Trends: The 21st Century's Black Plague

Critical Study of Horror Films

2014-05-10T20:47:00.000-04:00

Week 1

We went over the history of horror films and its codes and conventions. I personally didn't think that there was much history to be studied when it came to horror films, but as this week went on, I realized that there was plenty. The codes and conventions are: Weapons, Death, Sounds/Music, High Contrast lighting, POV camera angles. When it came to the use of weapons, they were never used for quick kills. The killer tries to make the death intimate, slow and painful. Weapons used are usually blades, and other sharp objects. Death is is natural for the genre of horror. There's no better way to scare an audience than to have them witness someone's untimely death. Sounds and Music are used to help set the atmosphere. Creepy sounding music is always a plus when it comes to invoking fear. High contrast helps shake the audience of their comfort of the natural look of the world, allowing them to scare easier. POV camera angles are the best way to get the audience to really feel like they're in the characters shoes.

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari

This has to have been on of the strangest silent movies I've ever seen; actually, this is the only silent movie I've ever seen. For the sake of all other silent movies out there, I hope they're not similar to this one. This movie was completely odd to watch, but looking at it i can see some of the codes and conventions we talked about in class. Even though this movie was in black and white, the contrast was pretty high. The use of music was just strange to me, but this movie was made in a different time period. This movie made extreme use non-diegetic sounds. We did not watch the entire movie, but we did manage to see it's freaky ending. I could not tell whether or not the main character was going crazy, or Dr. Caligari tricked him, but the main character ended up being locked away in the mental asylum. Unless you're in to old, Gothic silent films, I do not recommend this movie.

Week 2

We looked at the different sub genres of horror films. I never thought that there would be so many. Here are some sub genres of horror: Body, Natural, Psychological, Slasher/Teen slasher, Gothic, Monster, Demonic, Supernatural, Splatter, Vampire, Zombie, Action, Religious, and Gore Porn. I'm fairly surprised that last one was even a sub genre. I believe that The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari was a psychological horror, because in the end , it seemed as though all of that was just in the head of one person.

Summer's Moon

Warning! Spoilers Inbound!!!

To be honest, i'm not sure what i think of this movie. It had the proper elements of a horror movie, and the actors did well, but the premise was strange. There was a crazy boy named Tom who apparently kidnapped women he messed around with and locked them up in his parent's basement. In the basement, there was a garden, and these women were to the garden's angels. He kept them shackled down there, with no sunlight, for an extreme length of time. Many of them passed, but a girl named summer helped put an end to this, even though that was not her objective. Summer traveled around looking for her father because she never met him and her mom didn't want anything to do with him. She ended up in the small town where Tom lived, slept with him, but when she tried to escape, she was captured and placed down in his garden. At some point Tom manged to figure out that she was actually his sister, it didn't stop him from loving her the way he did, but he did let her out of the garden form time to time. Summer and Tom's father was, to me , hilarious and crazy. The way he handled situations gave the movie some comedy, but I wasn't surprised when he came to cause trouble. I was disappointed about how Tom is a crack-shot with a rifle, but couldn't manage to kill his father; The father killed Tom and his mom, but left summer alive because of his sick, twisted desires. I was glad to see summer kill him in the end, but he could have died in a more epic manner.

Week 3

In class, we went over film semiotics and camera angles.

Film Semiotics

Roland Barthes

Semiotics is the are study of signs and symbols. Semiotics focuses on our ability to perceive.

A man named Roland Barthes argued that language is just one way of communicating, the others are:

Hairstyle
Body language
Clothing
Make up

When we name objects and events, that's when they're given meaning and definition.

Sign: smallest unit of communication.
Denotation: Dictionary definition
Connotation: meaning associated with a sign.
Codes: system of signs that can be analyzed.

Parts of a sign

Signifier- physical form of a sign.

Objective signifiers are placed intentionally.
Subjective signifiers are not intentional, but can remind one of something they've experienced.

Signified- concept that the signifier produces.
Referent- the real thing.

Semiotic Triangle

(This is a simplified version)

The ability to pick up on signifiers depend on one's experience, emotional capacity, and intellect. Signifiers themselves depend on mis en scene (how the scene is set up), lighting, music, and dialogue.

Camera Angles/Shots

Long shot- focuses more on depth than width.
Wide shot- focuses more on width and includes subject matter.
Medium shot- a shot of a person from waist up.
Close up- includes the shoulders and up.
Over the shoulder- shot from over the shoulder of someone; usually used during the exchange of dialogue.
High shot- shot from above the subject.
low shot- shot from below the subject.
3/4 shot- a shot angle to show the subject at a 3/4 view.
Profile shot- a shot of the subjects profile or side.
Frontal- shot looking directly at the subject.

Depending on how these shots are used, the director can project the desired effects needed to make a great production. Shots from a low angle can give the subject matter a sense of power. The low angle gives one the appearance of a giant, making them look more intimidating. Shots from a high angle can give the audience a taste of power by looking down at the subject matter. In a way, a high angle shot can put the audience in the shoes of the antagonist as he/she approaches the subject matter/victim. Camera angles are very important in order to achieve the desired effects.

Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn

This was the movie we watched in class this week. Evil Dead 2 is mainly about a evil book that written with blood many centuries ago. This book seemed to hold evil itself locked away in its pages until a curious man attempted to translate and discover its meaning. By reading aloud this books words, he unknowingly unleashed what was sealed within. The creature immediately possessed his wife and made an attempt to kill him. Weeks later a vacationing couple stumbled upon the cabin where the book was being translated. They played the recording that was left behind, and madness began to break loose once again.
I personally found this movie hilarious. This movie is a comedy horror, and I believe they did a great job, especially when it came to their choice in make up:

Besides the comedy, the Evil Dead 2 had great camera work. They never kept the camera static for too long. This was first movie I saw where a 360 degree pan was used to establish location. They even had it to where the audience was viewing the scene from the monster's point of view. Over all, this is a great movie.

Week 4

This week was all about Mise en scene.

Mise en scene- the arrangement of of everything in a scene, and in the frame.

5 elements of Mise en scene

Settings and Props
Costume, Hair, and Make up
Facial expressions and Body Language
Lighting and Color
Positioning of characters and objects within the frame.

Settings and Props

Play an important part in film making and are not just backgrounds.
They can be either built or found.
Props are anything that's able to move in the scene.

Costume, Hair, and Make up

Immediately informs the audience of the time period.
Informs others of personality and social status.
Signify certain individuals(like the antagonist).

Facial expression and Body language

Facial expressions provide a clear indicator of how someone feels.
Body language can often times communicate more information than talking.

Types of Lighting

Low key- one main source of light, and some back lights.

used to achieve silhouettes.
can produce sharp contrast.

High key- multiple lights.

used to produce natural and realistic lighting.
brightly lit sets.
normally low contrast.

Positioning of characters/objects within the frame

Positioning along with the other elements of mise en scene really allows the director to send the message to the audience without having the characters tell them.
If done correctly, the audience will be able to figure out more about the characters and how they interact with their surroundings.

Darkness Falls

This movie is about and old story that's told in a small town called Darkness Falls. Why anyone would name a town Darkness falls is beyond me. The story is about a woman name Matilda Dixon. She was adored by the town children and even gave them a gold coin when they lost a tooth; eventually she earned the title "Tooth Fairy". She was burned alive in a house fire and incident left her skin extremely sensitive to light, so she wore a porcelain mask. Later, she was blamed for the disappearance of two children, and was hung. Before she died she laid a curse on the town; apparently if a child peeks when the tooth fairy is giving them their coin and taking the tooth, they will be brutally murdered by the tooth fairy.

This movie follows Kyle, the main character who peeked when Matilda was going to take his tooth. His mom was murdered trying to save her son. Kyle was taken to many facilities and foster care. About 12 years later, we get a better look at Kyle and how he has developed ever since the incident. We see that Kyle is on medications, which were most likely prescribed by the facilities he was sent to. The general public of Darkness Falls believed that Kyle snapped and killed his mother. Throughout his life, Matilda had constantly been there trying to kill him, but was well aware of her weakness. He always carried a bag full of flash lights with him at all times. His old friend Caitlin contacts him about her kid brother Michael who's going through the same problem, Matilda. It was only Kyle and Michael who really knew what was going on; everyone else believed that Michael was going crazy.

The way this movie focused on Kyle's flash lights, I was able to determine that he has been keeping Matilda at bay for those 12 years. Low key lighting was used when Matilda was going to strike, and high key was used to help with the sense of safety. This movie was alright, it was filled with plenty of jump scares and suspense. The ending was a bit bad though. It almost seemed as though the ending of the movie was rushed.

Week 5

This week, we talked about the importance of film editing.

Film Editing

George Orson Welles

Editing is an extremely crucial part of the film production process
George Orson Welles, “For my vision of the cinema, editing is not one aspect. It is the only aspect.”

Three key aspects of editing

Technique: Cutting and Splicing.
Craft: Consider the shot in itself and in relation to other shots.
Art: How to arrange everything to create an impression.

Film Editing 2 Phase Process

Selecting and arranging the available film into the final visual form.
Mixing the soundtracks into the master soundtrack and then matching the soundtrack with visuals.

Major Approaches to Editing

Continuity

Makes the film look more natural.

Discontinuity

Makes the film look jumpy.

Correct editing can make scenes that are as boring as someone going to pick up their newspaper extremely exciting.

Techniques:

Jump cut
Wipe
Iris shot
Freeze frame
Fade in and out
Split screen

Chain Letter

Before we watched this in class, I already saw a good chunk of the movie. I have to say that this movie has to be a joke. In my opinion, the plot was stupid. If you haven’t connected the dots yet, here’s a description of the movie: a threatening chain letter was sent to a teenager, who then sent it to four others, and so forth. If you delete or refuse to send the letter within a certain amount of time, you’ll be killed the man who created the letter. Apparently this man hates technology and is using it to kill off other technology loving civilians, the end. The editing of movie was not bad, but some of the extra effects used when a person received the letter were a bit much. At one point in the movie, one of the characters received the letter and the entire screen vibrated. At the beginning of the movie, there were a lot of jump cuts that made watching the movie a bit disorientating. The use of special effects and images became too much, and at some parts there were way too many images on the screen. I know that the point of this blog is not to rate, but talk about the movies we watch and how the topics in class tie in to the movies, but after this movie I may have to start rating them. If you’re bored and need something mildly entertaining to watch, I suggest you watch this; otherwise, don’t bother.

Here'e the link to the full movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ_9W-yILdY

or watch it below.

Week 6

This week was all about Hybridity in film.

I'm not going to lie, the first time I heard my instructor say the word hybridity, I had no idea what she was talking about. For some reason my brain did not want to link the term hybrid to hybridity until I saw the word projected on the screen.

Hybrids- anything composed of two or more different elements.

Ex: A liger is a hybrid cross between a lion and a tiger.

When it comes hybridity in film, most of the films we see today are hybrids. The Avengers movie could be called a hybrid cross between comedy and action. Movie genres today are a balance between industry and audience needs.

If the audience likes the hybrid film, the industry will continue to produce films like it.

They do try to vary films a little to help keep them fresh.

The hybrid film we watched in class was...

Event Horizon

It might help to play this in the background while viewing this image
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbusENG6hCE

I know I gave Chain Letter a hard time in last week's post, but this movie practically asked for what is to come. This movie was about a ship known as the "Event Horizon" that ventured out to Neptune, but was then taken over by this evil force from a different dimension. This entity managed to find its way to our dimension via the ship's core.

The core of the Horizon opens up a portal by bending time and space. The crew of the Horizon used this portal for quick travel, but something happened and instead of being sent where they were planning on going, they were sent to the other dimension where the evil force managed to take hold of the ship. This force creeps its way into the minds of others and brings out their worst fears and regrets. It eventually causes the crew to go mad and kill each other. The force then manages to send the ship back to our dimension with it still inside.

The main characters of this movie are the space crew that were sent to help the Horizon, and the scientist who created the ship, Dr. William Weir. From the beginning of the movie, Dr. Weir has been suffering from recurring flashbacks of his deceased wife speaking to him.

The ships crew is lead by Captain Miller and he never seemed too happy to be on that mission. When the crew arrived at the ship, they attempted to scan it for life, but were picking up strange readings, so they decided to board the ship in hopes of finding any survivors. There were no survivors, but the evil force began to screw with them.

At some point the mission went from rescue to demolition. Miller and his crew were fed up with the ship, but Weir was already under the influence of the evil within the ship.

Weir managed to destroy their ship, killing a member of the crew and almost launching the other one into space. Only two of the crew made it out of the event alive,Cooper (the stereotypical funny black guy) and Lt. Stark (the pretty lady). Captain Miller went down with the ship, supposedly taking Weir and the evil with him.

This movie was a hybrid cross between Science Fiction and Horror, with a little bit of comedy. In my honest opinion, I have to say that his movie was terrible! The only thing that made this movie remotely scary was the amount of jump scares that they forced down the audience's throat. I understand this is an older movie and that things were done a bit differently back then, but for today whatever they thought they were doing right, they did wrong. If this movie was called a Comedy Horror like Evil Dead, then this movie would've been alright. Most of the serious scenes in this movie were laughable.

I stated in last week's post that I may have to start rating these movies, so Event Horizon gets a 4.3. The camera work and use of CGI was well done, but the directing and writing for this movie was bad.

Week 7

This week was all about intertextuality in film.

Intertextuality- The use of elements that were originally from another media.

Mostly known as referencing other media.

Scary Movie is a prime example of intertextuality. The antagonist of this movie is literally the same guy from Scream.

Intertextuality has its advantages and disadvantages.

Intertextuality can allow the audience to connect with and learn a character faster.
It makes it easier on the industry when it comes to creating characters.

There are certain characters that don't need explaining once introduced.

Character back stories can be left out, leaving more room for the actual story.
Like everything else in life, too much of something will degrade its value.

At some point it can become a bit cliche.

This week's movie was...

The Exorcist

We watched the 2000 remake of The Exorcist. Before we go into this movie, I would like to state that I did not get all the hype about this film. This movie was not in the least bit scary to me, and quite frankly I found a lot of the scenes in this movie hilarious. If I had watched this movie when I was a kid, I would've been scared.

This movie is about an ancient demon that was re-awakened during an archaeological excavation. One of the workers there was a priest and an archaeologist. At some point the demon possesses a little girl named Regan.

Before

After

Regan's mother, Chris, does everything in her power to help her daughter.

She has her looked at by many doctors, but all of the tests showed no signs of illness. Chris manages to convince a man named Karras to perform an exorcism on Regan.

Karras himself didn't have much experience with exorcism, so he contacted the Archaeologist/Priest from the beginning of the movie to help.

The exorcism itself failed, but Karras managed to convince the demon to take his body instead. When Karras obtained the demon, he took his own life by jumping out of Regan's bedroom window. This movie was pretty good for its time. Since I don't watch a lot of movies, I found it hard to spot any signs of intertextuality; but I did find some intertextuality in the Boondocks. They actually had a scene in one of their episodes that was similar to the exorcism scene in The Exorcist.

Week 8

This week was all about the sub genre of horror films known as slashers.

For some reason, Slasher films are at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to horror. If I had to blame anything, i'd blame poor writing. I feel as though the slasher sub genre has a lot of potential.

Slasher films normally involve:

A psychotic masked killer.

Often wears a mask.
Supernatural like abilities
Asexual/ Sexually Ambiguous.

The main characters are away from parental supervision.
The final/virgin girl:

Defeats the killer.
Masculine
Unavailable for relationship
Always a virgin.

A strong sense of voyeurism.
Weapons are always melee, sharp, and good for a slow death.
Characters:

Jock
Outcast
Prom queen
Nice guy
Nerd
Token black guy

Three major horror film characters

Freddy Kruger

Jason Voorhees

Pinhead

(They're all slasher villains)

Can't go without mentioning these three when talking about slashers.

It's said that the slasher sub genre was born in the shower scene in Psycho.

Malevolence

This movie is about a killer kidnapper who trains the boy below to become a just like him maybe even better.

It turns out the boy kills the killer and takes his place.

The movie starts out with a heist that goes bad, and the team ends up getting split up. One of them gets shot and killed in the operation.

The other two end up burying the body and making their way back to their rendezvous point to meet up with the other member of the team to split the cash. The member with the cash ends up having to jack a car and taking hostages because his vehicle caught a flat tire.

The hostages was a mom and her daughter. The daughter manages to escape and stumble into an abandoned building. The heist member manages to follow her there, but he gets killed by the movies killer. the killer takes his clothing and pretends to be him.

The killer manages to kill another member the criminal team, but ends up finding a challenge with the last member of the gang as he frees the mother and begins to flee. They find her daughter and they defeat the killer.

This movie was bad and I feel as though this does not deserve a rating from me.

Week 9

This week was all about spoofs and parodies.

Things to know about Spoofs

There is no such thing as an original spoof.
They attract corny people opposed to film connoisseurs.
Has a huge following and rental sales.
Cheesy lines.
Usually low budget
Involve exaggerated stereotypes, actions, and violence.
Some scenes have no bearing on the story.
Have a lot of sarcasm.

Things to know about Parodies

Mimics in an absurd or ridiculous way the conventions and style of another work.
Makes fun of another work by imitating some aspects of another work.
Most humor is based on familiarity with plots conventions, and characters.
Scream was one of the first horror films to parody the conventions of the genre.

Spaceballs is a good example of a Spoof/Parody.

The Conjuring

This movie is not a parody or a spoof, but it is the best movie we've watched in class. This movie is about a family that moved into a haunted house away from the city life.

The spirits of the previous owners began to haunt them, so they hired a ghost buster team to help relieve them of the spirits.

The mother of the family became possessed and tries to kill her daughter, but she's subdued for the inevitable exorcism.

The Main Points to Critical Thinking

2013-06-04T02:11:00.001-04:00

What does it mean to think critically? Thinking critically simply means to separate fact from fiction, come up with the best course of action, act on the decision, and then figure whether those actions will give desired results. Critical Thinking is a useful skill to pick up. It won't allow you to be swayed as easily as others, you'll learn a lot more from situations, you'll have greater chance of getting hired, and it'll help add some more control to your thought process and decision making, which will help organize your life.

Phases to Critical Thinking

· The Production phase and the Judgment phase.

· The Production Phase is exactly what it sounds like, the phase in the production of new ideas and concepts.

· The Judgment phase is where the mind judges the ideas and decides whether to make revisions.

Free will and Determinism

Do you think we’re free to live life how we want it or do you think that life is lived based off of some planner known as destiny? I think that life is lived with a little bit of both. I most definitely don’t believe completely in one or the other. There are too many factors that are out of our control for us to have complete free will, but there are still things that we’re able to control to an extent. We’re able to control whatever environment we wish to stay in, but not the weather and the amount of inhabitants that come in or out. One’s environment can have major influences on them, especially their thought process. Most decisions we make are just responses to our environmental influences.

Bad Thinking Habits

· The Mine-Is-Better Habit

· Face Saving

· Resistance To Change

· Conformity

· Stereotyping

· Self-Deception

The Mine Is Better Habit is habit normally seen children, where they think there particular item/idea is better, without even considering the opposite.

Face Saving is when someone tries to hide their embarrassment by keeping a straight face, or even blaming someone else for their mistake. Typically extremely prideful people exhibit this habit.

Resistance to Change is exactly what it sounds like, and it’s normally shown by older people when it comes to new technology.

Conformity means to conform to another’s belief without even challenging it to see if it makes sense critically.

Stereotyping is making generalizations out of certain groups, like races for example (there are a lot of these) black people love fried chicken and grape koolaid, Asian people love to do math, etc.

Self-deception is to literally deceive yourself by believing in something false, or against your morals.

Problem Solving

Being good at problem solving is another skill that comes with being an effective critical thinker.

There are barriers to Problem solving:

· Failure to recognize the problem

· Not conceiving the problem enough.

· Making hasty/risky decisions.

· Failure to consider all consequences.

· Failure to consider the feasibility of the solution.

Steps to Problem solving:

· What’s the problem?

· Determine the alternatives?

· Determine advantages and disadvantages for each alterantive.

· What’s the answer?

· How well does it work?

The Six Thinking Hats:

· White: Objective

· Yellow: Positive

· Green: Creative

· Red: Feelings

· Black: Negative

· Blue: Process

Arguments

Have you ever been in a losing argument before? Frustrating isn’t it? As a critical thinker arguments will not only be easier, but maybe even fun. An argument is a form of thinking in which statements are used to back up statements. Almost like brain fighting. The statements that back up the main statement (conclusion) are called premises. If there is no claim defended with reasons, than the statement is not an argument. Deductive arguments are arguments in which the conclusion indefinitely follows from the premises. Inductive argument conclusion might follow from the premises.

Do You Like “Tomo"? If Thats What You Like To Call “Them”, Yes I Do.

2013-01-23T20:25:00.000-05:00

Music.
It speaks to man’s very soul and motivates even the lazy among us to reach unattainable new highs.

But, what about music that belongs in interrogation books, instead of on the Top 100 Music Charts?

I present to you…. AKB48.

Yes, there are really 48 member….

AKB48 (derived from Akihabara 48) is a female Japanese idol group produced by Akimoto Yasushi. They have their own theater in Akihabara (a district in Tokyo) where they perform regularly. The concept of the group is "idols you can meet". Currently, they hold the record of having the highest overall single sales (of a female group) on the Oricon charts.

A group of 48 talented singers, what could go wrong?! The problem is, that out of the 48 members, only five of the girls can hold a manageable tune. Because of this, the other 43 AKB members must take back seats and lip-sync along during live performances.

The group is mainly composed of girls under 18 and have caught flak for:

sexually suggestive texts of many of their songs, which some felt were unsuitable for AKB48’s young members.
Music Videos showing underwear shots, teenage members hugging, kissing, and taking a bath together.
and this…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogJrjfjEvNo

I hope you flossed, Rina-chan….

Now, whenever a member “outgrows” the group, they “leave” the group and release a photo book and a solo albulm. Tomomi Kasai is the most recent member to leave the group and when she released her photo-cover, “Do You Like Tomo?”, it too caught flak for being…..”Soft-core Child-Porn”

Have a look….

That kid gets more than any of you mouth-breathers.

Being the role models for millions of little Japanese children, I expected more. As of the second week of January, 2013, the image was subsequently pulled due to decency laws.

In closing, it seems that bad roles and bad music are prevalent everywhere.

If you are one of the ones who are thinking about leaving the country due to “Beiber Fever” and “One Direction Disorder” suck it up. It could be worse.

The Music Industry Is Still Going In One Direction....Down

2013-01-09T12:00:00.002-05:00

Welcome back, mouth-breathers.

I've been out of the loop for a while, so I decided to address a topic I can no longer ignore....

With the release of: Curren$y's "The Stoned Immaculate", Yashin's "We Created A Monster", and Miwa's "Guitarium" in later 2012, I was sure music was being given CPR.

Currensy- The Stoned Immaculate

Yashin- We Created A M0nster

Miwa-Guitarium

But, once again, modern music has failed to produce anything relevant or note-worthy.

Over the past few month's I have heard whispers of "One Direction" and I figured it was irrelevant.

I should have known better....

Now, here are the things that I DON'T like about One Direction.....

1) There is a large discrepancy between the QUALITY of their music and the POPULARITY of the music. The quality tends to be low and the popularity is high. (Ex. Disco in the '70s) One Direction does not write their own lyrics, and their lyrics are very cliché. We've heard them before; rehashed, whiney, love songs.

2) People mainly like them for their looks. Unfortunately, people are shallower now, and they look more towards looks than quality. There are so many other GOOD artists out there with more meaningful music (meaningful lyrics) that never gets a chance to make it big because people choose stars who just look good. If you ask a 1D fan if they like 1D's music, many will say they do. I am not doubting that people don't like them for their music, but the music that people like nowadays is very shallow music-it has no depth, no deep meaning like Pink Floyd or Nirvana.

3) They practically had success handed to them. They never had to hit the pavement and work for success. They were on X-Factor and made it big right away, a bunch of British guys with decent voices and BAM, top album on ITunes. People who like better music, and by that I mean, DEEPER music with more meaning, don't like the fact that the music industry has ended up this way.

4) They are "fake"; people tell them how to dress, write their lyrics, and tell them how to act. They are like machines in a sense, designed to please the viewers, designed to sell records, designed to increase the income of revenue for the music industry.

Why People Don’t Like One Direction:

"I think it's a bandwagon thing. People are annoyed to death by the crazy fan-girls; it's like they think they finally got a break from "Bieber Fever", and now they have Direction Infection to worry about."-Yahoo User.

And on an end note, if you claim I’m jealous because they are "famous" remember: Hitler was famous too...

Look At That "Fan Base!"

Stretched Wide Butthurt In Video Games.

2012-09-23T18:00:00.002-04:00

Meet The Kids Who Just Quick-Scoped You….Again.

Imagine a world with no rules.
A gun-law free world.
A world populated by little children wielding said guns.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you... every major shooting game on the market.

Let it be know that Eman doesn't hate kids. I actually have to live with the little demons in my house. I only have a problem when video games and minors are mixed. The two entities should remain separate. Like church and state.

Now, with that being said if I’m playing a certain game and 4 foot nothing midgets are whining over a mike, past their bedtime at me, I believe verbally smacking them is indeed my right of way.

Apparently parents think M stands for “Many Kids Playing This”

Pop quiz: what is the picture above?
If you don’t know, you probably also don’t know that your kid: smokes weed, masterbates to your porn collection, and is a closet-homosexual. Proven facts.

The above picture is called ESRB game ratings and they were made to keep you grubby kid’s fingers from touching anything more mature than his age. If you start giving your 10-year old kid violent videos and then become surprised when he shoots up his middle school, then i don’t feel sorry for you dumb-fuck.

This…

Plus This….

Equals This In 10 Years…

Lastly, I want to discuss under-aged minors when they pick up a mike and take their time-out angst online.

Bottom-line?

Don’t let it happen and start to beat your children more people.

Take care.

Hopsin - Ill Mind of Hopsin 5: Review

2012-08-17T20:06:00.001-04:00

Hopsin - Ill Mind of Hopsin 5.

With the constant decline in the significance of Hip-Hop lyrics, usually being a witty statement referring to the amount of cash they have sorted into multiple stacks evened out by how many hoes they have to a group, one can wonder if there are any good artists left out there.

When I sat down and turned on Hopsin's new single, Ill Mind of Hopsin 5, I regained the slimmer of hope for this generation that I had been looking for. The song starts off with a somewhat eerie beat that really plays into Hopsin's style. The beat itself, is great. It has that old school Hip-Hop feel to it, while keeping an interesting creepily addicting bass line.

Hopsin's lyrics start off with,
"Man I hate rap, but if the shoe fits, wear it."
expressing his distaste for the way rap has become. I was already getting into the song before it started. The remainder of the intro basically details Hopsin expressing discomfort for feeding the morals rap music delivers, even going as far as to say that he's embarrassed to be a part of it. The next verse starts out describing your average teenager these days and the twisted ideas of entertainment people have come to be a part of. Disrespecting fan favorites such as weed, drinking, money, women and the all popular SWAG. This entire verse picking apart trends we face in America these days and why rap music is one of the biggest influences on them, breaking down this "we do it because rappers do it" logic.

Once he's got a fair amount of sore-anus spread out across America, he starts to address the women of this generation who claim, "they want a nice guy". He starts off explaining to these confused women that they say they want a real man, yet they refuse to stop going after the fake ones. With lyrics such as,
"Twice a week you put on your makeup and damn bracelets
And head to the club half-naked with your ass shaking
Pulling a lowlife nigga who claim he cash making
Til you let him hit and find out he work at the gas station",
Hopsin nails this one DEAD on the head. Going on to explain that as long as you go after the "tough guy" act, you're going to find it.

We finally arrive at the last verse in which Hopsin asks what the term "real nigga" means. He questions the audience what a "real nigga" is supposed to be, saying the phrase has him very confused. His impression being someone who handles their business and stays out of trouble so that they can make something out of themselves. Basically, he speaks the truth. I mean really, it's not a hard concept to grasp. Anyway, he goes on to say "A real nigga don't brag about being real as long as he knows it.", meaning if you are who you say you are, you wouldn't have to say it.

To end this surprising explosion of genius, he addresses the rappers of today, telling them that they inspire the issues he had previously mentioned. Even going as far to say that they are one of the major reasons we are in the shape we are right now. While every human being DOES have a choice, he does make a valid point. Without the added pressure of the media and music of this generation, children may be a little better off. I suggest everyone listen to this song and REALLY think about the lyricism he brings.

Bottom line.
Hopsin put an extraordinary amount of meaning in this song, and this is the type of music we need to see more of.

That's it for today.
sayonara, mina-san.

Halo 4: Next big hit, or next Halo: Reach?

2012-08-17T00:37:00.000-04:00

Halo has been one of the most fun video games I have ever played. I myself am a Sonic fan, but when it comes to shooting things in the face, Halo is the way to go! This gaming series takes place in a futuristic setting which allows the player to wield an arsenal of powerful weapons in which take on the formidable covenant. The covenant is an alliance of many different alien species that are lead by three unique creatures known only as the prophets. The prophets have led their army to believe that their genocidal campaign is for the greater good of this incredible journey. Once the covenant came into contact with the human race, however, they were in for the fight of the century. As many of us know, humans wage war a lot, it's what we do. It's in our nature. When they picked a fight with us, they picked a fight with the combined power and intellect of all nations on the planet. Since it's about 500 years into the future, our technology has advanced to the point where we've colonized other planets.

Bring it on covenant.


Art work for upcoming Halo 4

So far, Halo has six installments and is currently in the process of releasing their seventh, Halo 4. The first six Halos have been made by Bungie, but Bungie has grown tired of the project and wished to move on to others. I can't blame them, if they don't want to make any more Halos then they don't have to, but Halo 4 is being made by a division of Bungie who decided to keep the legacy going. This group is known as 343. A lot of Halo fans were disappointed to hear that Bungie gave up on Halo, but saw a glimmer of hope once Halo 4 was announced. Some believe Halo 4 will be a failure, but based on the game play I've seen, it looks amazing. It may not be made by Bungie, but it may still be a great game.

Overview

The story of Halo follows Master Chief, the man in green armor who is pretty much humanity's savior. In order for the humans to survive the covenant onslaught, the intelligent Dr. Halsey developed the Spartan project. With the help of the UNSC, the United Nations Space Command, she was able to develop the super soldiers known as Spartans. The entire army of Spartans was wiped out except for Master Chief. The Spartan army gave their lives to protect Reach, but failed. Being the only, and possibly, the best Spartan left in existence, Master Chief is the best hope for humanity's survival. As a Spartan you're able to take on covenant infantry on their level. Your strength and health is above that of your fellow marines. You will be depended on to do what others would not, which makes it much more fun if you ask me. You're also able to switch weapons with marines. Your armor's energy shielding will protect you from most of the enemy fire.

The physics and plot of this storyline follows over through all of the games in the series, making it an excellent buy for science fiction or space fans.

Which begs the question."Will Halo 4 live up to the hype, or become another Halo: Reach?"

Hopefully in the seventh installment, Halo 4, players will still be able to enjoy
the classic experience that was brought about in the first three, bringing new experiences while building upon the old ones. Halo 4 carries a large expectation that we can only hope will be fulfilled with interest...If not, Halo
is still a classic gaming series I would strongly advise for anyone who enjoys playing video
games. 

Now, we wait.

11-6-2012

The Nice-Guy Manifesto: Try Growing Some Balls.

2012-08-16T22:34:00.001-04:00

Typical Battered Nice-Guy.

As the world advances and technology only improves, there always seems to be those individuals who seem to hold the advancement of the human race back. These mouth-breathing, bottom-feeders unite under one limp-wrist banner to draw more to their cynical plot.

My fellow comrades, it will always be your duty to chase the woman YOU desire. Never should you ever, cut off your balls and mail them to her, so that she can chase you. Let it become clear that if you are a Nice-Guy, you are insecure, clingy, spineless, womanless, etc etc etc. For too long, we have let ourselves become lax and neutered around women to please them. I’ve even had many friends tell me that, being “Nice” to women gets you laid faster.

LIES.

The plain truth is that, nice-guys lack one quality that women spend all their life looking for in those sub-humans and never find it. That quality is being Assertive. That simply means: not being a yes-man, being willing to argue with her, taking control of decision-making, and romancing her. Are you seeing a pattern now? A nice-guy will do NONE of those, in fear of blowing his chance with the female. He would rather try to “buy” love and shower her with gifts that don’t last.

“Doing it Wrong”

In conclusion, act your part and play your role. Never sell yourself short as a man for a hopeful one night stand, chances are it’s not going to happen. If you act like her therapist, you’ll just end up as her shoulder to cry on, until she’s ready to run back to the same guy who made her cry. Remember, no woman knows what she wants, its up to you to take initiative and make moves.

Take care.

The Life and Times of Naruto: Ultimate Ninja

2012-08-16T13:13:00.000-04:00

With the ever popular Naruto manga continuing steadily at chapter 597, there have been a number of games to follow suit. I mean, who doesn't like relaxing and beating up children with old ladies (or beating up the old lady, if that's more your thing...seriously, you can.) With the great number of video game adaptations, ranging from games for the Nintendo DS, PSP, to the PS3 and Xbox 360, my FAVORITE series by far, is Ultimate Ninja.

Gameplay from Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2

The first in the series to be released was for the PS2. It was in the classic side scrolling, 2D type environment most fighting games are produced in. Featuring characters from the original run of Naruto, or Part 1, it was a GREAT game. This continued up until Ultimate Ninja 5, released in 2007. Now, these are good games, but enter....

PS3 box art for Ultimate Ninja Storm

In 2008, they breathed new life into the series, with the release on Ultimate Ninja Storm. This game didn't only come with a new name and a shiny new cover, it brought new aspects and new elements to the game to really immerse the player. The biggest element introduced, is the 3D environment. The player can take full control of the character within this area. With this addition, this allowed players to run in any direction, jump around, and even dash to an enemy, or stay back and play at a distance. The maps themselves, were also beautiful. Not to mention the character line-up. Stocked with a full roster of characters from Part 1, you could re-enact some of your favorite battles. The story mode was great as well, featuring a fully explorable Konoha. Playing as the number one knuckle headed ninja himself, it was pretty fun to explore around. Though, this story mode could get repetitive pretty fast. Over all, this game just had it.
My score - 8/10.

Box art for Ultimate Ninja Storm 2

Newest addition, Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations.

Exploration in Ultimate Ninja Storm 2.

With the overall success of Ultimate Ninja Storm, two sequels were inspired. The first was, of course, Ultimate Ninja Storm 2. Being the first Naruto game to be released on both PS3 and Xbox 360, this Naruto game just improved on what was already great. Covering a big portion of Part 2 of Naruto, or Shippuden, it spans from the return of Naruto all the way to the Pain Invasion. New features were added, as well as a FULL roster of new characters. We saw improved graphics, and the introduction of an RPG element. That did, however, cut down the free roaming aspect from the first game. While you can no longer explore Konoha completely, they do offer a very linear path based exploration allowing you to navigate between different areas by following a small map. They did add the ability to find and use things throughout the story mode, such as picking up a flower on the ground, or old kunai out of a chest, or old tags out of some paper. The story mode, though, did feature an abundance of new cinematic boss battles appearing as if they were taken straight out of the anime itself. These cinematic scenes really immersed you into the story.
My score - 8/10.

Jiraiya in a battle with Pain

Naruto vs. Sasuke

Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 art

After Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 was released in 2010, a spin-off entitled Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations found it's way to the shelves in 2012. This game was released to hold us fans off until the upcoming release of Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, in Spring 2013. Now, Generations had fans split down the middle at word of it's announcement. One half of the fans were ecstatic about it's adding characters from both Parts 1 and 2, however, the other half were weary about the new features they'd heard about. One rumor they had heard about, was the removal of movement in story mode. Unfortunately, that turned out to be true. In Generations the story mode from the previous two received a drastic change. The option to explore and attain items had been removed, as well as boss battles. In change, we got multiple story lines in which you could play for different characters. It was a series of fights, separated by anime sequences and voiced scenes. The anime scenes were very well done, though. They were completely new, never before seen animations created specifically for the game, featuring the majority of the original voice cast. It was a very artistic way to have done things, though I would liked to have seen the exploration option stay. Does that mean I was disappointed by this game?

Not.at.all.

Japanese character selection game play

The stocked full roster of characters was more than enough to make up for that. This roster of ninjas featured Genin, Jonin to Hokage after Hokage spanning the length of Part 1-2. We even saw characters such as all four Hokages, The elusive Masked Man, Akatsuki, and even Part 1 characters such as the original 12 Genin and the sand siblings. Even the five Kages made an appearance. With this full roster of characters featuring over 72 playable characters and 15 supports, even though it's more like 40-50 considering most are just alternate costumes/jutsus, who can complain? They also upgraded the fighting system considerably making it faster paced, and adding such features as the ability to chakra dash in and out of combos, and limiting substitutions to 4 for a limited time period.

Game play of Japanese version in Tournament mode

(Thank God for that. Seriously.)

Two new modes were added that made this game all the more fun. They are survival, which allows the player to test his ability against a wave of ninja with one health bar for the whole wave, with health being restored by amounts dependent on how well you did after each fight. The other that was added is tournament, which as the name suggests, is a tournament. In this mode players can set up a roster of ninja to fight, or play against a pre made roster. This roster features preliminaries, semi-finals, and finals with the winners of the previous match facing off in the next round. With all these new modes, and the numerous amount of characters, this game is just too great not to love. Especially with the new features implemented in this game, the fights are so much fun. Except online. Expect broken TV's and controllers if you take that route. Fair warning. Overall, Generations is a great game I highly recommend buying if you are a Naruto fan or even if you aren't a fan. It's such an easy game to get into, and really user friendly. My score - 9/10.

With the success of all the Ultimate Ninja Storm games in the past, it makes me really wonder how Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 will be. I am definitely looking forward to the next sequel with high expectations. I just hope that this doesn't turn into a Halo: Reach.

So, overall, if you are a Naruto fan, a fan of fighting games, a fan of anime, a fan of ninjas, or even just a fan of games in general, I recommend this series to everyone with a game system. This has to be one of my favorite series of all times, and with luck it will just keep getting better.

That's it for this time.
sayonara, mina-san.

Tyga: Careless World Album Review.

2012-08-15T18:08:00.001-04:00

“Life without you is like a broken pencil. There is no point.” – Tyga

Review of Tyga, Careless World: Rise of the Last King.

I must confess, when I heard another Young Money artist was releasing an album, I immediately deflated. Between Lil Wayne selling out faster than the new iPads to Nicki Minaj's tasteless rap verses, I was sure Hip-hop was dead for good. The Rap genre was been on a downward slide for years now and its only been getting worse. Lucky for us there's an actually recovery taking place in the rap game. From Hopsin to Black Cobain, I believe there's still hope out there.

Now Enter Tyga.

Careless World's recording took place over a period of three years and it shows. The first song is the title track, which starts with Tyga talking about his rise to kingdom with a mood-setting beat playing in the back. "Faded" is the typical Tyga club song that we're all use to hearing on his usual mix tapes. The next song that jumped out at me was, "Black Crowns" which started out with a sexy hook, perfect for those sunny days with the windows down. The last jump out track was "This Is Like ft. Robin Thicke", which paints a picture of his travels all over the world with his lady.

Overall, I was very much impressed by the album and I hope to see Tyga De-throne Lil Wayne for good in the near future.

Bow down.

The Wrath of the Otaku.

2012-08-15T15:17:00.000-04:00


How heavily does Japan actually influence America?

As with most things, there's always a nay-Sayer to the group. Especially when it comes down to Americans who take interest in Japanese culture. Phrases such as, "Stick to your own country you wanna be oriental!" or "fake American!". I shouldn't even have to explain the ignorance that follow that statement. I shall show and explain one of the Japanese cultures that have found their way across the seas.

Anime

Anime is an animated show featuring body characteristics ranging from close to realistic all the way to downright abnormal. Usually it focuses on a younger protagonist chasing after some stupidly overpowered enemy. Usually incorporating supernatural events and super powered characters on the same level such as that of Superman. Heroes and villains alike, more than not, carry a power known only as BS. Seriously. Watch 3/4 Anime series and you'll see what I'm talking about.


Typical Anime artwork consisting of young characters in school uniform.

If you'd like to know more about Anime, check out this link right here--->http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime

One of the most popular by far is Anime, or Japanese animation. Check above for description. Now, in light of the aforementioned description, a lot of people have got it in their heads that all Anime is the same.
They think it usually features women with ridiculous breasts or some form of inappropriate material, and automatically assume the fan base of these shows are all the same and generalize them to the extent that they've even come up with a name for them.

 Otaku.

[Actual definition: Otaku-someone who feels very strongly about a certain hobby or has an obsession.]

With that being said, your stereotypical moron would say something along the lines of, "Ur a faggot, u watch anime! u prolly watch hentai 2, pussy. get a life". I'll let the idiocy speak for itself. However, this is the most common reaction we see in America when someone else takes an interest in Anime. That, or

"watch regular cartoons at leest, fag."

It's understandable, I suppose...seeing as how American's weren't raised on Anime or brought up around it so that they may build an understanding, right?

WRONG.

If you go to any child who was born between the years 1990-2000, and ask them their favorite childhood cartoon, I am willing to bet dollars to donuts you get the same answer at least 60% of the time. Almost every one will most likely answer with at least one of the three major shows popular in that time.

Dragon Ball Z, Pokémon, and Yu-Gi-OH!

Some of you might say, "but...but...but...those are American shows cuz they speek english, rite?!"

WRONG.

...again

Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-OH! were all originally Japanese Manga series (Japanese comic book) that were adapted into an Anime and then translated and dubbed (re-voiced) in English, for an international audience.

Awp, here he comes.

"but, but, i didnt watch doze shows cuz i thot dey were stoopid n for kidz!"

Well, regardless of what a lot of people may say now, statistics say that over 70% of children born in the 90's watched at least one of the three regularly. In fact, Pokemon was so popular they've had more than 4 cartoon spin offs, countless games, toys, dolls, movies, a trading card game and conventions based solely on it. Yu-Gi-OH! and Dragon Ball Z are no different. Both creating such a splash in the US that they inspired countless new generations and revivals of the old classics. ALL of which originated in Japan. These shows even aired on the biggest TV stations in America, such as Cartoon Network, Disney, and Nickelodeon. How many people in the US watch Adult Swim? How many watched Toonami? Good old fashioned all-American cartoons, right?

WRONG!

man, don't you ever get tired of being wrong?

Toonami, and Adult Swim both featured a line up mostly comprised of Anime. Classic cartoons such as Gundam, Code Lyoko, Code Geass, Sailor Moon, Ronin Warriors, Tenchi, The Big O, Zoids, .hack//Sign, YuYu Hakusho, Rurouni Kenshin, Inuyasha, and One Piece. ALL Anime. Okay, now that I've got you thinking, I'll hit you with what may be the biggest mind-fuck to some of the less informed readers.

  Ready?

I want you to name one of the most popular cartoons out right now. As of 2012.

Chances are, one of your answers was this...

"but that's american! thats not anime right? its on nickelodeon."

RIGHT.

for once.

Don't get too cocky just yet.

"haha so that means it has nothing to do with anime. :) take that."

WRONG!

told you not to get too cocky...>.>

Now, while it's true that Avatar: The Legend of Korra, and it's predecessor Avatar: The Last Airbender are not Japanese productions, and therefore technically not Anime. It WAS, however, greatly influenced by Japanese animation and drawn in the same art form.

"..."

Even now, Anime still has a MAJOR influence on the cartoons presented in America. The current lineup on Cartoon Network even, supports this, carrying shows such as Beyblade, Bakugan, Yu-Gi-OH! 5D's, etc. (I can't even keep up anymore. -.-). While all of the shows shown may not be strictly Japanese made. ALL carry a strong influence from Anime.

"well...whatever. eventually the shows will end and itll be over. they cant last that long..."

sigh Do I really need to say it?

If you take a look at shows like Naruto, Bleach, and even Dragon Ball Z, (I don't have to count the obvious Pokemon and Yu-Gi-OH! which both ran for over 400 episodes. -_-), you can see the true length a show can run for. Dragon Ball Z had two different spin offs. Dragon Ball Z itself was a spin-off of Dragon Ball. Then there's GT. Collectively it ran for over around 10 years. The first two, Naruto and Bleach, are STILL going. Naruto started around 2005 and is still only about 3/4 of the way through...The original, Naruto, ran for 220 episodes. The second coming, Shippuden is still running and is currently on episode 274. The manga is a different story. I think the last chapter to have been released was 597, and is still going. So, if you think one episode and one chapter a week. Then times that by 597 and 494, respectively, you start to get a scope of how long a show can actually last. With that being said, you'd think America would have gotten a more profound understanding and respect for them, right? Sadly, this is not the case. While I'm fully aware that as long as we live, we'll never experience a day of mutual respect throughout the country, I can at least try and put things in perspective...

I think I'll go ahead and end it at that, considering I've said quite a bit and you still need the ability to ponder on it all. Anymore and your brain would just give up. I hope I at least cleared things up for a couple people out there. If not, at least I said what I felt like needed to be said, and at the end of the day that's all you can ask for.

Remember everybody, stay open and stay thinking.
Sayonara, mina-san.

What The Failing Economy and Popular Music Have In Common.

2012-08-14T16:55:00.001-04:00

DISCLAIMER: Before we begin, I want to stress to you that I tried to avoid and stall this topic as long as I possibly could. Also, I would like to state that any anger generated by the following article will be ignored because, your opinion just doesn't matter...

The president has failed us, the economy is torn asunder, and your parents have switched house roles. Lets face it. Life sucks right now but... at least you can find that magical place in your music, right?

Real men come out. Men like Lil Wanye.

WRONG.

If there's one thing we need to fix in America, it's who we rank in the charts every week. The economy can wait. I'll point a finger to today's rapper's. If you "talk" over beats and all you say is @#$@! or talk about @#$@!$ and how much more money your getting, then you're not much of a rapper nor are you a role model. You're a menace to society. Most Hip-Hop artist couldn't define music if they had it tattooed all over their bodies and faces. To them, having a false persona that defers from the real you, shows your "Swagger" and "Balling" attitude. Not all of your rap "heroes" are who they claim to really be... For example.

So Fuck The Police, Huh?

There's no need for me to cover any of the other artist out there, because their actions speak for themselves. Do you really want your children listening to the likes of Nicki Minaj, Lil' Wanye, Justin Beiber, Miley Cyrus, and all the the other puppets of the music industry, who only care about their albums going gold and not the influence of said music on your child's psyche?

I would like to end this article by saying that popular music, is not always the right music. Do research, before you start bowing down and worshipping these frauds. Take care.

Religion: Debate or War?

2012-08-13T12:09:00.000-04:00

So, with the wagons upon wagons of trends being banded upon these days, another popular trend to have surfaced, is religion. Of course, religion has been around for hundreds and thousands of years, but it seems to have gotten a kick start as of recently. So as not to discriminate towards anyone's beliefs or religion, I'm going to speak generally. I'll try not to focus too greatly on any particular belief. That being said, the two major beliefs I see first hand, are a belief in an all-mighty, omniscient, holy creator. In other words, God. On the other side of the ring we have Atheists, or a group who doesn't believe in any holy spirit, who strongly believe in the theory of evolution. Now, the difference between these two beliefs is not the main conflict here. I strongly believe beliefs are something every human being should have. In fact, beliefs are what define us as individuals. Without them we'd be no more than androids. Beliefs are not the problem we're faced with, however, It's the label we assign these beliefs with. Labels such as Christian, Atheist, etc. This poses a question...what is the necessity for these labels? Why do we have the urgency to pick sides thrown upon us by not only the media, but figures of authority as well? I was under the impression we were raised as free thinkers, were we not? Do we not, as humans, each deserve the right to believe a certain way without having to commit or confine ourselves to a certain guideline? The moment when you declare one of these labels, you're automatically assigned these set of rules that follow with it. This is the very thing that halts our progression as a civilization. If we're not prepared to question the possibility of other existences or at the very least come to an understanding and a mutual respect with those of different opinions, how will we ever learn more than what we do now? Beliefs are only glorified opinions, if you get right down to it. However, has having an opinion ever stopped you from exploring before? Just because you don't like one rap song, or one rap artist (Lil' Wayne), does that prohibit you from listening to the genre as a whole? I would guess the answer is no. So, the question is, why would it be any different in this particular situation? Just because you are more inclined to not believe one way or the other, does not mean you should shut yourself off completely. What I'm saying is, we should be more focused on open mindedness and exploration than categories and labels. Whether you believe in God or not, that should not stop you from exploring another persons opinions. If we are to survive as a civilization, we have to work together. As long as these labels are assigned and chosen, however, we'll be held back. A great video to watch about this very topic is by a man named Neil deGrasse Tyson. I found the video exploring bigthink.com. It's titled "Neil deGrasse Tyson: Atheist or Agnostic?" It's a great video I HIGHLY recommend you take a look at. Here's the link if you would like to watch it, http://bigthink.com/users/neildegrassetyson#!video_idea_id=43539

I suppose that's it for this time. Stay thinking, and stay open everybody.
Sayonara, mina-san.

The Dead Walk and They Want You.

2012-08-12T20:22:00.002-04:00

With the impending finishing touches being put on the third season of the hit AMC show "The Walking Dead", many people are left with the same question.
"How can I become a zombie extra on the show?"

Simple. I'll leave the email address for zombie extras below.
Remember to submit: A portrait of your face, your height, weight, and body type.
Dont forgot to like this page and share it with your buddies, we all want in on the zombie action.
Happy hunting and hurry!

Walking Dead Zombie Extra Email: twdextras@gmail.com

The Rise, Fall, Death, and Resurrection of Macaulay Culkin.

2012-08-12T19:41:00.000-04:00

When the news of Macaulay Carson Culkin (born August 26, 1980), the child star of Home Alone, Uncle Buck, and Richie Rich reached me, i just barely resisted the knee-jerk reflex to face palm. In todays age, where everything is digital and news spreads faster than mono at a middle school, private life is a thing of the past. We the people need to have the perception and insight to sift and choose what we take in carefully. After much research, i found that Culkin was not only indeed alive but, that his music didn't die along with him as many people hoped. Kudos to the media jackals for not snatching up the story like i thought they would, and if there's any doubt that the Home Alone Star lives here's a video of him singing just to remind you that you cant touch music but, it can touch you.

And ruin your afternoon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX_7csvfEkI

Me and "Ted" play Wii Sports?!

2012-08-12T19:23:00.001-04:00

Whenever I have a get together at my house, I tend to make it a point not to touch the popular Xbox 360 or the number two, Playstation 3. Yes, people I gather and herd my buddies to the Wii for some quality Super Smash Bros. Today, I decided to challenge a stuffed animal to a few games of Wii Sports as a time killer.
In the interest of time, I'll give you an abridged version of the before mentioned match up. I was soundly beaten in every sport, four times with no mercy. Afterwards, I was thrown off the bed for being a "Sore Loser".
Yeah right.
Don't be fooled by that calm pic of him just sitting there, you've been warned.....

Trends: The 21st Century's Black Plague

Critical Study of Horror Films

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Film Semiotics

Parts of a sign

Semiotic Triangle

Camera Angles/Shots

Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn

Week 4

5 elements of Mise en scene

Settings and Props

Costume, Hair, and Make up

Facial expression and Body language

Types of Lighting

Positioning of characters/objects within the frame

Darkness Falls

Week 5

Film Editing

Three key aspects of editing

Film Editing 2 Phase Process

Major Approaches to Editing

Techniques:

Chain Letter

Week 6

Event Horizon

Week 7

The Exorcist

Week 8

Three major horror film characters

Malevolence

Week 9

Things to know about Spoofs

Things to know about Parodies

The Conjuring

The Main Points to Critical Thinking

Do You Like “Tomo"? If Thats What You Like To Call “Them”, Yes I Do.

The Music Industry Is Still Going In One Direction....Down

Stretched Wide Butthurt In Video Games.

Hopsin - Ill Mind of Hopsin 5: Review

Halo 4: Next big hit, or next Halo: Reach?

The Nice-Guy Manifesto: Try Growing Some Balls.

LIES.

The Life and Times of Naruto: Ultimate Ninja

That's it for this time. sayonara, mina-san.

Tyga: Careless World Album Review.

The Wrath of the Otaku.

Anime

If you'd like to know more about Anime, check out this link right here--->http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime

WRONG.

WRONG.

WRONG!

Ready?

RIGHT.

WRONG!

*sigh* Do I really need to say it?

What The Failing Economy and Popular Music Have In Common.

Real men come out. Men like Lil Wanye.

Religion: Debate or War?

The Dead Walk and They Want You.

The Rise, Fall, Death, and Resurrection of Macaulay Culkin.

Me and "Ted" play Wii Sports?!

That's it for this time.
sayonara, mina-san.

sigh Do I really need to say it?