The MMORPG (massively-multiplayer online role playing game... yeah a mouthful) has been becoming more and more common ever since the popular game World of Warcraft hit the market in 2004(popular meaning it has 11 million subscribers). Now, normally I would not condemn an entire genre, but when nearly every subsequent game in the genre just sees how much they can copy W0W while avoiding lawsuits I begin to get a bit worried.
It seems every big developer these days needs/wants an MMO of their own and often fall flat on their faces... you see the MMO is the most expensive and difficult genre to create a game in. Bioware recently hired 100 new employees and opened up a new studio to work on their new MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic... if that is not convincing enough this game and nearly every other noteworthy game in the genre has a development period of 5 years at the least. That's a lot of time and resources to commit to one release... a release that if you batch... you may go bankrupt.
What is sad is that this has in fact happened and continues to do so. Companies just can not rap their heads around original ideas and when one thing sells everyone freaks out and tries to ride the coat tails. In many cases this works... but seemingly not with MMO. So I ask the gaming industry, please stop pooping out MMO's every which-way. We don't care and we won't buy them. Spend your time and resources producing something good.
So I believe it is safe to assume that everyone at this point has heard about the luge accident in which Nodar Kumaritashvili made an error that cost him his life. Now I really have nothing against dangerous sports. If you have gone through the proper training to do it "safely" and your crazy enough to show the world your stuff, then by all means do so. What bothers me however, is when those running the events lack the necessary forethought.
A metal pole literally inches from the track is was ultimately cost him his life. A METAL pole. You would think that while sliding down at 90 mph you would hope there wouldn't be any giant metal things inches from your face. After his death they padded up the poles to prevent similar injuries and death, but isn't it a bit too late. Now I am not placing blame on any one party. Its a dangerous sport and Nodar knew this... but safety proofing the polls should have been so obvious. So what is the moral of the story? Don't be an idiot. When putting your life on the line for entertainment and thrill make sure you have taken every safety precaution available. That goes for those idiots that like to ride motorcycles without helmets too.
This movie does not hold the "top grossing movie in China ever" spot for nothing. John Woo's latest work is the textbook definition of a masterpiece and is the best war movie this writer has ever seen. Period.
Red Cliff is a film about the battle of Red Cliff, a very important conflict during the War of the Three Kingdoms, one of the most important eras in Chinese history. I will save the history lesson and get right down to the meat of the movie.
The international version (which I saw) consists of two installments adding up to about 4 1/2 hours of film. In most cases you would probably watch part1 and then watch part 2 later... I mean that is a lot of sofa dwelling to do all at once. Alas, this movie was just too damn good to delay. This movie did everything right. Even with an enormous cast of characters (all of whom are nonfictional) the film gave enough time and reason to grow attached to them all, even Cao Cao, the film's antagonist.
I could talk about the characterization, cinematography and all that nonsense all day if I wanted (take my word for it... it's good) but this is a war movie, and what do people want from a war movie? F**king war. As far as war films go, this has some of the most incredible choreography I have ever witnessed. Fight scenes are believable and extraordinarily clever for the first half and then suddenly over the top with one lone hero (or a pair) taking on entire units at a time. There was one battle that was so nuts we had to re watch it. On two different occasions a hero rams into a horse so hard it actually knocks it over and sends the rider flying. What don't believe me?
The violence is brutal but not gory. They do a lot of tricky camera work to avoid stupid amounts of gore because, lets be honest, 3rd century warfare was no picnic.
The best part? The best character in the film never even fights anyone. He's a tactical genius named Zhu-ge Liang and he makes carrying a fan almost manly.
As far as I understand the American version of the film condenses the two films into one, effectively cutting the length in half. If you have the oppertunity I strongly... STRONGLY urge everyone to get their hands on the international version.
Oh yeah almost forgot... what do I give the film? How about 10 turtles out of 10. (Oh yeah there is a badass tortoise in this movie... can't believe I did not mention this)
I saw The Wolfman on Friday and I came out with hodgepodge of emotions. It has incredible strengths and obvious pitfalls. I was not really disappointed however. As one of my favorite reviewers said, "You go to a Wolfman movie expecting to see a Wolfman doing Wolfman stuff." And in that regard it is a masterpiece. The action sequences were fast, gritty and ferocious. Sadly they were few and far between... and the London scene... so good... just wish it was five minutes longer.
The actors and director deserve some exceptional credit as their performances were convincing and engaging... I just wish the script was better. The movie suffered from sever pacing issues and started to fall apart in the last twenty minutes... the ending was terrible as well.
Considering the trouble this film went through before it was finally released around two years later than expected I have to say I enjoyed the experience and will probably rent it in a year or so.
If you have some cash to spend and you want to see a Wolfman doing Wolfman stuff go see this movie.
It dawned on me yesterday that we as a culture are very isolated from the rest of the world. We worship Hollywood and really don't seem to accept anything else. The music genre is an acceptable causality as there is often times a language barrier and most people like understanding their favorite band's lyrics (unless your a Death Metal or Nirvana fan).
Movies can't use this excuse however. Movies have the ability to supply subtitles that magically translate foreign languages into English. Just because you can't understand the actors spoken words you can still judge their acting. Many countries have their own, some times enormous, film industries (China and India are huge players), yet they still watch our movies. In fact Titanic once held the top grossing movie spot in China until the historical action-epic Red Cliff usurped it.
I'm very curious about these movies now. The only foreign films I am really familiar with are some famous British films and some Asian martial-arts/action films. What are we missing? Why does it take so long for many of these films to become legally accessible to Americans? Why are the American versions always chopped up and nowhere near as good or complete as the International versions? Honestly I really hope this changes soon because I hate to have to watch a pirated copy of Red Cliff since the international version is impossible to find in stores.
Note: The international version is 4 1/2 hours long consisting of two films. The American version is cut down to two hours in one film... should explain my dilemma.
"Only by reducing the growth of government can we increase the growth of the economy." -Ronald Reagan
Reaganomics was a controversial economic strategy implemented by Ronald Reagan in the 1981 to, "increase saving and investment, increase economic growth, balance the budget, restore healthy financial markets, and reduce inflation and interest rates."
Four major policy objectives:
1. Reduce the growth of government spending 2. Reduce the marginal tax rates on income from both labor and capital 3. Reduce regulation 4. Reduce inflation by controlling the growth of the money supply
Notable things it did right:
- Unemployment rate declined from 7% to 5.4% - Real GDP per working adult increased at a 1.8 percent rate - The inflation rate declined from 10.4% to 4.2% - Ultimately it was responsible for sharp reductions in marginal tax rates and in inflation
Bad things after Reaganomics:
- Privately held federal debt increased from 22.3%of GDP to 38.1& - The failure to address the savings and loan problem early led to an additional debt of about $125 billion - The share of U.S. imports subject to some form of trade restraint increased from 12% to 23%
The existence of the fast food industry presents a double-edged sword to society. It offers a cheap and affordable source of food for those who don't have the means to afford quality meals everyday. Sadly however, fast food is absolutely horrible for your innards and many of their representatives facilitate mass consumption of food that won't kill you unless you eat it constantly. Pretty grim.
I like to think of myself as a realist... but don't get me wrong I am pretty optimistic, I just see things how they are, especially businesses. Fast food companies will cut costs wherever necessary and if it means sacrificing their costumers' health they will not give it a second thought.
Fast food exploits those who do not have the ability to eat healthier and even advertise to children by offering cheap plastic toys. Fast food marketing is very reminiscent of smoking ads actually.
Needless to say I believe fast food does more harm than good.
