My roommate recently purchased this popular video game for the Xbox360. I have always been a fan of this series, despite all the controversy that surrounds it. The game tells the story of Niko Bellic, a Serbian man who comes to "Liberty City"(heavily based on New York City) in search of money. As I watched my roommate play through the game, I was at first appalled by the senseless violence that ensues. He began by running over countless numbers of people in a stolen minivan, and continued on to senselessly beat a police officer wandering by. As disturbing as this sounds, the game can be quite addicting. The believable physics make the game realistic enough that at times your conscience tells you to slow down just a bit before plowing through the next crowd of pedestrians. I understand why parents are concerned about children getting their hands on this game, but I'm still glad that games like this exist. These kinds of games are fun on occasion, and can be very helpful to take stress out on.
This game is not for the faint of heart and as I mentioned earlier it is definitely not appropriate for children. Having said that, I still would recommend this for a fun weekend of violence with some friends. For more information on this game check out these links:
GTA4 - Wikipedia
Rockstar Games
Monday, May 5, 2008
Alfred Packer: The Musical (Also known as Cannibal the Musical)
This little known film opens with a message describing how it was recently discovered and restored using "state-of-the-art color enhancing and computer reconstruction technology". It goes on to say that all of the "violent scenes have been edited out for your viewing pleasure. The movie continues on, to depict a scene of a man running through a forest. This man is promptly caught by his pursuer, his arm is torn from his body, and he is brutally beaten with it. The attacker moves on to attack several other men, even tearing out his last victims tongue. Then the film jumps to a courtroom where it becomes clear that this is only the prosecuting lawyer's description, and not reality.
Polly Prye, a local female reporter visits defendant Alfred Packer in prison and gets him to tell his story. Alfred's story begins with a rousing song called Shpadoinkle, about what a nice day it is. His tale follows him through the wilderness as he leads a small group of miners to Breckenridge, a town in Colorado Territory. The rest of the story follows this group of men, a young man in search of women, the ever cheerful "Swan", and a handful of others.
This movie is a cult classic, from the creators of South Park. Cannibal the Musical is a great comedy to watch with friends or family, and aside from the handful of violent scenes, it is a relatively clean movie.
Polly Prye, a local female reporter visits defendant Alfred Packer in prison and gets him to tell his story. Alfred's story begins with a rousing song called Shpadoinkle, about what a nice day it is. His tale follows him through the wilderness as he leads a small group of miners to Breckenridge, a town in Colorado Territory. The rest of the story follows this group of men, a young man in search of women, the ever cheerful "Swan", and a handful of others.
This movie is a cult classic, from the creators of South Park. Cannibal the Musical is a great comedy to watch with friends or family, and aside from the handful of violent scenes, it is a relatively clean movie.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Hot stuff in Hollywood: Anime
There was an article in Friday's USA Today that caught my attention. This article was addressing the latest trend in Hollywood, acquiring rights to popular anime titles. For those that don't know, anime is a style of artwork used in Japanese cartoons. According to this article, big names like Leonardo DiCaprio and even Steven Spielberg have bought rights to a handful of popular Japanese titles including "Ghost in the Shell", and "Akira". This seems like a very risky move to me, because anime is not completely widespread in our country yet. The article makes a very good point, saying that "little anime has caught on with broader audiences (other than kids).
Speed Racer is the latest attempt in Hollywood. This is an adaptation of the cartoon aired in the late 1990s, which was an adaptation of a Japanese cartoon. Speed Racer has a respectable fan base, but I think they may have dumbed down this film too much to appeal to the largest movie demographic, young adults. The targeted audienc e of this film is clearly young children, because the cheesy concept doesn't seem deep enough to hold the attention of adults. While I always enjoy watching something innovative and new, I feel like this genre is still in its infancy in our country. Perhaps in a few years this could be successful, but for now it seems like these movies are destined to fail.
Speed Racer is the latest attempt in Hollywood. This is an adaptation of the cartoon aired in the late 1990s, which was an adaptation of a Japanese cartoon. Speed Racer has a respectable fan base, but I think they may have dumbed down this film too much to appeal to the largest movie demographic, young adults. The targeted audienc e of this film is clearly young children, because the cheesy concept doesn't seem deep enough to hold the attention of adults. While I always enjoy watching something innovative and new, I feel like this genre is still in its infancy in our country. Perhaps in a few years this could be successful, but for now it seems like these movies are destined to fail.
Dorm room (Place description)
Looking back upon this place, I am shocked at how much this simple room has changed throughout the year. The pile of food lays in waste behind the door, my once respectable stockpile now reduced to mere scraps. This place can only be described as simply as this: filthy. Every aspect of this once pristine room has been ravaged by the habits of my teenage self. The desk is barely visible beneath a pile of now worthless scraps of paper and random knick-knacks accumulated throughout my first year. The carpet is a place for the brave of heart, untouched by the evils of our floor vacuum.
The walls are literally covered with posters and photos, even the desk has pictures taped to it. Books and school supplies are scattered throughout, and the garbage cans are all overflowing. The only redeeming factor is that my clothes are actually in my dresser, with the exception of my sleepwear.
It's almost sad to think that after next week this room will revert to its normal, clean state. No longer will the carpet lie neglected and uncleaned. The bare beds and complete lack of furnishing is nothing short of depressing to think about. As disgusting as this room has become, I can honestly say that will miss this place that I have learned to call my home.
The walls are literally covered with posters and photos, even the desk has pictures taped to it. Books and school supplies are scattered throughout, and the garbage cans are all overflowing. The only redeeming factor is that my clothes are actually in my dresser, with the exception of my sleepwear.
It's almost sad to think that after next week this room will revert to its normal, clean state. No longer will the carpet lie neglected and uncleaned. The bare beds and complete lack of furnishing is nothing short of depressing to think about. As disgusting as this room has become, I can honestly say that will miss this place that I have learned to call my home.
Googleblog, the headquarters for all things "Google"
This little known corporate blog contains information on every aspect of internet powerhouse Google. Googleblog is the informational hub for Google, linking users to more than 50 of their other blogs. The target audience of this blog is unclear, because there is so much information on such a wide variety of topics. I would say the intended audience for this blog is anyone who is interested in the latest Google developments and related topics. This blog does not allow comments, which actually works quite well with the design, because this blog is meant to be more informational than interactive.
This corporate blog is very different from a standard personal blog because it doesn't focus on individual experiences. Googleblog contains information on Google scholarships, and the latest developments within the company, instead of commentary on life experiences so often seen on personal blogs. This is a very important difference because it adds a layer of professionalism that so many personal sites are lacking. I think that this blog is reasonably well executed but it seems to lack focus, displaying information on a wide variety of topics. To be more successful, Google needs to advertise the blog much more than it is now, because very few people know about Googleblog (only around 500,000 out of the millions of users).
This corporate blog is very different from a standard personal blog because it doesn't focus on individual experiences. Googleblog contains information on Google scholarships, and the latest developments within the company, instead of commentary on life experiences so often seen on personal blogs. This is a very important difference because it adds a layer of professionalism that so many personal sites are lacking. I think that this blog is reasonably well executed but it seems to lack focus, displaying information on a wide variety of topics. To be more successful, Google needs to advertise the blog much more than it is now, because very few people know about Googleblog (only around 500,000 out of the millions of users).
Military Releases Al-Jazeera man after 6 years in Guantanamo
I read this article in the Iowa State Daily on Friday May 2nd. The article is about Sami al-Haj, a Sudanese journalist for Arabic news station Al-Jazeera. Al-Haj was released from U.S. custody after being held prisoner for 6 years in Guantanamo Bay. He was captured in 2001 while trying to enter Afghanistan to cover the United States invasion. Al-Haj was held because of suspicions that he had interviewed Osama bin Laden. The article states that he has been on hunger strike since January 2007, protesting the "conditions and indefinite confinement" in Guantanamo Bay. Attorney Zachary Katznelson said on May 1st, "Sami is a poster child for everything that is wrong about Guantanamo Bay: no charges, no trial".
This article does a very good job of showing the injustice of some of the United States practices in Guantanamo Bay. It shows that there are innocent people being held without any real reason for ridiculous periods of time. I can only hope that with the amount of publicity this man has received, the U.S. will be forced to alter their policies in Guantanamo.
This article does a very good job of showing the injustice of some of the United States practices in Guantanamo Bay. It shows that there are innocent people being held without any real reason for ridiculous periods of time. I can only hope that with the amount of publicity this man has received, the U.S. will be forced to alter their policies in Guantanamo.
Freeman Concert - Saturday, April 19, 2008
A few weekends ago, my roommate invited me to a free concert on Facebook. I don't usually enjoy concerts, but after I saw who was playing I decided to go. There were six bands playing from 4PM to 11PM (According to the event planners, though it actually ended around 10:30). These ranged from relatively unknown, to the relatively well known bands, Amber Pacific and Dropping Daylight. I was extremely excited to see Amber Pacific live, because I have listened to their music since I first heard them at my friend's house playing Burnout 3: Takedown.
Around 8 O'clock I left with a group of people from my roommate's hometown in MN. We got to the Forker parking lot just in time to see the opening song of Dropping Daylight (a Minneapolis rock band). I was shocked by the number of people that had gathered for this event, because the only advertising was on Facebook. Dropping Daylight played a number of their popular songs, including "Brace Yourself" and "Lucy". The crowd was relatively lifeless until the last song, which was a cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing". The whole crowd went wild, and nearly everyone began singing alone to this classic song, as the singer pounded out the melody on the keyboard.
As Amber Pacific began setting up, the crowd grew significantly. This act was much more lively, quickly developing a sizable mosh pit in the front. As the act went on, people started crowd surfing toward the stage, where they were caught by the Iowa State event staff. The band got everyone to make a huge "Wall of Death", where the entire crowd separates into two halves and then runs into the middle. This event was a lot of fun, and in my opinion it was completely worth the premature hearing loss I will no doubt encounter.
Around 8 O'clock I left with a group of people from my roommate's hometown in MN. We got to the Forker parking lot just in time to see the opening song of Dropping Daylight (a Minneapolis rock band). I was shocked by the number of people that had gathered for this event, because the only advertising was on Facebook. Dropping Daylight played a number of their popular songs, including "Brace Yourself" and "Lucy". The crowd was relatively lifeless until the last song, which was a cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing". The whole crowd went wild, and nearly everyone began singing alone to this classic song, as the singer pounded out the melody on the keyboard.
As Amber Pacific began setting up, the crowd grew significantly. This act was much more lively, quickly developing a sizable mosh pit in the front. As the act went on, people started crowd surfing toward the stage, where they were caught by the Iowa State event staff. The band got everyone to make a huge "Wall of Death", where the entire crowd separates into two halves and then runs into the middle. This event was a lot of fun, and in my opinion it was completely worth the premature hearing loss I will no doubt encounter.
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