Japanese Film

3 flicks recently I viewed....

Kagemusha

"When a powerful warlord in medieval Japan dies, a poor thief recruited to impersonate him finds difficulty living up to his role and clashes with the spirit of the warlord during turbulent times in the kingdom." -IMDb

Kagemusha means "Shadow Warrior". This totally threw me off, since I watched this film assuming it had a ninja that flipped out on everyone. Nope. No ninja(s). No fun for anyone.

The 1980 film by acclaimed Japanese director, Akira Kurosawa, nearly put me to sleep. I have never wanted a refund for the 1.5 hours of my life spent viewing a film, until now. I quit after half of the film was over, I just couldn't take it anymore, especially since I had Sword of Doom ready to be watched. If you have nothing better to do but wash your dentures, and desire to hone your patience skills, then this movie is for you!

Apparently, IMDb gave it an 8.0 (7.9 after I voted, lol)....maybe they hung in there for the other half of the film.

According to IMDb, I gave it a 6/10, meaning, it's good & long enough to fall asleep to on a nice Saturday afternoon.

the Sword of Doom

"Ryunosuke is a sociopathic samurai without compassion or scruples. When he is scheduled for an exhibition match at his fencing school, the wife of his opponent begs Ryunosuke to throw the match, offering her own virtue in trade. Ryunosuke accepts her offer, but kills her husband in the match. Over time, Ryunosuke is pursued by the brother of the man he killed. The brother trains with the master fencer Shimada. In the meantime, however, Ryunosuke earns the enmity of the band of assassins he runs with, and it becomes a question of who shall face him in final conflict." -IMDb

The film was great. Plus, it stars Toshiro Mifune, who is friggin sweet, in my opinon.

8.0 on IMDb, and the same from me.

2hrs long.

Zatoichi (2003)

"Blind Zatoichi makes his living by gambling and giving massages. But behind his humble facade, Zatoichi is a master swordsman, gifted with lightning-fast draw and strokes of breathtaking precision. Zatoichi wanders into a town run by sinister gangs and a powerful samurai. He's destined for violent showdowns when he stumbles on two beautiful geishas avenging their parents' murder... Duels, wit and a touch of zen! Cult anti-hero Zatoichi is back in a sword-fighting adventure written, directed and starring Takeshi Kitano." -IMDb

I loved this film, and I have no idea why it scored lower than the previous mentioned films. (7.6/10) Maybe, because it is, in fact, only 5 years old....and for some reason, new films don't get the respect that they should until they get to be at least 30 years old. Sad day. Oh well, I enjoyed it, that's for sure.

Lots of CG blood. "The blood in the film has been described by many as being "too CGI". Kitano did this intentionally, wanting to "soften the shock to the audience" due to the high body count. Kitano told the CGI artist he wanted the blood to "look like flowers blossoming across the screen."'

Good film, watch it.

New Muze and Reruns

i busted out some of the 'ol 8-tracks

Our 10th ANNIVERSARY today! I love you Kyla!

Just got the new albums from Flame (Our World: Redeemed) and Pillar (For the Love of the Game). Very good albums, lots of deep bass with Flame.

Just watched Juno tonight. I had no idea what it was about going into it, but it wouldn't be a movie I'd buy or even consider renting. I only got it for my buddy, Cdub. I won't even post a review on it. just a rating: 5.4/10.

And that's it for now.

adios.

New Classic

The Air I Breathe 720p HD

"A drama based on an ancient Chinese proverb that breaks life down into four emotional cornerstones: happiness, pleasure, sorrow and love. A businessman (Whitaker) bets his life on a horse race; a gangster (Fraser) sees the future; a pop star (Gellar) falls prey to a crime boss (Garcia); a doctor (Bacon) must save the love of his life." (IMDb)

When I first started this movie last nite, I honestly felt like I was watching a Crash spinoff; All in all it reminded me so much of Crash, and it was an excellent film. I wouldn't recommend it to any friends of mine, due to it's graphic nature, but if you happen to stumble upon this film, you won't be dissappointed.

720p HD

I give it 4.5 out of 5. By the way, like always, it looks spectacular in HD.

IMDb gave it an 8.0/10.

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EQUILIBRIUM 720p HD

I saw an HD version of this low-budget film, which I haven't watched in a while, and I had to jump on it. Equilibrium takes place in a future where emotion has been eradicated by a drug, administered from the corrupt government. Rebel groups who possess "emotional content", ranging from art to music, are eradicated as well. Until, a cleric inside the killing force slips up on his drug and slowly sways toward his emotions and against the corruption.

Christian Bale (Batman Begins) stars along side Taye Diggs in this high-action/low-budget flick from 2002. In fact, the film budget was so low, that the narrating voice in the intro is actually the director, Kurt Wimmer. Although, it was nominated the American Choreography Award for Outstanding Achievement in Fight Choreography...and the PFCS Award for Overlooked Film of the Year.

I gave it a 4.0 out of 5 just because I love the action choreography, but from a film critic point of view, I'd have to give it a 3.6.

I have it in 720p HD

IMDb gave it a 7.8/10.

Mandarin

And I'm not talkin' about the oranges.

House Of Flying Daggers

Another excellent "Dynasty" film.

Transporter 2 -720p HD

The movie needed less CG reliance, but looked spectacular on HD.

In other news:

-I'm workin' on Hero 720p and The Air I Breathe 720p...woot woot.

-Happy Friggin' St. Patty's Day!

-Great day to cut relations...lemme tell ya.

Babaganoosh!

Just got the ridiculously awesome TV series Most Extreme Elimination Challenge....seasons 1-4!

boo-friggin-ya!
-MXC

The Roundup.

The Boondock Saints

"Fraternal twins set out to rid Boston of the evil men operating there while being tracked down by an FBI agent." (IMDb)

What an awesomely hilariously violently vulgar film! The only thing I kept hearing before watching this film was "Don't take it too seriously, just watch it and enjoy." And I did just that, and loved it.

I have a standard defnition version.

I gave it a 6.2 out of 5, lol.

IMDb gave it a 7.8/10

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1408

"A man who specializes in debunking paranormal occurrences checks into the fabled room 1408 in the Dolphin Hotel. Soon after settling in, he confronts genuine terror." (IMDb)

More people liked it than I did, but this film really went crazy after the first 30 minutes, I was about to go psycho. HD really brings out the insanity of it, have fun.

John Cusack

Samuel L. Jackson

I have it in 720p HD.

I gave it a 4 out of 5

IMDb gave it 7.0/10

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I Am Legend

"Years after a plague kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into monsters, the sole survivor in New York City struggles valiantly to find a cure." (IMDb)

This movie friggin' rocks in HD. The outline above couldn't say it better, so I'll leave it at that, and if you haven't seen it, try to watch it in HD first!

The only things I didn't like were the fact that the CG were too obvious and multiple and the theatrical ending didn't do the upcoming sequel any justice...yes, you heard correct, a sequel is on its way...but in order to understand that, you must watch the Alternate Ending! Don't miss it!

Will Smith owns the scene.

I have it in 720p HD.

I gave it a 4.7 out of 5.

IMDb gave it a 7.2/10

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Kill Bill Volume 2

"The murderous Bride continues her vengeance quest against her ex-boss, Bill, and his two remaining associates; his younger brother Budd, and Bill's latest flame Elle." (IMDb)

Awesome choreography, gorgeous gore, a climactic score, and ridiculous cinematography. A great sequel to an awesome film.

Uma lights up the scene once again on her rampage path to "kill Bill" in this final volume of Quentin Tarantino's Japanese-inspired film.

I have it in standard definition.

I gave it a 4.7 out of 5.

IMDb gave it an 8.1/10

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And others not worthy of a review:

-Boarding Gate
-Tom & Jerry Collection Part 1

Four Years of Spying on Americans

FBI admits to breaking own spying rules
Posted on 09.03.2008 at 14:04 in Tech News by Martin from RSLOG.net

The FBI has admitted that it repeatedly broke its own rules in spying on internet communications. FBI director Robert Mueller said that for the fourth straight year his agency collected information on people’s emails and web activity which was beyond its legal remit. However, Mueller claimed that this was partly the fault of telecoms companies which had provided the FBI with “too much information”. “We are committed to ensuring that we not only get this right, but maintain the vital trust of the American people,” he said.

The problems stemmed from the FBI’s use of information request letters which was made much simpler after the passage of the Patriot Act. “Everybody wants to stop terrorists. But Americans believe in our privacy rights and we want those protected,” said Senate Judiciary chairman Patrick Leahy. “There has to be a better chain of command for this. You cannot just have an FBI agent who decides he’d like to obtain Americans’ records, bank records or anything else and do it just because they want to.” Leahy added that the FBI had now reformed its practices since March 2007 and would stay within the law.

Ninja Gaiden

ninja fun

G.O.W.

I just got Gears of War for the Machine, and it is friggin' sick. High definition, 5.1 Surround and max specs, on my 22in screen, it looks friggin' awesome and runs a steady 30FPS. I get to use y wireless Xbox 360 controller with it, now that's tight!

I'm tired of breaking hearts, by the way.

Speaking of hearts, I wanna play cards.

Perfect Conclusion.

Some more memories I won't ever forget last nite. I watched Terminator 2 (bought for $5.50 @Wal-Mart) tonite, haven't seen it in years, darn good movie. The night before, I had a buddy over and we watched Letters From Iwo Jima.

Off to some good Chinese food tomorrow(day). Also, I these Bokken (practice katanas) came by UPS. Boo-friggin'-ya! (also got the Rambo R5) :) Darn fine week it's been... I got done with work early tonite. hehee, ;) So, I had time to play.

Did some research on firearms today. And I have concluded that by the end of the year I want to own a Smith & Wesson SW40SF Sigma pistol ($300). And overall, sometime in my life, I wish to own a S&W 1911 (SW1911) [Seen below]. Beautiful guns they are. Prices range from 700 - 1000 dollars. Not cheap...but then again, this is a "in my life" wish.

I Week To Remember.

I won't ever forget this week in my life. Those of you who know me, talk to me, I might give you a clue as to what's been goin' down. hehee

Aye.

Well, my best and most favorite girl on the East Coast, Erin, got engaged a couple nights ago. Well, it looks like I don't have to worry about her being taken care of anymore. I'm gonna miss her...well, I miss her already.

IN OTHER NEWS:

-My replacement 360 went berzerk and RROD'ed this morning after glitching again in RS Vegas. But, it's back on now....for now, anyway. Friggin' Microsoft.

-Toshiba has finally pulled out of the HD war. HD-DVD has officially lost the war to Blu-Ray. Toshiba has discontinued the production of any new development in the HD-DVD player line. Good. Sony wins...as usual.

I need help.

Help fending off women....like maybe a bod-guard, or a crowbar.

Upcoming Films

Batman - The Dark Knight
Evangelion Live Action
Gears of War
Halo Movie
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Metal Gear Solid
Prince of Persia
Spider-man 4
Superman: Man of Steel
Warcraft

Why in the heck there's gonna be an Evangelion & Warcraft movie, I have no-friggin-idea. As for the rest, it makes perfect sense. :) HALO HALO HALO!!

And we thought Halo the movie was Kaput...

Guess again!

From July 2007

This was from another blog, MSBLOG.com, and this dude went to a warehouse in New Zealand (where Peter Jackson's SFX workshop is)...and look what's hiding there.




A fully-functional (except the machingun, I suppose) Warthog! This is the real-friggin-deal! Real 4 wheel steering, armour, etc. Now we just need a Master Chief to go with it!

Wow, I am about to pee myself.

Halo Movie here we come!

Vista SP1 is Here!

Yeah, so I got the RTM, (Release to Manufacturer) and I attempted to install it, but it failed halfway thru, and well, I was to say the least pissed. I was interested to know what SP1 had in store, but looks like I'll just have to wait till March to get a copy. :(

That's ridiculous! I have the RTM right-friggin-here! Whatever.

In other Microsoft news, Bill Gates' hatemail inbox is full due to all of the angry Xbox 360 customers that had defective consoles. Boohoo, get over it, send it back, and deal with it. Or just buy a PS3.

By the way, Crysis is still the most fridiculously awesome shooter ever to grace mankind. Just wanted to update you on the leaderboards. (Crysis leads in 1st - 5th places)

CryEngine coming to PS3, 360

Console versions of the technology behind visual stunner Crysis will debut at this year's Game Developers Conference.
By Brendan Sinclair, Tor Thorsen, GameSpot
Posted Jan 29, 2008 1:07 pm PT

Back in April of 2006, rumors surfaced that Crytek was bringing its much-anticipated PC shooter Crysis to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. More recently, there was speculation that an extended "Crysis 1.5" would be coming exclusively to the PS3.

Although the aforementioned rumors remain unconfirmed, today the German developer announced that console versions of CryEngine 2, the technology behind Crysis' processor-punishing visuals, are in development. The console editions of the middleware will be unveiled at private appointments behind closed doors at the upcoming Game Developers Conference, which runs from February 18-22 in San Francisco.

"This year's engine will be shown for the first time running on multiple hardware platforms such as the PS3 and Xbox 360 to a select audience," the company said in a statement.

While general attendees may not be able to get a peek at the console editions of the engine, Crytek will be showing off the fully optimized engine's performance on a budget PC that could be put together for about $600. In addition, Crytek's Cevat Yerli, Sten Hübler, and Bernd Diemer will host a conference session titled "Crysis in the Making," which will provide insight into how the PC shooter came together.

Downs & Ups

Yep, so it's been announced (last year) that the upcoming FPS, Haze has been pulled from Xbox 360 & PC release, leaving only a PS3-exclusive version. :(I wasn't happy...at all.

But, to make me feel better:

-Anyone who knows anything about great FPS games knows that Haze is obviously a Crysis knockoff...and nobody likes knockoffs, so Playstation can keep their fakes. :P

-Besides, FarCry 2 is on it's way, I believe in May...and that shall not dissapoint, considering that it should implement the new CryEngine2 first used in Crysis and should have everything Crysis had plus upgrades. (So I assume, it would make sense) lol.

Some nice screens from Far Cry 2 below. Good skies, textures, foliage, assuming DX10.

Computer Puke

I just made my laptop vomit, by backing up everything I needed then formatting the poor thing. I am such a horrible parent.

I can't help it! It was on that new stuff, and I made it give it up.

Got My Baby Back!

^ the place to go if you want your movies now!^

Just yesterday, I recieved a wonderful package. I opened it to find a new XBOX 360 Premium Console. So, yeah, they replaced my oldie, with another oldie from 2006....which will probably do the same red ring eventually. grr....but, hey, I got my baby back!

In other news:

• I watched a 3.5 hour foreign film, Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa, 1954. It got an 8.8 on imdb.com, but I give it a 7.5 due to it's lenthginess. And I totally photoshopped the following picture from the B&W film. :)


• I'm still trying to rid my laptop of this infectious disease that affects explorer.exe . Nothing good yet. Everytime I start Windows, everything is good, till it loads the infected file (on startup) which is unknown, but it immediately shuts down explorer leaving me with no icons, start bar, etc. So, if I need to use a program, I use Task Manager and the Run command to find the program, which is a pain, and very unorthadox.



• Work still sux, but I'm thankful I have a job.

The Matrix 1080p

So, this looks awesome.

Big week for prereleases this week:

-The Bee Movie DVDScr

-Alvin and the Chipmunks R5

-AVP: Requiem R3

Also:

-Spongebob Squarepantis Atlantis

-Windows XP Pro Performance Edition (320Mb)

-Cloverfield TS

SLI Fixed and Crysis Screens

Click it to see the awesome DirectX10 graphix I experience.

Well, I finally got the SLI fixed on the comp, and it works beautifully and seamlessly. The SLI messed up and would "tear" horizontal lines in the screen whenever a game was run in fullscreen. So, I updated the ForceWare version from 169.13 to 169.25, and now it's beautiful. :) I am satisfied. But, I love those awesome God Rays in Crysis, they look so tight, but I can usually only get like 11FPS with the effects up that high, :( But Crysis actually looks and feels better at low framerate. There are games that feel like crap at 9-15FPS, but not Crysis. And it's sweet how I can change 99% of the video options ingame without restarting the level. (With the exception of the 1%, Objects quality.)

Click 'em!

A Week In The Life Of Me.

January 21st to the 27th.

One heck of a week.

Monday

• Went to work and this chick thought I liked her just because I talk to her....(and other people)

• Went to a china buffet with my buddies. :)
  

Tuesday

• College starts again at Brookdale (stalk me, it'll be fun)
  
• I find out my English teacher is gay...and there's no way I'm gonna call him "Professor"

Wednesday

• Work sucks, as usual...but is suddenly getting interesting due to recent events.
  
• Film Appretiation class rules!!


• Downloaded and watched Yojimbo, a Japanese Samurai western, very good. :) 1960's

Thursday

• My girlfriend and I: our 8-month anniversary. I sent her a sweet little voicemail. :)


• I have two friggin' Biology classes...good teachers though.
  

Friday

• Went to work, got hit on like crazy by this other chick, then she said I'm hot. I was kinda sorry I couldn't say the same for her. OHHHH!!, lol, (such a dork)


• Then, after work, I friggin' saw friggin' double friggin' RAMBO!!!....and I got a shirt from it too. ;)

Saturday

• Work: more and more getting hit on. This chick realizes I'm not moving the pieces anywhere in her game, so she decided to put me in an awkward situation. CHECK!, and she asked me out. So, I pushed her off to some other dude. That seemed to work pretty well.



• Then, I saw the other girl, Daisy, and she took my phone and punched her number in it. That was cute. But, I made it known I have a wonderful woman. :) Kaput. hehe

Sunday

• I went to work around 1:20pm to get some wrapping paper for this b-day party for the neighbors. AND SHE WAS THERE. She doesn't even work there on Sundays! But she, Brit, came in with her friend to "show her the hot guy" she met. So, that was awkward...especially when she wouldn't leave, and she just waited for me when I was talking to my co-workers. I told her I had a party to go to. And that was that, until Friday when she'll be there again. lol

And off to another week.

My life is so tight.

Social Vacation.

I'm taking a vacation from my social life starting tonite....a red eye flight, but it's much needed. I don't know how long this'll last, but I hope I get something out of it.

-X Faktor

Transformers HD-DVD 1080p

Pretty sick. Weighing in at just over 10gigs, it tops the 8.82gig Bourne Ultimatum, but comes in short of the big 15gig Matrix Reloaded.

But, it's funny how they all have the same excellent quality.
Bourne is on top still.

I Just Bought an M16

Sweet knife by the reliable blade maker, CRKT. $20@Wal-Mart

"You'll 'handle' us?!"

"Okay, he's got some skill..."

The Matrix Reloaded 1080p HD

The Matrix, a trilogy you can't afford to miss, let alone in high definition. It looks beautiful

The Bourne Ultimatum HD 1080p

My pursuit of happiness is over.

You must click the pic.

You must.

Unleashed.

Having seen many english Jet Li movies, I thought this was going to be another one of those ridiculous choreography, sick action, and poor plot line movies. Unleashed is the by far the best english Jet Li movie around. Tears will flow. Yes, ironic, but it's hard not to with this movie. Definitely worth a rental or just to buy.

iGun

I'm having a CS3 spree tonite, just made a few Pshops... Fun fun.

Punishment.

more Photoshop phun.