Resistance 3 (PS3, 2011)

It's the 1950s. World War 2 is going down and everyone is watching to see what happens next. Then Aliens attack and start taking over the world with a deadly mutating virus that turns us into them. One brave British soldier, named Nathan Hale dared to fight his way through hoards of these monstrous beasts after being enhanced with a slight dose of the alien virus, causing him rapid healing. He fights and delivers a devastating blow to the Chimera (the aliens), before finally succumbing to the virus and turning into one of them. His final reward is to be put down like a rabid dog by one of his own friends. That is where we left off with Resistance 2.

Resistance 3 starts us off with Joseph Capelli. The man who killed the worlds greatest hero. He has been dishonourably discharged from the military and has gone into hiding with a small pocket of survivors. After Hale died, the Chimera won. Joseph and his family's situation just keeps getting worse as the Chimera are on a search and destroy mission to finish off the human race once and for all and Joseph no longer has the will to fight. There is an overwhelming feeling that they are just buying time until their final dirt nap. When a character from the first two games shows up and tells Joseph of a plan that he thinks could turn the tide of the war against the Chimera. Joseph's wife demands that he go and at least try to stop it and what follows is a journey across the ruins of the USA, from Oklahoma to New York.

This game is VERY good. The modern convention of the first person shooter is to have regenerating health and only to carry 2 different guns, but Resistance 3 feels like a throwback to the initial core values of shooters. My favorite thing about this game, aside from the feeling of dire importance in the journey, is that you get to carry every gun in the game and switch between them as you like. The guns are amazing. From the standard automatics to the lightening shooting alien weaponry. You can use them all. The Rossmore shotgun, when fully upgraded, is what I want in every shooter from now on. You also have to find health packs to keep yourself alive. After all, Capelli is not infected with a superhuman virus. He is just a man encountering overwhelming odds. The game also has great moments of unpredictability. Especially during a whole train sequence about halfway through the game. There is no way you'll see that one coming.

Another feature that I love very much about this game is that it has a split screen storyline coop. This is good, because I actually have friends that I like to hang out with. I believe it has online coop too, but I don't subscribe to the whole, "hey dude, go home so we can play video games together." There is also an online component which I hear is pretty good, however I don't care about that either. I wanted a storyline. I wanted an adventure. I wanted an epic journey. I did not want to be tea bagged every time some 12 year old camper decides to kill me.

This game was a pleasant surprise and a huge improvement over the first two Resistance games. I can't recommend it enough for fans of first person shooters. This is definitely not another Halo clone.

Hey, you got some flame thrower in my shotgun!

Folklore (PS3, 2007)

So, maybe I'm a little late to the party on this one. I purchased Folklore during the earliest of days of the PS3's life (I find out recently that I am one of 230,000 people in the world who actually did). It came at a time, when I was in denial as to how few games were on the big black monolith console, so I had to have it. After all, the demo was unique. Somehow, however, PS3 decided to play a serious game of catchup and had endless waves of great games coming since to keep me busy. Folklore was buried under the Uncharteds and Killzones that followed it. Alas, I looked up at the shelf a few weeks back and saw Folklore, just sitting, looking neglected. I have a large stack of games beside my TV that are labelled "to play", but something about Folklore got my attention and it jumped to the front of the pack. So, how does this nearly 5 year old game hold up?

The first thing to note is that the music is unbelievable. It has an ominous fantasy sound that I have yet to see executed better anywhere else. The graphics have also aged incredibly well. It's a beautiful game, that uses just the right amount of style to overcome obsolescence. Even my girlfriend, said it was beautiful, and she's always negative about any video game that isn't Pixeljunk Shooter or L.A. Noire.

The story is what I personally value the most in a game though and this one pulls it off well. While some may feel a little disconnected with the storybook style of cut-scenes, where you read word bubbles over nearly still pictures, I feel that it fit well with the fairytale feeling of the whole thing. Basically, the story deals with some very dark themes, involving childhood death and how people deal with painful memories. It genuinely keeps you guessing by never revealing its full hand until the end. It's clever and does very well to lead you to believe you are smarter than it is, before showing you that the twist you figured out wasn't the only twist to be seen.

I could complain about occasionally unnatural dialogue and frustrating motion controls with the sixaxis controller, but the atmosphere and imagination that this game puts forward, really does well to overshadow all negatives. Basically, you are travelling into the Netherworlds in search of lost memories to find out the past of a mysterious town, and solve some bizarre murders that have been occurring. The game does a great job of making you confused for most of it. All that is known is that the murders are somehow connected to a strange happening from 17 years before involving a young dying boy named Herve and a young girl named Cecilia who prayed to faeries to keep him alive.

The game is interestingly set up between two different characters named Ellen and Keats. Ellen is a girl who receives a letter from her mother whom she hasn't seen in many years, asking her to visit this place to find her. Keats is a writer for a writer for a magazine that deals with the paranormal. One day he gets a call from a mysterious woman who says she needs his help at that town. The game lets you choose which one to play as, however both characters uncover different pieces of the puzzle and thus eventually, you'll have to play through all chapters with both of them anyway. They have to fight their way through various realms, that are amazingly unique using the souls of monsters defeated along the way to attack other monsters (folks as they are called). This system never really gets old, as the monsters keep changing and thus you keep finding new attacks to use.

This game is really unique in many ways, and always leaves you with the feeling of confusion and curiosity as to what you will find next. Most importantly, to answer my initial question as to whether or not this game holds up, yes it does. It lasts, because it feels like it was made to last. It doesn't feel like it was made to be a graphical achievement, or a ground breaking RPG. It just feels like it was made to be a timelessly enjoyable game. If you find this around for $18 or less, which you likely can, buy it...set it on your shelf for a few years and savor it like a fine wine. It ages very well.

The Anti-Social Network

"Hey Jon! Use Facebook! It's so cool, it helps you keep in touch with your friends!"

Yeah, that's the false pretence in which I was introduced to Facebook. I always thought it would be neat to see how a friend that I hung out with a handful of times during high school would be doing ten years later. Not to mention watching to see who has had kids and who married who (and who still has their hair). I also enjoyed seeing pictures of fun things that friends and I did together. It is a constant reminder of where you have been and how you've dealt with certain times of your life. To me the initial idea was to be able to be a 70 year old and literally have your life flash before your eyes any time you want it to. The problem however, was that Facebook had different plans for itself.

First off, let it be said that I don't give a rats ass about your fictional farm. I don't care if you're in the middle of a fictional gang war, and most importantly I don't want to be automatically added to your bullshit group. Seriously, whatever happened to getting an invite and deciding for yourself. Facebook has seen dollar signs and if you notice, the layout keeps changing more and more to make the cool things about Facebook less cool less and to accommodate the things that make Facebook worse. It's bullshit!

At this point, if people would just start using Google +, I'd abandon Facebook completely. I like it's no nonsense approach. I like how I can make people I hardly know into just an acquaintance. I like that I can add semi celebrities onto my follow list, and I love how I can post for specific groups only to see it. Let's call a spade a spade here. If you have 200 people on your Facebook as your Facebook friends, chances are about 150 of them are acquaintances you never talk to.

Now, I need to point the finger elsewhere for a minute. Remember what I said that I liked about Facebook? That I could keep in touch with people and see what they are up to for years to come. The people using Facebook are as much idiots as the people controlling it. First off, so many religiously play Facebook's rinkydink games for 25% of their day (I'm looking at you Canadian government). Facebook has changed their focus because you people have showed them that it works! It's really your fault! Secondly it's called Facebook. Face....book. STOP POSTING PICTURES YOU THINK ARE FUNNY AS YOUR GODDAMN PROFILE PICTURE! I DON'T CARE WHAT YOUR KIDS LOOK LIKE...and so on and so on. Post pictures of yourself as your profile picture. I don't care what the picture looks like but it should at very least have you in it. Make an album for those other things. The site is set up for it, you know. Finally, stop changing your names. For you idiots who think you are being super original making your name Ivana Humpalot, I want you off my friends list immediately. The important point of being able to check in with people you know, is to know who these people you know are! Duh!

Anyway, Facebook and it's users are pretty terrible. I saw someone refer to Google plus users as hipsters the other day. To that I retort with the following...Go play Farmville you twat!

The bad guy.

This is what I look like as I write this....minus the cocain and alcohol.

As Tony Montana said, "say hello to the bad guy!"

As time goes by, I understand more and more what he meant. Sometimes life conspires to make you the villain. As the old saying goes, 'the path to hell is paved with good intent'.

It has been quite a few months since I posted on here, and there could be several reasons for that. On one hand, maybe I'm too busy these days, or perhaps I haven't cared enough about anything to write about it. Whatever the reason, I find myself having something to say and nothing else matters.

A few months ago, one of my all time best friends and I had a 'break up' of sorts. This has been one of the most painful things I've ever experienced in my life. To have a person who you can always count on and feel comfortable around absolutely start to hate you and tell everyone how bad you are is pretty overwhelming. I have always been one of those 'friend people', who values his friends about all else. Maybe that made me overbearing, but who knows. I always thought that best friends could talk about anything and should always be understanding, but like the idea of being sucked out of a hole in an airplane, that myth has been busted (by the way, I rarely watch Mythbusters, but it's a pretty fun show!).

So, what destroyed our friendship? Well, isn't it obvious? It's always a woman. My friend found himself a woman who was historically a big fan of deception on a scale of oddity. Now my friend has also been known to indulge in the deception from time to time, but he was still an unquestionably great guy. When he told me that he was with her, I told him that I had heard that she had grown a great deal since her less than wonderful days. I wanted to be happy for him, and tried to be, as all of my experiences with her had been general annoyances and lying about my other best friend (good thing I always had 2 best friends huh!?). I decided that she deserved the benefit of the doubt.

I don't think it's fair to go into detail on the events that happened next, but I will say that she was one of those people who thinks a little too much of drug use and in a matter of a two hour visit I had caught her in several lies. I didn't trust her and decided I didn't want her brought to my home any more. My friend was relatively accepting of that. Now that I think of it, it was almost surprisingly so.

Later on she did some really hurtful things to my friend. So hurtful in fact that I personally would never even talk to her again if I was in his shoes. Naturally he came to my place and we talked it out. He had a whole new resolve. He was ready to leave her, saying he never wanted anything to do with her again. Then she messaged him on facebook a few times with the most cheesy, unbelievable messages (seriously one was a long paragraph ending with "but I... I love you") and he left to be with her.

Gradually he stopped calling on me more and more. Sadly, I think it was because I wasn't there for him as much as he needed. It was a hard time in his life and I left him hanging. I found myself in a relationship and working ridiculous hours. He probably felt pretty alone and had no one to turn to but her and so he went back to her to stay.

Let me be honest. I'm an emotional guy. One day I went to send him a message just to talk about old times and see how he was when I noticed I wasn't on his friends list anymore. I messaged him saying I was hurt and I wanted to know how he was doing. He replied in a snarky way saying he was better than he has ever been "...so thanks for everything." I won't lie. This set me off and lead to a series of messages back and forth that probably lead to a point it shouldn't have. It ended with him calling me a snob who was making all sorts of stories up about her, which is odd because he acknowledged them earlier.

I decided it was lost and it honestly hurt in a strange way that I hadn't felt before. The next day someone messaged me with his new updated facebook post. He took my messages to him and edited them down into a villainous long post cutting out all of the parts about what he is doing and just having me saying the harshest comments. He showed it to what was left to his friends list (he deleted all but maybe 20) and sadly I know some people believed I threw him under a bus.

The worst of it is that his family would call me often to ask me to talk to him about how much trouble he was in with her. Now I think they hate me as much as he does thinking I abandoned him. I don't have the heart to call them and tell them I tried. I don't have the heart to show the accurate messages to the people who saw his post (although, I showed it to the ones who asked).

This is the story of how I became my best friend's arch enemy. It's my dirty laundry posted for the world to see. It's not fair to use names, so I'm not, but if you know me personally, you know who this person is. My birthday was last month, and many of my friends were there. Despite all that has happened, there was an empty seat, that I really wish wasn't.

High Art (1998)

Ok, I'm an idiot. I watched a movie called High Art, expecting something that wasn't pretentious bullshit. My bad. First off, it must be said that all men are evil and pathetic, and must spout off stupid lines, like wondering if their shirt fits well. Another thing to know is that, if a man is upset that his girlfriend, whom he lives with, came home high on cocaine, he should acknowledge that he is being uptight. Obviously, the problem is not with the girlfriend who's snorting random substances with people she's met only two times before, but it's the guy who tries to, very politely, ask her about what she's doing who is to blame. Also, as in any lesbian propaganda film, the man will have sex with her, and finish up after no more than 20 seconds, before caring about her drug induced state.

I don't get it. These days, I've been complaining about all the same things in movies that I've been watching. Lately, they've been so unbelievable, and heavy handed, that I just can't help but come out angry. Adventureland was shit, yes, but this movie was just plain mean spirited and hateful. I feel it is safe to assume that if a girl lives with a guy, and they tell one another other that they love each other, that they at very least care about each other. So how am I supposed to believe that she, without ever questioning herself, keeps running off and having sex with some girl artist and then ultimately publishes photos of it in a magazine. To top that all off, the one dimensional girl she keeps running around with, who took the pictures, dies from a drug overdose at the end (good riddance), and when she looks at the pictures in the magazine we are supposed to feel sad. No, I'm not. Both of these girls were cold hearted, terrible people, and my only sadness in this story was that one of the two girls didn't overdose.

I need to acknowledge that the way people act in the real world is an unpredictable thing. Clearly that is what the movie was going for, but when you try to have moments of sadness, and emotion, and they fall completely flat, because I the viewer felt only hate for the characters, then you have failed as a writer/director. To make matters worse, it felt like the movie wanted me to cheer for the girls breaking other people's hearts.

High Art is a terrible movie. One of the most exhausting and terrible that I have ever seen. Don't waste your time with it, as I foolishly did.

Also, a fun drinking game if you do watch this movie. Take a drink every time someone is wearing a bra! Don't worry, you won't get drunk. You probably won't even open the bottle.

Galaxy Express 999 (1979)

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Li'l Jonny. He was a nice, overly innocent and naive boy, who loved vanilla ice cream. One day, he was sitting down to watch TV in the early 90s, in search of anything that seemed worthwhile. Little, did he realize that on that day he would be embarking on a journey that wouldn't end for 15+ years. Flicking through the channels, he spotted many different kinds of TV shows, but when he reached channel 6, he discovered something that wasn't like anything else he had ever seen before. It was animated, this much was for sure, but it was done in a strange style unlike anything, he found on YTV. At this point in life, Li'l Jonny loved to watch animated things, like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or Batman The Animated Series, but the subject matter to this mysterious film was, like it's animation, very different. The story was tragic, and serious. About a young boy in a futuristic world who watches his mother being gunned down in front of him, but a group of hunters. Then he searches for a way onto a space train (Yes, a train that goes through space), where he can go to a planet to get a Mechanically enhanced body, so he can kill the men, who took his mother from him. This is seriously heavy stuff for a young boy. It was sad, but it was also exciting and adventurous. Li'l Jonny watched, hoping his mother wouldn't notice what he was watching, because it had lots of very mature subject matter, and he didn't want to get in trouble. After the movie was over, he had a strange feeling. Perhaps it was the first time that he was emotionally engrossed with a film. Li'l Jonny went to sleep that night, feeling sad, for the little boy in the film, but amazed all the same.

Many years later, Li'l Jonny was no longer Li'l. He was then known as Jonny. One day he was sitting around with his best friend Boone, talking about cartoons they watched when younger. They discussed many shows that were good, great, or terrible, many of which the other one didn't remember, but then Jonny tried to explain the mysterious movie he saw when he was so much younger. Clayton, being brilliant as always, with a recall like an elephant, knew exactly what it was, that Jonny was talking about. Clayton, apparently, having also seen it, on TV that fateful day, from his own home. This movie left a special feeling for him as well, but for him, with his memory so mighty, he remembered many more things about it. They decided they needed to see this movie again. They jumped onto the internet in search of a copy immediately, to see if they could purchase a copy, but were deeply saddened to find that it was only possible to find on VHS for a lot of money, or via a Korean bootleg. They didn't want a bootleg, nor did they have a VCR to play the other option. Alas, this was the beginning of the waiting for Galaxy Express 999.

Many years had gone by. In fact, it had been at least 15 years since the initial viewing of that movie. With so many years having passed, Jonny was no longer Jonny, as the harshness of the world had managed to beat the ny off of his name. He was only Jon at this point. One day, when ol' Jon had gotten home from work, he received a phone call. It was his lifelong pal Clayton, with shocking news. "Galaxy Express is for sale on amazon.ca", shouted Clayton. Jon, couldn't believe it, and checked for himself. There it was, with a notice that only 4 copies were left. Jon could almost see a window back to when he was Li'l Jonny, being mesmerized by the film. Jon ordered, with little hesitation, both a copy for Clayton and himself. Now the question lied, in how would the film have held up, after the decade and a half that had passed.

The day finally came when it arrived, and Clayton and Jon were ready to watch the show. They invited their ol' pal Gary along to check it out too, to see if it was a decent movie, without nostalgia. What they got proved to be much more than they bargained for. The movie itself, proved to be viewable in multiple ways, with lots of symbolism. It is the story of a boy, starting the big journey of life. To take his own risks, and experience adventures that could never be predicted, however it also was about something else. The movie had a hidden message, specifically directed to people the age of Jon and Clayton, in the present. The movie was about nostalgia. To have moved forward in your life, and experienced so much of the world, but to remember what it was like to be a kid before growing up ever happened. Clayton and Jon, both stared at the screen with a mesmerized look on their face. Gary too, seemed intrigued by the movie. As much as they had enjoyed the movie, nothing prepared them for the final line of the movie, and it was very simple. "Farewell my childhood." Such a simple thing to say, but in the context of how it hit Jon and Clayton, it was overwhelming. When the end credits passed, and Gary stood up and turned on the light, Jon was surprised to find that tears had run down his face. The three friends enjoyed the unique film, as an experience that couldn't be found anywhere else.

As the movie itself, so proudly declares, a journey has ended, and a new journey begins. Who knows what the future holds for us, but here is to the movie of my childhood, Galaxy Express 999.

Star Wars trilogies

Let me start off by saying that Lando is the man!!


This weekend, the girlfriend and I embarked on a journey to a long time ago, in a galaxy far away. Me being insistent on being different than everyone, I decided that, on the weekend that the new new Star Wars cuts were being released on Blu Ray, I was gonna watch the original cut on DVD.

I was able to cherish and enjoy the movies, as they were at their best. It's hardly what I would call a grand scale revelation, as George Lucas has clearly been a little senile since 1999, but wow, these movies work so well without CG effects. I sound like a broken record on this, but the tangibility of everything is amazing.

It had been several years since I watched them all, but it never occurred to me until this viewing that the prequels really add nothing to the series at all. I've been something of an Episode 3 apologist for a long time now. I acknowledge dialogue so bad that it made the Silent Hill film, seem like Glengarry Glen Ross. Even now, I acknowledge that Episode 3 is a fun movie with some great action, but it still isn't needed. It's pretty sad when the prequels can't even stand on their own. They just cling to the greatness that is the original trilogy.

Why were the originals so good? I have a few theories. It's sci fi/fantasy done right. It feels like the world is just there and we are watching. Never does it take time to explain how bizarre technologies work, they just do. It helps it feel natural instead of a "this is my jetspeeder" line that doesn't sound natural at all. In fact, it's amazing how Un-George-Lucas-like this series was. I think it was a perfect storm though, in that everyone is trying their hardest, and filled with so much life. George still took his audience seriously and wasn't so arrogant that he wouldn't step aside for better writers and directors. Back then he was climbing a mountain, and maybe he got to the top a little too soon, leading to hoards of yes men and undeveloped skill. Then there is Harrison Ford. I have really grown not to like him over the years. Every movie you see him in he looks like he's just there for a paycheck and can't wait for filming to be over, but not in Star Wars, where he is charming, energetic and clearly giving his all. A shame to see him turn into what he has.

It needs to be said that our leading man in the two trilogies are supposed to be similar, at least that's the feeling I've got, but Luke was nothing like Anakin. Anakin was acted terribly, and everyone knows that, but let's also look at what Lucas was trying to do. Anakin was supposed to be someone you cared about, who fell into darkness and became one of the greatest villains of all time, but right away George made us resent him by talking down to us with Episode 1, thinking we were all 8 years old, and in episode 2 and 3 we have Anakin talking to Padme in what I presume George Lucas thinks is how you should talk to girls. Throw in random crying and people telling us that he's dark and unstable (back to that whole show and don't tell thing) and then he has a hissy fit and goes evil. Vader deserved better. Luke was the opposite. When something bad happened he just looked on sadly, clearly taking it in. He kept trying to be good and occasionally slipped up, usually catching himself and stopping again. This felt like a struggle that was actually believable.

The way I see it, Star Wars was awesome, because it was made to be timeless, but the more recent ones seem to be almost resentful to those who loved the originals. I would go as far as to say that the Star Wars series, with both trilogies and the various updates, are actually the story of a young man who became powerful in a great force, but eventually was tempted by the dark side. It's the story of a rise and fall, but not of Darth Vader, who in the end is redeemed, but of George Lucas, in the force called Hollywood. Will he ever be redeemed? Only time will tell.

Adventureland (2009)

I've read a lot of terrible movie scripts in my life. Let's face it, when you're in the independent movie scene, this sort of thing comes up a lot. It's sad to see a person write a movie script where they obviously care about the main characters so much, but in no way think of a way to make the characters likeable for other people. Don't get me wrong, I support the idea of making movies for yourself, but if you are doing that, it's important to know you are doing that. If a movie is written with the intent of being enjoyed by many, but your characters are never likeable, or interesting, or even realistic, chances are your movie isn't gonna get made, because you the writer are the only person with passion for the project. Unfortunately, Adventureland is an exception to this rule. 

I want to first say, I wasn't expecting a comedy out of this movie. I know the trailer tried to make it out as one, but I'd heard that it wasn't a funny movie at all, just that it was pretty good. I heard half right.

Somehow we have a pretty great cast, pinned down by some ham fisted writing. At every turn there is a contrivance that severely takes you out of story you're seeing. I'm not even gonna go into the acting as there is no point. Everyone in this movie, plays the role they always play. Jesse Eisenberg, is exactly the guy from Social Network, Kristen Wiig is what she always is, Bill Hader is what he always is and Ryan Reynolds is exactly what he always is. Oh and Kristen Stewart, remains a shining image of why having a mother who is a hollywood casting director, is very useful. She has one facial expression, and everyone knows it so that's all I've got to say about her.

At the end of the day, this movie was just not interesting. The characters mean nothing to me the viewer, and thus when we get to the "climax", where everyone up to this point has been a terrible person, I'm supposed to be cheering for two actors, who don't have any connection, to get together. This is your big climax! This movie had me very close to shutting it off for a long time, but I'm a strong believer that if you don't see how the movie plays out, you have no right to call it a terrible movie. I finished it and can say with clear conscience that this movie is TERRIBLE. I'd even go as far as to say it's the worst movie I've seen since, I dunno, Transformers.

The biggest shock is that this is written and directed by the same guy (Which isn't a surprise, especially since no one else would have any passion to direct this terrible script) who directed Superbad. The difference, is that Superbad was written by someone else, who understood the value of likeable characters. This movie was a few rewrites away from being watchable, but at the end of the day, it still had no purpose. It tries to trick us into thinking it's good but using the 80s atmosphere, but even then, it just doesn't work. If there is one thing I learned from this movie too, it's that New York is a very very small city. You can literally hop off of a bus and run into the person you're looking for within 10 minutes of arriving. Gotta love that.

In closing. Save the cat. If you are writing a script and don't know what that means, it's time to look into it. 

UPDATE: I actually wrote this a few days ago. Since then I went on IMDB and noticed this had a 7.1/10. I couldn't help but wonder what the hell people were thinking and when reading a few reviews and comments on the message boards I learned that most people praise this movie for having natural dialogue that is witty and funny. I have also noticed that people genuinely are concerned about the relationship of these extremely unlikeable characters. I'm amazed by this, really, I am. Honestly, some people are blessed with the gift of liking any random character you throw in front of them on the screen. This is why I believe Transformers has been so successful, as Shia's character never does anything likeable in the least but people still pull for him. But that is something for me to touch on another day. Perhaps a day when I feel like having an aneurism. 

Blockbuster, Main Street.

When I was a little boy, I remember very well the day that our first Blockbuster opened up in town. I was very young, and excited to see such a super video store, compared to the ones we had. In hindsight, I can see that Blockbuster was the shark that came to town and ate all of the little fishies (like 'Just New Releases', that place rocked!), and on that note, I guess I'm seeing it as a bit of a negative, but today, I was shocked to find out that both of the Blockbusters here in town are going out of business. 

As a boy, I remember very clearly, walking down to Blockbuster on Main St. here in Fredericton, to look around. Let's be honest I had no money, I was a stupid kid, but it was always an adventure. They had aisles upon aisles of games to look at and fantasize about playing, and they had movies everywhere, wall to wall. I learned at a young age that getting mom to rent movies, was a much easier sell than games, so lots of movies were watched in those days. I also remember, being very young and sneaking in with my best friend, Clayton, and looking in the show box for Megaman 8 (PS1), which had a neat little book inside with pictures of every single villain in all of the Megaman games up to that point. One day, we dared to take it. To put it into perspective, we literally cried about it later on cause we felt so guilty. Looking back though, it's just one of my many great memories of a place I'm really gonna miss.

Fast forward, many years later, I'm burnt out from working at a terrible call centre. I'm broke, and I need money, bad. Low and behold, I managed to, with the help of some friends who were working there at the time, get a job there. At the time, I was pumped about the ten free rentals that I would get in the course of a week. I was also pumped to finally be able to bring all of those games home, like I'd always dreamed! In that phase of my life, I made some great life long friends, fought some brutal battles, had my heart broken, made some terrible mistakes, and found myself progressing towards growing up. Blockbuster, on Main Street, is one of the most important times of my life, and they are 2 years I'll remember fondly, as I see the big yellow letters being taken off of the front of the building.

I knew for many years now that the business couldn't last. Netflix is cheap as hell, and has a pretty decent selection (though a little dated), and digital downloads seem to be growing in popularity. I'll always love the tangibility of a physical movie, be it Blu Ray, or DVD, or LASER DISK (HELLS YES!), but it feels like that age is passing. Even though I knew it couldn't live forever, I'm surprised to find myself genuinely depressed, both for fear of not having a place to walk around and look at movies, and ask questions about them, and the knowledge that I myself, have barely spent any money there in the last few years, meaning I am also in part responsible for it's death.

In closing, to all of the people who made that place so special to me, I hope life is wonderful for you. I hope that you look back on the days we all worked at a good video store with fondness, and have a laugh at some of the silly drama that passed. I also, hope you realize that with the exception of a guy with the initials of J.V., I am better off for having met you. It's a testament to how the world will change around us, whether we want it to or not. Nothing stays forever, so enjoy it while you can.

STEAM POWERED STUDIOS!

I'm pleased to announce that I have started my own Production Company, STEAM POWERED STUDIOS. It is a medium for me to make the movies that I want to make, the way I want to make them, without the unneeded drama behind it. It's founded on the belief that making movies is the most fun job on earth, and no one is gonna ruin it for us. To see what my new project is up to, check out www.steampoweredstudios.com, which as of right now, just directs you to the company blog (at least until I get the site built, and below is my very temporary logo. Give me a break, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Please keep on checking in on both blogs, as I'll be using this one to give my personal thoughts, and that one to talk about company stuff, in a (relatively) professional way. Come on, by now you should know that I am hardly able to suppress my personality.

Anyway, thanks for checking in, and I plan to have lots of great things to show you in the near future!

Governmentally challenged (not actually political)

Depending on others sucks. It's like those god forsaken Massively Multiplayer online games, like WoW. You wait for hours at a time just for tons of people to get ready to go out and kill a tiny little rabbit. We're ready to go, here comes the action and... Oh no, some douchbag on our team has to go eat supper with his parents. Maybe, it's time to move out of your parents house and help me kill this evil bunny, you 35 year old f***! For those of you who are game savvy, you may notice that I'm not talking about World of Warcraft, so much as Final Fantasy XI, but I digress, that's not important.

In life we are always waiting on others. We're in line struggling to purchase our morning coffee behind some ignorant little brat with hair so emo, I doubt he can even see where the cashier is! Seriously, the cashier had to call him over! That actually happened today. If I had a dollar for every time that kid shook the hair out of his eyes, in my presence, I'd have bought a lot more coffee, which is not a person, so I see no irony in depending on it.

What is the point to this stupid article, you, the reader, may be wondering? Calm down! It's my blog, and I can take as long as I want! I'm bitter, cause I have a very important announcement I want to make and so much that I want to do, but first I need one little thing done for me by the provincial government. Basically, the long and short of it, is that I am waiting on a procedure to be done, that required me to quite literally do all of the work on something, and then pay lots of money to have the government look at my work and decide whether or not to say yes to what I'm asking of them. It's a very simple thing too, and I'm almost certain they will say yes, but how freaking long can it take?

I know what you government types do in an average day!!! My tax dollars pay you, generously, to use Facebook! Maybe if it's not too much to ask, could you just take my already finished proposal and just say "YUP"? No rush or anything. Grrr.

Anyway, that's me for today, having a crotchety day. I have friends who work in the government and hate to generalize, but chances are, the higher you are paid the less you do, and by the sounds of things, I'm dealing with some very highly paid people!

The moral: The government sucks and so do MMOs!

'Where I'm at' or 'Jon's new-age bullshit'

Wowza! They finally made Blogger a little more accessible for the iPhone. Of course, they decide to do it at a time when I am so ungodly busy I have no time to write blog posts. Well, that's only partially true. Lately I have developed in many ways, leading to much needed lifestyle improvements. I have learned to stand up for myself, to embrace my creativity and to be more confident in my ideas. Whether or not this blog is the reason for that, I do not know, but for those of you who do read this, I can't thank you enough. My confidence for as long as I can remember, has been something of an act. I'm sure most of you could figure that out by how much I overcompensated for it I can proudly say, for the first time, I am confident in myself. Don't get me wrong though. If you say addicting, I am better than you, and have always known that! If there is one thing I have learned above all else, it's that we all think differently. No two brains work the same, and whether you call that special or not, it's at very least interesting. I'm saying that you should embrace your ways of thinking, but be willing to learn other ways whenever possible. A long time ago I gave up on filmmaking, because I didn't like the way it was being handled all around me. Now I see that as an opportunity to try doing things my own way. I'm sure there is something in your life that you feel this way about and I can't possibly encourage you enough to find a way to make it work for you. This is a prelude to my big announcement, but know that I am more resolved than I've ever been, and I am getting more support from the people around me than I have ever had. I see now that one should not work for a living, so much as find a way to make life work for themselves. Or I could be wrong. Time will tell.

Here comes the change.

I did not get the job I really wanted. Naturally that turn of events knocked me on my ass pretty hard, but with that failure came a huge burst of positive energy, thanks in no small part to my badass vacation a few days later to a wonderful magical place called Caraquet. I came back strong, determined, and ready to crush the insubordination of the world around me into diamond.

Alas, at this point I can't make any announcements, but know that big things are coming friends. Things that may make this blog and possibly other mysterious blogs, take on a whole new significance. I'm picking up steam and can't be stopped.

My Netflix Activities - August 28th 2011

When Netflix first came to Canada it was only good for one thing. Mad Men. Sadly, to date I've only just made it to season 4, not because I don't like the show, but because my girlfriend is up to date on it and she's always around, hogging my free time!

Basically, her and I have been watching so many movies on there that I feel like I could be using it to take up some space on my blog. However, most movies on Netflix that I'm watching really aren't destination movies to read reviews about. So what I want to do is for the most part just write a quick blurb about some movies I've caught on Netflix. Quick reviews for things that are on there.

Mirrors (2008)

I've never watched 24, so I didn't care that Keifer Sutherland was in this movie, but I am a pretty big fan of Alexandre Aja, whom I would name the ballsiest horror filmmaker in this day and age. He seems to take genuine joy dealing with really nasty emotions.

The plot of Mirrors is that there is something evil in mirrors and it kills you. One man tries to stop it, and you get a pretty typical twist, that really is brilliant when compared to every other horror movie ending in this day and age. This movie is flat out gory, and as they advertised it so strongly, it may not shock you to hear that the scene where Sarah Polly rips her own jaw off, is really discomforting and thus very successful. It's not too bad, and worth a watch. However, given the choice, I'd watch anything else Aja has made, such as The Hills Have Eyes remake or Haute Tension AKA High Tension.

Carriers (2009)

Chris Pine is cool. Piper Perabo is hot. EVERYONE is stupid. This is a movie about a plague that overcomes most of the human population. We follow a small group of people who we are supposed to believe were smart enough to survive when no one else did, and then they take off their breathing masks at the drop of a hat constantly. Any guesses what happens? It's a shame, because it really could have been played with a strange sense of beauty as it's almost a road trip movie, between two brothers trying to go where they were happy when they were kids, but that didn't really happen. Not a great movie, not even a good movie really, but watchable.

This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006)

There are a lot of documentaries worth watching on Netflix. This one really isn't needed unless my next statement is shocking in any way to you. Movies with sex in them are almost always treated more harshly than movies with violence. If this is a new idea, you need to see this now! If it's an observation you made when you were 12, like I did, just move on. I swear, it's mostly about a private detective talking about how she is a lesbian and can't be any other way. That's a great sentiment, but again, I know.

Cropsey (2009)

Now this is an example of a better documentary you could be watching. On one hand, you could say this is a movie about a strange series of child killings, which it is, or you could say it's about two young people trying really hard to make a successful documentary. I found both levels to be compelling. I don't know who the filmmakers were, but it felt like they were probably fresh out of film school and trying to make a name for themselves, however what's interesting to me was that they found themselves involved in something much bigger than the both of them. It's interesting also to see varying opinions presented that make sense so you are left with inconclusive feelings of whether a certain person is a child killer or not. That's scary stuff! Really interesting and very worthwhile.

I've watched a lot more than that recently and will write about them at some point, but I just wanted to drop a few of them on you for now, so let me know what you think of this, possibly reoccurring thing, and if you've seen some great stuff (like Dear Zachary) on Netflix, or even just pretty good stuff, please post it in the comments and I'll check it out!

The T-Shirt Crisis

This just in! I'm writing a fashion blog now!! After all, I'm something of a fashion icon in my own right. I'm known for wearing my comfy jeans and plain t-shirts. Ideally my t-shirts have nothing on them, as I don't feel I should be paying money to advertise for others. That said, I would gladly accept money to market your product on a t-shirt, given it is a decent product or if the money is good!

Recently, I went up to the better mall in my city in a time killing quest. My friend and I had just finished Conan The Barbarian and I had some time to kill before work. Suddenly it hit me that maybe I'd like a new shirt. However, if there is one thing that I've realized about this world, it is that if I like something, somebody has to screw it up for me.

WARNING: THE IMAGES POSTED BELOW MAY BE DISTURBING, VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

EXIBIT A: UNDEAD STUFF

Oh good! I remember a time when zombies were something only the, so called, misfits and strange people talked about. As usual, like all things good, eventually, mainstream society discovered that zombies were really interesting and brought them in. Unfortunately, that is never where it ends though. Those damn hipsters have to change the beloved formerly nerdy things and in no time at all, you end up with overplayed fads, ruining what we had for so long, before them. They decided that they could make zombies something that would be able to be thrown in anywhere for comedy. These shirts are not funny. 

I probably should have taken the time to take the pictures of the other zombie shirts in this place too. Seriously, when you have a selection of 4-8 zombie joke shirts, you are seriously crossing some lines!

Also, those (classic literature) with zombies books, can seriously go pound sand!

EXIBIT B: BAD DUDEZ

Ah, now this I can get behind. Perhaps I'll buy one, wear it to the bars, act like I have a barely double digit rating on the IQ scale and instantly pick up an underage girl. I think that's called being a douche. These shirts would totally help me master that.

In fact, what the hell are these shirts anyway? They kinda look like ink blots if you think about it. For fun, next time you are out and some guy wearing one of these walks by, tell them you want to try to analyze their shirt. Relax your eyes for a minute, really look at the strange symbols, and then say. Nope, I still only see a douchebag. If you do this and you are a girl, then you should be fine, but if you are a guy, be careful. Chances are, if they are wearing a shirt like this, they still react like their neanderthal predecessor (whom they seem to admire so much), and you will be promptly clubbed.

What's the point of having TAPOUT written on your shirt anyway? Are you trying to walk around and tell the world I'm a super badass fighter, no one can beat me." Again, unless you are an MMA fighter with T-shirts that have your own name on them, you look like a twat. In fact, even under that pretense, you look like a twat.

The sad thing is that these are both from two different stores in the mall. The ONLY two stores that carry shirts for regular, non hipster, guys who can grow facial hair. Now I have no where to buy a decent t-shirt. This is a serious problem! Honestly, what would Marlon Brando say?

Well said, good sir! Well said indeed!

Tekken (2010)

Historically speaking, there haven't been many moments in my life that have been more fun than playing Tekken Tag Tournement for PS2, with my best friend Clayton. In fact, the only thing more fun than playing 'Tekken Tag', has proven to be making obscure references to the game. So when I heard they were making a movie of Tekken I knew it was something I had to see, despite probably screwed on the basis of video game movie history, but if they wanted to make it work there was just one simple key, simplicity.

The Tekken games are pretty basic and not terribly storyline driven, at least not so much that it's hard to keep up. Basically there is a big Corporation called the Mishima-Zaibatsu, and it's run by a CEO so badass that he opts to have a big tournament, called the King of the Iron Fists tournament, I believe, and whoever wins it, takes over Mishima-Zaibatsu. I don't know about you, but I call that badass. In fact, some day I'll have a tournament, called the Boss of Exploding Laser Dragonz tournament, and the winner gets this blog for themselves! Sweet! Anyway, back on track, it's just a tournament storyline, where each character has their own motivation for wanting to win. for a movie this can work great too! See Jean Claude Van Damme's awesome Bloodsport for a good example of a tournament movie handled right!

So…eugh… ok here's the movie's plot. The worlds governments have fallen, and large corporations have stepped up to take control of certain regions of the world. Forget about that though, because the other corporations are not really mentioned again. Anyway, the corporation known as Tekken, which of course is based in Tekken City, decides to start a tournament called Tekken, where the prize is… like a….um…. a free coffee at your nearest Tim Horton's. I dunno, it could be. We never really find out. Heihachi, the badass leader of the, um… Tekken corporation, talks about how important the tournament is a lot, and…uh… well his son Kazuya, who is NOTHING like Kazuya in the games, really wants to get high ratings. So basically, Tekken tournament is like a UFC thing or something.

The saddest thing is, that many of the characters look EXACTLY like their video game counterparts, which is unheard of. When I first saw previews, I kinda got excited. Check out these comparison photos of Jin and Bryan.

Isn't that nuts. They look almost exactly right, but Jin isn't anything like in the game. He's a rotten bastard. Very early on we see him walking around being extreme and stuff, and then he meets up with his girlfriend and making passionate whoopee, then minutes later he goes and gets into the tournament and is making out with and trying to sex up a different character later that night. What's really heart breaking about this is that it keeps cutting to his little girlfriend watching him on a big screen and cheering for him. So much for our honourable main character!

Worst of all for me they turned my favourite character Kazuya into just a plain old villain. What I love about the character is that he's a hardened badass, with no capacity for bullshit. Yes he is sorta villainous too, but you probably would be too, if your father threw your five year old ass into a volcano! They go with every stereotype possible to make him villainous. Big twist, Kazuya is Jin's father! In the games the impregnation happened at a time when he wasn't yet being controlled by a certain gene that fills him with rage. I picture that being an honest relationship that fell apart because of what he started to become. This idea is more tragic than the movie's decision to have him apparently rape Jin's mother and make a joke about it, with his stupid mirror universe goatee. You turned my favourite character into a rapist, seriously, fuck you!

So, I've laid out the bad, but is there any good? Sure. This movie is so stupid, it's wonderful. Think of movies like The Room and Birdemic. It's a great movie to get a bunch of friends together and talk over. I mean it's really really stupid, and terribly conceived. Mix the awful writing with the great fight scenes and you have a relatively worthwhile movie, as long as you are expecting the right things. Another thing that must be seen to be believed is the amazing amount of ass cleavage. If you see this movie you'll know what I'm talking about pretty quick. Wow. 

As a movie, it's a lark, but as a Tekken movie, it's about as accurate as the Super Mario Brothers movie…yikes! Watch…but watch with caution!

Conan The Barbarian (2011)

Everybody knows I love 1982's Conan the Barbarian, and if you claim you don't know that, then you haven't read my retrospective on why I love Conan the Barbarian (1982). Walking in, I understood that this movie wouldn't be like the one I grew up with, and somehow I was ok with that. I instead chose to judge this as a tale of a badass barbarian who goes on some sort of quest and kicks teeth down people's throats.

First off, let it be said that this Conan movie is in no way shape or form trying to be the old Conan movie. It is starting over from scratch, with a new Conan, played by young actor Jason Momoa, and a brand new tone that also, in it's own way, reflects the stories that it is based on. Usually, when I talk about a "reboot" that makes things younger and hipper, I react with rage from the depths of my gut, but this movie was a pleasant surprise.

The new Conan may not evolve as much, nor is his origin quite as tragic as the original, but he is true to the source in character, as in, he's a big, powerful barbarian with heart. There is a part earlier on in which Conan and his posse attack a bunch of slavers and free all of their slaves, who are almost entirely made up of being hot topless women. They ask, "where are we supposed to go now?" and Conan smiles and it cuts to him partying with a bunch of topless women. It's just weird to see Conan so happy. Fortunately the movie moves past that quickly and gets back on track. One interesting thing in this version of Conan was that he wasn't the strongest character in the movie, so much as the most persistent. This was a nice change, and I feel it shows that he would probably be a more believable king than Arnold's version. I also feel that it is important to mention that Jason Momoa's Conan voice is probably dark and growly enough to make Kevin Conroy shudder…in a good way.

One great thing this movie had going for it, was Ron Perlman playing Conan's father. Ron Perlman is awesome, and thus being the essential motivation for everything Conan does, it really helps me buy into the whole movie. 

Unsurprisingly, you'll find the plot especially negligible, however this is not a breaking point for the movie. The villains are bad, the hero is badass and anything else doesn't really matter in the whole scheme of things. 

The biggest flaw overall though, would have to be the editing in the respect that it cuts poorly between shots where people are standing and then leaning on things. In fact, one part later in the movie involving a chopped off hand and person kicked off of a high platform, sorta felt to me like the movie forgot what it was supposed to show next, only to remember. The sound didn't connect either at that part. Let's be honest, this movie isn't the pinacle of all things filmmaking.

My favourite thing this movie had going for it was that the sound was hilariously blasted. Not the music, just the impact noises. There is a part where a small egg falls into a puddle and I swear it sounds like a Greyhound bus crashing into an Army tank! Later, someone throws a sword at Conan and when he catches it, the only place I could imagine them getting the sound effect, was from a wrecking ball smashing a Helicopter out of the sky. The impact noises got to be so loud at times that I kept laughing out loud. It really does sound like a complaint, but it's not. I haven't laughed so hard at a movie in a long time! Intentional or not, it was bliss!

It's not the best movie, but it feeds my need for good fight scenes, which you rarely get these days. It's fun and perfect for a wind down and relax movie. If the thought of a barbarian smashing waves of people with his gigantic sword is appealing to you, then go for it! If you are gonna watch it, watch it in theatre, or at least make sure you have a crazy surround system if you are gonna watch it at home. This is not a movie to stand the test of time, like it's 29 year old counterpart, but it is a movie that is fun to watch.

The Pursuit of Happiness

This post has nothing to do with the Will Smith movie, but everything to do with the bright hopeful smile in the picture below.

You see, I'm currently on the quest for a new job, a new future and a new thang. So I don't have time for a good post today, aside from what you're seeing. However on the subject of a new thing, I want to show you a video to hopefully keep your mind occupied enough not to realize that I just posted to tell you I can't post. So watch it!

Supermarket Books - The Return

In the past I've been known to talk about a serious concern in the world today... The Supermarket book. Today I let my inner kindness get the best of me as I finally decided I have to read the last one I was given.

The book is Wicked Prey by John Sandford, and you will be thrilled to see on the cover that it's presented for the "FIRST TIME IN PAPER BACK".

If you are wondering why I am writing yet another post about this subject, it's because it's easy. Hell, this book is writing it for me. I haven't even started reading it yet but how could it be bad?

The St. Louis Dispatch calls it, "A...wham-bam tale" and Publishers Weekly exclaims that the book is "Amped up, Ultra-Violent... [and] slam-bang." Honestly, let's see Ian McEwan or Kazuo Ishiguro get a review like that!

Don't believe this book is gonna be great still? Well how about I tell you what else the author has written?

Oh wow, he wrote Phantom Prey and Invisible Prey! Those were great! Other classics include Broken Prey, Hidden Prey, Naked Prey, Mortal Prey, Chosen Prey, Easy Prey, Certain Prey, Secret Prey, Winter Prey, Shadow Prey and The Man Who Thought He Owned The World. Ok I made one of those up, can you guess which?

On the back cover it says John Sandford is a pseudonym for Pulitzer Prize winner John Camp. Weird, why does he use a pseudonym for the books he's putting out so quickly?

I'm sure you've already stopped reading this due to the impulse to order this on amazon immediately but for those of you still here, I present my review below.

Bliz-O-Vision says "This is one helluva snog-flog thriller!!"

The Welfare of a Nation.

There are many who live their comfortable lives with no grasp of the problems that are still actually out there. For example, I have lived my entire life living in a relatively small city that always seemed clean, quiet and safe. I had no idea that there were so many mentally unstable and homeless in the downtown area until recently. The system is set up in a way to keep them there. They aren't given any incentive to try to make changes for themselves and depressingly enough, a lot of them are using their monthly welfare cheques, paid for by our tax dollars to buy drugs. In that respect the government is funding addiction and homelessness with our tax dollars. Wouldn't that money be better spent on some sort of home care service to try and put these people back on track? I know this could be done as it's a similar idea to how our system helps the disabled. I would even go as far as to argue that many of these people are disabled people who fell through the cracks.

My real issue here is not with the people who can't help themselves, as they really need something in place to keep them on the straight and narrow, so much as the people who don't want to help themselves. I personally know a few people who are more or less living off the system as a free ride. They sleep in shelters for only a small portion of their welfare cheque and try to convince others to buy them drugs and other things when they are low on funds.

This is why I feel to clean up the streets we need some form of social care system to help those who want to be helped, as I know they exist, and let those who don't want to be helped sleep in the bed they've made. I can't justify giving 30% of my paycheck to a government who helps people buy drugs and Listerine. We are taxed hard here in Canada and we smile and brag about our badass healthcare system, but maybe it's time to reexamine how that money is being spent. I'm cool with being taxed if it's in the name of making this beautiful country a better place.

I need to clarify though, obviously we can't just leave those who don't want to be helped out in the cold, as much as I believe in a certain degree of tough love. I just feel, that if you want free money, maybe you should be showing that you actually want to do well with it.

This system does not and is never gonna work as long as the policy makers have their heads up in the clouds. Unfortunately, I'm just some naive lower mid-class person who doesn't like what he sees, and maybe I'm bitter because I haven't given up and won a prize as so many do.

I'm frustrated, and maybe it's time for something new. I bet I get some hate for this one, but I'm standing by it.

Dear Zachary (2008)

 The wife and I just watched the documentary Dear Zachary on Netflix. I have no interest in talking about the movie, as it is a ride you need to experience for yourself, however I just want to say it hit very close to home and is a truly important movie to see. I must present a warning for this movie, as it is VERY HEAVY to pretty much anyone, and genuinely makes you feel the very depths of hatred and anger. I'd say this is probably my favorite documentary I've seen, for how connected I feel towards the people involved, and as a documentary it succeeds at presenting the information clearly with a slight, yet much deserved bias.

Unfortunately I have to spend the rest of my night being frustrated with the world around me, but I'm glad that I was made aware of the issues discussed in this. I can think of no better movie to make to honor a friend, and hope this helps to change things, at least a little bit.

I'm using my serious face while writing this. Please track this movie down and watch it. I think you can even find it online to watch, but money spent on this movie is money well spent.

Y the last man

Where were you when every man in the world died? Well, if you're like me, probably dead. As for you ladies out there, you were left with a world that was missing 40% of it's population, where almost all of the worlds governments have passed on. With roughly three billion dead bodies laying all over the place, children and unborn babies included. That's a hell of a mess to clean up, now's your chance ladies!

Y the last man is the comic book/ graphic novel of a world where this happens, through the eyes of a man, possibly the last man no less. Every guy instantly thinks that would be the ultimate way to pick up girls but it's not that simple. Naturally there are those crazy super feminists who view the world as having been freed from the men's dictatorship, and they don't want him alive, and then there are the masses of women who want to make sexytime with this poor fellow at all costs. It's a rough life.

Written with astounding whit by Brian K Vaughan, this story tackles the world's gender related issues head on and sparingly takes shots at both the folly of man and woman. Let's face it, both sexes have their hangups and this book does a great job of dealing with them. The writing style itself is brilliantly natural and almost feels like you are just watching a great HBO series. It occasionally suffers from being a little overwritten, in the respect of how everyone is always talking about some form of gender related message whenever it shows a flashback to the pre-manpocolypse, but it's not a severe fault.

The art is brilliant and really makes it all flow. It's very real looking and the characters facial expressions really 'act' brilliantly. For me, a good test for art is to have a character say one thing but their face to show that they don't agree with it. It's never overdone and always wonderful.

I've always been a huge fan of those "really likable characters from different lifestyles come together and go on a quest" stories and this sorta fits the bill. This actually is very similar to Stephen King's The Stand for atmosphere, but different enough to make it a must read.

If you ever wanted to try the comic book medium on, try Y the last man. It is captivating from beginning to end and unpredictable in all the right ways. Also, thanks to it's smooth dialogue and compelling subject matter, I would call this the most accessible comic I've read to this day.

(As an afterthought though, I think all ugly women died too... cause I didn't see them anywhere.)

Career Advice

I have worked a lot of jobs in my 10+ years in the workforce. Some have been gratifying, some have been unnecessarily dramatic, some have introduced me to people who will hopefully be in my life forever, but all of those jobs functioned by one very simple principle; do your work, get paid for it. Unfortunately, that idea really isn't simple enough for some people.

My two most recent jobs are in the security industry. It's very easy to see the perks of security. For example, you get to work longer hours and strike up overtime quite often (I worked 147 hours in two weeks not long ago), you don't always have to work in one location, the work is rarely overly demanding and sometimes it allows you to catch up on reading and you can take time off when it is needed with little trouble. The money isn't very good, but the perks can be exactly what is right for your life.

The flaws however can be pretty unbelievable. A good example of that is that I have been fighting to get paid for a job I did last September!!! Last bloody September!!!! Ultimately I quit that company 2 weeks ago but am still actively fighting for my money and dealing with the mother of all run-arounds. So, that company could just be a lemon, seeing as it took over a month to get paid for the last job I did with them, right? WRONG! I've heard horror stories about a local security company from a good friend who worked for them too. Naturally after that I thought I'd try working for a big national company, and have been for a year now.

It went pretty well for quite a while and made the other company look like a bunch of clown shoes. Then they hired some ignorant idiot 26 year old (as opposed to me, a good natured, decent, 26 year old) to be scheduling manager. Oh boy, for a few months my pays seemed lower than they were supposed to be, but the hours are so sporadic and all over the place, and the pay stubs are so unreadable I couldn't tell that there were actual shortages. Finally, I decided I needed to keep track of my hours in a very detailed format and really buckle down with those pay stubs. Oh boy, am I glad I did. My first pay after I started keeping track was approximately 50 hours short. Seriously. That's 500 bucks that inbred sewer rat tried to pocket from me! So, angry about the lack of massive overtime cash in my account I contacted his superior, who assured me that next pay would have all of that money in my account. Guess what? It's payday, my account got a pretty standard pay, which in itself may have been short, and those 50 hours weren't added to it. Of course I could properly examine it and see what's off, but my legal right to have my pay stub before or at least by the time my pay is given is apparently being overlooked too.

I can't tell you how tired I am of fighting for pay. There are no victories and only constant losses. The only logical course is to move on to greener pastures, but my immediate supervisor is amazing and I don't want to leave that person short. However, I don't know that I can continue to fight this war on two fronts. Perhaps it's labour board time, but if that's what it has to be, I don't want to be attached with the company that I'm battling for obvious reasons.

So this post is called career advice, and I'll put the advice very clear to be seen.

1. If you do shift work, keep track of everything.
2. Don't work security!

Oh well, it's not a total wash. Whenever someone asks me what I do, I can reply with, "I'm into charity work." Chicks love it.