Second Post

Good morning. This is my second actual post, and I'm on schedule. The first last Sunday, and now this one today. What's next? Will I manage to post next week? Well, we'll just have to wait and see.

I have been playing Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. I am a whopping one mission further than I was last week after a dozen of failed attempts. And now, I don't think I can complete the game. The game has screwed me so much, I think I am stuck. Ike, arguably the main character, has to fight an enemy called The Black Knight one on one. Apparently I haven't leveled Ike up enough, so he does hardly any damage (one damage point, to be exact) to the Black Knight when he attacks. And if I can't kill the Black Knight, then I cannot beat the mission. So, I am stuck.

On a more cheerful note, I have also been playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl and I have been getting better at it. I was pretty good at the predecessor, Melee, but the physics for this game is different. Not worlds different, but different enough to screw me up. However, with some practice I have gotten better. The characters I have chosen for my team (spoilers warning) are Kirby, Pikachu, Diddy Kong, Snake, and Robot. I like Kirby for his jumps and aerials; Pikachu for his speed and smash attacks; Diddy Kong for his unique fighting style; Snake for his ability to control the stage; and Robot for his special moves. I think I'll eventually be able to take on anybody.

I watched a new game show Amnesia recently. It is ok. It is better than Pick-A-Box (Deal or No Deal) and Racial Stereotypes (Identity), which are the two last game shows I gave a chance. Dennis Miller hosts the show, and the premise is the contestant has to answer questions about their past. For example, a guy who was a high school cheerleader had to answer what was his high school quarterback's jersey number. A decent premise for a show, but I don't know. The show is still trying to find its groove. I'll give it a couple of more chances. I've only seen two episodes so far.

I have seen a few movies. First I saw a movie called Chinatown. It's a film from the 70s and it stars Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. Nicholson plays a detective who investigates the death of an engineer. There's more, of course, but I don't like spoiling things. I love young Nicholson. In this movie he plays a smartass and I've never seen him funnier. The plot and writing for the movie are both good, with one of the most famous twists in film history coming near the end. And the acting, as I kind of touched on, is amazing. I strongly recommend this movie.

I also saw a movie called Sunshine. It stars Chris Evans and Cillian Murphy. It is about a group of scientists and astronauts in the future who live on an Earth with a dying sun, and they are on a mission to deliver a bomb to the sun in order to create a new sun. This was a pretty good movie. It started out as an exploration type film, but past the halfway mark it became more of a thriller. It was a neat turn, and I liked it. Also, I'm a sci-fi nerd, so it was hard for me not to like it, at least somewhat. The acting is really great. None of the characters are too amazing in themselves, but the actors do a good job portraying them, and make me care for the characters. I would like to personally congratulate Chris Evans and Cliff Curtis on their jobs. I like Curtis in what I've seen him in. He usually plays a kind of badass, or at least a no-nonsense kind of guy, and he shows a lot of humanity in this role. I am congratulating Evans because, honestly, I didn't know he could act so well. I mean, his acting highlights so far are the Fantastic Four movies and Cellular. Also, for those of you interested, it was directed by the same guy who did 28 Days Later.

The third movie I watched was The Chumscrubber. In a film class I took, I heard a fellow student recommend this movie to the instructor. "It's a lot like American Beauty," he said. The movie has been in my mind ever since because I would consider American Beauty to be an exceptional film. After watching Jumper, my friend mentioned to me Jamie Bell was the main character in The Chumscrubber, which she owned on DVD. My ears perked up and I asked if I could borrow it. She agreed and I watched it immediately. It was a roaring disappointment. This is about a bunch of rich, white people whose only real problem in life is that they have become too rich and have grown complacent in their lives. Jamie Bell and his girlfriend in the film are the only two people worth watching. I was just screaming at my TV when anybody else spoke. The acting is ok, I guess. My problems come with the story/writing and the directing. You could tell the director just got done watching American Beauty and tried to recreate it with his own touches. If he had left out his personal elements, it would have been a subpar ripoff of American Beauty, which might have made it better. However, he put in his own touches, such as the Cumscrubber video game ads, and just made it a terrible film. I contemplated breaking my friend's DVD, but that would be mean. Instead, I'm just going to throw it at her face when I see her again.

That covers my week in dealing with media. Hopefully I have better news next time we talk.