Avengers Review

Oh, The Avengers is out at last. I was able to check it out recently and I decided to write a review on it. I’ve seen all the other Marvel movies and was definitely looking forward to The Avengers. The reason why I was so looking forward to it was because my favorite writer was a part of the movie, Joss Whedon. He wrote and directed the movie. Now Joss Whedon is the creator of Buffy, Angel, Firefly, and Dollhouse. He also wrote Serenity, Atlantis: Lost Empire, Titan A.E., Alien: Resurrection, and Toy Story. I am a Joss Whedon fanboy. Buffy and Angel are my favorite television series’ of all time along with LOST and West Wing. Suffice to say, I was ecstatic when I learned he got the opportunity to head a huge movie like this.

Avengers is all about Loki, Thor’s evil brother wanting revenge on Earth by using a mystical device that can open portals to other worlds. With the help of some off world army, Loki was looking to enslave the people of Earth. S.H.I.E.L.D. was in possession of this mystical device and the leader of SHIELD is Nick Fury. Nick Fury initiated an Avengers program that if the world is in peril that they can call on a group of super heroes to save the Earth. The people that are a part of this program were Iron Man, Hawkeye, The Hulk, Thor, Capt America, and The Black Widow. Together they could be earth’s final defense against destruction.

Much of the first half of the movie consists of the superheroes coming together and not really getting along. They all have very different personalities and they do not trust SHIELD at all. After finally realizing that they need to put aside their differences they team up to battle Loki and his army. Using their amazing strength, powers, and skills, they battle for earth.

What Joss is able to do is add his style of dialogue and humor into the movie so that it breaks up the scenes nicely and the audience never really gets restless. The plot is better than most action superhero movies with enough side plots to keep the audience engaged. However, without the side plots the movie would struggle on the weight of the central plot.

The special effects were top notch and deserves some credit as looking real enough to pass by without extending belief too far. The score was very underwhelming and could have been a lot better and from what I read the man that did the score was much better in his former prime. The acting was passable but no one really was amazing. In a few scenes with Hawkeye and Black Widow, the acting is the only thing to pull us through the scene, and it struggles a bit.

The stars of the show were differently Iron Man, The Hulk, and Captain America. Robert Downy Jr. is the narcissistic superhero that was all come to love and his one liners are funny but perhaps too often. At times, Iron Man, seems to be too strong in this adaptation but it still works out. The Hulk stole the show for me as his character has finally been done correctly in a Marvel movie. People respected how powerful The Hulk really was and how much of a loose cannon he is. Once he is able to control himself he steals all the scenes in the second half of the movie. Captain America was needed in the movie as the voice of reason. When everyone else was acting immature he was there to ground them to earth. I was extremely satisfied with how they portrayed his character and personality.

With a movie with such a large cast of superheros it would seem like it would be way too much and over the top. I was scared it would do what Spider-Man 3 did and completely overload the screen but it worked extremely well. It worked because the superheroes themselves were the focus and not the outstanding feats that they could do.

Some criticisms about the movie was that Thor wasn’t given much screen time and dialogue. With his brother being the antagonist you would think that Thor would be the main character but he was almost gimped a little bit. He is the most powerful superhero out of this group of people yet he seemed on the same level as everyone else. It was probably done purposely but it really didn’t flow with his movie. There were also some serious plot holes from the end of his movie and with him in Avengers. Their explanation of how he got to Earth was black magic from his father but the bridge to Earth from his world was destroyed in Thor. His love interest that was played by Natalie Portman in Thor wasn’t even a part of this movie at all. Overall I felt they could have done more with Thor.

Another criticism was that I never really felt like Loki was up for the task laid before him. He just didn’t seem strong enough for me. At no point did I feel like the world was in trouble or that Loki might actually succeed. Not to mention the actor that played Loki was very underwhelming as a villain.

I absolutely loved this movie though and there is a ton of hype surrounding it. I’ll have to check it out again in time to see if my love for it still stands but it was one of the best superhero movies I have ever watched. I only hope that this means that Joss Whedon will get even more big blockbuster gigs under his belt.

9/10

Who I want to become

Now is the time in my life when I choose the man I will be for the rest of my life. What type of qualities I will have and how I will feel about life. The following things is what I want in my life:

Love – Love encompasses everything. If I have love for others and myself then everything else is covered and I shouldn’t worry about becoming someone I don’t want to be. What type of love are we talking here? The type of love that puts others before myself. The love that wants the best for people. The type of love that is unconditional and never changes. These are so difficult though because I am human and not perfect. I get upset, hurt, and distracted and sometimes my love doesn’t shine through. Even though I fail that doesn’t mean I can’t strive to do better.

Patience – I want to be a patient person. Someone that doesn’t get easily angered and takes things as they are. Someone that doesn’t allow the stresses of life to effect me because I know that everything will be alright in the end. With patience I can stand any trial and test in my life.

Strength – With strength I can deal with the hardships that come my way. I can provide for a possible future family. I want people to see me as someone that doesn’t rattle easy and that they can turn to for help at any time. That I would be a beacon for those that are weak and that I can help realize that they can be strong too. I want to be able to stand up for what I believe in. I want to speak my mind and know that what I say is reasonable and be confident in myself at all times. Be the type of man that will stand up for injustice and not have people walk on me. To be the person that is respected by others.

Humility – I want to be someone that gives credit to where it is due. To have the wisdom to know when I don’t know how to solve something and that I can ask for help. That I can admit when I am wrong and take others advice. That I can be open to new ideas and not always believe that I am always right.

Forgiving – I want to be able to forgive those that hurt me and those around me. I want to believe in the good in people and that they can change. That everyone makes mistakes, including me, but we all should be forgiven because no one is perfect. I do not want to hold a grudge against someone. That is hurting no one but myself.

Joyful – I want to be a joyful person, someone that makes others feel better about their situation and themselves. I do not want to bring people down but I want to lift them up. To say kind words to people, not just the people that are close to me, but to everyone that I meet. To help people with their problems and be someone they can open up to and trust.

Honest – I want to be 100% transparent at all times. I want people to know where I stand with them. I want people to trust me with everything. That I am not a person to gossip or to belittle their feelings. That I speak the truth when I talk and that people will listen. That my word is my life and I will never turn back on my word.

I want all these things because I want to be a better man. I want these things in my life because I will be the person I want to be. A lot of these things are characteristics of Jesus. Through working on my relationship with him I full heartily believe that I will become more like him and these characteristics will be a part of me. It will take my entire life working on these traits. On my death bed I will fall short. However, I will know in my heart that I have tried to be a better man my entire life.

What to be passionate about?

Lately I’ve come to the realization that everyone needs a driving force in their life. Things that they can be passionate about and sink all of their energy and desire into. I am missing this in my life. I do not have that interest that drives me and makes me happy and can also be a career. The following things are what I’m passionate about or have been passionate about:

1. Electronic Dance Music – I love EDM and it is something that cheers me up. I am not as passionate about it as I used to be however. I used to listen for hours every day. I used to read about the dance music scene and what tracks were hot at the time. I don’t really do that anymore. However, I know that I could still really get into it.

2. ESports – I used to be passionate about playing CSS and watching professionals play CSS. I’m not so much anymore. I just play with friends now for fun and to preserve those friendships. I still enjoy watching professionals play but they don’t take it serious anymore and the times that they do is not very often. This passion is pretty much dead.

3. TV Shows – A well crafted character based television show always makes me excited and grabs my attention. I still enjoy watching television series all the time and it is still one of my biggest passions.

4. Reading – I still enjoy reading quite a bit but I don’t do it often enough to call it a passion. I would still rather play a game or watch a tv show than read. Until reading comes first it really isn’t a passion.

5. MMOs – I used to be very passionate about multi-player online role playing games. The way they were designed and crafted. The way the plot is interwoven. Playing them and leveling up. I still really enjoy these type of games but not as much as I used to. I don’t get the new ones and a lot of times I get bored with them after awhile. I don’t have the desire to try to work with a video game company as much as I used to. I still would like to but I don’t think it is a goal in my life.

6. Writing – There were moments when I thought writing was going to be a passion of mine but I just didn’t do it enough. I wouldn’t spend the time to do it. This is probably the only interest I have that would help me with a possible career.

7. Christianity – I have been passionate about my walk with Jesus at times. I should be more serious about it than what I am at the moment. I have been doing a lot better though.

So now I’m at a time where I don’t really have a whole lot that I’m passionate about. I don’t really have a huge goal to be working towards or something that really excites me. Of the things I just listed I could see myself being passionate about EDM, writing, Christianity, and reading at this moment in my life. I need to find a subject that I enjoy greatly to read that I can be passionate about. The obvious choice is history since I have a degree in it. That would probably be the smartest thing to do. However, I enjoy reading fiction a lot more. I want to write more but I have to realize that I’m a horrible writer too and it would take awhile to become good at it.

The reason I want to have passions in my life is because they fill the holes. They fill the holes of time. So instead of giving myself over to my own thoughts, I can focus on something that will give me more confidence. I need that something that is a driving force into a career that I can put my heart and soul into. Or find that hobby that I can put my heart and soul into and give my life meaning in that way.

I’ll probably write more about this in the future because it is something I think about a lot. What drives and motivates individuals. I heard a story of an extremely successful investor that absolutely loved trading on the market that he would spend 16 hour days and he made his fortune and retired. He now plays MMOs for the majority of his time as a leader in a video game. His passion got replaced from a successful investor to a MMO player. His ambition changed. That is what I want for myself, to find that thing that lights a fire under me and I can focus on for a career or a hobby that will give my life more satisfaction.

Anonymity

It never ceases to amaze me how awful people treat each other over the internet. Calling people names, hurting people’s feelings, generally just trying to make other people have a horrible time while spending their free time on the internet. I guess some people enjoy making other people angry and causing harm to others. It’s probably they themselves are getting hurt by others as well. So they figure, “If people are going to make me feel awful about myself then I’m going to give it right back and make others feel bad about themselves.” They have some kind of pride that they are the alpha trash talker and not being the one being talked about.

This same kind of mentality is extremely prevalent in middle school. Pick on the kids that are different to make yourself look better and to not have to deal with your own insecurities because if you aren’t the predator you will be the prey. Most of us grow out of this mentality with age and maturity. However, because of the anonymity of the internet, this mentality is being fostered again. Why? Well I feel it is because once again people are feeling insecure, so instead of dealing with their own issues, they take it out on others.

I read a thread on ESEA about people making fun of a guy and girl that are trying to have a relationship. They met through counter-strike and they went to a lan together. Good for them. However, other people in their own insecurity has attacked these individuals because of the way they acted and talked. Now the couple have their own faults, they talk trash too, and join right in, but these other people are just jealous and want to create conflict. They can do this because there is no consequence for their actions. They can say whatever they want and cause emotional harm that might last for years but they don’t care. As long as they feel better about themselves for a split second and their insecurity is covered up by making fun of others.

This type of behavior makes me extremely upset. The majority of “gamers” are adults over the age of 18. At lease the more vocal people are. Their own short comings in their own life cause them to lash out at everyone else. I am very much for treating people how you want to be treated. I want to be liked and respected by others so I respect others. It is just how adults handle themselves. As soon as someone starts making fun of someone else, I want nothing to do with them. I went through that enough in middle school and high school, I don’t need the extra stress of immaturity in my adult years over the internet.

Most of the time I get the excuse, oh it’s all in good fun. Yah, O.K., keep telling yourself that. You are only doing it to make yourself feel better. People enjoy making other people mad for some weird reason. I don’t get it. I want nothing to do with these type of people.

I do not have many friends and I can say that this is one of the main reasons why. As soon as someone shows that they like to make fun of others or put others done for their own benefit, I write them off completely. Am I being harsh? Maybe. I give people second chances and third chances at times, depending if I actually want to attempt to be their friends. I would much rather have a small group of friends that I trust explicitly and enjoy their company than hundreds of friends that I hardly know and hate to be around.

Am I taking this too serious? I don’t think so. When it comes to hurting others on purpose, there is no excuse.

Ratings for week April 22-29 ’12

Ratings of the week!

Movies:
A War of Arrows – 8/10 – One of the best time period movies I’ve seen. Not better than Gladiator but better than Troy.

Wake Up Sid – 7/10 – Indian Rom Com about a young man trying to become independent.

Trollhunter – 3/10 – Watched only 20 minutes and got bored. Was stupid.

Ong-Bak – 6/10 – Tony Jaa is worth watching this. Some great physical martial arts stunts. Horrible story tho.

Music:

Testo, Club Life Vol. 2 – Highly energetic electro house compilation that is fun to listen to. It is not deep and it isn’t pushing the genre anywhere but it is one of the most easiest listening to compilation I have got in awhile. Highlight tracks include
Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know(feat. Kimbra) (Tiesto Remix)
Coldplay – Paradise (Tiesto Remix)
The Naked & Famous – Young Blood(Tiesto & Hardwell Remix)
John De Sohn – Long Time(feat. Andreas Moe) (Original Mix)
Ivan Gough & Fennixpawl – In My Mind (feat. Georgi Kay) (Axwell Mix)
Afrojack & Shermanology – Can’t Stop Me (Tiesto Remix)

8/10

Books:
The Hunger Games – Wasn’t that bad. I actually enjoyed it. Pure entertainment and nothing to challenge the way you think. 6/10

Game:
Tribes:Ascend – Fun fast paced FPS that is free. Capturing and returning flags in a fast paced environment where you can win it for your team is highly exciting. 8/10

Hurt

There is nothing more that hurts me than to look into the eyes of someone else that is hurting. Someone that got their feelings hurt and are on the edge of just giving up on their relationships. I’m not talking about myself this morning but someone close to me. We internalize so much hurt and pain that other people don’t even know about. We don’t express every time that something is bothering us or when we get hurt. Then something happens when it all just comes crashing down and people wonder why we are acting the way we are doing. It all just piles up until we can’t take any more.

The problem, as I see it, is that we don’t talk about the way that we feel because we don’t want to seem weak and we don’t want to engage in an argument with the other person. So instead of saying something we just let it pass. We let it pass until it all builds up and then the argument is an extreme. To such an extreme that relationships are shattered.

One thing that I’ve been working on is to express myself more with my family and friends. To let them know what is bothering me and if I’m hurt. This opens myself up to getting even more hurt at times because the more I express who I am the more likely I might get hurt. This is what trust is though.

Everything just comes down to communication. It is no wonder it is the most important aspect of a marriage. Communication becomes more difficult and changes as we go into the future because we have so many new ways to communicate. I feel there is a lack of solid, heart pouring, communication. As technology increase, communication skills decrease. There is no wonder that divorce is so prevalent now days. We forgot how to talk to each other.

Hi there.

My website has been unused for awhile now. My purpose for my website has changed over time. At first it was a website to help me write different reviews for movies, games, and music. Then I started to write about religious things that sparked my interest and paired it with my own studies of the Bible. I then had the idea to start writing fiction and to try to get something published and be involved in creative plot development for video games. I also pondered about writing game developer information that I could use for a resume in the future.

None of these things really came to much fruition. The Christian aspect was the thing that I wrote the most on because I wanted others to read about it. Other Christians that I knew and even some non-Christians that I knew. I realize now that I have these grand ideas and visions in my head about what I could do with my website and how it could help me in my life. To strengthen a resume or to make people think about things that I care about. I am very much a perfectionist. When I start something, I plan out everything in my head. I then see where that idea takes me in my head. The problem is that I always get tripped up thinking about it and realizing that it isn’t perfect. I want it to be perfect. When I realize that what I’m going to do isn’t going to be perfect or actually be a good use of my time, I just don’t do it. However, very few things in life are perfect. It isn’t about grandiose goals and becoming super successful. If I keep striving for perfection then nothing will ever happen because there is a lack of confidence in what I can do. In the end it is just about doing what is right at that time.

With that I am going to start posting on my website again. Going to try to update it at lease once a day. What will I share? I have no idea. That isn’t the point. The point is to actually write something. To do something. Not to give up before I even started.

I don’t see myself as that odd man that keeps a blog and talks about obscure random stuff to try to be different and hipster. That isn’t me. I hope that I won’t come across as that. I’m not a brooding, dark individual that thinks depressing thoughts and wants attention and for people to think I’m deep. Some of my posts will probably come off like that. That isn’t me.

One of the main things I am going to focus on, is me on this blog. Isn’t that the whole point of a blog? Could this be nothing more than an eccentric journal? I’m not sure. All I know is that I need a creative out. I need to put my thoughts down. Keeping them inside and not putting them out there, for me, and for everyone else is not what I need. I need to release a creative side.

Anyway, this post has gone a little longer than I anticipated and I rambled here and there. Lets see where this takes me and hopefully it will be me actually writing again. I miss it. I want to do it.

Game Dev: Lack Of Specific Focus With MMORPGS

There seems to be a new MMORPG that comes out every month.  Sometimes these MMOs claim to be the next big MMO and they think they will get a large share of the market.  Often than not these MMOs fail to capture an audience and have a small player base, end up free to play, or close down altogether. I read a few days ago that for Star Wars: The Old Republic to become a success in EA’s vision that it will need to have 1 million subscribers.  That is a large number to try to capture and I don’t see them doing it.  One of the reasons that most MMOs fail to capture a large player base is that there is a lack of a specific focus within the game.

Every developer has a large grand idea for their MMO.  The problem with this is that if your focus is on the big picture then many things will be done mediocre or sub-par.  If you are looking to create something that has the polish, complexity, and deepness of a title that has already been released then you will fail.  It is just not possible to create a brand new game with the polish of a game that has been out for years.  The development time and particularly the quality assurance time just isn’t large enough to do that.  You will never get your game released.

That is why I feel that game developers need a very specific focus when creating their MMORPG.  Something that they will strive to be the best at 100% over any game on the market.  This is the key to success in my opinion.  Players will focus on what you do better than other games instead of focusing on what other games do better than you.  You can have the best instance experience in any game, pvp experience, economy, social structure, player options, rvr experience, leveling experience, guild experience, quests, storyline, ect.  Once you are able to have that amazing experience with that particular part of the game then you can move on to things that need more attention.  If you spread your focus out too thin then nothing will be spectacular and that means there won’t be anything to hook the player base.

Take all the MMORPGS that are either struggling at the moment or have shut down in the past.  The vast majority of them did nothing better than other games on the market.  Eve Online is a perfect example of a successful game that focused on one thing first and created it the best that it could; its economy.  The economy in Eve Online is unlike anything else on out there.  Totally player driven and the game is created around that economy.  Because of that, when they add new content, and features they have to ask themselves “how will this affect our economy in game?”  A failed MMORPG might add new features and never ask how those features will effect anything else.

When a new MMORPG is released I usually look for key words to know if they are doing something better than any other game.  If they aren’t then that MMORPG will usually fail.  Hopefully developers will realize this and stop trying to do everything and excelling at nothing.  The jack of all trades mentality will not work in the MMORPG market, especially upon release.

Heroes

Who is your hero?  Who is it that you look up to and want to be like?  You do not have to look very far to find a hero.  You probably know them in your life, you just haven’t really thought about it.

I know an amazing woman that has a hard a rough time but continues on with a smile on her face every day.  For the past 17 years her husband’s health has gradually gotten worse every year.  About 10 years ago that husband got to the point where he was unable to leave the house much at all.  He is a very large man and this lady is a very small woman.  She had to work a full time job to support the two of them, mainly for the health insurance.  Every day she has to bath, dress, and help him do things that normal people can do with little effort.  She had to do all the house work, work, and take care of him.

Not only that but about 7 years ago or so she had to go through cancer treatment while still doing all the above.  She’s had people hurt her during that time, she lost all her hair from the chemo, and she broke her wrist as well.  Her husband continued to get worse and worse as time has gone on.  He is not doing well today but she still takes care of him.

All of this is a strain on an individual.  Most people couldn’t do this for a year, let alone 10 years.  Yet she has the strength to persevere.  She gets this strength from the Lord.  Because all through this ordeal she also is a leader in my church and teaches Sunday School.  She is the one that comes up to you and asks how you are doing.  She is the one that encourages all those around her.  She is an amazing woman and a true example of how God can give us strength.  She is a a perfect example of a hero.  A person, that even though through all the hardships, has a positive attitude, and gives God thanks for all the blessings that he has given her.  I am honored to consider her a friend.  During all that she also was able to pull some strings at a hospital when I was deathly sick and saved me from having to owe that hospital $30,000 in medical expenses.  I will always be thankful for what she did for me and for giving me a perfect example of what true strength is.

Now I ask you.  Who in your life can be your hero?

Who are you?

I feel like talking about identity perception.  The perception of who we believe we are, how other people see us, and who we want to become.

How we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us are completely different.  Where as I think of myself as being kind and polite other people might see me as being too serious.  Where other people might think of me as being too overbearing, I think of myself as being caring.  When I think of myself as being too immature other people might think of me as being happy.  When I feel like being quiet other people might think I’m mad or depressed.  Perhaps the real issue here is just lack of communication.  What we perceive can be totally different than what actually is.  That is why communication is so important and we need to humble ourselves when we are given advice or criticism.

The thing is though, we can’t control what other people think of us.  Not everyone is going to like you.  We can only be ourselves and try to be better.  I’m the type of person that wants everyone to like me and my self-esteem is based on what other people think of me.  That is something I have always struggled with myself.

The important thing is that we are comfortable and satisfied with who we are.  That we are not trying to change who we are for others.  That we don’t feel guilty or regretful for how we act.  It is a long process to change how we think or act for the better.  It is a lot of work and won’t come about without serious introspection.  If we are not trying to change for the better than we are automatically changing for the worse.  It is next to impossible to not let society and people change you for the worse if you let it.

Think about all the amazing elderly people in your life.  Do you think that they were always that amazing?  Have you ever met an elderly person that was mean spirited and talked down to everyone?  These elderly people changed as they got older.  The amazing ones are the ones that changed for the better, gradually becoming better people.  The grumpy elderly people are the ones that didn’t try to change and just let their circumstances and environment mold them into what they are now.

I want to change and become a better person.  For me that includes my faith and becoming more like Jesus.  I would like the perceptions that people have of me to match up to who I actually am.  I want to be a person that others are comfortable to be around.  A person that is trusted and whose company is sought out.  I do not want to change into a grumpy old man that complains about the past and regrets everything.

We have the power to change who we are.  To look at our circumstances in a new way.  To gain a better perspective on who we are and to be humble enough to accept criticism from others and become a brand new individual.  I always felt that a poor man and a rich man can have the same amount of happiness in life.  I do struggle to do what I am writing, but to stop struggling means to give in and act like everyone else, and that is not who I am.  Who are you?  Who do you want to be?