Happy Be-lated New Year!

Children of Men (2006)
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Movie Seen On: January 5th, 2008
Format: HD DVD
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 92%

I don’t know why I didn’t see this movie sooner but the special effects in Children of Men are excellent. The ending feels a bit flat but that didn’t ruin my enjoyment for the movie.

Knocked Up (2007)
Genre: Comedy
Movie Seen On: January 4th, 2008
Format: HD DVD
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 90%

Awesome comedy. Made me laugh from beginning till the end. Needs more dice roll.

Transformers (2007)
Genre: Action/Adventure
Movie Seen On: January 1st, 2008
Format: HD DVD
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 57%

Despite a few scenes dragging on longer than what would’ve made it more enjoyable, I still like the movie. Michael Bay should’ve cut out the majority of the hackers’ sequences where they’re trying to contact the Air Force. Having seen it twice already, I wouldn’t mind seeing it again.

I’m keeping track of how many movies I’ll see this year, including ones that I’ve seen previously. For those, I’ll just mark them as “Repeats”.

New Movies: 2
Repeats: 1
Movies Seen Total: 3

Recent Films I’ve Seen

 

Bridge to Terabithia (2007)
Movie Seen On: December 20, 2007
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 84%

Whoa, I didn’t expect much from Terabithia but it caught me off guard.  In a good way.  Ending is bittersweet.

Balls of Fury (2007)
Movie Seen On: December 23, 2007
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 24%

The only good thing Balls of Fury has going for it is Maggie Q. She’s hot.  See picture above.

The Polar Express (2004)
Movie Seen On: December 29, 2007
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 57%

Nothing special but I did enjoy the movie.

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Movie Seen On: December 30, 2007
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 93%

The best Bourne yet.  Wraps up the trilogy quite nicely.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

My Christmas tree and my 2-year old cousin. All pictures were taken with my iPhone.

Game Completed | Avatar: The Last Airbender

What game did I finish?
Avatar: The Last Airbender (Wii)

How long did it take?
8 hours 15 minutes

My thoughts.
I remember back when the Wii first launched and seeing this game on the shelves. I never thought that I would actually play the game since I didn’t watch the show. Just three weeks ago, I bought the Avatar box sets 1 & 2 and I’ve watch nearly every episode except for the last episode of Season 2. Having bought this game as well, I didn’t expect much from it and I’m left satisfied after finishing the game. That’s not to say that I enjoyed it immensely but it was a nice distraction. I haven’t played a standard action game in quite awhile so it was a welcome change.

The game loosely follows Aang and crew on their quest to stop the Fire Nation. It briefly covers the first season’s episodes but follows a different script once you’ve passed the first chapter. I liked that the game offered a new story as oppose to following the show episode-by-episode. There are a few things that made me appreciate the game such as the option to save before heading into a boss battle. The boss battles aren’t that difficult but it’s nice to have that option just in case. I also like the calligraphy portion. You basically use your Wiimote and draw the Chinese character on the screen in order to perform certain actions. You’re limited to about 10 different characters throughout the whole game but it’s still fun to do, nonetheless. There are also quite a few things the game could’ve benefitted from which was smarter A.I. Whenever I’m in a battle, my teammates would stand still if I was to get knocked out of the battle perimeter. The game would be much more fun if you were able to set commands for the team or individually (be aggressive, stay back and heal the party, etc.). The sound effects, for some odd reason, are completely off. Whether you’re collecting money on the ground or using a special attack, the sound effects never seem to be on par with what’s happening on-screen. There were instances where the music would cut out all together. It made for a quiet game during those parts. At the end of the game, Aang goes into the Avatar state and it’s pretty damn cool since he’s quite overpowered. The developers could’ve made more events where Aang goes into that state. I think it would’ve made the game much more fun.

Avatar makes for a decent romp but I wouldn’t play the game again because it gives no incentive to go back. Completing all the quests makes no difference other than gaining more experience and/or getting more items.

Do I recommend playing it?
No.

What game(s) am I playing next?
I started up Super Mario Galaxy that I received as a Christmas present from my lady. And I think I’ll dabble a bit in Every Extend Extra Extreme (XBLA) and Everyday Shooter (PSN).

Wii for the New Year

The Nintendo Wii is my second most-played next-gen console (the 360 is first).  That doesn’t say much especially if you look at how much I’ve played my Playstation 3.  I ran through the days on my Wii console and calculated how much time I’ve spent with it so far (in terms of playing games and not browsing the Mii Channel, Internet, etc.).  Here are the numbers:

Wii Sports – 39 hours
Mario Party 8 – 18.5 hours
Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution – 5.5 hours
Super Metroid (Virtual Console) – 4 hours
Bleach: Shattered Blade – 1 hour

Total -  68 hours

Although I do own Twilight Princess, I haven’t got around to playing it yet.  But 68 hours?!  That’s pathetic.  I’m starting to buy more games for the Wii to see if I’ll put more time into it.  I recently purchased Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Wii Zapper.  I’m not expecting much from Avatar but I am a fan of the show.  And the Wii Zapper comes bundled with Link’s Crossbow Training.  Of course, it’s not a “full” game but it’ll distract me enough from the Christmas present I’m going to get from The Lady.  Yes, I already know what she got me.  Super Mario Galaxy.  I also took the time to update my “My Nintendo” profile and registered all the Nintendo games I have.

STEAM

As I was cleaning up my closet earlier today, I came across my Half-Life 2 Collector’s Edition box set. I remember wanting to play Half-Life 2 but my computer at the time couldn’t handle the game, so it sat in my closet for the past few years. I also remember creating a STEAM account and wasn’t sure if I still had it. I re-downloaded the program and voila! My profile is still there. And much to my surprise, I’m able to download a slew of games since I bought the Collector’s Edition:

Counter-Strike: Source
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2: Deathmatch
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast
Half-Life Deathmatch: Source
Half-Life: Source

I’m not playing anything yet until the RAM I purchased arrives for my laptop (upgrading it from 512MB to 2GB). Looks like I’ll be able to play everything except for Lost Coast. I plan on buying a new desktop PC once Starcraft 2 is released. I imagine it doesn’t take all that much for the game to run on but by then, that new desktop’s specs can play the games out today. I’m always a few years behind when it comes to PC gaming.

Buy Mii a Wii

As I’m sitting here waiting for the 2.0 update for the Playstation 3 to finish (34% so far), I’m watching a rather interesting parody video of T-Pain’s “Buy U a Drank”. I can see myself doing something like this if I was bored. And depressed.

Speaking of the Wii, I really don’t like how Nintendo approached its Virtual Console setup. It’s great that they’re offering classic games from a wide variety of classic consoles but I would really like to see them borrow from Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade service. XBLA offers classic games as well (Pac-Man, TMNT Arcade, Street Fighter II, just to name a few) but with the added bonus of online leader boards and online play. I’d purchase Mario Kart 64 again knowing that it was online-enabled.

Anyway, I played Halo 3 for six hours straight last night/this morning and managed to rank up my Team Slayer skill from 9 to 26. I also only need 25 EXP to go from Captain Grade 1 to Grade 2. I calculated how much time I’ve spent on Halo 3 since its release and here are the numbers: I played approximately 6.5 hours of co-op on Legendary, 3 hours of solo on Heroic, and 22 hours of multiplayer. That’s a total of 31.5 hours so far. Compare that to the number of hours I sunk into Halo 2 (approx. 310 hours), it seems so puny.

My Good Deed

I’ve done my good deed for this month. Yesterday during work, where I have more free time than I do when I’m off work, I spent a good half an hour browsing TicketExchange (of TicketMaster) on my iPhone. Since we can’t use our work computers to purchase things online, my supervisor kindly asked me to see if I can purchase Hannah Montana concert tickets on my iPhone. Now, I didn’t know who or what Hannah Montana was, but I figured why the hell not. After numerous failed attempts, I was able to nab her the tickets. The tickets I grabbed were located on Floor 2, Row A, Seats 16 & 17. Only when I checked the seating chart of the Save Mart Center stadium did I realize those were front row tickets. A quick web inquiry brought me findings where tickets of those caliber were being sold anywhere from $1000-$2000 EACH. My boss owes me big time.

While watching The O.C. Season 2: Episode 6, I stumbled upon this awesome piece of music. It’s the episode with Caleb’s funeral and this is the song that plays during that scene and the last few seconds of the episode. The song is titled “Hide and Seek” and it’s performed by Imogen Heap.  I’m too lazy to upload the song; just find the song and give it a listen.

Getting Back Into The Groove

I’ve started off my subscription to GameFly (2 games out) and my two games arrived in just only three days. I rented Blue Dragon for the Xbox 360 and a game I’ve no idea why I picked. Watch the intro and see if you can guess what it is in less than 2 minutes.

I played it for an hour and contemplated on playing it some more so I can get the achievements, but damn, this game is really pushing it. I can always force myself to play through it but why bother? I managed to slug through 23% of Sonic’s Episode; and I would need another 2-3 hours of play time before I can even get a single achievement point. I don’t think Sega’s Sonic Team is up to the task of creating any more Sonic games. I’d rather have the series be passed onto one of their other in-house development teams. Then again, the only team that’s been pushing out a few good titles is Sega-AM2 (Virtua Fighter, Outrun). Anyway, Sonic the Hedgehog has been sent back to GameFly and I’m awaiting my next game to arrive.

Oh, and I’ve watched 13 episodes of Heroes.  I’m addicted.

Street Fighter & Heroes

Capcom recently released a teaser for Street Fighter IV. I’m hoping, like others, the game will be in 2D.

Moreover, Udon released the first gameplay video of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.

HD Remix will be available on Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network sometime in 2008. I’ll probably end up purchasing both. On my trip to Toys ‘R’ Us today, I couldn’t find a second and third game I’d want for their B2G1 free deal. I wanted Bleach: Shattered Blade, The Orange Box, and Heavenly Sword; my TRU were out of The Orange Box and Heavenly Sword. So I picked up Heroes: Season 1 ($48) instead.

Heroes: Season 1 

300!

I’m at it again…

Yesterday’s Adventure

Took a trip to the Apple Store in Fashion Fair Mall with The Lady yesterday and had the intention of purchasing a case/cover for my iPhone. Of the cases/holsters I saw, none of them caught my eye. There were a few silicon ones that looked cool, but silicone stretches in the long run. So I settled with a simple screen film.

Power Support Anti-Glare Film Set

It came out to $16 total and so far, it seems to do the job just fine. There aren’t any smudges and the texture of the film makes it a bit easier to navigate. Feeling a bit hungry, we headed to Yoshino’s Bar to grab some sushi. We tried out a sushi roll we’ve never had called the “Oh, Honey…Roll”. I forget what’s in the damn thing but it can actually pass off as a dessert sushi of sorts. It’s drizzled with honey along with, what I believe, are bits and pieces of fried wonton. Of course, we had our regular Goldrush roll, Snow White roll and Caterpillar roll. I wanted to stop by the Best Buy nearby so we headed over there and I grabbed two movies for $10 each.

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back & The Butterfly Effect

I’ve always loved Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and I’ve been meaning to pick it up for awhile. I figured I would pick it up now before I put it off again for another few months. I’ve never seen The Butterfly Effect but The Lady insisted that we watch it since she loved it. We watched the theatrical release and then watched the Director’s Cut alternate ending. The theatrical ending was decent but I liked the Director’s Cut ending a bit more. Although it was kind of cheesy, I thought it was more dramatic. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it.

A few days ago, Ticketmaster’s Facebook group had a promotion where if you joined their group, you received 5 free song downloads from iTunes. Although I’ve been using iTunes as my media player for the past two years or so, I’ve yet to purchase any music from the iTunes store. Five free song downloads to join a group? Why not? As I was registering for Facebook, it crossed my mind that I can take advantage of this deal by creating multiple Facebook accounts and redeeming a ton of codes through the bogus accounts. So I used 10MinuteMail to register new Facebook accounts and nabbed 90 song credits in total. It only took me about an hour to get that much. Only after three days of the promotion, Ticketmaster took the deal down. I presume others were taking advantage of it as well. I really wanted to get at least 300 song credits.

I used 9 of my 90 song credits

Speaking of iTunes, Starbucks is having a promotion starting Oct. 2nd – Nov. 7th. You can get a free download of their Song of the Day by asking their baristas for a card. I only got three and I’m missing the other three that they gave out.

iTunes & Starbucks’ Song of the Day

If anyone has Bob Dylan’s “Jokerman”, KT Tunstall’s “One Day” or Emily King’s “Moon”, leave a comment. I’m not sure why I’m collecting them, though. =/