Report of Summer up to June 30

Hey guys. So its July 4th week, the midpoint of the summer. So far no really big movies for the nerds, Iron man 2 the biggest so far.The following week Robin Hood i liked the film but it could have been so much better. The idea was suppose to have The sheriff be the good guy, but it was changed. Next came Prince of Perisa that fell thru the floor and is still traveling to the bottom of the bottomless pit. A-Team followed with good but not great reviews. Jonah Hex. Now I like Josh Brolin but really you passed on T4 but did that. In the coming month we have Predators and The Expendables. Hoping againest hope that they will make the summer worth and hold us over till next summer. With Thor and GL coming out.

CardCaptor Sakura all growed up.

Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle



Syaoran, a boy who wants to become an archeologist, and Sakura, a princess from the Clow Kingdom, are childhood friends with a close relationship. On a fateful night, Sakura lost all her memories as a result of a conspiracy to obtain her powers. In order to regain her memory, Syaoran seeks help from the witch, Yuuko. Yuuko tells Syaoran that he has to travel from one alternate reality to another to collect fragments of Sakura's memory. However, even if Sakura regains her memory, she will have no recollection of Syaoran. Travelling together with them is Kurogane, a warrior who was exiled from his country, and Fye, a magician who wants to escape from his King. With the help of a magical creature, Mokona, they set off on an exciting journey through time and space.

The best thing about Tsubasa is that coincides with the anime xxxHolic. Maybe not so much in a huge way but, periodically you will see Syaoran talking to Yuuko to help him save his friends out of certain situations and vice versa. Me, being the huge CLAMP fan that I am…is also happy that a lot of CLAMP’s most enjoyable characters play major roles throughout the entire series. Major titles include Magic Knights Rayearth, Chobits, RG Veda and Angelic Layer.

I’ll be completely honest I haven’t watched the entire series all the way through but, I have kept up (and finished) with the manga. So, I am a little partial to the characters and story that takes place in the manga. It seems to cover a lot more than the anime. Of course, when is the movie ever like the book?

The story can get pretty confusing the more you delve into it. So, paying attention to details is most vital when watching this anime and/or reading the manga. I won’t spoil it for any of you but, yeah, even I got uber confused and had to re-read some chapters or re-watch some of the later episodes.

The anime series does take a break and creates an OAV called Tokyo Revelations. It’s pretty decent and it still stays consistent with the storyline but, I’m not quite sure why this part of the story was turned into an OAV…must’ve been because there was a lot of ground to cover (you at least get to see Sakura get horribly banged up and mangled).

In conclusion, worth taking a look at but, you have to keep up with it and pay attention or I guarantee you WILL get lost. Tsubasa is beautiful as far as artwork is concerned but, I’d prefer its’counterpart, xxxHolic.

Mokona is Mokona!

Tenchi Muyo! This ain't no kiddy anime.

Tenchi Muyo!
(Going old school, baby!)

Tenchi Muyo! (天地無用!, Tenchi Muyō!?), is a Japanese anime, light novel, and manga series created by Masaki Kajishima and Hiroki Hayashi about a boy named Tenchi Masaki, which has grown into a larger franchise. Along with the likes of Moldiver, Tenchi Muyo! Was one of the early successes for AIC, the animation company behind it, which went on to create El-Hazard, Battle Athletes, Oh My Goddess!, Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure and many other anime series. The generally accepted translation of the title is No Need for Tenchi, though at the time of its appearance it was also translated variably as No Heaven and Earth and This Way Up due to the original title's pun nature and multiple meanings.

Masaki Tenchi is a typical high school teenager... until he finds out a little bit more about his grandfather and his lineage. Who could have guessed that he was a descendant of a Royal family from an alien planet? Things get even more out of hand when the Masaki household begins to get visitors of every sort, including a notorious space pirate and the beautiful heir to the Jurai throne... both of whom have their eyes on poor Tenchi!

Tenchi is probably the luckiest guy in the entire world….er…galaxy! He’s got a household full of alien women but, I’m sure he doesn’t look at it like that. Now that I think about it….being annoyed by five women ALL THE TIME sounds pretty exhausting. Regardless, the characters are what make this series, in my honest opinion. The storyline is a bit lacking, weaves in and out of WTF moments as well. Muyo! is followed by Tenchi Universe (a basic re-telling of Muyo! and modification of the original character’s personalities and introducing new characters to the mix), Tenchi in Tokyo (Tenchi graduates and attends college in Tokyo...of course, the ladies of the household want to keep an eye on Tenchi while he’s away and interfere with his daily life as usual), Tenchi Muyo! GXP (WTFFFFFFFF) and Tenchi Muyo: Ryo-ohki (Further messed up and WTTTTFFFFFFF…at least they give the three goddesses some screen time). They are also movies that were produced as well; Tench in Love (basically about how Tenchi’s parents meet and get it on), Tenchi in Love (alternate universe where Tenchi totally sexes up this hot woman) and Tenchi Muyo: Daugther of Darkness (Tenchi’s daughter comes from the future and everyone’s trying to figure out who the mother is….bad episode of Maury or something).

All in all, Tenchi Muyo! Is a great series to watch every once in a while. Not intended for the little kiddies, unless you show them the Cartoon Network version then, it’s suitable. However, I recommend watching the original you learn to appreciate the adult humor more. Oh, did I mention that there is full frontal nudity in this anime?

Perverts.

Red Angry's Rant: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Modern Gayfare, Call of Dodo, or a slew of many other puns for the game title broke record sales last year. I had my fare share of alone time with this mega title and for the most part I've had a great time: whether it be in the compelling single player campaign or the additive online multilayer, to the special co-op missions; there's a lot to love about this shooter.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, it's time to break this puppy down li

ke Britney Spears in her last psychotic episode. I have no hate towards the campaign, it's just awesome; with some great plot twits and an ending that channels Halo 2's controller-flinging conclusion; it's worth the 60 bucks alone. So....

On to the rant. Online play, where to begin... I guess I'll start with the most broken, gut wrenching, chest grabbing, putrid, unbalanced excuse for a game play mechanic; the M203 Grenade Launcher, better know as the noob tube. Back in Modern Warfare 1, the vast majority of player that I'd talk to thought it should never have be included in the game. It's just too easy to get a kill with. It wasn't too terrible though because the most shots you could ever carry was 3. In MW2, any balance to this feature went flying out of the window and somehow landed on th far-side of the moon.

With great perks, come great possibilities..... for retarded, fossilized dog feces to be slapped together and called an online FPS. MW2 lets you have not 1, but 2 ways to have easy, camper-friendly infinite ammo. So, where in MW1, you had a max of 3 guaranteed kills, it's now possible to achieve over a hundred; and I know because I've done it.

There's nothing like going 11 and 0 only to have it end by some guy randomly firing tubes on the map. I really could type out days worth of text to explain just how teeth clenching noob tubes are but who gives a bell end. Moving on.

This game has one of the worst spawning systems I've seen in any game, for God sakes, Golden Eye on the 64 had a system that makes MW2 look like that one guy in every group of friends that no one likes and the only reason you keep him around is to make fun of him. One great example is when you manage to snag a chopper-gunner and begin to rain death upon the unlucky enemy team as they spawn over and over in the same corner, not even being able to take one step. I dare you to go to you tube right now and search for chopper gunner ownage if you don't believe me.

There's a ton of brokenness in this game; over powered weapons, joining a losing game with only 3 seconds left, poor skill based matchmaking, game effecting glitches, bad host migration (when it works), and a party system that doesn't allow you to control the party, just to name a few.

I do enjoy online a good bit, but there is so much that erks me that just can't be ignored. On the rage meter, MW2 score around 75% (as in, I'm a fit of uncontrollable roid rage 75% of the time playing the game.)

If you're anything like me or you have a short temper for unbalanced game play, you might wanna skip over this title, or at least only rent it. But if you're into the whole camper-loving, no-scopeing, spawn killing, noob tube fest; then you might be able to keep your shinny new controller from flying into you're HD flat-screen. Peace Bitches.....

Hollywood; stay out of my childhood memories. Pt 1

Hi Fellow nerds,

First off I would like to apologize for the lack of updates, been a busy weekend. But anyways on with the show. This is going to be more of a rant than a review so I sincerely hope some of can empathize and relate. Some of you may or may not have been around for the 80's and even early nineties to remember some of these wonderful toys and movies that I am going to mention and if not I hope you will wikipedia them and find out more. So without further procrastination lets get on with the rant!.

Ghostbusters:

Now I know a lot of you know Ghostbusters and I sincerely hope you do or your nerd title must be revoked. This classic of a movie was made in the late 80's by Ivan Reitman (lets not mention some of his other movies), starring Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Harold Ramis and Sigourney Weaver just to name a few. Of course the name suggests that they went around capturing ghosts and charging people for the service. They end up saving the city of New York from a giant marshmallow man and some dyke looking bird in skin tight Lycra and a extreme haircut that looks like a ironing board. The movie has memorable lines and a well written script. They made a successful toy line, comics and cartoon series, hell they even made a sequel (which in my opinion was not as good) which I fondly remember. I had loads of the toys and comics, I enjoyed every second of it and remains one of my most fond childhood experiences. So why am I ranting about this great franchise? well...they are planning Ghostbusters 3. I just hope to god they do not mess this one up. I hear rumor that the original cast are signed or going to sign up for it (with the exception of Rick Moranis and maybe Bill Murray). Ivan Reitman is back directing and Harold Ramis and Dan Ackroyed writing the script. I hope I really do that they remain faithful and do not allow Hollywood to destroy this great franchise as they have done with so many other's. I am worried about this project.

Rage meter: 50%

Transformers:

Holy fuck, where can I start with this great franchise. Again this was created in the 80's by Hasbro (correct me if I am wrong here fellow nerds) as a hugely successful toy line. I had so many of these toys from Gen 1 and still do. I remember having epic battles between the Autobots and Decepticons, hell they even managed to destroy the Millennium Falcon and crush Darth Vader under foot. I would spend many a day hold up in my room only limited by my imagination. There was times I would transform Megatron into that awesome sniper rifle and pretend to shoot my neighbors out of the window. I remember watching the movie over and over again weeping like a little girl because Optimus Prime dies, watching wide eyed as Unicron destroyed planets. I read the comics over and over again also, reading in horror as zombie transformers came back to life. Any self respecting 80's kid loved the Transfomers and transformed many into the nerds we know today. So here I am in my early 30's still going misty eyed at the thought of those gone by memories. I whooped with joy when I first heard they was finally going to do a live action movie, then my heart sank when I heard about the useless fuck that was directing it. Yes that is right, Michael fucking boom boom Bay. What where they thinking? we are talking about the same useless self righteous jackass that made the obnoxious pile of horse vomit that was Bad Boys and Pearl Harbor.

^^^DOUCHE^^^

I honestly think he didnt give two squirts of piss about the franchise. He probably lost track of what he was doing while he was banging some anorexic bitches in his five story trailer. He must have thought "I know, I am going to find the most idiotic bimbo who cant act and drape her across Bumblebee and hope people dont notice what a god awefull pile of shallow shit I am making. OH OH I know like always I am going to dazzle my audience with some fucking huge explosions..yeah BOOM BOOM MOTHA FUCKA'S". So what did we end up with? Shia LeBouf an babbling rectal cavity who is trying to get in Meagan Fox's STD infested panties. Bumblebee who for some unknown reason chooses these two idiots to save the world from the menace that is the Decepticons and plays match maker. Finally what brings my piss to a boil is Optimus Prime. There is a scene where Shithead LeBouf and Meagan Slut is trying to find these fucking glasses and the Autobots are "hiding" in his garden from his parents. Yeah giant fucking robots prancing around trying to avoid the parents who somehow dont notice. Anyways Optimus Prime steps on something which smashes and he says this...and I quote..."Oh my bad"....Optimus Prime, the biggest bad ass this side of Cybertron saying my bad! WHAT THE FUCK!. I know they was trying to reach to a new audience but come on...they are a robotic race from out of space and he says my bad. Its like the writers could not think of something intelligent to say, its like the writer spilled something on the script and was like "oh dur whoops my bad!...hey hang on hur hur hur this would be funny *scribble scribble*). So again we ended up with my childhood memories marred by this unintelligent mess for the masses. In its defense they did try and bring the franchise to a new audience and it worked. It sparked a new toy line (which is terrible and will let my good friend Chris review those) and a upcoming game War For Cybertron (which looks badass). So I am glad for the renewed interest in this franchise and hopefully bringing new memories for the new generation of children as I once did back then. But...this brings me to Transformers 2...and oh boy what can I say about this? you will just have to wait for Part 2.

Rage meter:88%

Spirited Away

(Yay! For my first post)



-- Spirited Away –

Directed by anime legend Hayao Miyazaki, Spirited Away is the tale of Chihiro, a young girl who is taken down an unusual road by her parents while moving to a new home in an unfamiliar home. The curiosity of Chihiro’s mother and father (who were based on two colleagues of Miyazaki’s) leads the reluctant child into what appears to be an abandoned amusement park. Soon her parents are greedily feasting on various delights from an enticing food stand (Seriously, shit looks good, makes me turn into a fat kid) and are literally turned into pigs. The frightened and bewildered girl then encounters a young man named Haku (quite attractive, I might add), who explains what she must do to navigate this strange and magical realm. Finding employment in a bathhouse for spirits and other odd characters – including kimono—wearing frogs, lumbering tentacled monsters (HEHEHEHEH), and a mysterious apparition named No Face – Chihiro attempts to figure out how she can free her parents from the clutches of the resort’s owner, a powerful witch named Yubaba (Seriously, her head is huge, literally). In the process, she makes some very eccentric friends – and has to deal with some notoriously stinky customers (I imagine if you did work at a bathhouse, it can get pretty smelly sometimes).

Spirited Away reminds me of Lewis Carroll’s, ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Chihiro finds herself in the strange and wonderful world – making new friends, defeating enemies and growing up in the process. Chihiro’s character annoyed me in the beginning because she was whiny, pessimistic about moving to her new home and lazy (I’m sure some of us will admit that we were like that when we were children). You really watch Chihiro grow as a person inside and out. It’s beautiful! I love these kinds of movies when characters are on the road to self discovery!

The visuals in this movie are top notch. The artwork is amazingly detailed, character design makes the characters very much likeable and the scenery is just breathtaking. Dazzling and enchanting, I’m trying to find so many words to describe this piece of artwork.

Don’t be frightened by the tentacle monsters because, this is indeed a family film. Hayao Miyazaki is a storyteller and he targets the younger audience. It is indeed fun for the entire family.

I highly recommend it.

The PC and PS3 crossplatform gaming!!

Hi my nerds,

Just a quick post before I head on to bed. I just read an announcement by Valve Software that they are planning crossplatform gaming between the PC and PS3 for Portal 2 can we say WEWT!. For the moment this is going to be co-op which is great in itself, but just imagine in the future...Counter Strike and Team Fortress pwnage. Finally Valve is seeing a potential in the market and is acting on it. This proves my speculation in my previous post Gabe humps the PS3.

Can not wait.

Rune out!