So for the last couple weeks/months I’ve been kinda getting back “into anime” and after seeing the conclusions of 2 of the best animes I had ever seen, I decided to pick it up as a hobby again.
I’m about 60 episodes deep into One Piece and I gotta say so far it is very entertaining. In a nutshell, One Piece is a fabled treasure left behind by the greatest Pirate of all time. It is often considered to be “everything in the world”. Enter Monkey D Luffy a goofy, lanky aspiring young pirate. He’s a one man crew and the only 2 things that set him apart from all the other pirates is his golden heart and his rubber body. In the world if One Piece, there exists many magical items including “devil’s fruit” which, when eaten, will give the “eater” a special power at random. Luffy’ happens to turn him into a man of rubber (more on this later). Luffy wants to be the greatest pirate ever, also known as the pirate king, and get the One Piece.
The anime is actually pretty kiddish in terms that the story lines are simple, the colors are vivid and the characters aren’t exactly multidimensional or complex. However that should not stop anyone from enjoying this lively show. Though often “immature” seeming, the themes are definitely mature, the storylines are engaging, the fight scenes are exciting, and the voice acting is great!
One of my favorite story arcs so far is a short one about Luffy’s voyages where he and his crew (which he picks up as he goes through his adventures) combat the most feared pirate in the entire East Blue (the One piece world is split into 4 “blue” seas) whose crew is 50,000 men strong. What I loved about this storyline was both the heavy foreshadowing that happened for the future of the show in addition to the 3-4 episode fight at the end against the captain of the enemy crew. The anime takes careful care to “set up” the battle field in a very clear way so even though the battle is unfolding before your eyes as you watch you really feel like you are on the sidelines and know who all the spectators and settings are. It’s not at all like Dragon Ball Z’s super bland desert battlefields that seem to stretch on forever no matter what happens in the fight.
In comparison to other similar animes, Naruto in particular, I think this show holds up very well. It does a very similar thing in the way it takes an idea that everyone likes (pirate world) and creates a fantasy world out it and allow the user to experience the whole world one episode and place at a time. I still think Naruto is better in pretty much every way at this point in time but One Piece is almost 2-3 times longer than Naruto in series length so it must be doing something right! Even my Anime Conosieur friend Joshua Yoo has told me on several occasions that he likes One Piece better.
I’m on episode 60 out of the 3xx something episodes out right now. It’s drawn me in really well so far so I’m excited to watch more!!
So the time has come for me to tell you all about the Halo3 beta. Before I do, lemme give a little background (check herefor more posts about games):
Halo came out originally for the Xbox. In short it quickly became one of the most popular games of all time. It revolutionized first person shooting genre on consoles, it had a epic storyline, fantastic graphics, addicting gameplay. A perfect storm of a killer-app (a software so great it proves the value of the underlying technology, in this case the original Xbox).
Halo 2 came out something like 3-4 years ago, again on the original Xbox. It was a fantastic game in it’s own right. It brought Xbox Live into the Halo equation as well as the fantastic concept of dual wielding guns (FPS games are all about innovation nowadays). It was a great game but not much more (in my opinion at least). The story was a bit more boring than halo 1, the multiplayer was not as unanimously loved by everyone but overall it was still the same fantastic game as number 1. Don’t get me wrong, it IS a fantastic game.
Now, Microsoft is bringing us Halo 3 4 months early (September release for the final game at the moment) in the form of a public beta. You can get in buy buying Crackdown (another good game) and downloading it through the main menu in Crackdown. It’s available for about a month between middle of May to middle of June. Thousands are playing already and about a week ago I bought Crackdown to get in on the action and report back here! So without further ado, here is my thoughts:
Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta
Introduction
I love this game already. I’ve played only for about 3-4 hours or so but minus the first 2-3 minutes of initial awkwardness from my longtime vacation from Halo in general, I quickly got my bearings back. This game is the same thing we’ve loved for years but shinier and BETTER. Everything I’ve loved about both of the last 2 games are present…. except now in beautiful Xbox 360 renderings. The movement is smooth, the graphics are vivid and detailed, the controls are natural, and overall it just feels really polished. To think that this is not the final version is just even more titillating (whatever that means!). I think this game is an instant classic before it’s even released. Great job Microsoft. Now, onto the specifics…
Look and fee
The Graphics are nothing short of next generation. I think they aren’t as shiny/grainy as Gears of War and thus there are a few complaints about that but I think the look and feel is perfectly appropriate considering how many people would bitch and moan if they changed the style of the graphics. After all, its not always about the graphical prowess and more and more lately, its all about the style. Case in point in Grand Theft Auto vs Saint’s Row. Still, the graphics are GREAT! A huge step up from Halo 2 ( I even did PIP on my TV and did a side by side comparison). I think a good way to put it is that, Halo 2 had such a good sense of graphical style that you don’t really notice the graphics aren’t the best in the world. Instead you just fill in the blanks with your head. Halo 3 fills in those blanks; so right off the bat you see this game you’re like “Oh, this is Halo 3? It looks kinda like Halo 2!” Until you see Halo 2 again, then you’re like “WOW, thats a LOT better!”.
Sounds
Not too much to say about this, music and sound effects have always been perfectly good in the Halo series, and nothing in this beta suggests otherwise. I noticed some more new “Death Groans” – which are the sounds you make when you get killed in different ways. Some are pretty funny. Sweet new iteration of the halo ambiance music too, can’t wait to hear the whole theme on like electric guitar or something!!!!#@!#
Vehicles
The mongoose is the new vehicle that I’ve seen in the game. It is like a small warthog. Faster, more maneuverable and as far as I can tell, only fits 1 person. Great for running flags I imagine, but not too useful for the smaller maps available in the beta. Everything else seems about the same. The Ghost looks cooler than before, but maybe a little weaker?
Maps
We get to play 3 maps in the beta. They are all pretty cool. My favorite is the snow one and my least favorite is the huge Valhalla though I’d admit I haven’t played that one as much. They are all very pretty, detailed, simple (and yet complex enough as well) enough to memorize and have fun playing after just a few games. I’m sure all the improvements with Xbox Live since the last system will make any big map mistakes bungie makes a non issue with Halo 3.
Weapons
The weapons are not really the focal point of the game. I mean obviously you shoot and kill everyone with weapons and whatnot, but this game feels more like they fine tuned all the weapons rather than created any drastic new ones. For instance, the Covenant/alien side was missing a decently powered, dual wield-able gun (the human SMG) and now they have it with the Spiker (2 of which is an excellent combo) Most of the other weapons are more or less the same, the assault rifle from Halo 1 is back and much more solid of a weapon too. I’ve got absolutely no gripes with Halo 3’s weapons. Spartan Laser? Yes it is as cool as it sounds.
What’s New? Items, Stats, Ranking, MORE!
This is where Halo 3 really ups the stakes…
Items are what the mysterious X button now activates. So far there is the portable jumper, the bubble shield, and the energy dampener. They all do exactly what it sounds like they do (a portable “push upper”, a shield that blocks all fire but allows people to pass through, a field that kills all shields). I kinda think that these are things that are gonnna be a real treat for the advanced players when they start to really get used to having them around. When you suck, it’s not super easy to find great uses for these items right off the get go but after a while you definitely start to get a feel for how powerful these assets can be to your CTF team for instance or other gameplay modes.
Another really cool feature is the stats- in short you can go to bungie.com and see your ranking much like in some CS servers out there. You can see the games you’ve played, your score for those games, what weapons you used, games played, times played…etc. From your rankings you can also explore the rankings of other players which is really cool because it gives the game a much more involving feeling. It creates meaning to how well you do and allows you to see your improvement in numbers. Very cool. If they can really master this area, this type of feature could really revolutionize online gaming for consoles by stealing even more of the players’ mind share even when they aren’t on their console.
Ranking is similar from Halo2 but the user experience seems to be much improved. You are matched up much faster, the menus and pop-ups are all lightening fast, and the ranking system is very simple and clear. I didn’t actually do too much halo 2 on live but this is definitely nice.
Bottom Line
This game is awesome. It’s ready to be released as it is and including the few bugs and annoying factors it is probably already one of the best games on 360. To think the final game is going to look and feel even better (provided MS actually makes use of whatever data they are gathering from this beta) is very exciting to me. I play this almost everyday for at least like 15 minutes and honestly, its great fun! If any of you are on Halo 3 beta, FIND ME my gamertag is “AoKUSA Vash“.
You probably don’t know this but I’m actually a huge fan of beer! Last year I even considered starting a small home brewing company and creating my own beer but this idea was rather short-lived as I was still fraternity president of a DRY fraternity! I may still do this someday and I’ll keep you posted for sure! Anyways….As I’ve progressed through the last 4 years of University I have gone through an immense number of different beers and recently I’ve finally gotten a very firm idea of what the best one is…
First though! Let’s go through and see the history – These are all the different beers that I would consider important in my life. They’ve treated me well through the years, we’ve had some damn good times, and well, their not all top tier, but they all hold a special place in my heart….
Budweiser – Can’t go wrong with the king. This is the first beer I had at my buddy Jake’s cabin where I officially got drunk for the first time. It was a fun time. Never liked the taste all that much and don’t like to just drink this the whole night ever, still good though!
Budlight – I love Bud light. You can almost never go wrong having a cold one of these and they are available pretty much anywhere. Sounds a little weird but I would even prefer one of these over a Heineken! Keystone - Ahh freshmen year…. You can get 24 16oz cans of these at the Dawg pound for like 11 bucks… The official “frat party” drink, pretty watered down but still tastes pretty good (progressively better if you get my drift).
Don’t be fooled, Keystone is never in a glass….
Natural Ice – See above… MGD - Pretty good tasting beer. I really liked this stuff my sophomore year and I’d often just buy a forty of this and hang out but it was replaced by the following beer. Mickey’s - Absolutely positively my second favorite beer. I love this stuff (only as a 40oz) and I’ve had a lot of good times with this particular beer. I know its “malt liquor” and therefore “not classy” but shit, it tastes great, it’s cheap, enough said. One bad thing: bad gas the next morning. Alaskan Amber – My girlfriend bought me a six pack of this for my birthday. Super meaningful because she usually doesn’t like me drinking beer but she made me a delicious 3-restaurant picnic and a 6 pack of beer. What a darling! She knows the way to my heart! I still keep one of the bottlecaps in my car to remember! HG800 – Also known as bum piss. This shit is digusting and probably the strongest beer that I’ve ever dranken. Drinking a 40 of this is almost like drinking 2 40s. Even at the height of my “drinking career” back a 2 years ago i thought this stuff was disgusting. My friend Xuan once drank some of this and got hives the next day….. and yet we always seemed to keep drinking it…….interesting…
The WINNER: Mac and Jack’s African Amber: Word’s cannot describe how delicious this beer is. I’m actually not like some sort of expert on all the fineries of tasting or drinking beer but I can just say that I love the taste! It’s REALLY like those beers where in the commercials the guy comes home has a beer and is instantly relaxed. It’s a strange but awesome feeling and I feel kinda like I’m finally starting to understand what the fuss is about with enjoying beer instead of just drinking for the sake of it. I think this particular beer is a local favorite or something so definitely go to a bar or restaurant and try it out!! It’s MONEY!!!
There you have it! A beer documentary from someone who loves his beer! Have a great mother’s day everyone! I’d appreciate comments as usual and btw, Go have a beer in the sun!
Hi everyone. I’ve been thinking to myself lately about the amount of exposure I get to outside influences of the artistic sort. Ever since I did PROJECT X (I’ll do a post on it later) I’ve been really inspired by a few of my fraternity brothers who are much more musical than I to let myself have more exposure to the “artsy fartsy” side of the world. What I mean by this is that I want to start listening to more different kinds of music and maybe reading more creative writing or looking at art or something. Ok, so I dont really know what I’m going to do precisely just yet but I figure it doesn’t get as easy as listening to an album of something I’ve never heard or heard of before.
Rhapsody does this cool thing on their home page where they have this fancy slide show thing that shows their newest and most featured artists and albums and tracks and stuff. I have NEVER actually used this but today, right now, I decided to click on what is most unappealing to me…Tori Amos… I have no idea who she is or what kind of music she makes so I figure, lets do it! Lets go!!@@!
So in a nutshell (thanks to Rhapsody) this is some background info on Tori Amos.
“Tori Amos is a songwriter in the classic ’70s sense. Creating meaningful, emotional songs that incorporate acoustic guitar, piano, and strings into elaborate and evocative compositions, Amos’ fragile voice carries with it all the strength, emotion and sensuality her intelligent, poetic lyrics allow. Her complexity as an artist comes from her ability to display womanly vulnerability and subvert it with raw sexuality and intimidating, thick-skinned ire, embodying it all with startling honesty.”
I guess this is all true as the melodies are elaborate and evocative so to say, but the key question is, Do I like it? The answer is No, not really. Too bad too because I usually like what I listen to but in this case the music is just a little too “bouncy” and erratic for me to really enjoy listening to in my everyday life.
Anyways, I listened to a bunch of the other songs and they pretty much all rubbed me the same way so I think I’ll pass on Miss Tori Amos next time I have the opportunity to listen to her music – Fat Slut by Tori Amos
Still though, I think this a good first new step in opening my eyes to more creativity and such in my life. Its nice that with Rhapsody I’m able to listen to all these things that are recommended by professionals and all for free and unlimited so I don’t have to download a bunch of software or buy a bunch of stuff for music I’m not wholly committed to. Thanks Rhapsody!
I’ll leave you with one of the better songs on the album….Good feeling, sad feeling? Fathers Son by Tori Amos
Hi! So today I’m going to talk a bit about my feelings on Spider-Man 3. Almost all of Phi Delta Theta fraternity went to the IMAX with me on midnight opening night and it was a fantastic time. We all got pretty good seats and the theater was totally packed with Spidey Fans. All in all it was a pretty awesome night but thats not what I’m here to talk about. I’m here to review Spider-Man 3 the movie.
Before I get started, lemme give a little background information. I HATE it when people give really critical and negative reviews not because I don’t like to hear it but rather because it seems so pointless to give out a blanket statement that the masses are supposed to read and take into account when deciding to see a movie. Movies are kind of like music in some respects, how the heck are you supposed to review something when everyone on earth is going to have a completely different feeling and background going in? I guess it’s tough but a necessary thing.
Anyhow, I believe MY opinion in particular matters when it comes to a Spider-Man review because I have loved Spider-Man ever since I was a tiny kid. When it comes to comic movies a lot of non-readers look to me for my interest level in order to determine how excited they themselves should be. In other words, comic fans are thought/opinion leaders when it comes to comic related movies. With that being said, this is my OPINION on the movie.
Spider-Man, unlike X-Men maintained a fantastic director throughout the trilogy and has long been praised as the best comic book movie series in the history of comic movies. I tend to agree with this as Spider-Man focuses on the individual man’s struggles in the everyday world (paying taxes, girlfriend issues, school etc) so more people can relate to it. So without further Adieu (or however u spell that) I give you my review of Spider-Man 3 (SPOILER ALERT)… Read the rest of this entry »
Basically this game is like a DDR game played with both thumbs on both the buttons as well as the d-pad. It doesn’t actually sound that fantastic, I know, but bear with me there’s more. What actually sets this game apart from Dance Dance Revolution is the visuals and the music.
I have NEVER really gotten into DDR for some reason, whether it be the strange visuals (IMO) and the bad music (IMO) . I loved the concept of playing a rhythmic game in addition to music that is enjoyable (see mass success known as Guitar Hero). However, BOOM BOOM Rocket! has awesome graphics that is totally simple but very mesmerizing. Basically the arrows fly up into a 3d cityscape while you push the buttons. It’s really simple and it never really changes other than the vantage point as you whiz around the skyline of a nighttime city setting off your arrow shaped fireworks and lighting up the screen magnificently.
What really made me write a post about this game though is the music!!! The music in this game immediately sparked my interest because not only does it have the heavy techno beat rhythms of DDR and other music games, but every song is instantly accessible to every player because all the music is originally remixed classical music by famous composers like Beethoven and Mozart. Among the all star cast is Moonlight Sonata, Flight of the Valkyries, Brave New World, William Tell Overture.
awesome!!
I’m not really good right off the bat with this game because I’m terrible at rhythm games in general but I suspect the music can win me over.
Also, another AWESOME feature is that if you have music loaded onto your Xbox 360 or have some connect between your media center PC with your 360, you can listen to your own music that has the cityscape/fireworks game play. Good stuff check it out! Also, check out one of the awesome songs on the soundtrack!
Last week I saw the movie Children of Men after hearing a lot good things about it from my friends.
I guess I’m not sure what to say about this movie as weird as that sounds. It was really entertaining to watch, the acting was excellent (Clive Owen is awesome as usual), the plot was interesting, the direction was insane(ly cool), the music was great, and the cast was excellent.
For some reason though, I didn’t feel like I understood it or something. The ending was somewhat anti-climatic and I was left wondering what all the build up was for. Maybe I am just not as creatively analytical as I used to be?
I looked it up on wikipedia (to have it spelled out for me I suppose =P) and it turns out the movie actually is quite brilliant! The themes pointed out are actually quite prevalent throughout the movie and the ending actually turns out to be quite appropriate (if you think about it for a while??)
Anyways, to continue on with the general feeling of this move, GO SEE IT (maybe?). It’s definitely worth your while (yeah it is…right?)
So this weekend I ended up watching the movie Pan’s Labyrinth.
Let me start by saying that I didn’t really have any preconcieved notions about this movie other than that my friend wanted to watch it really badly. I didn’t really know what it was going to be about at all and I think I actually enjoyed it more because of that. Anyways! On to the review…
In Summary:
Pan’s Labyrinth is about a little girl named Ophelia who along with her very pregnant mother are taken to a secluded area in Spain where her father, a highly ranking military man is in the midst of wiping out the remainder of a rebel force. The time is sometime slightly before or during WWII. Ophelia is an imaginative young girl who is fascinated with fairy tales. This film brilliantly plays out both Ophelia’s own fairy tale as she finds magic at her temporary home along with the war, politics, betrayal, and devastation actually happening in the adult world in which resides. The acting is extremely well done, the special effects are good but not over the top and never the focal point of the movie, the theatrical timing is amazing, the irony and foreshadowing is very captivating. If I could sum up the movie with 2 words they would be haunting and endearing.
I definitely recommend that anyone go see this movie. It is completely different than all war movies and will leave a lasting impression in your memory.
8.5/10
I’ll leave you with an equally HAUNTING AND ENDEARING SONG!
Hajime no Ippo is without a doubt my second favorite anime next to Naruto. Its really close actually.
Makunouchi Ippo is a young timid boy who helps his mother with their family fishing business while getting picked on at school by the bullies. One particularly bad day of bullying where Ippo admits that he and his mom both smell like fish in order to avoid being even more severely beaten, he is rescued by the Japanese middleweight boxing champion Mamura Takamura. Takamura quickly dispatches the bullies not with punches but rather by showing off his superior strength, speed and stamina. Ippo watches in awe and follows Takamura to his boxing gym where he discovers his strength. It turns out Ippo’s extensive history of balancing on his family fishing boats and routine carrying of heavy boat equipment has honed his body to be a boxing machine. Hajime no Ippo follows Ippo’s boxing career as he goes from a timid rookie to a confident professional earning the respect and admiration of all those around him.
Much like Naruto, it is not simply the story and moving parts of this anime that makes it so good. Rather it is the way the storytellers show Ippo’s heart as he makes his first friend, has his first date, wins his first fight. I have never seen an anime where I almost cried so many times! The emotional presence in this show is amazing. The relationships created through the 76 episodes are equally amazing as the watcher also learns to love Ippo’s rivals, opponents, and his friends.
As I mentioned earlier, I started working out pretty consistently lately. I a little embarrassed to admit this this anime is more than just partially responsible for my change in attitude. Haha, I suppose this is the point of watching good materials as it drives the audience to make changes in their lives for the positive. In fact I even listen to the score while I run. It sounds silly but whatever gets me off my ass i suppose right??
Anyways, the show has a slightly older style of animation for some reason that is a little wierd to get used to at first but you definitely learn to love it.
I highly recommend it! Please watch and tell me what you think!
Enjoy this famous boxing song courtesy of Rhapsody.com!
I’ve been meaning to make a post about this for a while now and finally here it is! I recently finished a long… unfinished piece of business. I finished the “Monster” anime.
In short, it was AMAZING.
Here is my attempt at a synopsis of the amazingly intricate plot of Monster.
Kenzou Tenma, a brilliant and kind brain surgeon working in Germany makes the worst decision of his life when he decides to save the life of a young boy who was shot in the head for apparently political reasons. Kenzou succeeds in saving the boy, flash forward 12 years, the boy, Johann, has grown to become one of the single most influential people in the world, committing murders throughout Europe in a ruthless, seemlingly random plan to execute his “plan”. Kenzou sets off to right his wrong by killing Johann.
Gosh, even reading that now I feel I cannot do it the justice it deserves… Anyways, along the way Kenzou discovers dozens of complex characters who all play into Johanns plan somehow. Each of the 74 amazing episodes feed into the suspense and mystery of this startlingly involving plot.
I Highly recommend. 10/10.
Excellent animation.
Excellent voice acting.
Excellent score.
Excellent Character development.
Excellent plot.
Excellent <insert characteristic>.
Enjoy this song commemorating my feelings toward this anime!!!
Pirate by The Ethiopians
Posted by austinwang 
Posted by austinwang 
Have a great mother’s day everyone! I’d appreciate comments as usual and btw, Go have a beer in the sun!
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