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 Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 3:54 pm
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 4:04 pm
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Jon's Advanced Analysis of Animal Crossing Characters.
Tom Nook, the capitalist pig of the newly founded Jon-ville. He clearly takes advantage
and exploits all of the new citizens by making them his own personal workers while paying
them the bare minimum wages. Thats not to mention that he denies you the basic needs of life
until you are rich enough to buy s**t from his store.
In my opinion, players should be given the option to shake off the chains of the bourgeois
oppression of Nook, and then shoot him and his nephews in a cellar.
Joan, the turnip seller. Although the turnips can be related to the stock market,
it has become clear that Joan is a simple farmer struggling to survive. With Nook holding
the means of production, Joan is forced to sell turnips and in turn help the monopolizing Nook.
This is why we should all spend our spare bells on turnips, and let them expire after the week ends.
A donation feature would be useful here.
Once the game gives us the option of shooting Nook, I'm sure Joan will prove to be a reliable
comrade to our cause.
Saharah, a greedy merchant. Saharah raises her prices each time you buy a carpet from her,
and insists that you supply her with other carpets along with bells. That way she can take
advantage of the buyers in other regions of the world.
As much as I would love to kill Saharah off, how can you resist going without the Lunar Surface
carpet? Thats the only thing I need to finish my space theme!
Gracie, the forgotten Giraffe. You'll often spot Gracie parked in the middle of your town
in a dirty red sports car. If you do her a favor and clean the car, she'll give you a shirt.
I don't have any beef with her, giving a service for another service is one of the fundamental
principles of communism, so she'll do well in the future.
K.K. Slider, the only real reason you should buy the game. What can you really say about K.K.?
He's a white dog with huge head that plays his guitar at midnight when no one is watching.
He is cool enough to gain a reputation in town, even though no one except you has ever seen him perform.
Gulliver, the seagull pirate. Yes, he is a pirate. I don't care what anyone says.
Gulliver will give you an amazing item just for waking him up. Clearly based upon Leon Trotsky,
Gulliver is a self-less being who obviously steals his expensive items from the rich and gives to the poor
in a Robin Hood type way.
This comrades efforts are not in vain, I'm sure he has influenced the broken all over the globe.
Katrina, the witch Bene Gesserit (anyone get the reference?). Katrina is an islamic terrorist
with unknown motives. She uses her hoax "skill" to fund her future plans of terrorism in the
town of Jon. Try not to get a rise out of her, she may influence you to actually believe what
she says and you'll start falling down a lot, or become very lucky with items.
She may be a great comrade to our efforts, only time will tell.
Wendell, the striving artist. Wendell is in the exact same boat as Joan. He is forced to
sell his own creations (wallpaper) for fish to survive in this harsh world. I think he deserves
both your respect and your fish. I gave my "living fossil" to him once, I bet that was delicous.
Crazy Redd, the used car salesman. Redd is actually really hard to read. On one hand, he
supplies competition to Nook. But on the other hand, he sells everything for insanely high
prices. Once again, only time will tell if he is simply struggling to survive and forced
to sell at such high prices, or if he is just a d**k.
ughhh....
neutral
Wisp, the plant picking ghost. Wisp is THE MAN, he cleans up your town and doesnt afraid of anything.
Wisp is the wildcard of the game. Since he can pick plants, paint roofs, and hold items he
has access to the tangible world. I'm guessing Wisp can act as an unbeatable assassain.
And all you'll have to do is catch sprites.
GET OUT OF THE DAMN RAILROAD, SPRITE! D:<
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 4:46 pm
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Nitnit's Review of The Dark Knight(warning: There may be some spoilers, but if you haven't seen this movie yet you probably don't really care all too much)
Directed by Christopher Nolen
Starring Christopher Bale, Heath Ledger, and Aaron Eckhart
Genres: Action, Fantasy, Comic Book, Drama
Intro:
Surely all of you have heard something about the Dark Knight by now. There are hundreds of adjectives that can describe this movie... and very few are negative. My review may be a little different than most though, because I am a huge fan of the batman comics (primarily the graphic novels, and story arc events).
Synopsis:
About one year after the events of Batman Begins, Batman has become a living urban legend among the broken city of Gotham. Criminals are actually afraid of him, and while highly controversial, he is generally accepted as being a heroic vigilante of the city. An alliance formed between Lieutenant Gordan, Batman, and the zealous crime fighting District Attorney Harvey Dent forms in an effort to finish off organized crime terrorizing Gotham. After tracing a new mob head to Hong Kong and bringing him back to Gotham, the mob turns to a terrifying madman calling himself "The Joker"
After growing terrified of this Joker, Gotham's citizens begin to question if his arrival has only been brought on because of the Batman, while Wayne asks himself what he become to defeat men like the Joker. In the midst of this, Wayne finds himself vying with Harvey Dent for former squeeze Rachel Dawes's attention. As the movie progresses Joker eventually captures both Dent and Dawes and forces batman to choose between them, naturally batman chooses Rachel, but Joker had intentionally switched them up, sealing Rachel's fate. Dent survives an explosion, but half of his face is practically burned off. Feeling an immense amount of guilt, and pushed over the edge by a visit from Joker in the hospital, Dent refuses to have his face repaired, and his zealous side is transformed into the murderous Two-Face.
While Gotham's Finest and the Batman are trying to prevent the joker from causing two shiploads of people from blowing up, Dent proceeds to track down the corrupt police men and others he feels were responsible for Rachel's death. Upon finding them he flips a coin to determine whether he kills them or not. After Batman defeats joker in their final bout and leaves him to hang for the police to bring in, Joker reveals that all along he was just setting up Dent to fall into the same madness that he is consumed with.
Batman reaches TwoFace in time who has taken Gordan and his family hostage. Right before TwoFace shoots Gordan's son, Batman tackles him off the building. Seeing Dent's body motionless, he tells Gordan that Gotham cannot know that Dent committed the murders because the Joker would have truly won. He tells Gordan to blame the murders on him because ironically Gotham needs him to be a villain instead of a hero at the moment, and Dent needs to be remembered as the hero. The movie ends with Gotham's police chasing Batman, but he escapes on his BatPod. A funeral is also shown with an image of Dent's unmarred face displayed (no body is shown intentionally for the possibility that TwoFace isn't dead and is secretly in Arkham). While this happens Gordan gives a touching narrative about how Batman is not the hero Gotham needs, but the hero Gotham deserves
Acting
The acting is absolutely top-notch in Dark Knight. The most noticeable actor is by far Ledger for his absolutely terrifying modern representation of the Joker. His joker is not the well kept prankster murderer we all know and love, he is an archaic mad man hellbent on "watching the world burn". This is amplified by Ledger's little movements, his twitching, his lip licking, his insane laugh - all form an unforgettable character.
Eckhart plays this take on Dent very well, however, I feel bad for him because I felt that the biggest flaw in the movie was how underdeveloped Dent's descent into madness was. There was very little room for Eckhart to truly show off his acting ability (which I firmly believe he has) to really nail the performance and even rival Ledger.
Bale's batman is in my opinion, one of the best. He is able to become serious and obsessed in his batman persona, giving what I consider to be one of the most accurate representations of batman's "scary voice" (this has been criticized, but seriously, how else should it be done? he obviously has to mask his voice), and also plays up Wayne's playboy persona very nicely as well.
The rest of the cast is top notch. Holme's poor job as Rachel Dawes is fixed with a recast of Maggie Gyllenhaal (though I find Holmes to be more attractive =P ); and great performances by big names like Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman solidify the supporting cast.
Music
To be blunt, the music in Dark Knight is great, fueling the "escalation" desired by Nolen. Perhaps a bit repetitive at points, but definitely one of the much better soundtracks in film history.
Writing and Pace
Dark Knight is a two and a half hour adrenaline fueled journey with a theme of "escalation". There is rarely ever a dull moment. Unfortunately at times it feels that there might be too much going on, and this brings upon the only real flaw in Dark Knight; the very rushed descent of Harvey Dent's downward spiral into TwoFace.
The script is top notch, mostly filled with fantastic dialogue and a lot of dark humor.
Action
As with Batman Begins there is a lot of martial arts and vehicular action. Almost all of it seems plausible with enough training, though a bit over the top (which is acceptable, this is an entertaining movie overall). Most of the action is 'real' due to Nolen not liking doing everything in the movie with CGI (see the blurry mess that is Transformers and Cloverfield as what he was avoiding). The scenes are generally crisp and well done, the opening bank scene being the best orchestrated. The only complaint here from me is when batman activates his "cell phone 3-D map" thing, things can be a little hard to follow here.
The action scenes were shot with Imax cameras, something that is rarely done, and it really pays off.
Recap
The dark knight is fantastic. Sure, people who don't like action movies probably won't like it. However, for the majority of humanity, this will be a great movie, something that is being shown with its insane record breaking early gross earnings. The only real downside is the very rushed Harvey Dent story arc. It is a long film, with about 2 and a half hours, but it is all very crisp and entertaining. There is never truly a dull moment.
Overall I give the Dark Knight a 9.7 out of 10 (97 out of 100). It's not perfect but it's pretty damn close. |
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 4:50 pm
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By chaotix bluix:
Type: Wild (A review)
Since starting last week on this game, I've been rather pleased with everything it has offered so far.
As a pokemon-styled 2D arcade-like fighting game in it's beta, you have 5 fighters to choose from (at least in the versions which I found), being Blazikin, Lucario, Gengar. Snorelax, and Gardevoir and each one has a unique ,and for the most part, balanced set of special moves which you can use aside from the basic kick, punch, heavy kick, and heavy punch. Before each battle, you get to pick a "assist pokemon" which you can call on to help you when you fill you're PP gauge to a certain point.
The game has two modes which to play, Solo mode (think of it as a story mode of sorts) and Versus mode (when you have someone else to play with).
The only things which I found to be a problem is, in the beta 1.1 version, it's almost too easy to be cornered one of the sides and then pummeled to death (which is fixed in version 2.1), and it's also in Japaneses, meaning you can't really understand any of the text used or change much unless you know what you're doing. This game also favors those who play the game with joysticks since playing with a keyboard tends to be a little more difficult to execute moves.
Also, this game has been a little difficult to find, and it is likely that you're going to have to compile a few versions in order to get everything you need in order to actually play the game.
With all of that said, this game is actually a good diversion from time to time and can be both challenging and fun despite it still being in beta.
Oh yeah! If someone has a second opinion about the game, please make yourself heard. 3nodding
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 4:51 pm
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By Karuta64:
The Shinou Trio
in
"The Cliffhanger"
Episode 1: Baby's First Matinee
The morning sun streamed inside a bedroom, illuminating a bookshelf crammed with fairy tales and a small white crib. A small pink humanoid Pokemon lay inside, snoozing under the sheets. Every so often, the creature would open an eye, seemingly checking to see if all its toys were in their proper places. Once sure that all its dolls were in the dollhouse and all the rainbow colored Ponyta dolls were in the toybox, it would fall asleep again, content.
Suddenly it perked up, piqued by some soft, low footsteps coming down the hallway. The door opened, framing the creature's master, an older boy with tan skin and brown hair, in the doorway. "Good morning!" he smiled as he reached inside the crib and cradled the tiny Pokemon in his arms. "How's my favorite Happini doing today?" The tiny Pokemon just laughed as the boy carried it downstairs into the kitchen. The two other occupants of the house, a younger boy combing out his spikey black hair and a girl slipping a white floppy hat over her own black hair, were at the table poring over the newspaper.
The Happini was interested in what her housemates were doing. . she asked as her master set her on the table.
"That's because Brock wants to take you someplace special today, Emi." Dawn replied as she studied the newspaper. She paused to invite a Piplup on the table before turning her attention back to the orderly columns of movie titles and showtimes.
Emi asked as she watched Brock tend to the simmering eggs on the stove.
"Well..." Brock paused for a moment to turn down the heat, then continued. "I want to take you to a theater that has giant TVs inside..."
Emi was interested. She made the biggest form she could in the air.
"Not even close." Ash smiled. "These TVs are so big, they need an entire wall to fit." Emi's eyes widened, impressed.
Pikachu explained.
"But before that, there's cartoons..." Brock added as he set the eggs aside and started cooking some bacon.
"Previews of movies that will soon come to the theater..." Dawn continued.
"And Pikachu's favorite part--the next episode of a serial." Ash concluded as he highlighted another choice of a movie.
Emi was confused.
"A serial is a long story that's usually broken up into a number of episodes." Brock explained as he arranged the now cooked bacon on a towel and shut the stove off. "These episodes are set up in such a way that one ends at a point where you don't know what will happen next untill the next week."
Emi asked.
"At that point, the announcer comes on and says--" and Brock started talking like a serial announcer. "Will Mary Jane be saved? Can our hero make it in time? Don't miss Part Seven in this theater next week!" Everyone applauded.
Piplup replied.
"Thank you!" Brock replied in his "serial announcer" voice.
"But before we go, we have to pick a movie to go see." Dawn explained as she highlighted another movie in the listings. "With over forty screens to pick from, finding one that's safe for you isn't easy."
Emi asked as she watched her master set plates of bacon and eggs before everyone, as well as Pokechow for her, Piplup, and Pikachu.
"Some movies are not safe for you to see because they're too scary." Brock started. "Others might contain some bad words or involve events you don't need to see just yet. But anything marked with the letter G is safe for you to watch."
Emi smiled.
"Only the paper uses letters and numbers instead of colors." Dawn smiled as she finished marking her side of the movie column.
Emi asked. Pikachu and Piplup nodded. They watched as the three humans conferred on which of the movies listed was the best choice.
After a while, Pikachu noticed that the humans of the house had appeared to reach an agreement. "What about this one?" he heard Ash say.
"'Pokemon League Road Trip'?" Dawn was interested. She pictured a movie about what many trainers did: travel around the world and win badges.
"I don't know..." Brock was unsure. He imagined the same journey, only peppered with expletives and inappropriate material he felt Emi was not old enough to see.
"It's rated G!" Ash protested, showing Brock the newspaper listing for the movie.
"It's about this boy and how his mom is reluctant to let him go on a journey...so she comes along with him and his friends, and the mayhem that ensues from there." Dawn added, referring to the movie summary. Emi giggled at this--if this mother was anything like Brock in a crazy mood, she wanted to see!
"Oh, all right...we'll go see that movie then." Brock reluctantly agreed, piqued by Emi's giggling as he set his plate in the dishwasher and cleared the table. "What's so funny?" he cooed to Emi as his housemates ran to their rooms to get ready to go.
Emi asked. Brock just sweatdropped at the question as the other Pokemon laughed.
Several hours later...
"Here we are, little girl...the movie theater." Brock smiled as he set Emi on his shoulder. Emi just decided to gawk at the number of people and Pokemon in line, which ranged from tiny Pichus and Happinis like her to Blazikens and Machokes. She waved at a Pichu, but she didn't see if it had waved back before it came to be her master's turn in line.
"Three, please." Ash told the usher as he deposited his own payment at the counter. Once the group had their tickets, they walked inside the theater, where a line was quickly forming at the snack bar and the arcade.
Emi was impressed at the rainbow colors of the lights and the bleeps and bloops of the arcade.
"I'm glad you think so..." Brock smiled as the group approached the snack bar counter. "Now, what kind of candy would you like to eat during the movie?"
"Remember, only one thing." Dawn cautioned as she accepted some popcorn for herself and Gummi Teddiursas for Piplup.
Emi glanced inside the case that housed the candy. Skitty Crunchies, Reese's cups, Minty Balls, Gummi Teddiursas and Gummi Wurmples--there were so many possibilities to choose from, and she could only choose one of the delicious treats.
Pikachu suggested as he accepted his candy from Ash.
Piplup suggested as he bit into a red Gummi Teddiursa. Emi just nodded to tell her friends that she appriciated their help, but she was going to make the decision herself. Just then, she glanced again at the Minty Balls--the greenish white box depicting orbs of chocolate with green mint filling looked the most appealing for this outing.
"Well?" Brock asked before noticing Emi pointing at the Minty Balls. "Those? All right."
Piplup snickered. Pikachu giggled as well as the group started down the hallway of theaters with their treats.
Emi was curious.
Pikachu stammered before hurrying to catch up to Ash.
In the theater...
After leading his friends down the dimly lit aisle and into the middle of the theater, Brock settled in his seat with Emi in one arm. "Now..when it gets dark, that means we have to be quiet so everyone can pay attention to the movie." he explained. "So no commentary or shouting advice to the characters." he added, shooting a wary glance at Pikachu and Piplup, who were whispering their predictions over what the new serial that was due to start would be about.
Emi yawned as she curled up in her master's hands with her candy. She popped a Minty Ball in her mouth, every so often observing the people and Pokemon coming in the theater; or her two friends arguing a few seats over.
Piplup declared.
Pikachu retorted. He was about to eleborate on his position when the room went dark and the projector began to whir. After counting down 3...2...1... a green screen that read "The following preview has been rated G" appeared.
Emi nudged Brock. she asked, gesturing to the screen.
"That means that this upcoming movie is safe for you to watch." Brock explained before he turned his attention to the scene of a familiar silver pendant rotating on the screen.
He was a boy who thought his passion for singing would amount to nothing.... an announcer began as the image of the spinning treble clef pendant faded into a brown haired boy trying to sing, but sounding horribly flat and off-key. This cut to a scene of a teacher saying "If he wants to be a rock singer, he'll have to start working on that voice."
But little did he know that when he met a very special Beautifly... the announcer continued before the scene faded to the boy staring at a Beautifly that was glowing a faint blue.The Beautifly said to the boy "Thank you for releasing me!", but the boy stammered "But how can you talk?"
He would gain the power... The scene showed the Beautifly pressing the pendant from earlier into the boy's hands. It then told him "Sing the first phrase that comes to mind...don't be afraid to unlock the power inside you."
To become an idol... The announcer let the phrase hang as a tense hit played.
Suddenly, the scene shifted to the boy holding his hand in the air as he sang in a noticably older voice Ai-yai-yai, I'm your little Beautifly! Green, black, and blue; make the colors in the sky! The theater cheered as the boy began to transform into a man with long silver hair.
Pikachu was excited.
Piplup replied as the transformation continued onscreen.
Emi was confused.
"You know the cartoon 'The Adventures of Kochou and the Beautiflies'?" Brock asked.
Emi smiled.
Brock continued "What you're seeing is a little taste of what the movie version of that show will be like when it comes out in a few months." He gestured to the screen, which now displayed the movie's opening date: "Rocking theaters everywhere this July."
Emi mused as she consumed another Minty Ball. She was about to fall asleep as the previews continued, when suddenly, a blaring fanfare jarred her awake! she asked.
"Time for the moment you've all been waiting for." Brock explained as the screen proclaimed the serial's title: "The Perils of Pit" Suddenly, a winged boy with brown hair breezed through the title, his majestic wings making a whoosh that could be heard all throughout the theater.
Emi cried, her eyes turning to hearts at she admired the Grecian decor on the boy's clothing; particularly the white tunic that fluttered in the wind. The golden laurels that crowned the boy's hair were just as beautiful in her mind.
"You like Pit already?" Brock smiled down at his pint sized charge. Emi nodded, her eyes still transfixed on the boy soaring through the clouds on the screen as the opening credits to the serial rolled.
Piplup agreed before refocusing his attention on the screen.
"The Land of Angels...a utopia the forces of goodness call home." the announcer explained as the image of a city made of rainbows appeared on the screen. "Ruled by the Great Angel Palutena, every angel stands ready to defend the world below from demons and monsters." Some dragons and bat creatures appeared on the screen to emphasize the announcer's point. Suddenly, an arrow impaled a snake monster as Pit soared into the city. "One of the rising stars in the Great Angel's Royal Guards is Pit, a young angel with a thirst for adventure. With his mistress' guidance, he travels across the land above and the human world below with his best friend Sylvia." At the mention of the name, a female angel with flowing black hair and dressed similarly to Pit appeared onscreen.
Pikachu whispered as Pit and Sylvia soared skyward.
Piplup replied as he watched the two angels fly by.
The scene shifted to the inside of a palace, where the two young angels knelt before an older female angel. Emi asked, piqued by the older angel onscreen.
"I guess that's Palutena." Brock replied. He stretched for a moment, then refocused on the screen.
"...so I charge you two with winning back the three Treasures from Medusa's lair...will you do this?" Palutena explained to the two angels. Pit and Sylvia nodded affirmatively.
Emi perked up at the name Medusa. <"Isn't that the monster with Ekans for hair?"> she asked Brock.
Brock just chuckled and replied "I see you've found my mythology book."
"I appriciate your interest, but I can't pause the big TV." Brock explained, gesturing to the screen, which now depicted the two angels fighting winged snakes in the sky. "So hold your questions until we get home."
<"Okay..."> Emi sighed. She wanted to know so much about Pit's world, but this wasn't the TV at home--if she were watching it at home, he would easily pause the action of Pit and Sylvia battling to explain what had happened so far, or what story, myth or legend had inspired what they were watching. Not only that, but if Brock had to explain it to her now, he wouldn't be able to see the unfolding events on screen.
<"Oh no!"> Pikachu gasped as a snake grabbed Sylvia. Everyone watched as Pit started frantically flying after the snake, but seconds before he could get close to save her, another snake monster lashed at him, sending him falling down...down...down...
"Will Pit survive the harrowing plunge?" the announcer asked over the scene of Pit falling. "Will Sylvia be forever impressed in the fortress? Don't miss Part 2 in this theater next week!" With that, the scene faded to black.
Emi teared up. she started.
Brock froze--he wanted to assure the Happini before him that it was just a movie, but he could not bring himself to reply with that sort of answer when his pride and joy really clicked with the heroic characters he saw week in and week out. He swallowed hard and replied. "Don't worry, Pit will be okay, I promise."
Emi asked, a weak smile forming through tears.
"Yeah..." Brock replied. "But we have to wait a week before we find out how Pit stops falling." he cautioned as the opening credits to the main feature rolled.
Emi couldn't concentrate on the boy, his overbearing mother, the Spoink that wired itself on coffee, the League battles, or even the karaoke sing along to "Gotta Catch'em All" the boy performed on a bus--she wanted to know how Pit escaped from falling, and soon.
To Be Continued...
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 4:53 pm
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Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 5:09 pm
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Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 10:54 am
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Reply
