This Month’s Flashback: May ’10
Today is Memorial Day, which means I have a day off from college, but lots of work to do before finals start next week. The only game I purchased this month was Lips: I love the 80′s, a karaoke game for the Xbox 360. I’ve been using Netflix quite a bit, particularly the Instant Watch feature – there is quite a decent selection if you know where to look.
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Movie Spotlight: Blindness
In this mature thriller film, Julianne Moore stars as a doctor’s wife who mysteriously is one of the only people not affected by an infectious blindness. Those that became blind were quarantined, and she pretends to be blind to be with her husband.
Things get worse and chaos erupts, with the quarantine zones becoming a degradation in society. Perhaps one of the most intense films I’ve ever seen, it’s certainly not for everyone, but the performances in this film are spectacular.
Quote of the Week [#101]
“Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for truth.”
– Benjamin Disraeli
Graduation Means…
So time’s been flying by. I don’t know if I really want it too, but then again the only reason why I worry is because of the fear of the unknown. When I graduated from 8th grade, I had no idea where I would go, but there was not many options. When I graduated high school, I again was worried about what I would do next. But I found my undergraduate college and I’ve been there ever since.
The college I go to opened up about five years ago and they are having their first graduation commencement ceremony next month. I enrolled in my college May 2007, and now it’s May 2010. Quite a few of my classmates are graduating, quite a few who enrolled much later on.
See, many students got transfer credit from various schools, and I never got any, which I actually prefer. Because I don’t want to graduate from my college from the help of transfer credits. I want to soak up as much education as I can. I like taking a lot of different classes and opening up my mind to what’s out there. I still am not so sure what all of my talents are, and it’s important to try out all avenues. 
I have it in my mind that I plan on graduating from college in about a year or so. From there I’ll probably go to graduate college to get a Master’s. I guess graduation means something different for everyone, but to me, especially for college, it means that I’ve done everything I could do at my college and it’s time to move on. And I have not done everything that I could do at my college yet. So while people come and go, there’s one thing that always remains the same. No one can be 100% certain of their future.
TV Spotlight: The Philanthropist
Last year, The Philanthropist premiered on NBC. The show only lasted 8 episodes, and the premise was about a rich man who traveled around the world helping people. Of course, there’s so much more to the show then that.
It has its funny moments, and it’s rather crazy how he just manages to do the things he does in some politically resistant forces. The series is still up on NBC.com until September 2010, so catch it while you still can.
Movie Spotlight: Shrek Forever After
I recently watched this film in theaters and was a little surprised to find this Shrek film a little depressing. The basic plot is that Shrek gets tired and frustrated of everyone liking him, and all of the responsibilities he has to do, so he signs a contract that makes him an ogre for a day.
His wish comes true but it’s not exactly what he wanted. Thanks to a unique story and interesting new characters, the film manages to stay quite fresh. I really enjoyed the film, it’s one of my favorites in the series.
Movie Spotlight: The Lovely Bones
I really had no idea what I was getting myself into when I decided to rent the DVD from Netflix. Having only caught a glimpse of the trailer awhile back, I was surprised to find out that this film is not a provocative crime film, but rather an emotional and fantasy style film focusing on imagery for expression.
The movie is about a young girl who gets killed, and her experience coping with her life loss and helping her family find peace. The dreamy soundtrack and beautiful scenery really draws you in, and it makes the two hour film go by pretty quickly. Just go in to watching this film with an open mind, and you’ll probably enjoy it.
Song of the Week [#99]
This week’s song is an old trance song that sounds like a rocket ship being prepared to take off. Classic!
PPK – Resurrection
Video Game Spotlight: Red Steel
Red Steel is a Nintendo Wii game that uses the Wiimote and Nunchuck. The graphics and storyline are decent, but the controls are not too responsive, and there’s a bit of stuttering in the game which pretty much ruins the entire game.
Hopefully the sequel fixed these issues, as it’s very challenging to play the game if the controls are not precise for an action game.
Gamer Banter: Will Sing Opera For Italian Food
The topic for Gamer Banter is which game character do you identify yourself with most/least and why?
I could go either two ways with this. Either really serious, or just funny. I decided I’d do something mixed.
While I don’t really identify with him on a character level, I do like Italian food. Luigi in some obscure way resembles my personal life a bit. I have a twin brother and he received most of the attention and recognition throughout most of my life. Just like Mario received most of the attention, as seen here in this video: (more…)
Movie Spotlight: Down to the Bone
This film stars Vera Farmiga, in perhaps one of the most realistic films dealing with drug addiction and the repercussions of this.
She plays a mother and wife, battling with her addiction. She finally seeks help, only to relapse again, partly due to her surroundings. A great film to see if you’re interested in helping those with drug addictions, or if you’re looking for a good film.
Movie Spotlight: The Fly
The Fly is a horror-thriller movie which was released over 20 years ago but still holds up quite well today. The film deals with a guy who slowly turns into a fly due to a teleportation accident.
His friend struggles to figure out what to do, as his behavior changes over time. The film is not for the weak of heart, but if you can handle it, it’s a good film.
Song of the Week [#98]
This week’s song is from an exciting action game called Ninety Nine Nights on the Xbox 360.
Hammerfall
Movie Spotlight: A Rumor of Angels
This emotional film deals with a young child’s experience of losing a mother and trying to cope with life. He finds an unexpected companion named Maddy who lost her son in the war and the two of them grow together.
It’s a rather sad film but it’s a great film to see, especially if there’s someone in your family that you’ve lost.
Movie Spotlight: The Place Promised In Our Early Days
This movie is depressing. Well, at least to me it was. It’s a story about three middle-aged kids who make a promise to fly into a place — the place is past a huge tower that divides the region.
Soon after, one of them goes into a coma and the other two get seperated with different ideals. It’s a tragic and deep story with beautiful animation. Definitely a slow film, but it’s worth a look.
Video Game Spotlight: Rocket Riot
I purchased Rocket Riot a few months ago when it was on sale for 400 points on the Xbox Marketplace and finally sat down and played it for a few hours. The game contains 80 levels, which consists of different objectives such as destroying enemies or scoring a goal. The unique graphics is probably the best part of the game, looks like tiny legos flying around.
Unfortunately, the co-op is only local and not online, and the 4 online multiplayer game modes are okay but co-op would have been much better. Still, it’s worth a shot so try it out if you can.
Quote of the Week [#99]
“Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.”
– William James
Movie Spotlight: Porco Rosso
If you’ve never heard of Studio Ghibli, or Hayao Miyazaki, it’s not too late to see any of the films. Porco Rosso is an older anime film, released in 1992 in Japan, which was finally recently released in United States a few years ago with english voice-overs.
It’s a different kind of film, taking a dangerous and depressing time-period (World War I era) and turning it into a goofball of fun. The main character is Porco, a pilot.. and a pig. It’s definitely a great film, especially if you’re looking for something a little eccentric.
Video Game Spotlight: We Cheer
After reading great reviews of this game, I thought I’d try it out. We Cheer is a music game in which you move the Wiimote in different directions to the beat of the music.
I did not have a great experience with the game, the controls seemed to be very unresponsive. It’s unfortunate, because it seems like quite a few Wii games suffer with this issue.
Movie Spotlight: UP
UP is a Pixar animated film that is surprisingly emotional. When I first saw the trailer, I thought it would be a happy movie like Finding Nemo, but not at all. There’s a lot of sad moments in UP and I was not expecting it.
The film itself is interesting, an old man wishing to visit Paradise Falls, so when his home is threatened to be demolished, he blows up thousands of helium balloons through the chimney and he travels up into the sky to reach his dream. While some parts of the film are completely unrealistic, it’s an enjoyable film that’s definitely worth a watch.
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