact afraid of humanity, trying to destroy us before we destroy them, but having gone over the events of the film, I don't think that is the case. I think that either a) they were destroying us purely for the sake of doing it, or b) they were testing other life forms that they created and wanted to see how they'd fare against humanity. And, given one of the action sequences in the film where the surviving Engineer goes up against one of their creations, I don't think humans would have much hope.
And yes, we do finally get to see the origins of the Xenomorph from Alien! Right before the credits roll, a fairly good-sized beast bursts its way out of the Engineers chest. It looks quite similar to the one we know from Alien, but it does look a bit different. We know that they take some characteristics from their host, so this is apparently how they look coming from an Engineer. No telling if it was just a drone or a Queen, and that may not have much to do with how the story goes from here, but we do know that the Xenomorph and its respective family members were created by the Engineers; maybe as a weapon, maybe as a high-school science project, but they're here on the galaxy now, and it won't be pretty for the rest of civilization. Why?
Because of the company, that's why. See, Weyand Corp. spent a trillion dollars (yes, a trillion dollars/credits) putting the ship and crew together and funding the expedition. They payoff would have to have been equally epic in order to justify the trip and given that the ship and almost entire crew were lost, the company's future would be very much in doubt. One could safely assume that it wouldn't be much longer before the company had to declare bankruptcy or do some kind of emergency measure to save themselves, so it's easy to see from here where the Weyland-Yutani Corporation comes from. They had to do something to save themselves. And, given that the Prometheus tried several times to get a message to Earth, and I do believe one of them succeeded, they would have been most interested in an organic compound that can transmute matter and, of course, artificially-created life forms that could be used as weapons. Having spent trillions on finding these people and having lost their CEO and President, they'd want to find some way of recovering their investment. Still, their actions over the course of the series and the way they treat their people, they're pretty lamentable.
As it turns out, the film is very much a prequel to Alien, but not necessarily in a direct sense. It does in fact, take place in the same universe, and features the Weyland Corporation (not yet Weyland-Yutani, but we'll get to that), and their synthetic humans, but more importantly features the "space jockey" (that weird looking dead guy looking through something similar to a telescope in Alien), now referred to as an "Engineer". Also featured are a bunch of humans, who, as usual, get themselves killed horribly.
The film opens with a very tall, pale skinned humanoid figure in a robe standing near a waterfall. He opens a rather mysterious device and it reveals a bowl filled a dark, bubbling liquid, as a spaceship in the background flies off. As he drinks from the contents of the bowl, he keels over in pain, and ultimately collapses into the waterfall, dissolving as he does. We then see strands of DNA in the water changing and mutating, leaving us with the implication that in his death, he was responsible for the creation of humanity. Cut to the year 2089 and an archaeological team (two of whom are lovers, portrayed by Noomi Rapace of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and Logan Marshall-Green who's had a number of small roles) have uncovered numerous writings over the world supposedly painting the way to a world among the stars, and finally, in the Isle of Skye, get the last piece of evidence they need to secure funding for an expedition off-world.
The Weyland corporation finances a ship, crew, and voyage to the place the writings indicated, a moon known as LV-223. You find a fairly typical crew among them, a few nerds, a loving doctor, and a fairly rough-around-the-edges geologist, and the captain (Idris Elba, phenomenal as always), a very smart, yet very cool man. Also among them is the corporate tightwad, Vickers (Charlize Theron in one of her better performances) and the synthetic David (Michael Fassbender, the scene-stealer). Landing on the moon, the discover their share of Engineer artifacts, but then come to realize that some things are better left untouched.
I can't go any further with the story without revealing spoilers, so I won't do that until later in the blog when I give my opinions. This will go into the more technical parts of the review here and will remain spoiler-free.
Ridley Scott is not only a highly-talented director, he's also one of the greatest producers who ever lived, up there with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg in that respect (though he's a better director than both, I feel). As such, there are virtually no flaws with the sets, the CGI, the lighting... anything that has to do with how the atmosphere of the film is created is incredibly top notch. The ship feels very real, the holograms that feature heavily are believable (as is the characters interactions with them), and everything has a very well-grounded feel to it. The ship seems to be fairly realistic to an outside observer; according to some of the production notes, the designers looked at a lot of NASA and European Space Agency research papers and sketches when creating the Prometheus herself.
Also according to production notes, green screen was done as little as possible, and as much filming as could be done was performed on a set or on location. Filming was done in Iceland, Spain, and in studios in England, and it pays off quite well. Unlike Avatar and its magical CGI world, which awes and amazes audiences but has so little weight to it, Prometheus is exceptionally believable. You feel like LV-223 may actually exist and that you may actually go there and explore it, maybe even build a house there - not that you'd want to, but you could. If Avatar was supposed to be proof that CGI can do anything, Prometheus is proof that physical sets and real locations and usable props will always make a higher quality film.
The audio is very well done, too, with a simple score that fits the tone of the film and does its job very well (it seems there are ever fewer standout scores these days, but this one is adequate) and effects and vocals and screams that never seem to reach out and shatter your eardrums even in the mightiest theater. But even when the movie slows down and is more dramatic than suspenseful the levels are brought up and you can hear the dialogue and actions quite plainly without ever have to stretch for it. While some movies like to grab your attention with the flashiest action and effects and the loudest music, Prometheus knows you're here for the story and for the cast, and it relies on them to hold your attention more than it does explosive action, and rewards your patience with a very well balanced film.
Speaking of the cast... I am thoroughly amazed. While Ridley Scott movies never disappoint, Prometheus features some of the best acting in any of his films to date. Noomi Rapace, who hasn't been seen much by American audiences (unless you sat through the entire Millennium series in its native language), puts on a very solid performance here. Her character is not a weak woman by any means, but is definitely no hero. When things go bad she just tries to survive despite the very harsh circumstances around her. In fact, much of her motivation is simple survival. Logan Marshall-Green, having had a few minor performances here and there, such as in Brooklyn's Finest, Devil, and a fair role in the TV series Dark Blue, does a wonderful job here. He's a scientist, but he's the hyperactive scientist, the guy who wants to jump in feet first and just go for it. He brings a certain energy to the movie that would otherwise be lacking and the film would suffer for its absence; he also has a pretty good chemistry with Ms. Rapace. Idris Elba shows up here in a smaller but important role as the ships captain. He's a very intelligent and yet also very charming man, and the crew (as well as the audience) warm up to him almost immediately. Frankly, he's one of the best parts of the movie in my personal opinion, whose subtleties the film would suffer without.
Charlize Theron shows up and plays the corporate tightwad, but from the get-go you have the feeling she has her own agenda here. As usual, she's quite stunning; she's definitely one of the most attractive women in Hollywood, but in this film she is also quite the frigid bitch, very cold hearted and with little care for anyone and anything aside from herself and the bottom line. However, the ultimate performance in this movie comes from Michael Fassbender. You simply cannot guess as to his motivations. You are told very early on (in case you hadn't already gathered) that he is an android, but throughout the whole movie you have no friggin clue as to why he does what he does. Is he programmed this way? Is he heartless? Does he hate everyone? Does he care about the people but is forced to do these things anyway? Does he simply care about his own survival? And no, you don't get an entirely satisfactory to these questions, either, which is some of the beauty of the film and of his performance. It will keep you guessing all the way to the end and in the car on the way home as well.
Now, the film is rated R. The big question is, is that a hard R or not? No, it's not. It's not like any of the Alien sequels with their language and gore, dropping only one F-Bomb to my recollection. It does, however, have a few gory and brutal moments to it that did warrant an R rating, but nothing particularly over the top. While Noomi Rapace does spend some time running around in her underwear, it's not sensual, it's just because of circumstance in the film and she's still fairly well covered. Frankly I don't see why any fifteen year old shouldn't be allowed to see this movie. Anyone who does see this movie will get their money's worth; it's right about two hours long, and while it can be a little slow at times (especially in the beginning), it's a very, very good movie in every respect and of all the major releases up to this point is the chief contender for 2012's film of the year. This concludes my actual review and now I will go onto my opinions. There are spoilers ahead, so if you haven't seen it yet, continue reading at your own risk.
SPOILER ALERT.
One theme I noticed being played up was religion; once they find the Engineer's writings on Earth, the existence of a God is called into question; "Well, if these aliens came and created us, all religion is dead and useless!" seems to be the basic argument. But actually the movie handles it pretty well, using much the same counterpoint I would have come up with - I believe in my religion because I choose to believe it. Not because I was programmed that way, because I was forced into it, or because I feel an obligation, but because I choose to believe this way based on things I've seen/done/read. Having been raised in a Christian household myself, when I finally became mature enough to make my own decisions, I still chose to be a Christian based on what i'd seen and done through my life up to that point. Prometheus makes much the same argument in that we believe in something because it's what we've chosen to do. The same can be applied to Muslims, Buddhists, Evolutionists, etc... That's not going to change overnight just because some outside force/circumstance shows up and challenges what we think we know.
Similarly, this raises the point that the Engineers had to come from somewhere themselves. If they created us, who created them? Were they created by a deity, or another race? These are some of the questions the crew of the Prometheus intends to ask the Engineers when they find them, though these questions quickly become moot as it turn out the Engineers are quite malicious, the one survivor they find quickly dispatches most of the crew and intends to unleash a form of bio-weapon on Earth. But this is the most unsatisfying part of the movie - why? Why would they destroy humankind, which they themselves created? Of course, why create them in the first place? That question was asked by David (the android) to another crew member, and the answer was simple enough - because we could. Why create new life? To test ourselves, to see what we can accomplish, to see how far we've come... but why turn around and destroy it? That's the question the movie ends with. Literally; Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender get their mitts on an Engineer ship and intend to track them down to their homeworld and ask them why. That's how the movie ends.
Though this gives us room for a sequel, it still leaves audiences worldwide wondering the same thing. Why destroy us? My dad (I took him to see it with me) seems to think it's because they're afraid of us; humans are capable of great compassion, great intelligence, and great violence, all in the same day. Perhaps the Engineers are afraid of us, perhaps they feel we could surpass them. Personally, I think it goes back to "because we can". They were clearly testing all sorts of bio-genetic engineering, creating all sorts of life forms as we see in the film, and some of them were in fact trying to kill their creators. It may be they were in fact afraid of humanity, trying to destroy us before we destroy them, but having gone over the events of the film, I don't think that is the case. I think that either a) they were destroying us purely for the sake of doing it, or b) they were testing other life forms that they created and wanted to see how they'd fare against humanity. And, given one of the action sequences in the film where the surviving Engineer goes up against one of their creations, I don't think humans would have much hope.
And yes, we do finally get to see the origins of the Xenomorph from Alien! Right before the credits roll, a fairly good-sized beast bursts its way out of the Engineers chest. It looks quite similar to the one we know from Alien, but it does look a bit different. We know that they take some characteristics from their host, so this is apparently how they look coming from an Engineer. No telling if it was just a drone or a Queen, and that may not have much to do with how the story goes from here, but we do know that the Xenomorph and its respective family members were created by the Engineers; maybe as a weapon, maybe as a high-school science project, but they're here on the galaxy now, and it won't be pretty for the rest of civilization. Why?
Because of the company, that's why. See, Weyand Corp. spent a trillion dollars (yes, a trillion dollars/credits) putting the ship and crew together and funding the expedition. They payoff would have to have been equally epic in order to justify the trip and given that the ship and almost entire crew were lost, the company's future would be very much in doubt. One could safely assume that it wouldn't be much longer before the company had to declare bankruptcy or do some kind of emergency measure to save themselves, so it's easy to see from here where the Weyland-Yutani Corporation comes from. They had to do something to save themselves. And, given that the Prometheus tried several times to get a message to Earth, and I do believe one of them succeeded, they would have been most interested in an organic compound that can transmute matter and, of course, artificially-created life forms that could be used as weapons. Having spent trillions on finding these people and having lost their CEO and President, they'd want to find some way of recovering their investment. Still, their actions over the course of the series and the way they treat their people, they're pretty lamentable.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Further updates
Due to some extenuating circumstances, the film project I've been waiting to announce has unfortunately been put on indefinite hiatus. The issues were out of our hands and while we intend to pick the film back up later, it's still somewhat frustrating to have lost the opportunity to work on it now, especially given the effort already put into it.
On a slight upside, this does clear things up for me; I'll have more time available for fitness training and for a few one-off video projects I've been prototyping in my spare time. My short story seems to have fizzled out, unfortunately, it just isn't at the level of quality that I want it to be, but i'm fine with that, I know how I need to grow as a writer and it's just going to take time and effort, so it too is on hold. I'm attempting to write some music for a single to be recorded later in the year, but as I don't know what my work/school schedule is going to look like in that time of year I won't commit to a specific time frame; I can record whenever I need to and release it when I need to as well, so i'm not too worried about that just yet.
On a slight upside, this does clear things up for me; I'll have more time available for fitness training and for a few one-off video projects I've been prototyping in my spare time. My short story seems to have fizzled out, unfortunately, it just isn't at the level of quality that I want it to be, but i'm fine with that, I know how I need to grow as a writer and it's just going to take time and effort, so it too is on hold. I'm attempting to write some music for a single to be recorded later in the year, but as I don't know what my work/school schedule is going to look like in that time of year I won't commit to a specific time frame; I can record whenever I need to and release it when I need to as well, so i'm not too worried about that just yet.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Tron: Uprising - early opinions
Having been a fan of Tron for quite some time now, I was pretty excited by the prospect of the animated series announced in 2011. It was set to debut summer 2012, and based simply on the voice cast alone I held high hopes for it. Bruce Boxleitner, Lance Henriksen, Elijah Wood, Tricia Helfer, and a few other notable names such as Mandy Moore and Reginald VelJohnson make for a pretty strong cast.
First airing in May with a half-hour premiere episode titled Beck's Beginning, we were introduced to a vastly expanded version of The Grid, which is more or less the world of Tron. While in the original film, everything seemed to come across as people simply doing the functions of computer software/hardware, in Tron: Legacy this approach was largely abandoned in favor of simply making a world based inside a computer, with people doing people things and just being people, except they're in a digital world. This was much more believable and makes it a lot easier to give the inhabitants of the world room to grow and have character. Tron: Uprising continues this approach and gives us the impression that there actually many cities on The Grid and it that it is a vast world filled with millions and millions of people.
Specifically though, the series focuses on Beck, a mechanic at Able's Garage who fixes light-cycles and apparently all manner of machines (we see him messing with a 4-wheeler of sorts and helicopter, as well as some other stuff throughout the world), and enjoys some Disc fighting in his spare time with his buddies at the garage. Well, Clu and his crusade come to Beck's home town of Argon City and decide to annex the place. When one of Beck's friends gets himself killed harassing one of Clu's soldiers, Beck decides to fight back, has a close run in with a top agent named Paige, and ultimately runs into Tron, a super-soldier thought to be dead (turns out, he survived his little scuffle with Clu, but just barely). Tron tries to convince Beck to fight back, but with little success until once again, things get personal for Beck. Risking life and limb to save his friends, he is finally convinced to fight back.
It was a good episode. The artistic style they took with the series is kind of weird, reminiscent of late 90's/early 2000's video games with rather blocky features, but it looks good and despite appearances the characters actually move quite well. Good thing, too, considering there's a fair bit of action in the series thus far. Tron's face is definitely the weirdest; having seen Bruce Boxleitner in many shows over the years, it's just a little strange seeing his face stretched out like this. But the art and animation are of good quality, and that some people look kind of goofy in this show is part of its charm.
The voice acting is very good too, and no one thus far disappoints (though after two runs as EDI in the Mass Effect series, i'm sure Tricia Helfer would love the opportunity to stretch her voice a little). Lance Henriksen sounds quite sinister as usual, especially when he puts power into his voice and really projects into the microphone; he sounds downright scary at points. Bruce Boxleitner brings his usual vocal qualities, commanding and firm, and Elijah Wood is able to put some good emotion into Beck. Tricia Helfer is the voice of The Grid itself, essentially serving the same role as Majel Barret in all the Star Trek series as the computer. Not that she's bad at it, but after hearing her as EDI through two Mass Effect games i'm sure she'd like to branch out a bit. I wouldn't mind hearing her flex her vocal muscles either. So far we haven't heard much from the other characters, but I really have no complaints about them at this point.
The series second episode is the first half of a two-parter, The Renegade, Part I (love the Roman Numerals, you never see enough of those). Opening with an interesting sequence of Tron showing Beck a few light-cycle tricks, we then listen to Beck's little self-doubt rant. For a guy who successfully fought off numerous soldiers, a high-ranking officer, and one of Clu's top generals (the latter of which is no mean feat), he really doesn't believe he can do much more than be a mechanic. After making a quick escape attempt from a Recognizer (are they still calling them that?), he ends up getting stuck in the games. He has a big downer moment before a big epiphany moment that leads him to another escape attempt, recapture, and more games. A small subplot is going on with some of Beck's mechanic friends too, which really isn't much right now but should hopefully be expanded on in the second half of the episode.
While the main storyline in this episode is plenty good, the subplot almost seems like it's just filler, there's not much to it in the first half of the episode. I understand that these other characters need development as well and they can't always share screentime with Beck, this could have benefited greatly from other some better dialogue or a little more time on the air getting developed better. It was nice seeing a bunch of throwbacks from the original Tron though, having Bit make an appearance was a nice touch. The music is also consistently good, very close to Legacy but with its own flair. The effects are good too, certain voices feature some very slight distortion to them for a subtle effect, while others are more severe, but even the worst aren't illegible and everything/everyone can be understood clearly.
For only being two episodes in, i'm fairly optimistic about the series as a whole. There are supposed to be eighteen episodes according to Wikipedia, and episode three airs tonight, June 14th. Hopefully my fears about the subplot will be laid to rest. The main plotline is quite attention grabbing, and with luck it will continue to be as the series progresses. Should it be successful enough, we may even see a sequel to Tron: Legacy. And frankly, I don't see why we shouldn't. It had a notably smaller budget than John Carter of Mars and made notably more money, and seeing what they were able to do in Legacy, I don't see its budget skyrocketing either like The Lone Ranger's has.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Quick updates
I've made the commitment to get back into shape and start training and lifting weights again, so I'll be making some reports and maybe even some videos on that. I'm also reading C.S. Lewis's book, The Great Divorce and am also watching Ken Burns documentary, The Civil War, so i'll be drafting some reports on those. I'm also trying to finish a short story submission for The Black Library, which publishes books, shorts stories and novellas in the Warhammer universes. There's no guarantee that it'll be accepted, but I do hope that it does.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Wish Upon A Blackstar
Celldweller - it's a name that either has a serious impact, or no meaning whatsoever. But you've heard his music. Unless you've been living in a subterranean bunker constructed beneath a Ford Galaxie for the past fifteen years.
Klayton, the man himself, got his start back in the early 1990's, working under a number of different projects, such as Argyle Park, Circle of Dust, AP2, and a few other associations before settling on Celldweller for his major breakthrough album. That debut release in the early 2000's, I still hold, is one of the greatest albums made; it was an incredible mix of rock, electronica, trance, and a few other genres all combined into one fairly groundbreaking project. Two songs of his (Shapeshifter, a single with Styles of Beyond, and an instrumental of One Good Reason) made it into Need For Speed: Most Wanted. Switchback was remixed into one track for the game Enter The Matrix and a trailer for the action horror film, Doom (which frankly was the best part of the whole movie, and after years of watching it I still can't figure out why I like it. I just wish I that version of the song had been released). The Last Firstborn was featured on NCIS in one of its earlier seasons. And that's the tip of the iceberg.
Since then, he's released a few singles, a soundtrack intended for licensing for game/film soundtracks, and even a mashup of two Metallica and Black Sabbath songs with a dash of dubstep thrown into it. The success of his album and singles has allowed him to found his own studio and opened the door for a significant number of electronic artists to become known, through remix contests and also through distribution from his studio, FIXT music. After a while, including what seemed like a series of false starts and endless delays, Celldweller's second album, Wish Upon A Blackstar was finally announced and initially began as a series of two-track releases. After five of these two-track releases, the album was finally released in whole on June 12, 2012.
The album is an entirely different beast than his self-titled debut; while there's still plenty of more rock oriented music, trends have changed over the years, and there's a dubstep influence in a lot of the album. Several tracks are, in fact, more dubstep than anything. Whatever your opinions on that genre are, Klayton has figured out how make dubstep not come across as horribly boring or repetitive, which happens frequently with that style. With all his years of experience in music, he knows a lot about how to make a track enthralling and enrapturing. I mentioned in my review of Ghetto Metal that having an entire album flow together is good thing, but is rare; Klayton does that here to phenomenal effect, and while his individual tracks are quite good, the best way to listen to Wish Upon A Blackstar is from start to finish. It almost sounds like one song that lasts for over an entire hour, which is a rare and good thing.
Several tracks do stand out from the rest though, in a good way. Eon is possibly my favorite track on the album. It's definitely the most rock/metal influenced track, but with the electronics backing it up and its powerful lyrics, it's easily one of the most epic tracks Klayton has done, being poetic but not whiny or perhaps stereotypical, aggressive but not illegible and simultaneously ethereal at points without being trippy or outlandish. The track is a perfect synthesis of styles, musics, sounds, and vocals, the likes of which are only seen once a decade. Another that stands out personally to me is It Makes No Difference Who We Are, which is a beautiful track, slow and haunting with lyrics that flow and rhyme with a very powerful harmony. What got me about the song though, is its opening riff. It reminds me very heavily of some of the music in Donkey Kong Country 3, one of my favorite video games on the Super Nintendo (old school, I know) and definitely one of my ten favorite games ever. As soon as I heard that I was hooked.
As a whole, the album is somewhat lighter and more relaxed than Celldweller was; the best way to describe it I think is that it comes across more as a jam session than a rock session. Like he was concerned about making good, quality music, but it feels like he was having more fun making this one than his previous efforts. It's still unmistakably Celldwller/Klayton, but I liken it to the difference between Soundgarden and Audioslave - same guy (Chris Cornell), same genre, but Soungarden comes across as more relaxed than Audioslave. This isn't to say Wish Upon A Blackstar is a slow album with no kick; Eon and I Can't Wait for example are pretty hard hitting songs, but as a whole the album is easier-going than was Celldweller.
In closing, I very highly recommend giving the album a listen. It's extremely well constructed, the songs and lyrics are very well composed, and even after being in the business for over 20 years now he still has a clear and deep passion for what he's doing. So (and this is the only time i'll tell you this) stop reading my blog and go check it out! Now! Go! Seriously. Stop reading already.
Klayton, the man himself, got his start back in the early 1990's, working under a number of different projects, such as Argyle Park, Circle of Dust, AP2, and a few other associations before settling on Celldweller for his major breakthrough album. That debut release in the early 2000's, I still hold, is one of the greatest albums made; it was an incredible mix of rock, electronica, trance, and a few other genres all combined into one fairly groundbreaking project. Two songs of his (Shapeshifter, a single with Styles of Beyond, and an instrumental of One Good Reason) made it into Need For Speed: Most Wanted. Switchback was remixed into one track for the game Enter The Matrix and a trailer for the action horror film, Doom (which frankly was the best part of the whole movie, and after years of watching it I still can't figure out why I like it. I just wish I that version of the song had been released). The Last Firstborn was featured on NCIS in one of its earlier seasons. And that's the tip of the iceberg.
Since then, he's released a few singles, a soundtrack intended for licensing for game/film soundtracks, and even a mashup of two Metallica and Black Sabbath songs with a dash of dubstep thrown into it. The success of his album and singles has allowed him to found his own studio and opened the door for a significant number of electronic artists to become known, through remix contests and also through distribution from his studio, FIXT music. After a while, including what seemed like a series of false starts and endless delays, Celldweller's second album, Wish Upon A Blackstar was finally announced and initially began as a series of two-track releases. After five of these two-track releases, the album was finally released in whole on June 12, 2012.
The album is an entirely different beast than his self-titled debut; while there's still plenty of more rock oriented music, trends have changed over the years, and there's a dubstep influence in a lot of the album. Several tracks are, in fact, more dubstep than anything. Whatever your opinions on that genre are, Klayton has figured out how make dubstep not come across as horribly boring or repetitive, which happens frequently with that style. With all his years of experience in music, he knows a lot about how to make a track enthralling and enrapturing. I mentioned in my review of Ghetto Metal that having an entire album flow together is good thing, but is rare; Klayton does that here to phenomenal effect, and while his individual tracks are quite good, the best way to listen to Wish Upon A Blackstar is from start to finish. It almost sounds like one song that lasts for over an entire hour, which is a rare and good thing.
Several tracks do stand out from the rest though, in a good way. Eon is possibly my favorite track on the album. It's definitely the most rock/metal influenced track, but with the electronics backing it up and its powerful lyrics, it's easily one of the most epic tracks Klayton has done, being poetic but not whiny or perhaps stereotypical, aggressive but not illegible and simultaneously ethereal at points without being trippy or outlandish. The track is a perfect synthesis of styles, musics, sounds, and vocals, the likes of which are only seen once a decade. Another that stands out personally to me is It Makes No Difference Who We Are, which is a beautiful track, slow and haunting with lyrics that flow and rhyme with a very powerful harmony. What got me about the song though, is its opening riff. It reminds me very heavily of some of the music in Donkey Kong Country 3, one of my favorite video games on the Super Nintendo (old school, I know) and definitely one of my ten favorite games ever. As soon as I heard that I was hooked.
As a whole, the album is somewhat lighter and more relaxed than Celldweller was; the best way to describe it I think is that it comes across more as a jam session than a rock session. Like he was concerned about making good, quality music, but it feels like he was having more fun making this one than his previous efforts. It's still unmistakably Celldwller/Klayton, but I liken it to the difference between Soundgarden and Audioslave - same guy (Chris Cornell), same genre, but Soungarden comes across as more relaxed than Audioslave. This isn't to say Wish Upon A Blackstar is a slow album with no kick; Eon and I Can't Wait for example are pretty hard hitting songs, but as a whole the album is easier-going than was Celldweller.
In closing, I very highly recommend giving the album a listen. It's extremely well constructed, the songs and lyrics are very well composed, and even after being in the business for over 20 years now he still has a clear and deep passion for what he's doing. So (and this is the only time i'll tell you this) stop reading my blog and go check it out! Now! Go! Seriously. Stop reading already.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
The Alien Invasion
When one thinks of a classic horror film, what are some of the first images that come to mind? Most typically you have Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Myers invading your brain. They are the most instantly recognizable horror icons (though Pinhead is certainly up there). You've also got your vintage horror icons like Vincent Price and Bela Lugosi, who all represent more traditional horror films than the aforementioned slasher icons but probably aren't thought of as front runners anymore.
The problem with Freddy and Jason and Michael movies is that they all follow a very similar and very distinct formula - promiscuous teenagers getting killed in horrible manners is the point of all these movies, more or less. Sometimes these teens are so annoying that we actually cheer for the guy killing them and doing us the favor of cleansing the gene pool. I distinctly remember hearing cheers in the theater during several death scenes when I saw the remake of Friday the 13th.
And believe it or not, this is a problem. Or at least, it may be a problem, depending on the creator's intent. Typically, aren't we supposed to be supporting the humans? Aren't we supposed to fear the murderer? That's generally the way it's supposed to be, everyone fears the murderer and tries to team up to kill him, or at the very least to try to survive. The problem is that the supporting cast of victims waiting to happen has the annoying tendency to be bland and annoying to the point that we would rather they be dead. They spend most of their time being a bunch of melodramatic whiners and having sex and doing all sorts of things that lead us to think they're just not good people (in a cruel irony, many teenagers actually do everything the victims do in these movies and then complain about the victims and call them annoying. Hypocrites).
This is part of the reason these films may end up being cult classics - there are lots of people out there who absolutely adore horror/slasher films - they will never end up being true classics because frankly, they just aren't very good films no matter how much fun they may be or how much people may enjoy them.
That is, until Ridley Scott came along.
Alien, that great sci-fi/horror epic that Ridley Scott created oh so many moons ago, took a vastly different approach. The human characters had the distinct advantage of being an older bunch, most of the actors were in their forties actually, and being a group of better than average actors with a highly skilled director commanding them they made a far more believable bunch than a bunch of high school students snorting cocaine. What's the first thing they do when they wake up from cryo-sleep? They eat. Hey, i'd be hungry too after sleeping for a few months straight. And they talk. They just talk, bicker a little, and then they go to work. And they chat and bicker some more too. And then as we know, they run into the Space Jockey, John Hurt meets with a facehugger that leaves a vicious little punk in his ribcage, and everything goes to hell in a handbasket.
Speaking of which, the most nifty thing is the alien itself. Unlike the other murderers we typically deal with, who are particularly wicked or demented men with an unnatural level of strength, here we have an animal, a beast. There is nothing human about this thing (except for the fact that it's a man in a suit, but we'll forgive them that one); it cannot be reasoned with - a bear is going to do what a bear is going to do, after all. It cannot be understood. It acts out of pure instinct. It is strong, it is fast, it is stealthy, and even in death it is still dangerous thanks to its acidic blood. As Ash said it is, in many respects, a perfect organism.
There are other aspects about Alien that make it such a standout film. For example, Captain Dallas, the big, strong, square-jawed man in charge, seems to be set up to be the hero. And then he goes and gets himself killed. So who steps up to take his place? Ripley. The cute young woman who looked a little dainty for a miner. Yep. She's the heroine. That was a huge break from trend, and Alien was the first movie to do something like that. With the bigger budget Mr. Scott was working with, the sets and the alien itself were of much better quality than most contemporary horror/slasher flicks, which helped him create a very intense, suspenseful atmosphere, giving the film far more effect than relying on cheap jumps and lots of blood.
Alien was just such a well executed movie; it's incredibly hard to imagine how anyone else could have done it. Ridley Scott is an excellent filmmaker, one of the very best. He put some good thought and a lot of time and effort into that movie. It honestly didn't have a very high budget, right around ten million dollars (still way better than most slasher movies ever get), but thanks to careful planning, good writing, good acting, and phenomenal editing, we ended up with an all-time classic film. Which, frankly, is something that rarely ever happens in the horror genre. The Freddy movies and Jason movies all have their place in society and in our hearts, but Alien has a place too - in the Academy Awards.
The problem with Freddy and Jason and Michael movies is that they all follow a very similar and very distinct formula - promiscuous teenagers getting killed in horrible manners is the point of all these movies, more or less. Sometimes these teens are so annoying that we actually cheer for the guy killing them and doing us the favor of cleansing the gene pool. I distinctly remember hearing cheers in the theater during several death scenes when I saw the remake of Friday the 13th.
And believe it or not, this is a problem. Or at least, it may be a problem, depending on the creator's intent. Typically, aren't we supposed to be supporting the humans? Aren't we supposed to fear the murderer? That's generally the way it's supposed to be, everyone fears the murderer and tries to team up to kill him, or at the very least to try to survive. The problem is that the supporting cast of victims waiting to happen has the annoying tendency to be bland and annoying to the point that we would rather they be dead. They spend most of their time being a bunch of melodramatic whiners and having sex and doing all sorts of things that lead us to think they're just not good people (in a cruel irony, many teenagers actually do everything the victims do in these movies and then complain about the victims and call them annoying. Hypocrites).
This is part of the reason these films may end up being cult classics - there are lots of people out there who absolutely adore horror/slasher films - they will never end up being true classics because frankly, they just aren't very good films no matter how much fun they may be or how much people may enjoy them.
That is, until Ridley Scott came along.
Alien, that great sci-fi/horror epic that Ridley Scott created oh so many moons ago, took a vastly different approach. The human characters had the distinct advantage of being an older bunch, most of the actors were in their forties actually, and being a group of better than average actors with a highly skilled director commanding them they made a far more believable bunch than a bunch of high school students snorting cocaine. What's the first thing they do when they wake up from cryo-sleep? They eat. Hey, i'd be hungry too after sleeping for a few months straight. And they talk. They just talk, bicker a little, and then they go to work. And they chat and bicker some more too. And then as we know, they run into the Space Jockey, John Hurt meets with a facehugger that leaves a vicious little punk in his ribcage, and everything goes to hell in a handbasket.
Speaking of which, the most nifty thing is the alien itself. Unlike the other murderers we typically deal with, who are particularly wicked or demented men with an unnatural level of strength, here we have an animal, a beast. There is nothing human about this thing (except for the fact that it's a man in a suit, but we'll forgive them that one); it cannot be reasoned with - a bear is going to do what a bear is going to do, after all. It cannot be understood. It acts out of pure instinct. It is strong, it is fast, it is stealthy, and even in death it is still dangerous thanks to its acidic blood. As Ash said it is, in many respects, a perfect organism.
There are other aspects about Alien that make it such a standout film. For example, Captain Dallas, the big, strong, square-jawed man in charge, seems to be set up to be the hero. And then he goes and gets himself killed. So who steps up to take his place? Ripley. The cute young woman who looked a little dainty for a miner. Yep. She's the heroine. That was a huge break from trend, and Alien was the first movie to do something like that. With the bigger budget Mr. Scott was working with, the sets and the alien itself were of much better quality than most contemporary horror/slasher flicks, which helped him create a very intense, suspenseful atmosphere, giving the film far more effect than relying on cheap jumps and lots of blood.
Alien was just such a well executed movie; it's incredibly hard to imagine how anyone else could have done it. Ridley Scott is an excellent filmmaker, one of the very best. He put some good thought and a lot of time and effort into that movie. It honestly didn't have a very high budget, right around ten million dollars (still way better than most slasher movies ever get), but thanks to careful planning, good writing, good acting, and phenomenal editing, we ended up with an all-time classic film. Which, frankly, is something that rarely ever happens in the horror genre. The Freddy movies and Jason movies all have their place in society and in our hearts, but Alien has a place too - in the Academy Awards.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Ghetto Metal - a review
Stereo Assassin, a noted drum'n'bass
artist, recently published to his website and social media a new 4
track EP, named Ghetto Metal. He describes this new EP as “Toxic,
violent, caustic, and powerful.” Some people would tend to think
such wording is simple marketing hype, that he's trying to make
himself sound cooler. Were he Justin Bieber, these people would be
right. However, in Stereo Assassin's case, such wording is adequate.
The opening track, Anti Social, opens
with a brief voiceover, and then opens up with some rather
ominous-sounding synth and bass. The drums come in slightly muted and
give you a feel of where the track is going, but it quickly explodes
full-force and hits your ears like a cannonball of broken glass laced
with necrotoxin. Almost as quickly as it hits it slows back down, but
the sounds never stop being ominous, daring you to drop your guard.
After a good five minutes of that, we
segue into Boom!, a somewhat easier going track that won't leave you
breathless and with bleeding eardrums, but still retains a lot of the
danger and suspense that the opening track left us with. However, the
track does impressively change its pace and tone in about the last
fifty seconds; it is no mean feat to do that in any song of any
genre, and that he does it so well here is a testament to his skill.
The third track, Solitary Funk, drops
some of the suspense of the last two tracks for some solid
drum'n'bass, heavy and thick. The track never loses your interest,
despite being the longest on the EP at five minutes, thirty seconds
in length. A few ups and downs, a few changes in pace, this remains a
steady track for the most part and it's a hell of a lot of fun to
listen to.
He ends this EP with a remix of a song,
Pyretic, from a band called Fear the Dawn. Both are good songs,
though the remix is most definitely more aggressive and faster paced.
In fact, all attempt at sounding ominous and sinister and dangerous
is replaced by guitars, screaming vocals, and a lot of attack,
similar to the level what befell Omaha beach.
In a nice touch, all 4 tracks on this
EP flow together very nicely; one gets more enjoyment listening the
whole EP straight through than by just listening to the tracks by
themselves. This is a somewhat rare trend in mainstream music but
seems to be more common amongst indie artists and is very welcome
here, giving the whole album a slightly more organic feel, like you
were actually listening to him play live. That said, this is not rave
or club music, not by a longshot. If you're listening to this, you
probably like more aggressive music to begin with (I mostly listen to
metal, myself; I listen to anything I think is good and catches but I
tend towards metal genres). To an extent, his Pyretic remix actually
reminds me some of Klayton's (of Celldweller fame) older projects
such as AP2 and Circle of Dust. And no, that's not a bad thing at
all.
In the end, I would highly recommend
any good fan of the D'n'B, Industrial, and Metal genres give it look
here http://soundcloud.com/stereoassassin/sets/ghetto-metal-1
- I greatly enjoy listening to it, and i'm really looking forward to
Stereo Assassin's next release. One final recommendation - it sounds great coming through your headphones, but if you get a chance, run it through a sound system with at least one subwoofer and 300 watts of audio power. It will NOT disappoint.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Strength of character
What is it about some characters that
inspires us? What about characters makes us fall in love with them?
Think about some of the more iconic characters of film and
television, and there's one thing you tend to see, one commonly
recurring feature among some of the worlds favored characters, and
that is that they're all just generally good people.
This is something that seems
particularly common in science-fiction, whereupon typically regular
and ordinary people are thrust into extraordinary circumstances and
are then challenged, by other characters around them and by the
stress of the situation they are in. It is these challenging moments
that make or break a character, and make us love or loathe them. Of
course, there's more to it than that, all of the small moments in a
show or movie, the quirks and quips and the subtle, little actions
that the actor just throws in all go towards helping us fall in love
(or in hate) with someone, but by and large the big, defining moments
are make or break time.
Since this topic is about character, I
want to talk now about one of my favorite shows ever to grace the
airwaves, Babylon 5. It began airing right about the same time as one
of my other favorite shows, Deep Space Nine. Both shows are about a
space station and revolve around the crews and life on a space
station in deep space, far away from colonized worlds, but in the end
both shows were radically different. Deep Space Nine focused much
more heavily on the characters and was in many respects a Star Trek
show like The Next Generation, just somewhat more grounded and stable
(at least for the first few season). Babylon 5 had a very distinctly
organized plot planned out from its inception, and also had a focus
on politics and morality (as well as war and peace, sacrifice, and
its fair share of other topics)
What does this have to do with
character? The fact that the people on the station were (for the most
part) just such good people. It seemed that no matter what, when
called upon, they would always do the right thing without even giving
it a second thought. It's that trait which makes the characters so
admirable. It seems that we find ourselves in an increasingly immoral
world, with fewer and fewer upstanding and ethical people; solid,
upstanding characters resonate with us, tell us that there is still
good out there and remind us good people still exist, and it's
something we can take comfort in.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
First Blog
Hey everybody, how's it going? I am Jeremy "The Tan Man" Tanis, and this is my new blog. I've tried blogging over years previous, but all were vain attempts at making money through web marketing schemes. Lesson learned, that doesn't work. Well, it can, but it's kinda rare.
My reason for starting up this blog is so I have a place to put my musings, thoughts, and a great many other things here. It's kind of a brain dump, as well as a place for me to post information about myself and my assorted projects that won't fit on Twitter's 140 character limit. There's only so much you can put on Twitter and Facebook, so this is convenient for me.
A little about me - i'm in my early twenties, I play the bass guitar and drums, and have done so for several years now, i'm a major film enthusiast, I enjoy riding motorcycles (but don't actually have one of my own yet; it's something i'm working towards), I love science fiction, including comic books (huge Marvel Comics buff!), and yes, I do play video games, but i'm not the hardcore gamer type. I do like to get out in the fresh air a lot, and I find a lot of enjoyment in exercising. I may not have the biggest muscles, but i'm decent shape and I do take care of myself.
Well, for now, I think that's a passable first blog. I'll be making posts with decent frequency on here, at least for a while. I have several projects that i'll be announcing soon, so I should be getting to work on getting those ready. You haven't heard the last from me!
My reason for starting up this blog is so I have a place to put my musings, thoughts, and a great many other things here. It's kind of a brain dump, as well as a place for me to post information about myself and my assorted projects that won't fit on Twitter's 140 character limit. There's only so much you can put on Twitter and Facebook, so this is convenient for me.
A little about me - i'm in my early twenties, I play the bass guitar and drums, and have done so for several years now, i'm a major film enthusiast, I enjoy riding motorcycles (but don't actually have one of my own yet; it's something i'm working towards), I love science fiction, including comic books (huge Marvel Comics buff!), and yes, I do play video games, but i'm not the hardcore gamer type. I do like to get out in the fresh air a lot, and I find a lot of enjoyment in exercising. I may not have the biggest muscles, but i'm decent shape and I do take care of myself.
Well, for now, I think that's a passable first blog. I'll be making posts with decent frequency on here, at least for a while. I have several projects that i'll be announcing soon, so I should be getting to work on getting those ready. You haven't heard the last from me!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)