Colon Leftbracket

I am reading an odd book titled Jam! Its an odd novel (which is loosely tied to video game journalist Yahtzee Croshaw's debut novel Mogworld) about the Apocalypse. But out of all possibilities the world ends covered in an odd strawberry scented substance that also happens to devour all organic matter it touches. The story follows a few survivors trying to survive the new Jam covered world and what strange secrets they can uncover about the odd titular substance. I've read the first half of it and I'd have to say its both one of the most intriguing yet most hilarious novels I've ever read. Its filled from cover to cover with Yahtzee's signature witty humor that made his video game review column Zero Punctuation ever so famous. I'd mostly recommend it to fans of Yahtzee's Zero Punctuation, but also to people who just like parodies. I suppose you'd also get a kick out of it if you like Apocalypse movies or books. Also I wouldn't say its required to read his debut novel Mogworld before Jam, but there are a few references made in Jam that a reader wouldn't get if they weren't familiar with Mogworld.

I cross my legs all the time and I'm male. I see nothing wrong with it and its my preferred method of sitting most times. Yeah I might get a few comments once in a while, but its really nothing but leg positioning. ... ...then again I'm not a very good example of masculinity since my new bizarre interest is cross dressing! xD But that's a different issue entirely! haha

I prefer being alone with one other person. I just feel things are just more intimate that way. Once you add a third person things start to feel unfocused and typically I'd just end up being pushed to the back and become a third wheel at that point. But I can RARELY get that sort of intimate alone time with anyone family or friend, so I tend to just be by myself!

Man... I'm STILL getting likes for this. WOW this post brings me WAY back! I guess this post was an important stepping stone of me trying to embrace bisexuality. It wasn't too long after that I had a few friends on here who were dealing with the same struggle and we all became good friends. They really helped me embrace this new side to me and that's really freakin cool! Its been nearly a year from there... Now I've embraced and am proud of not just bisexuality, but pansexuality (all gender identifications and physical sexes "gender blind"). I think its pretty freakin rad that I had this forum and these people to help me along embracing something that I've hidden deep inside even to myself. Unfortunately, even with a year nearly gone by, I'm still not open about all this to friends and family. Its mostly a family issue, actually its mostly a father issue. I'm sure that maybe within another year I can build up the courage to be open and free about these things!

I think it has room to surprise me. I remember back when "Ponyville Confidential" premiered and I thought it was going to be kinda lame. CMC episodes in my opinion are either really good or just kinda boring, so I thought it was going to be the latter. But... when Diamond Tiara showed up and showed how nasty she can really be, my opinion of the episode flipped! This new bully that's supposed to appear will be interesting to see, but I'll keep my expectations at a neutral level. ...now Episode 5 on the other hand has me HYPED!

Then again the way I imagine it brings up the fact that there would be like 20 depressed Pinkie Pies

@, Well obviously the solution would have to be totally different. Quite frankly I'm not entirely sure how they could find the original in a swarm of EXACT copies. But a question I bring up is "Does it really matter?" If all Pinkie copies were exact copies, finding the original would actually have no purpose to it. Think about it, if you make 20 identical copies of a word document on your computer, will it make any difference which ones you delete? No, in the end if all are EXACT unaltered copies than you will have the same results whether the last remainder is the original or not. Just some interesting ideas of how the episode could've been made different.

@, Okay that does make sense. The show doesn't specifically specify if the clones have souls or not, but since its based on pre-existing mythology (like a lot of elements from the show) then I suppose that meaning could be implied. I was just saying that it would be a bit more interesting if they were EXACT copies, or at least in my opinion it would be more interesting.

Well... I suppose its safe to say we all knew this was going to be quite an episode. I mean just in its description it sounds like a Brony's dream come true! "Moar Pink Pone!" Plus a clone plot is just PERFECT for Pinkie Pie! ...And I'm kinda surprised it didn't go as well as I thought it would. Don't get me wrong, I liked the episode, I just think it could've been done SO much better! One major flaw is that the episode is REALLY annoying! If you are like me who hates constant repetition, this episode might drive you nuts! I know that repeated lines are pretty standard in a mass cloning plotline, but they took it to an obnoxious extreme! I didn't like how they handled the clones' personality. They all look identical to Pinkie Pie, but they all don't have the same mind as Pinkie Pie. Without spoiling too much, the clones act more like mindless drones than actual people... err... Ponies, like the real Pinkie Pie! I remember a while back when I said I didn't much care for Pinkie Pie episodes anymore because after Season 1 Pinkie Pie's character became dumber and more annoying. And that's pretty much what the clones are, dumb and annoying. But at least the real Pinkie Pie actually acts like she has character, and seems more like Season 1 Pinkie Pie like in Party of One. So on the plus side, Real Pinkie has actually improved. I thought the way she made the clones was pretty cool, so there's another plus. The episode is a TON of fun, more fun than you can handle really. It has all of the Physics and Logic breaking fun that Pinkie Pie brings, but "the fun has been DOUBLED"... or err... tripled? Quadrupled? I don't know! Things get pretty darn crazy as you would expect from Pinkie Pie, and Pinkie Pie, and Pinkie Pie, and Pinkie Pie, and also Pinkie Pie, not to forget Pinkie Pie, and should I mention Pinkie Pie, and of course Pinkie Pie... Oh? Where was I? So if you like Pinkie, here's pretty much your dream episode! If you don't like Pinkie all that much, then duck for cover because here's your worst nightmare. If you are like me and on the fence about Pinkie, well you might be pleasantly surprised and enjoy the original Pinkie Pie... but you'll hate the clones! As far as cloning plots go, this is a pretty good one! I think its better handled than Pinkie's Murder MMMystery plot done last season (which I was disappointed with, Adventure Time really out did them when it came to a Murder Mystery train plot). Actually, this episode too also has stiff competition recently with Gravity Falls's "Double Dipper" episode. Again, in comparison I feel MLP:FIM was outdone again by the competition, but this one is a much closer race than the Murder Mystery episodes. So in closing, its a mixed bag really. I feel its equal parts really fun, and equal parts REALLY annoying. It fails to live up to the other great Pinkie Pie episodes like "Party of One" but outshines the lesser Pinkie Pie episodes like "Baby Cakes" and "MMMystery on the Friendship Express". Overall, its a good episode that's worth a watch and really has my hopes up for future craziness this season! ...So what are you waiting for, go watch it!

First Impressions, is a new segment on my Critique blog where I just give overall, spoiler-free, impressions on something that I just saw that is rather new. The difference between this and a regular review is that I hardly give myself time to really critically think about certain elements of a show or movie or whatever and its just a quick thing about how I felt about it. I'll normally follow it up with a full review some time later on. --- Now what did I think about Season 3's premiere? Well... it was better than my low expectations thought it was going to be. It felt like a pretty standard 2 part premiere. How would I rate this one versus the other premieres? I think this one was my favorite premiere out of all 3 of them. It comes REALLY close to the Discord one, but I feel this one is overall just better than the Discord episode, especially since this one has a few musical numbers. I wouldn't quite compare this one with the Season 2 finale though. Its not nearly as big as that one and the only thing I feel it has better than Season 2's Finale is the episode pacing. Of course I guess I need to share what I thought about the villain since MLPFIM's premieres always have a main villain. I really liked his design, but he had like no character to him. He felt more like a forboding force than an actual living being. Where does he compare to the other villains? Well, he's actually probably my least favorite since he has no character. Still I rather like his design, and really that's all that's needed in this particular episode. And the episode itself, I really like it. It has good pacing, high suspense, a neat new setting, returning characters, the mane six are well characterized and you see them do what they do best. Everything is just well done, and it might be as I said the best premiere to date. So go watch it! I give this premiere a thumbs up!

...Man as far as Nintendo games go, New Super Mario Bros. has been proving to be the bane of my existence... It just does not work! I get the point of bringing back Mario to classic sidescrolling platforming roots, but it just hasn't done much to impress me. The fact that its Nintendo's chosen launch title really has me worried about the WiiU's launch day and future. But I'm sure there will be other titles for people to enjoy soon enough.

@@Pony Joe, and @@Pencil Hoof, Thanks! Cabin and Looper did look kinda stupid to me at first, but I've been hearing all sorts of praise for them even from people who I'd expect to trash them, so more opinions on this is helpful. I'll probably see these movies soon whenever I can.

@, when I saw battleship advertised I thought it would be absolutely horrid, but I've heard from other people that it was surprising good so I'll give that one a shot later on. Titanic is pretty good, but a bit overrated. I guess it must be pretty damn good if you are way into the romance, but for me the movie seemed to move at a snail's pace. They could've told the same story in under 2 hours. Yeah and I know the feeling of being picky in what I want to see, which is why I'm surprised that there are so many movies this year that I actually DO want to see.

I remember awhile back when my family decided to go to the movies, they all decided to see The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1. Now I really don't like that series for multiple reasons so I had to choose another movie to see while they watch their movie. To my dismay there was slim pickings at that time where all the movies were pretty boring looking. I asked for a ticket to see Paranormal Activity 3, not because I really care for the movie but its a flick my friends saw and enjoyed so I might as well stop feeling left out of the conversation. Things suddenly got worse as they discovered that the projector was broken and had to be fixed, so naturally they told me to see a different movie. I ended up settling for Tower Heist which you may or may not remember because it was a pretty unremarkable Ben Stiller/Eddie Murphy comedy. The only reason why I enjoyed it at all was because I had the whole theater to myself and it was nice to see Eddie Murphy return to movies despite his returning movies to be pretty lame. --- NOW, this year my family wants to see The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 which is thankfully the last of these bad movies, but still an experience I'd rather avoid after proving myself absolutely right that I was correct on skipping out of Part 1. This time though I'm having the exact opposite problem, I can't decide what movie I want to watch! Hell this entire year has been filled with good movies and films (there's a difference in my opinion). February 17th; marked the release of the Studio Ghibli animated film The Secret World of Arriety, unfortunately I have not seen it, but its Studio Ghibli so as long as its better than Ponyo I'll be pleased. Though I've heard its a bit short and feels a bit rushed, so its not like a new Ghibli classic, but even Ghibli's lesser films tend to amaze me. March 2nd; released The Lorax which strangely I also haven't seen. Though it exploded on the Internet into what seems like a cult classic and still has a pretty dedicated fandom. It seems well animated at least, but I usually have mixed opinions when it comes to the Seuss movies, so I'm not sure if I will like it. March 23rd; was the cinema explosion known as The Hunger Games now judging it as an interesting action flick I'd say its pretty good. I've heard as a book-to-film adaptation it's less than stellar. But judging it as a serious piece of art film is rather difficult. There's nothing I find insulting with the acting and everyone does a pretty good performance. The film really sucks you into this nightmare dystopian society and makes you feel a part of this deadly game. It really seems to take teenage audiences seriously and thinks that teenagers can handle material this dark maturely. But it all falls apart with a few of the cinematic decisions, namely the shaky cam. The action scenes are near unwatchable. I understand they wanted to censor a lot of the violence, but I feel they could do it in a much better way. The big final battle, its too dark to see what's going on and the camera goes haywire, so it makes for a confusing climax. So if its a good film that's really up to your judgement... I'm gonna say no, but really close! April 14th; The Cabin in the Woods, okay... who has seen this movie? Because I haven't, and I really felt like I didn't want to. I think everyone went on assuming it would be a boring horror flick that maybe we'll buy on DVD around Halloween if we have nothing better to watch. Well apparently the Katniss-lead House at the End of the Street wasn't interesting enough for audiences this Halloween season so they actually went back and watched this Cabin movie... and apparently people are saying it went HIGHLY underrated! People are calling it a new modern horror classic, which I find confusing... if its so good how did it go unnoticed for so long? I'll check it out soon enough, but anyone want to kinda confirm these claims? May 4; Do I even have to explain it? The Avengers! I probably don't have to explain this movie to you, but I feel its one of the most entertaining action movies I've seen in a long time, especially in the superhero genre. Now do I think its an honest to goodness film like its rival The Dark Knight? Well, no... I'll say it gets close, but from the amount of humor this movie drives itself on its near impossible to try and take seriously. Its probably the closest I've seen Marvel to impressing me on a serious film merit, but its mostly just a fun kickass movie. June 22nd; Pixar's Brave sees its release and not having seen it yet, I'm not quite sure what to think of it... I'd say if its any good, it has the WRONG advertising staff making ads for it. Whenever I see an ad for this movie/film, I swear it looks like Dreamworks took over because all they show are the lame, quirky joke parts that aren't funny or entertaining at all. Pixar is more about great touching moments on top of stunning animation, but if its like I see what's advertised then I think Pixar has picked up some bad habits from making Cars 2 and is really going downhill... especially since Planes is and upcoming movie... blehhhh! June 29th; Magic Mike... ummm... I want to see... because... reasons.... I MEAN... Ted... yes Ted is a movie that came out on June 29th that I want to see and have not seen because I am slow at seeing movies... yes I totally meant Ted Ted seems to have a fun concept and some of the jokes seem funny. Hopefully it doesn't feel too much like Family Guy though... because that's a show that really needs to stop... its not very funny these days... July 3rd: The Amazing Spider-man finally gives people what they want, a retry! I know a TON of people think Spider-man 3 is what killed the Spider-man franchise, but I want to say that it was just the whole trilogy. The whole trilogy just seemed really dumb and silly and it had a natural progression of silliness The first flick had a high degree of silliness, but the origin story was done well enough that we could hardly notice. The second movie was pretty over the top in silliness but we were still hyped over from the first one to really care. The third one just exploded and caved in on itself with silliness and then people panicked. Now this new webslinging reboot I have yet to see (like a lot of movies) but I've heard its pretty solid. July 20th; Alas finally the mega block buster comes out of the shadows and The Dark Knight Rises! How excited was I for this movie? VERY! How blown away was I by this film? Meh... not really... I'd say this was a very disappointing film... still a fun action movie that I enjoyed, but if I wanted to take it seriously against The Dark Knight I'd say this epic conclusion is out of its league. The plot is pretty dumb, there are some big plot holes, and the EPIC CONCLUSION didn't CONCLUDE correctly since it leaves itself pretty open ended. Hell its also pretty vague too since I've heard different interpretations about certain elements of the ending. I'd say it was a huge disappointment, but still one of the better movies this year. August 17th; Hey we've come full circle, The Expendables 2! I actually did a review on that so if you can find that I'd go looking for it. It's just a fun action flick with some all time badasses. It's just fun! ParaNorman also released on the same day. I haven't seen it yet, but I really looked down on it for some time. It just seemed like a second rate 3D animated film that will be forever hidden in the shadow of Tim Burton, but from what I've heard its freaking great! I'll see it sometime soon I suppose. September 28th; Looper... another movie that I haven't seen and didn't hear about much until just recently. I've been hearing that its probably one of the best action flicks in a while outside of the superhero genres, a classic in time travel movies, and a must see for Bruce WIllis fans. The plot sounds REALLY stupid where a man is sent people from the future he must execute and then he's sent Bruce Willis who is actually himself from the future. REALLY DUMB... or GENIUS! I can't tell, I've heard its mostly the latter. But how badass would it be to learn that you turn into BRUCE FUCKING WILLIS in the future! October 5th; Taken 2... because... well... I really liked the first one... and I'm sure if I don't see it Liam Neeson will hunt me down or something. Frankenweenie a new Tim Burton animation... so... why not. Actually I've heard that this one is kinda an upset for Burton animation fans, so that's depressing. I've heard that ParaNorman is actually better, so that's a surprise at least. I should watch both and get back to you guys which one I think is better. October 26th; Cloud Atlas I've seen ads for it and I can't tell if it looks amazing or it may be trying too hard. I finally got this question answered when a friend of mine came back from seeing it and he said its one of the best movies he's seen in a long time and he cannot reccomend it enough. Usually him and I have similar opinions on movies so I may take his word for it for now and I'll see how good it is some time soon. Anyone see it? Want to tell me if it is truly amazing? November 2nd; Ah.. just yesterday Wreck-It Ralph came out and this animated movie by Disney has had TONS of hype behind it. It really has been trying to capture the spirit of video games. For a while I was buying into it seeing all sorts of cool references to some of my favorite video games. After a while I started seeing it more as just Video Game References: The Movie and I thought it would probably be just a bunch of disappointment made purely for nostalgic appeal.... and then recently THE HYPE RETURNS! I REALLY want to see this movie! Who knows it might just be a new animation classic much like the older Pixar films. A friend of mine actually said he liked it better than most of the Pixar greats which REALLY puts this film on a high pedestal. This film might be the one I choose to see when my family decides to waste their time on that other movie. November 7th; Now to the near future! Skyfall, the new James Bond movie is set to release and you could say I'm looking forward to it. It's a James Bond movie so... really what else is there to say, he's like the Doctor Who of action movies. December 14th; Well its... The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey! Come on... who doesn't like the new Lord of the Rings films? It may be one of the best book-to-film adaptations of all time, and perhaps one of the most perfect movie trilogies since Back to the Future or Star Wars: The Original Trilogy. So The Hobbit has a lot of hype to live up to and I haven't read the book, but I'm sure it will be such an amazing journey. Perhaps the best film of the year! December 25th; Ohh boy Christmas Day! What movie could we watch to keep up our holiday spirits? Les Miserables? Yeah one of my favorite musicals is getting a movie adaptation... and really I don't know whether to be excited or scared. I HIGHLY doubt they could ever hope to match the amazement of the play, but maybe perhaps they could try to get as cinematically close as possible. --- Final List: The Secret World of Arriety The Lorax The Hunger Games The Cabin in the Woods The Avengers Brave Magic Mike Ted The Amazing Spider-man The Dark Knight Rises The Expendables 2 ParaNorman Looper Taken 2 Frankenweenie Cloud Atlas Wreck-It Ralph Skyfall The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Les Miserables WOW That is a LOT of great movies this year! Now I can't attest for all of them since I haven't seen all of the yet, but I'm going with which ones I think will be the best this year has to offer. It might be easier to just decide a worst movie than a best movie which is normally harder because I'm not so easily amazed by movies these days. For a Worst Movie of the Year, I'll probably have to go with This Means War... I mean seriously... watch an ad for this thing... its really BAD! No but if I had to pick a best at this point it would have to be The Hobbit I mean come on, its a safe bet! Seriously! Unless it goes the route of The Dark Knight Rises and becomes a major disappointment I'm not too sure then. I guess Cloud Atlas if its as good as I hear or maybe its about time we have an animated film of the year and it goes to Wreck-It Ralph. Point is there's a lot of good movies! Anyway, what do you think? Did we have a good movie year? What are some of your favorites? Which ones did I include that you didn't like? Which ones did I forget to add? Just leave a comment below.

@, Halo never really felt like I was personifying the Chief very much. He felt like his own character who just never really talked unless it was important. When it comes to Halo I usually care more about setting since the series is VERY cool a unique settings. The only games I felt were closer to being in the shoes of the hero were ODST and Reach. ODST unfortunately suffers for this because they go for a film noir style but forgot to cast the lead role, so to speak. Reach on the other hand does this pretty well. I really feel like I was Noble Six sometimes and some of the cinematic choices really show it. And the very ending where you fight for your life was REALLY cool! I really don't care much for Reach's campaign, but the very end is pretty cool to go back to and play once in awhile. --- @, With Portal I was going to just go with what I say about Yoshi's Island is that its mostly just an experience and having a good character lead doesn't matter as much, but with Portal 2 it starts to get pretty ambitious with its narrative and THAT'S where having a silent protagonist falls apart. And yes Chell replying to GLaDOS would make for a very different experience. I don't think GLaDOS would be as charming if her dialogue time was constantly interrupted by Chell. Portal though doesn't quite have that great of a story though so I'll let it slide I suppose. It mostly has strong characters and good gameplay which at times can be better than any huge story you can come up with.

The only issue I have with this whole let YOU become the character thing is that its not something I'd really like personally. I don't find myself all that entertaining, so I watch a movie or play a game to live through someone else for a change, and thus is the whole point of fantasy; to experience what cannot be experienced in real life. Also the whole Half Life/Portal mute thing I don't really buy into it. I think both stories would do better with an actual human lead. That's not to say mutes aren't people, I too can hardly talk outside of the confines of my friends, but it seems more like a joke or excuse that these characters cannot talk. Also I find it hard to believe that Gordon Freeman got to where he was in his career without talking, but I feel I'm reading too much into it.