Who Cares About the New Year?

 Happy New Year!

Well here we are, ladies and gents, the last Thursday of the year. I would like to take this opportunity to say 'Thanks' to everyone who have been reading this blog so far. And that, I mean the only two people who have even done jack with this thing is me. That's right: I haven't had a single reader since I debuted on Blogger in August. Except for one person who invited me to the IMAX festival in MD, this place has been empty. I know I'm not Perez Hilton or a professional in journalism with many awards to show off how I've busted my ass to provide legitimate information about the goings-on in Hollywood to my friends. At this point, maybe I should take the advice that I was given by one of my friends and move on to WordPress. I bet there will be a lot more people who will give me the time of day to support my endeavors. I don't have write these blogs for my health.

If anyone has any options as to how I can receive a bigger audience who will take a look at my page, let me know in the comments. I might still be an amateur but I'm not going to give up on this page. I can't wait to see what awaits me in 2011. There better be a woman and a trip down to Florida with my name on it. If the chick's Demi, throw her down my way. I'll prove that she can do better than a Jo Bro. If you don't know who I'm referring to, you need to get some teen magazines and read. Better yet, watch Disney Channel. I need someone who will suffer with me watching the 1000th Suite Life on Deck rerun.

I have to give credit to the site who owns the above message:

http://www.zazzle.com/happy_new_year_2011_dog_shirt-155033411876277852 

Want your puppy to celebrate with you tomorrow night as we bring in 2011? Click the link.

Nightmare Before Christmas 2?

One of the biggest pieces of entertainment news just sprung to my attention. Apparently, as if Hot Topic needs more merchandise with Jack Skellington's face, Tim Burton is planning on making a sequel to The Nightmare Before Christmas. I didn't see the film when it was released in theaters and enjoyed it when it was on TV, but do we really need a sequel? Wasn't Corpse Bride enough? That's right, it's considered to be the Dark Horse, excuse me, one of the few Dark Horses from the Burton Library; the second being Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I can even add Sleepy Hollow to the mix but whatever. People are going to eat this film up.

I know that there are some people who are thinking to themselves: What's the story? So far, there haven't been any details. Plus, the fact that this came from the mouth of Pee-Wee Herman isn't really saying much. There has to be proof in writing or from Mr. Burton himself about this project. We already know Burton already has his wife, Christopher Lee, and one of his most overrated and overused stars Johnny Depp lined up to be a part of this cast, but what does anyone from the cast of the original film has to say about this? 'At least the production budget will be less than that of Tron: Legacy', that's what.

The sequel might be made on a $20-$30 million budget, give or take. Then again, I don't know if that will be enough. Why should I even be worried about this? I'm not working on this film. For the people who's against the idea, they're not working on this film either....if it's the real deal of course. If you want more proof, check out the link below.

http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/41644/exclusive-tim-burton-working-nightmare-christmas-sequel

UPDATE: December 31st, 2010, 1:26 AM: There WON'T, I repeat, won't be a sequel to The Nightmare Before Christmas. It's a relief to a lot of hardcore fans and to me since I had mentioned that the film would be made just to get more merchandise in Hot Topics all across the U.S. I think Paul Reubens should think about what to say before it becomes public news. The update can be found in the link below:

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/A-Nightmare-Before-Christmas-2-Is-Not-In-The-Works-22411.html

Moving away from this story, I want to inform everyone, whoever reads this blog, that I'm going to be a bit slow with getting some movie reviews up. It doesn't mean that I won't work on them, because I have, but it means that it'll take a while until this blog is updated. This will also be true when it comes to the new year depending on whatever I see. So far, I'm thinking of having something up for 'Sucker Punch', coming in March 2011, starring Emily Browning, Jamie Chung, and Vanessa Hudgens along with any film that catches my interest such as 'Thor', 'Green Lantern', and 'Cowboys and Aliens'.

I'll let everyone know about what's up on my Facebook and Twitter. You can also contact me on Skype but you'll have to ask me first.

Tron: Legacy: The Ratings Shouldn't Matter

I've known about the rating for Tron Legacy for a good while before it was announced online a couple of weeks ago. You can't tell me that you didn't think of a PG or PG-13 when you saw the trailers. Sure the film could be harmless and the rating was created because the MPAA thought that it was different from Disney's other G-rated live action films. I know that I never knew that there were live-action films rated G from the mouse House when I was younger because as I was growing up, if a film involved live actors, have light or heavy cursing, some light or hardcore action sequences and sensual or sexual content that can also be heavy or light, the films gain a PG, PG-13 or R. We all know about the XXX rating so I won't have to explain it. At Toonzone.net, I found a post from one of the members who had his reasons about not seeing the upgrade to the Disney classic that relates to everything that I just said. To remind those who still don't know the rating for Tron: Legacy, here's a reminder:

Tron: Legacy is rated PG "for sequences of sci-fi action violence and brief mild language".


Now here's the person's response:

"Personally, I'm kind of relieved. I don't think I would have been able to see this movie if it had gotten a PG-13 rating, because that would mean that not everyone could see it, plus PG-13 just doesn't suit "Disney" (which means for example, had the PotC movies been released as "Touchstone", then I might have been more willing to watch them).

Now, I don't want this topic to turn into a debate about movie ratings or a debate about "Disney" vs. "Touchstone". This is just how I feel about it. I now look forward to watching Tron: Legacy when it comes out next Friday."

Here's my defense for the film:

"You really thought of not watching the film if it was rated PG-13? I'm not ridiculing you but I have to point out that, like all of the movie studios in Hollywood and elsewhere, Disney is a business. Like any business, it has to change to fit with the times. If it means catering to an older crowd with remakes, movies with material not suitable to a Saturday morning cartoon or having a multi-billion dollar franchise combining Disney classic films with characters from the Final Fantasy series, it will do so. If it means more money in their pockets, it will do whatever it takes to make ends meet and prevent themselves from being behind many other movie studios who have felt fine with creating films for people of all ages since the beginning of the movie industry. Now, I know that Disney will never make a film that will be rated R ever in its history, but you have to admit that since Disney's name was all over Pirates of the Caribbean since the ride was created decades ago, it would have felt out of place if, what you said about Touchstone being the distributor of the first trilogy of the Pirates films, other names of one of Disney's smaller movie studios were in the titles.

I'm seeing Tron: Legacy regardless of its rating. What you said about not seeing the film if it wasn't PG is like saying that you won't see For Colored Girls, which has been sinking like a stone in the Top 12/15, due to its original title from its original source material and the fact that it's Tyler Perry's first film when he's only the director and is rated R. I've been avoiding a lot of the preview clips and besides what I've seen in the trailers on TV and in theaters, I should be in quite a surprise come December 17th. Maybe Touchstone Pictures could have been the distributor of this particular film but think about it. Was its name in the original title of the first Tron? No. Who owns it, the sequel and whatever money it receives from pre-orders of the Tron: Evolution video game, Tron: Legacy toys, and other merchandise from the film? Who will be accepting the ticket sales both on the first day of release, pre-order, and the days following its release? It all goes back to the Mouse House.

Add the fact that Touchstone haven't had a decent hit this year. You Again, The Last Song, and When in Rome all received a lot of negative buzz this year. You can argue that Step Up 3D did well for Touchstone back in August but even that has the notion of being the worst performing film of the Step Up series. This could affect the planned Step Up 4, if it ever comes to fruition but while the company deserves a strong performing film, Disney's willing to not worry about it and think about what other future projects they can finance with the amount of money it'll receive from a film that has its haters and adoring fans like many films before it. Plus, this will be the first time people can listen to the music of Daft Punk even if they don't know that the band has a film, Interstella 5555, that, besides the hardcore fans praising the animation in said feature, has gone ignored for years.

I apologize if I have offended anyone but if anyone here was running a movie company, wouldn't it make sense to cater to have films catered to everyone regardless of rating? Shouldn't we let the ticket sales prove to us that the performances of the films are both strong and weak no matter what else we do to ensure success with the films whether it's bouncing between release dates, changing the film format to 3D, or deciding whether or not it'll be a nationwide/worldwide release or in selected theaters?"

Now it's up to you to decide. Would you see a film or, in this case, Tron Legacy, regardless of the rating? What about films have to convince you to watch them rather than waiting three months later and await the DVD/Blu-Ray release?

My Rambings About Tangled

While I'm still working on writing up my review for here and my blog, I'll be the first to say that the film was okay. I loved Maximus and Mother Grothel especially her songs but there were portions of the film that were forgettable. Not even the little chameleon made me crack a smile but then again, we had the well-animated horse so there was no way he could compete. I wish that there was more to Mother Grothel other than needing the flower to keep her youth. There wasn't any mention about if she was a witch or not. She was more human but given a curse it seemed. Also, since when babies come out of the womb with the hair length of a girl who's about four years old? It's one of the things I don't understand about films even though there was probably a passage of time from the time Rapunzel was born to the time she was cooing in her crib.

The Vikings were interesting although I already forgot their names. I know about their wishes but the whole song-and-dance number, while interesting, was also as forgettable as some of the songs from the film. Then again, if I take a listen to the soundtrack over and over again, the songs will be crammed in my head. Then again, after seeing The Princess and the Frog last year, I didn't have to wait until I received the soundtrack to have any of the songs to get stuck in my head.

While this film is the last of the fairy tales for now, I think that it pales in comparison to last year's Princess Classic however it was colorful and attractive calling back, once again, Maximus to the main lead even with her long hair in a braid. I'll admit that I grew to like Rapunzel and she's an interesting woman. Using her hair to swing around a tree to rescuing Flynn from being captured by his former cohorts and the Royal Army is, to me, the first superpower given to any young woman of Disney's history in the times of knights, handsome thieves, and no damsel in distress except near the end.

I think what held this film from being interesting to me was the plot. So what that Rapunzel wanted to see the many paper lanterns in the sky. I said to myself, 'The other princesses had better goals especially Princess Tiana who had to work, work, work in order to get what she wanted.' I know that it was another way of telling us that Rapunzel wanted to get out and see what she has been missing throughout her 18 years of being held in the tallest tower in the hidden sector of the forest but I wished that her goal in life was something better and stronger even when the film was in writing.

This isn't a film I'll pick up on DVD/Blu-Ray next year but I would show people Tangled to take a look at examples to assist them with transitioning the dynamics of 2D animation to be used effectively in a CGI film. This gains two out of my personal rating of four stars. With the animated projects we're getting next year from Disney, maybe they, or even one, might come off as being better than what I saw yesterday afternoon. Also, the marketing for the film didn't work since there were more little girls with their families than guys. Better luck next time with trying to reach your true demographic Disney. Then again, with their fairy tales, I don't need to be shown action in the trailers. I don't need to have commercials made exclusively for males my age and younger to pull them into this film. I'm not going to be negative on this film but I can see Disney complaining about not making a lot of money with this film. It could be The Princess and the Frog all over again but, in my opinion, it'll still collect enough money to be used for other future projects so I wouldn't complain.

For the trailers preceding the movie, none of them interested me. I already know that I'll check out Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader but everything else I'm skipping from Justin Bieber in Never Say Never 3D to Yogi Bear 3D although I might check out Cars II. Once you see the trailers for a lot of films online, you get tired of them once you have to deal with them before any film you watch in theaters.

Dreamworks’ MegaMind in IMAX 3D

How long has it been since Shrek 4? Like Tyler Perry and Disney, Dreamworks knows how it makes its money by releasing two-three films in one year. This is its most advertised film but it can also be lucked out from receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature since, let’s be honest, we know that Disney/Pixar is taking home with the gold after claiming the title of Best Animated Feature OF ALL TIME. That film’s definitely going to be tough to match. MegaMind, featuring Will Ferrell as the titular blue-headed villain and Brad Pitt as Metro City’s Metro Man, which opens this Friday is a lot of fun than I originally thought it would be. Like Despicable Me, the film amps up its wow factor in bits and pieces from seeing Hal Stewart (Jonah Hill), camera man for news reporter and frequent damsel-in-distress Roxanna Ritchi (Tina Fey) turn evil to the final battle that ends with what is the norm of all CG films: a dance number. If you have seen the commercials, you’ve seen most of the film but in case you haven’t: MegaMind and Metro Man both came from neighbor planets being sucked into a black hole sent to Earth who live out two different lives: MegaMind gets sent to a state penitentiary after being bumped by Metro Man’s ship as babies with Metro Man living in a rich family.

Fast forward a few years and we find that Mega Mind is having trouble fitting in at school with him making the decision of being the villain. Metro Man, fast forward about a good 20 years or so, becomes the pointy-chinned, Superman hair carrying stud who later dies from one of Mega Mind’s schemes with the assistance of his partner Minion (David Cross). Cut to Mega Mind taking over the city and later regretting his plan of killing him. Without good to battle evil, what does evil do? Rather than creating a mind-controlled slave army, Mega Mind decides to create a pill with Metro Man’s DNA that accidentally ends up in Hal Stewart’s nose turning the loser whose attempt to win Ms. Ritchi with a bouncy house and dip fails when compared to Mega Mind’s switcheroo to being a the librarian of the Metro Man Museum, falling in love with Ms. Ritchi while training Hal to handle his powers and becoming the city’s newest hero in the process. Like Despicable Me, the film, at once thought to never hold my interest, grabbed me with one character in particular, Hal, mirroring the look of his voice actor along with making me think of being the illegitimate son of Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles’ Syndrome. 

            With the advance screening I attended, the theater still had a few seats open to the public. For a film that had made it to the Guinness Book of Records for the Largest Gathering of Superheroes, that’s a bit of a disappointment. With my screening being on IMAX 3D, I can see why there weren’t a lot of people there. Some may have been turned off by the 3D aspect which has been one of the factors that have led to 3D films making less than most studios predict that they should. The film looks great in 3D although when tilting your head left or right, you lose the effect. The film delivered tons of laughs and awws from the audience but I grew tired of them after the first 10 minutes and the final 10 minutes even with a scene where the audience think a character’s going to die but lives. For a film that receives three out of four stars, it can be forgettable. As a guy mentioned while leaving the theater, he was mixed saying that it could had done more to appeal to both audiences. The problem is that he never fully explained what went wrong in the film. On Friday, more people will give their view on this film and it will be clear whether or not this is worth your money. To me, it was worth the price of admission if you have a free pass.

Nothing Good Comes Out From Working with Toys

I don't know why I continue applying for these idiots. I'm already losing money from purchasing lunch on campus to going to the movies and making purchases to please myself be it a new manga volume or a new t-shirt (I still don't know whether or not I should regret buying this DuckTales t-shirt yesterday or not). By the time I looked at how much was still left in my pocket, I knew that soon, I would be back asking my parents for cash. This was a route I didn't want to take. I applied everywhere from Sears to K-Mart to today's victim of my hate Toys R Us. Why should anyone apply to work for them is anyone's guess? The store continues to send me e-mails about me not being good enough to work at any of their positions especially that of a team member where I would begin as a cashier and slowly working myself up the corporate ladder until I become a manager. At this point, I rather be the manager so that I can make other potential candidates feel bad rather than the other way around where I have to fall victim to being left out in the cold while having to hear on the news or read online about the biggest lie coming from one of the country's biggest toy stores. I mean what do I have to to get the company's attention?

I'm not even going to bother with them anymore. They can go on and hire some newbie fresh from college for all I care. I'm surprised that people my age and lower can get a job and I can't. Is it because of me being in school? That was one of the reasons I was applied to work at Shopper's World but also was mistreated there. Guess this means that this Christmas, I'm not going to get anything. Good bye my future copy of Toy Story 3  Blu-Ray+DVD+Digital Copy Combo Pack. Good-bye to that Combo Pack copy of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Blame the corporate roulette that chooses candidates that the store think are good enough to work for the company even though there are plenty of people out here who can do much better with their job descriptions than they ever could.   

Stop Complaining PTC!

Hey, what do you know? I'M BACK!! What's new? Well not much except the PTC (Parent Television Council) complaining about three of the members from Fox's 'Glee' being in provocative photos with GQ Magazine publishing the photos and actress Dianna Agron having having a defense and an apology. Agron's sorry for the photos while the magazine says that the actors are old enough to do what they want. I have to agree that everyone's complaining about nothing. First, there's porn. There's so much of it that no one from any adult group, from what I remember, have complained recently about wanting to protect kids from adult images online and in your local 7-11 store. Here's the thing: the PTC, about two weeks ago, was complaining about Miley's new European single turned "adult" music video with her gyrating with boys and girls. I can't say a lot about both stories since there have been so many web sites discussing about these issues, all I can say is stop complaining. The PTC's worse than me having to write about everyday being a bad one because of past regrets and feeling that I don't have a lot of close friends. My words may not have a lot of strength to make sure that the PTC's weakened to the point of being turned away from its responsibilities of being the parents for children with parents who think they're good providers yet not the best to guard them from material that they'll see once they get to my age. Let's all complain about something else such as Taylor Swift's popularity. At age 20, how many more break-ups does she need to go through to create song after sone about heartbreak. recovery, and finding a better guy in her life? It's all been done and those themes have been covered in other songs written and sung by those who have been around the block about 25-40 years. Time to sing about something else sister.

Here's the link of one of the two stories covering the PTC babying children from celebs they've come to adore:

'Glee' Photoshoot Too Sexy? Yeah right.

'Tower Prep' "Pilot" Review Part 1

With three shows dead in the water for the fall, I decided to take the chance to watch CN's newest live-action series taking another look in high-school life: Tower Prep. It begins with a fight where our protagonist (Drew Van Acker) who looks like he just came out from an Abercrombie and Fitch photoshoot takes part in a fight to protect a lowly freshman when he's sent home only to end up having a good ol' family dinner, playing an MMO only to talk with a player named Whisper119 and end up in a preparatory school the next morning. From here, he tries to figure out how he got to the school and planning an escape. What made me laugh from the first 15 minutes of the show is how easy you can recognize characters such as the potential rivals and love interest and calling bullshit when the head master informs Ian about why he was brought to the school with saying that it was a "lucky guess" when he brings up a past memory that might have a connection with his out-of-control behavior. Then again, after one fight and a brief tiff with another student in his new dorm, there's not a lot of fighting per say but then again, it's just the pilot. Oh did I mention that he might have the power to drown out sound. Either that or he have some faulty software. There's also something called The Program where, from what I'm guessing, is a program training young minds to learn to enhance their special abilities. So yeah, that last part will make you think of X-Men but let's see how this show goes. More about this episode later.

Gosh, I have a TV Show. Napoleon's Back.

While browsing around online, I came across this little piece of information. It turns out that we're getting an animated series based on the film Napoleon Dynamite. I have been tracking down this little project since Toonzone.net had talked about it earlier this August and I really like the character designs. They all look like the characters they're representing and though the show might be too little, too late, who knows how funny it will be? At least it will be on a faster pace than the film itself which, while funny, felt too long though it wasn't anywhere near the 100 minute mark. If anyone checks it out, let me know what you thought of it. In case anyone's expecting this to die a short death, it's only six episodes.

Mid-Term Bombs

What is this pit in my stomach? Is it heartbreak? I had to go through that all of last week. Is it hunger? No, I had to deal with that everyday but won't get to filling myself up until around 12, 11 this morning at the latest. It's the feeling of guilt and disappointment as I have to deal with the final three mid-terms along with having upcoming projects that I haven't worked on because of my own laziness and the feeling that the teachers should have given us some more time to prepare ourselves. I was blessed to receive a B for my first mid-term of the semester though I had to cram a bit a couple minutes before that class began. I was feeling so sure about myself around then but forgot to give all of my devoted attention to studying for both Main Currents in American Literature and Principles of Film and Media Production. *sigh* It's days like these that I wish Maryland had balls to actually keep us out of school until tomorrow. That would have given me more time to study the latter class but brings me one inch closer to dealing with Ms. DC again.

Ms. DC's the reason why I don't want to take this exam. Like Mr. L, I was given a brief account of what would be on the mid-term. The bad news was that it would be more analysis over many bodies of work from the likes of Emily Dickinson, President Abe Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and many more. I wished that I, along with the rest of the class, was told about the authors that we specifically have to study for this test rather than re-read everything from the beginning of the semester until last Thursday because this led me to receiving a D+ for Origins of Western Art. Teachers need to be better prepared is all as well as me. Then again, I was told that retaking classes from my last major would be a waste considering that my current major or a future interest in being in Mass Communication would me that I would need about two semesters or three until I can graduate. Oh boy. /:

What's Black, White and Red All Over? The Pokemaniacs vs. Nintendo.

Well, well, well. Nintendo has it out for all of the fan sites promoting one of their most popular cash cows. Last weekend, a letter arrive on Serebii.net's footstep from a higher-up from the company informing it and other partner sites to remove all of the sprites and images of the new additions to the already too many for my taste roster now grown to hold 649 Pokemon. While most fans have discussed about what they wanted to have as part of their teams with the release of the Japanese Pokemon Black and White on the horizon and my country's versions coming to a local Game Stop come early Spring 2011, others have thought of this as a silly move. Nintendo had never gone this far to ban a fan site to remove anything in relation to any of their past games. When HeartGold and SoulSilver were in Japan, most of those same mentioned fans wanted to know more about how the worlds of Johto and Kanto were expanded and enhanced. There wasn't a problem about what screenshots could and couldn't be shown. There wasn't a problem with showing off the trainers' character designs or those of the Pokemon. This tactic is silly and one that, had Nintendo done this from the start of the series back in the late '90's, we would understand. We're in 2010! There will be more people leaking images and video gameplay from any and all video games. There will be more "illegal" downloading and music files. Heck, we're still going to be sitting pretty at home with a bowl of popcorn in our arms as we watch films that would had cost us close to about $10 or more to see now in theaters.

Nintendo, beyond angering the fans, if you didn't want anyone to see any of the new Pokemon designs, that only means one thing: You've lost all creativity! In other words, this generation, the 5th I believe, sucks. It's almost saying, "We're sorry that we tried so hard to create more monsters for you, the fans, to collect. We know that you'll going to waste countless hours collecting them along with using Game Shark and other cheating programs but before judging on how you'll catch the clown otter, we need more time to perfect the designs so that you won't be ashamed in plopping down your $35-$40 buying any of our two games." Yeah, yeah, that whole quote wasn't as witty as I thought it was going to be but hey, this site's still new. Cut me on some slack. I should cut myself some lack. Nevertheless, the subject is about three days old, or more depending on where you read about this story. If not here, post your thoughts on what you think should be done if Nintendo tries this shtick again for any of their upcoming titles.

Isn't She Precious? We Have Another Photo Controversy!

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/was-gabourey-sidibes-skin-lightened-for-the-cover-of-elle-2391180/

Without reading this article, one thought popped in my mind after reading its title: We're still talking about Precious again? While the film received praise from loads of critics yet there were others such as myself who, like I did with Avatar, thought that it was just okay/average. After her mother was voted off 'America's Got Talent' this summer, here's Gabourey Sidibe as the target of a new controversy. I don't know why people are making a big deal out of it seeing that there were a lot of lights shining down on her face when this photo was taken. I know that most magazine companies will go through editing photographs of celebrities and models to sell the latest issue of any magazine in stores now. A young boy's nose can be reduced to being, to the head honcho, too big for his face, for example. A woman's breasts can be increased to add some "ba-dunk" (I know "ba-dunk" sometimes refer to the buttocks) to attract the man's eye. Compared to those, the skin lighting is nothing. Then again, it's up for you to decide after you click the link. What do you think? Was Sidibe duped into having her picture taken only to have her real identity hidden because some people are still afraid of African-Americans? What's wrong with a BBW, big, black and beautiful woman being on the cover of Elle magazine?

My Two Cents: Love in My Barnes and Noble? WROOONG!!

I don’t get it. Here I am listening to the new podcast of LEOG and the discussion was talking about Scott Pilgrim vs. the World leading into the members talking about how to find love and their worse break-ups. Once the gang got into talking about the places to meet people who have common interests who could end up being some people’s other halves, I called bullshit on everything they said. Why? To bring up a piece of my past, I met two girls at a Barnes and Noble with one who titled me the ‘Mama’s Boy’ through Myspace when I began talking with her and her best friend who, back then, had a boyfriend. While the best friend was okay with me excusing them to talk about Tigercon, my school’s one-day anime convention, and told them what made me the person I am today, I still remember the other girl blowing me off. In fact, if I didn’t think back to that incident, I could think of many times where I saw some attractive women who never paid any attention to me. I can go so far back to my high school days or the beginning of my attendance at Towson where even when I talked with some girls, I wasn’t going anywhere with them. Returning to the present, I told myself plenty of times that if I was driving or was gifted enough to play an instrument that I would have gone from being a watcher of Internet porn to being one who lost his V-card with someone who hopefully would stick with me for the long haul. I believe that I’m not going to find anyone and it’s simple as that. I know about the changes I have to make but I feel that, even with some misfires with past relationships, I should had already found someone and I don’t. I know that this is me complaining about me not being able to find love, but I don’t know what else to say about the matter. I know that I can be better than this but if you feel that everything said in the link around the 119:34 mark is filled with false information, post your thoughts below.

All rights of this podcast go to Spill.com:

http://my.spill.com/profiles/blogs/league-of-extremely-ordinary-338

6 Seasons in One World? Well, There's Always Fanfiction

Who would had thought that 4Chan was the place where fans of the famed anime series Digimon could come up with theories about how all six seasons could fit in one world? There may be others that could answer the question about whether or not there's continuity through all six seasons of the series but it made me think back to when 4Chan was all about spamming threads and starting Internet memes. The people on the site still make sure that it holds up to that standard but the possibilities of all of the Chosen Children, Tamers, Digidestined or whoever you want to call out heroes and heroines of the show meeting up or assisting each other against a common enemy are in the hands of fan fiction writers. Toei Animation could wow us with having all of the leaders fight the good fight instead of having the first five being shown on an album cover to label a collection of theme songs that branched through the years of 1999-2009. 

Some of the information written here may/may not hold true to Digi-fans but who knows? I saw everything going the route ofPower Rangers with the continuation stopped once Power Rangers in Space ended though there were portions in Power Rangers Lost Galaxy that tried to put both of them together. By the time Power Rangers DinoThunder came around, we were to believe that everything from Mighty Morphin to that particular series to be one ongoing storyline. With Digimon, continuation died after Adventure Zero Two. Every generation was either a fictional season of the Digimon series in Digimon Tamers. It would make sense since but we never knew if Takato and his friends played the Wonderswan games that talked about Ryo and his connection with being a part of Ken’s (Adventure 02) past. With Ryo being a part of the team, it blew Kazu’s mind seeing one of the greatest players of the Digimon card game working alongside him. Had everyone put two and two together, imagine Tamers having an alternate universe plotline where the gang would actually go back to the past before Tai and the others from Adventure 01 came around to save the world. Come on, there should had been an extra season that talked about the very first group of children destined to save both the Digital and Real World. Since the previously mentioned Wonderswan games were never translated into English or heard by anyone except the hardcore fans, someone should had asked Toei to create that season to have everything make sense. Whatever, here are the so-called theories:  

 1) After the Highton View Terrace incident, Gennai and the Sovereigns send out a beacon to summon Takuya and the gang creating Frontier. Unfortunately, they failed at saving the Digiworld, so Gennai and the others decided to pick Tai and the gang and give them partners and Adventure and 02 happen in 4 years. The ending of 02, however, wasn't real, and one of the kids (possibly T.K. because of his children books about his past with Digimon) decided to make an anime, videogame, and card franchise of their adventures, while Kari changes her name and becomes a teacher, and either Gabumon or Patamon get killed or something and an enraged Matt or TK changes their names to Yamaki and forms Hypnos, and Tamers occurs. After the D-Reaper incident, Spencer Damon and some former Hypnos members go to the Digiworld. When they get back, one of them decides to form DATS and Savers happens. After all of that, Xros Wars begins.

2)   02 prevented any kind of sequel because of its crappy ending. Your best bet is to retcon Frontier to a prequel of Adventure (through the original chosen bit), then put that all as a fictional universe relative to Tamers (which puts some unfortunate implications of "fictional character" Ryo becoming "real") then put Savers and Xros Wars in Tamer's universe.

With theory 1, while I mentioned that T.K. was the one who wanted to write and publish children’s books about his adventures in the Digital World, the only people I can think of who would develop a Digimon animated series to exist for his child and the rest of the children of the Adventure 01 and 02 kids would be the production team who worked with his and Yamato’s father. It would make sense since they lived through the onslaught of Myotismon and his Digimon army trying to find the Eighth Child. It would also had been funny if, in the season finale of Tamers, the camera zooms out and we find out that it was all a television series within a television series. It’s almost like Inception: another mindfuck waiting to happen.

Theory two? See my explanation about Theory one. Then again, theory two didn’t mention anything about Adventure 01 and 02 except to suggest people to ignore that the ‘who married who’ ending that made the fans rage for years on out even today. Anyone else have any possible theories about how all of the series in Digimon could had been all in one world?

My Two Cents: No Drop-in Co-Op or Online Gameplay for 'Scott Pilgrim vs. the World?

I could care less about online co-op. To me, most game reviewers have seen the absence of it to be an Achilles' heel for the game's final rating. For example, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World for the PS3 and XBox 360 has a single player mode yet you have to play as all four characters: Scott, Ramona, Stephen and Kim.

Since the game isn't available for the handhelds which I consider THAT to be more of a unforgivable crime from Ubisoft, if I were playing the game, I would be fine going through all seven levels alone. That's how I've been playing all of my games up until today unless you count Pokemon Soul Silver for trades with friends. I don't know if anyone feels the same way I do but check out IGN.com's review of the game.

http://ps3.ign.com/dor/objects/22138/scott-pilgrim/videos/spillgrim_vdr_080910.html

While the game might be repetitive with you having to defeat the same enemies over and over until you have to face against Ramona's Evil Exes, it still looks to be a lot of fun.

Thoughts on the Weekend Box Office August 13-15, 2010

Let's get this out of the way: The Expendables didn't have every major action celebrity ever. Has anyone read about why Van Damme declined to be in the movie? How about people talking about some of the other action stars that weren't in here like Steven Segal, Wesley Snipes, or Chuck Norris? Plus, for a film that said that it was going be the only time we would going to see Stallone and his men on the big screen again, once the news came out about him writing a sequel, I knew that the film's advertising was nothing but a lie.

As for Scott Pilgrim, don't think of the failure having anything to do with people getting tired of Michael Cera or the fact that people have a snooze fest in a film that's full of fight after fight after fight with jokes and conversations between the main and supporting cast. It's because, unlike Captain America or Iron Man, the graphic novel series never had a big name. It might had received some good comments from Joss Whedon and Ain't It Cool News and awards praising on how great the combo was with video games and anime mixed with a teenage rom-com, but when a film that was made for geeks by geeks, it'll gain a cult following but some critics will tear it to shreds even though they were very harsh of Expendables and Eat, Pray, Love. Personally, I could care less about the latter AND the other films coming out this week. Vampires Suck? My one word review: Horrible. Piranhas 3D? Not interested. Those last two one word movie reviews can also be related to the film Lottery Ticket.

This movie season's over for me and I'll try to satisfy my cravings for a good time in theaters with seeing Scott Pilgrim again. The odds of it being thrown out of theaters within a week or two are a bit higher since it was unable to make as much as Kick-Ass, another indie comic book film that most critics hated, we loved, and made back its budget yet came off as a disappointment if we add the advertising costs. With that said, for everyone checking out any of the new films this week, have a great time but I'm moving on into the possible mediocre Fall Movie Season.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Movie Review

"Next time, we won't date the girl with the 11 evil ex-boyfriends." - Stacey Pilgrim

"Seven." - Scott Pilgrim

"Oh that's not so bad." - Stacey Pilgrim

From being a title of a Plumtree song to being the star of his own film, Scott Pilgrim has gone far since the beginning of his graphic novel origins back in 2004 with Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life. What I loved about the books is that it was something I never expected. Along with Megatokyo, it was a twist on the story of finding your true love and realizing that everything you've done whether it be dating other people to see who can be the other half or dreaming about that perfect person and finding out that she/he has a lot of baggage coming into a growing relationship, you've never had a fun time than this.

             Even if your head's hurting from being smashed against brick walls, thrown against a castle, or sent through the sky by a superpowered Vegan, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was great. Sure it'll be another Kick-Ass judging by its small audience and six showtimes in my theater compared to the 12-13 showtimes of The Expendables and Eat, Pray, Love, but the film, when announced, made fans of the books worried about the casting of Michael Cera as our lovable jerk should worry no more. He knew how to play the character from the behavior to the fighting, even with stunt doubles, he was someone who grew from his repetitive character from Superbad and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. Edgar Wright knew how to use him as being a parody of himself in being a film that didn’t play out like an average teen flick. The rest of the cast was solid from Allison Pill donning the red wig to play the drummer of Scott's band and former flame with back story separate from the film to Ellen Wong who delighted me as a beautiful girl who will do about anything to gain the love that was thought to have been stolen by Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Ramona Flowers. I’ll even give props to Anna Kendrick who has shown that she can do no wrong in any of the films she has been this summer, this being having the most fun. This won’t be the straight-through adaptation people wished it could be but I loved every single minute of it with more love towards the boss battles with some jokes sprinkled throughout.

It's hard to choose the best battles but I loved the insert song with Satya Bhabha as Matthew Patel with his Demon Hipster Chicks and Mae Whitman putting on a Southern accent and whipping out her elastic metal belt as Roxy Richter. Even the final battle, a mix of Ramona and Knives battle in the library in Volume 2 and that of Volume 6 was fast and quick with Scott redeeming himself in front of his friends and Knives. I have to say near the end, I thought that the way Scott and Knives took out Gideon was so beautifully choreographed after the training from Ninja Ninja Revolution, I wouldn't had minded them trying again to be a great couple without Scott having to be forced to break things off with her. Even if it would make fans upset that he didn't end up with Ramona, again applauding Winstead for training for the stunts to pull off that great girl fight with her and Roxy again, Scott and Knives would had worked. It might also because Ellen Wong was cute portraying everyone's favorite Chinese high school stalker girl.

          My gripes, more in my mind than what’s written here, with the film is that it's a shame that the drummer of The Clash at Demonhead, as mentioned before had nothing to do but be in the background even with the conversation between Todd Ingram (Brandon Routh), Envy Adams (Brie Larson) with Ramona, Scott, and Knives interrupting inbetween exchange of words. Another gripe is that Envy and Scott didn't get closure like they did at the end of Volume 6. Once the fight with Todd was over, Scott and Ramona walked away without Envy realizing that she still had a great friend in her former flame. Also, what's with Scott being stabbed by Gideon and not bleed? I know about his 1-Up and the film having all of the villains transform into coins but to some people, it would come off as a 'No, that wouldn't happen in real life' scene. I can see where it was going since most animated shows would have a main/central character die without having blood anywhere to show that he/she was heading to the grave. Everything else missing from the books, hopefully, will make it to the 'Deleted Scenes' section on the inevitable DVD/Blu-Ray release. Would I see it again? Yeah I would. It may not be as many times as I saw Kick-Ass, but it's a film that should be seen on the big screen. If the film doesn't fit your tastes, it's alright and I understand. The summer movie season's about to end and this was one film that definitely put a cap to it.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World receive 4.5 stars out of 5.

         Also, I think Chris Evans deserve to have a movie spin-off as Lucas Lee. I don't know if Universal would be keen to the idea but I wouldn't mind. It would probably be better and funnier than Get Him to the Greek.

Where's the Otakon 2010 Love?

Well, so far, my pictures from Otakon are still on my Facebook. Just hope that I don't end up disappearing off the site again. I never understood why I was removed there the last two times. With no explanation, it almost made me think to myself, 'Oy, Facebook doesn't want me to talk with my friends or tell them about the glorious finds of the Internet when I'm surfing through the Web day after day. Does anyone still use 'Web' to indicate the Internet? Anyway, if you get the chance, friend me and you'll be able to see what I captured last weekend although wished that I could had gotten more video from the Masquerade.

First Post of the Day. Still New to Blogging

Well this is the first time I've done something like this so hopefully everything will be alright. Hey there to anyone who's new to the site. This is DevRenard inviting you to join me as I jump into bringing you news and information related to anything in these categories: anime, film, and video games. The last choice: not too much. The others: They'll be a lot as the year goes by. I would like to say thank you for everyone who participated in this year's Otakon and with making my photo count number go above and beyond that from last year. Then again, that was mostly me acting so excited every time I saw a character I knew wanting to get a picture. Starting today, I'll post up my feelings as well as the cosplayers who worked so hard to make this year's celebration of Japanese culture a big success. We'll pretend that we didn't have the "evacuation" yesterday.