Moooooving on… it’s awesome. It’s a rather slow buildup (heck, it starts the game with your birth!), but it’s enthralling. And that’s saying something since there are so many camera and character glitches. The voice-acting is top-notch, besides Uncharted 2 the best I’ve ever heard in a game. And I’m pretty positive Liam Neeson is one of the “main” characters, which is awesome. The game immediately throws you into this twisted, post-apocalyptic fallout shelter. It’s only a bit in that you finally break out and see the real, destroyed world. And the world is vast. And so intricate. It feels alive (and yes, I realize it’s actually all destroyed). You carry around a watch-type device called a Pip Boy that catalogs everything you have, and can also play different radio stations. One of the stations is apparently a “pre-war music station, now just playing on a loop.” It’s things like this which make this game so great: the atmosphere of it all. It feels like you’re the only one left. It feels like you’re in some twisted disturbed world, that humanity has lost it’s grips with reality. And you’re the only sane one left.

slow buildup, part 1

slow buildup, part 2

Well maybe that’s an over exaggeration, but you get the point. And there is SO MUCH TO DO! It’s an open world game, so you can go anywhere and do most anything as long as you have the gear for it. The game also takes place near Washington, DC, so it’s awesome seeing the vast wastelands of places I know and have been many times (is it weird to say that?)! Discussions of the Potomac river, traveling to DC, fighting in the DC metro centers, talk of the President still being alive, all this makes for an awesome experience.

Ghouls in the DC subway system! Ahhh! Oh wait. They're not real.

It’s mind boggling just how much there is to do, and the game doesn’t hesitate showing you all the things you could have done had you made different choices. Oh yeah, that’s another thing, your decisions count. If you steal from people, you will be labeled a thief. If you kill someone, they won’t come back. If you’re nice, people will be nice to you. If you are caught doing something, it will matter. In fact, it turns out if you hit one certain bar owner in Megaton (a small city in the game) in the back with a baseball bat, all his men will chase you out of the town for good. Even though you didn’t hurt him that bad! How unfair.

Megaton, the town I was rudely chased from

Springvale, the first town you encounter. It also includes the elementary school

It didn’t hit me how well-done this game was until I came across a certain elementary school in the first town you reach. I went in, thinking it would contain some supplies, and wanting to see what the school would look like destroyed. But as soon as I walked in the front door, I saw there were cages nailed to the wall. Confused, I walked over, and realized there were skeletons in the cages. And when I looked up, there were bodies hanging from the ceiling. Only then did raiders (the game’s post-apocalyptic band of crazed, murderous thieves) come in and start shooting at me. They had been using the school as a hideout, and had been bringing their victims here and killing them. It was disturbing. And it made me legitimately mad. Not so much that the raiders existed (they’re just game characters, after all), but rather that this environment had to exist because the characters existed… if that makes sense. Say what you will about how terrible it is that would be put in a video game, if a game gets a visceral reaction from you, it’s doing something right. I got a similar reaction playing this (at times) that I got watching The Road. Not nearly as amazing as the movie (or book), but still great!

Oh, the details

Leaving the disturbing parts aside, this is similar to what we hope to achieve with our eventual post-apocalyptic drama idea Will and I are constantly working on. Granted, I’m only probably 1/5 of my way through this game, but I love it so far and had nothing else to write about!

In fact, after randomly writing for a while, I realize this probably makes no sense to anyone but me… Ah well!

Happy Trails,
Sam.

So anyways because of this you all get to experience them! I’ll post a new one of them every week, starting right now with our old review of High School Musical (the movie, not the album). Enjoy… (click to see full version)

Happy Trails,
Sam.

Update #2: Sam is mad due to the Emmy’s the other night.

Update #3: Due to the previously mentioned extreme hunger, Sam’s anger has been increased 100 fold regarding this.



IMPORTANT: For your convenience, parts of this post have been written in the 3rd person. And here commences the post:

First off, what the heck? No, seriously! What the heck!?

• What is Sam talking about here? Get caught up on the info about the Emmy’s over here and here. Note: this ends the 3rd-person portion of the post.

How did LOST not win? Not only how did they not win everything, but how did the most anticipated television season/series finale of the last decade not win a single award? Not even Terry O’Quinn?? I mean, Aaron Paul? Seriously? Bryan Cranston I can totally understand beating Matthew Fox (though I love him) for lead actor in a drama, cause Bryan Cranston is a pretty incredible actor. But Aaron Paul beating BOTH Terry O’Quinn and Michael Emerson? That’s just… *choose your expletive combo*. While I am in awe of both Terry and Michael, Terry was the clear winner. He essentially played three separate characters in the sixth season alone (pre-Island Locke, post-Island Locke, and the Man in Black), and in such a way that I was taken aback multiple times.

I’m almost tempted to say Aaron Paul won because both Terry O’Quinn and Michael Emerson have won in previous years, but that excuse is crap, cause Mad Men has beat LOST in best drama for the past few years in a row. And yet again Mad Men beat LOST in the Best Drama department. That. Is. Crap. Sorry, had to say it. LOST has something no other series on the list has, an ending. It’s done. The LOST team ended LOST, and just how it should have ended. The finale did what the perfect finale should: it tied up every important character thread since the season, and finished answering nearly all the questions we posed in the first two seasons. It brought the series literally around full-circle, ending right where it began, in the same way the great epics of literature do. It was an immensely symbolic action, and for me more than anything finalized LOST’s place in television history. It began with an eye opening, it ended years later with that same eye closing in the same location. It was beautiful. It made everything in the last six seasons worth it. And it deserves recognition.

Yet here comes Mad Men. And what is Man Men anyways? Most people seem to make the same statements every year: “Oh, well Mad Men beat out LOST for Best Drama again. I mean, I don’t watch Mad Men, but I guess it’s good or something.” Nobody watches the show.

I have seen an episode of Mad Men, and honestly I didn’t like it that much. I’m sure there’s something good hidden there, but it didn’t soak me in, it didn’t make me feel invested in anything or make me want to keep watching. As my friend Will puts it, “From the first episode of LOST I watched, I was sucked in. I just realized these were pretty amazing characters.”

And HOW did LOST not win for cinematography for “The End”? As a photography enthusiast myself, my mind was blown after seeing the series finale. Some of the lighting, the mood, and the shots were beautiful. LOST should have won for just the shot of Locke staring out at the boat in the ocean with the storm rolling in. It was moody, crazy, and exactly what it should have been.
And how did “The End” not win for writing? I mean I’m sure the Mad Men episode “Shut The Door. Have A Seat.” had great writing, too. But Damon and Carlton did the impossible: they ended LOST. Correctly. They deserve an award all of their own for that! I figured the fact there was a whole thing where the Emmy’s allowed the “too-long” series finale to be accepted anyways was a pretty sure sign LOST was going to win.

I feel like Mad Men and Dexter beat out LOST for the same reason the academy award for picture of the year is always given out to a R-rated film which deals with what some self-proclaimed intellectuals would like to call “more serious, adult scenarios.” Nothing frivolous like time-traveling bunnies, island deities, and love after death.

Of course, after complaining about LOST I could go on to the other categories, such as how the heck did Jim Parsons (from Big Bang Theory, which you prob also didn’t know) beat out Steve Carell, Alec Baldwin, and the great Tony Shalhoub for best comedy actor? Tony Shalhoub deserved it for his great final season of Monk in my opinion.

And going back to the best supporting actors in a drama, where oh WHERE was the mention for John Noble as Walter Bishop?? Besides Terry O’Quinn he deserved it most of all. All of you should go watch the Fringe episode entitled “Peter” for yourselves. He is a truly brilliant actor, who is not getting the recognition he deserves. And once again, I can only think it’s cause Fringe is a sci-fi show. As such, the actors and drama cannot be treated seriously. That’s dumb, and shows a serious flaw in the award-system. Cry all you want. It’s flawed.

Basically I’ve LOST (haha, get the pun?) all faith in the Emmy’s, and it’s going to be very hard to get it back. However, even so, this doesn’t change my opinion of LOST in the least. LOST changed the way television can be approached, and that’ll always keep it special.



Happy Trails and Namaste,
Sam.



PS – Post-rage, I realize some of my comments about Mad Men being unworthy and the Emmy’s being “dumb”, “incredibly flawed”, etc. were probably a bit harsh…. ah well!

Previously I’ve only had experience with the iPhone/iTouch OS, so Android is something new for me. But back to the device…

It has a huge screen at 4.3 x 2.sumthin inches, which my abnormally large fingers love. At first my biggest concern was the fact it has no keyboard. Due to my previously mentioned fingers I usually need some sort of QWerty keyboard. However, as you can see it’s actually a bit of a non-issue because of the large screen.

The camera is 8 megapixels and takes HD video. The camera is pretty good for a phone, though I won’t be throwing out my standalone camera (if i had one).

All in all it’s pretty great, an i’m already being converted to the Android… which is saying something, cause for a long time I supported the iPhone OS. I have faith in Google and Android, and the openness of the Android OS is something I totally dig.

Happy Trails and Namaste,
Sam.

So why Arabic? I dunno, it seemed like a cool thing to learn. Not many people know it, and if I ever wanted to throw away my current chosen career and take up international relations, I’d be pretty set. Or maybe if I make a movie about the Middle East…

Am I glad to be back? Yeah, def. Sure, I miss the summer, I miss all my friends and the music-making/movie-watching/adventuresome shenanigans, I miss TiVo, I miss my family, and my little dog Fred, but Fredericksburg is great and like my second home. So there’s your answer to your unasked question. Now I gotta run, take a shower and head to my 9:30 class…

Happy Trails,
Sam.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni9TupES6OY

The idea itself isn’t new, but the prevalence of it is. Back in the day, the production of an obscure comic book into a film was very rare. And for legitimate reasons at the time. Let’s be honest: The Mask and Blade were both risky moves on the studio’s behalf. In fact, Blade really started the whole trend I’m writing about now. These movies do deserve a thanks for paving the way.

But even today making such a movie poses a big risk to the studio. Without a hero as well-known as Spider-Man or Wolverine, how are you going to gain enough public interest in an obscure comic book to make the project worth it. One of the ways the industry seems to get around this problem is simply by not marketing it as a comic book adaption. For instance, how many of you knew Men in Black is based on a comic book? Or A History of Violence? Or V For Vendetta? etc… The reason 300 did so well in theaters isn’t because of it’s fan-following as a graphic novel, but rather because Warner Bros. marketed it as a violent, bloody, action film (which it also was).

Of course, such a tactic is almost impossible when the comic is about a super hero. Hence one of the many reasons movies like Elektra and Daredevil failed. But… that’s mainly because they’re terrible movies. However, Zack Snyder‘s next film after 300, Watchmen, was marketed as it was, a movie adaption of a graphic novel about super heroes. Warner was able to get around this “rule” thanks to the fact Snyder’s 300 had done so well, and also the fact that Watchmen had already gained respect by placing on Time Magazine’s Top 100 Novels of All Time.

There seems to be a sort of shift in the mentality of the studios. Nowadays the fact that a film is based on a comic almost earns the film a certain aura of importance, or at least an expectation of quality, so to speak. (There are always exceptions, however. And yes, I am purposefully avoiding the terribleness that was Jonah Hex and it’s well-deserved failure in theaters). And the studios are catching on. Though it started slowly, it seems studios are beginning to produce more and more movie adaptions. This has opened the door for visionary directors like Zack Snyder and Matthew Vaughn to put their own spin on the lush source material.

Although I called this shift in market simply a “fad” at the beginning of this post, I hope it isn’t. I would love to keep seeing movies based on lesser-known comics. Gimme more Kick-Ass and Scott Pilgrim (which, I must point out, were BOTH great movies, and both of which everyone should see).

Don’t worry, my rant about this subject isn’t over yet… No you must endure many more pages of my fingers typing.



Happy Trails and Namaste,
Sam.

For the past few months I’ve felt rather devoid of good film ideas. We’ve talked over ideas for different web video series and such, but haven’t come up with anything solid. Even the Samuel Michaels mini-unfinished-story I worked on last semester was a stretch for me. And so we’ve just been filming more McGrimmy episodes. I guess Meet the McGrimmy’s has kinda become our semi-permanent fallback idea. My official excuse: after Will and I worked on the terribleness that “is” Island Wars for so long, I felt imaginarily drained. Not to mention how bad Island Wars as a whole was, which was discouraging.

Moping aside, I’ve been reinvigorated! Last week I ran across an old edition of “The Rebellion,” which was a book in an unfinished fantasy series I was writing as a 6-7 grader named “The Union of the Chosen”. I had forgotten how many great ideas I had, and how amazingly cool the story was. I had a whole history worked out, I had drawn maps and researched fantasy creatures, I had even written poems and songs for different groups in the fantasy world. And thus the light bulb was turned back on in my head. No, not in terms of fantasy writing, just ideas in general.

So I was hoping a trip to the beach would help clear my mind and start the creative process again. And whaddayaknow? As soon as I got home tonight I wrote down the five best ideas. I don’t want to say too much right now, but I definitely want to base a separate project off each of them eventually. Surprisingly, only two of them are sci-fi based, while the others deal with topics from suicide to neo-morals, even religion. Meh, I probably sound like a snob talking as if my projects are making an impact on the morals of our time. Don’t worry, I’m not a snob in that regard. However, I have already talked to Will about one of the projects and he loves it, so we’ll most likely start working on that one first. That is, unless we really do re-film Island Wars (which is currently being discussed). Yes, it was that bad.

So basically I come back to you now, at the turn of the tide, with only the information that more information is to come!!



Happy Trails,
Sam.

Last post I talked about the design of the booklet and such. After that, however, came an even more annoying problem: printing them. We didn’t need hundreds of copies, but we still didn’t want to use our home printer ink (for obvious reasons). So I went to Staples and got some estimates on how much printing 50 booklets would cost (that’s 150 pages front and back, fyi). If we had used their paper, it would have been over $200. Thankfully, Mel got some high-quality “great for CD booklet” paper. Using her paper it was something like $145, which is a lot, but not since Will is selling the booklet editions anyways.

So a few nights ago we went and got them all printed at Staples. Too bad they got them ALL WRONG. The woman who “helped” us, while nice, was rather incompetent about anything relating to printing, and printed nearly every every page off-center. Some of the pages were even diagonal on one side! I mean, seriously, how does that even happen!? Since we couldn’t use any of it, we went back the next morning (when we knew there would be a new shift of people at the printing station), and the woman there kindly reprinted all 150 for free. She even let us keep the original batch.

We spent the rest of the day stapling, cutting, smooshing, and inserting the booklets into the jewel cases. And they turned out GREAT. In fact, I think they look awesome. So if you can get one from Will, get it. Of course, I guess you could also get it for the music on it… heh heh.

In other quick news, I’m helping out with our church’s Vacation Bible School this Summer, which starts today. I’m doing drama, playing the part of a homesick, classic english butler in Egypt. It’s gonna be epic.

OH, and I’m seeing Arcade Fire tonight in Philadelphia. So expect some news from that!

Happy Trails,
Sam.

It’s primarily a puzzle game based around the use of what’s called a “Portal-gun,” which allows you to create portals between two disconnected areas and travel between them. It’s crazy fun, and crazy innovative. You play as a character named Chell (which is a stupid name, but whatever), who is apparently a test subject at the weird and deserted Aperture Science Laboratories. The facility is run by a computer system named GLaDOS, who is hilarious. She helps you around the facility. Constantly full of wit and other subtle humor, GLaDOS is easily one of my favorite video game characters.

While at first you are simply completing tests in different rooms, you eventually begin to realize GLaDOS may be trying to kill you. It’s around this point you go on a mission to destroy the facility.

And I love it. I don’t even know why, but I’ve completed the game three times already and still want more. Portal 2 is coming out next year, and I can’t wait! So go try it out and stuff.

Happy Trails,
Sam.



PS — Since I’m now a Valve fan, I’ve started to play Half-Life 2, so we’ll see how that goes…