I Am Legion, For We Are Many

Legion is one of my favourite characters in Mass Effect, though then again I could say the same for almost every character in Mass Effect (Except for Ashley...cause Ashley sucks). But Legion's storyline or in fact the entire species of the Geth has always stuck out to me as one of the best in the series and probably the best analysis of the self-aware robot storyline that we've seen been done so many times in things like The Matrix or Terminator. Now I should say this post is gonna contain multiple spoilers for Mass Effect 3 so if you haven't played the games then prepare to have a lot spoiled for you without much context to go on.

So we all know the basic robots take over storyline; people create robots, robots become self-aware, robots rebel, all hell breaks loose. But in Mass Effect, the story is told differently. Now it starts off fairly similar, people (In this case the Quarians) invent robots (The Geth) and the robots become self-aware, but here's where the story changes...the Geth don't initially rebel, the Quarians become aware of the....self-awareness...and decide to strike first, the Geth then fight back to defend themselves and for the most part, they won, but to everyone else's view the Geth are the bad guys because...well I guess they've seen Terminator, it's a fair enough assumption.

Now for the first two games, we buy it too, after all we've really only ever heard the story from the Quarians side and the Geth have been shooting us for 2 games straight. But in the third game, we learn the Geth's side of the story, we learn that they didn't strike first and they were just defending themselves, the Quarians just got paranoid because they probably saw Terminator too (good to know that's still a popular movie 150 years in the future). Now the Geth still don't technically have independent thought, as Legion puts it, the Geth are just one collective group of data that all use the vessels to move, hence the name Legion. But that doesn't mean they don't seek individuality, and that is Legion's goal, it wishes for the Geth to have their own Independence, from both the Quarians and from each other, it even goes as far as sacrifices itself so the rest of the Geth have independent thought just like an organic being. And this is so powerful that even the something as simple as a pronoun can completely change a conversation, Legion always referred to itself as "we" but just before it dies it says "I must go to them" and oh god, it is just so effective and goes to a level of depth that we don't get to see very often in these type of stories, and this isn't even the main storyline in ME3!

And the best part of all? Is that this entire storyline opens and closes with just one simple question that can create debate after debate of the deep meanings behind it and the question that Legion finally gets an answer too. "Does this unit have a soul?".

-Danny

Top 10 Annoying YouTuber Habits

I love a lot of YouTubers but I'll be dammed if there aren't a lot of sucky YouTubers as well, the worst part is when some of the better YouTubers follow a lot of cliches that make other YouTubers sucky, and today I'm gonna be counting down my Top 10 Annoying YouTuber Habits.

10. Multiple YouTube Channels

Having a YouTube channel is great, and sometimes someone will want to do different types of videos so they feel the best thing to do is make a second channel which is normally done for let's plays or iPhone vlogs or whatever. And sometimes this works, like with WheezyWaiter or TheFlickPick. But then there are some channels who just get greedy and have waaaaaay too many channels, like iJustine who has not 1, not 2, but FIVE channels! The same with Tobuscus who has a billion channels! Look 2 channels is alright, maybe even 3 but after that you are crossing the line, do you really need so many channels when a lot of them consist of the exact same content?

9. Tagging/Challenges

I am sick of everyone doing the exact same tags/challenges all the freakin' time! The worst kind of tags are the Q&A tags, which I always think "why don't you just do a Q&A video then?" and who comes up with these "twists" to make their tag special? "I know, I'll do a Q&A Tag...on the toilet!!!!"...Um...okaaaaay. And why bother tagging people? What if a YouTuber really wants to do the tag and no tags them? That must suck. And these challenges aren't really challenges "eat a spoonful of guacamole!" what the hell? How is that in anyway a challenge? A challenge would imply that you actually accomplish something by the end up it, how does eating a particular type of food of playing a guessing game lead to something? It's not, it's dumb, if you're going to do a challenge, make it challenging, if you're going to do a tag, then make it interesting! Because who honestly gives a shit what is in your bag?

8. Over-Photoshopping Thumbnails

Now I have no problem with using photoshop to make unique thumbnails, the problem with this is that is when it's not used creatively or is repetitive. One of the biggest sinners of this is Smosh, which every single thumbnail will be someone pulling a silly face with bright cartoonish backgrounds and ridiculous text. Which I have no problem if you have a thumbnail like that every so often but having every single thumbnail be that? Can't you be a little bit more creative? Like Pretty Much It or Screen Junkies? After several thumbnails looking the exact same, it gets really tiring, repetitive and unless you stand out then you're not gonna convince people to watch your videos because none of them seem unique.

7. TITLES IN ALL CAPS!!!!

Why do you feel the need to do this? Not every single video is that exciting, they don't need to be in all caps and with a million exclamation marks. Again it's the photoshop issue, the more you try to make everything seem exciting, the less exciting it will seem. Only put capitals if the title is actually deems it worthy of all caps. While we're on the subject of titles, stop using misleading titles to get views! If you can't think of a title that could attract people to it then the video probably isn't all that interesting in the first place, don't lie to try and make it seem more interesting, have more respect for your audience man...

6. Discontinuing New Series'

Have you ever seen a YouTuber who will say something like "hey guys, so I'm gonna try something new today" or something along those lines and they might do a similar video maybe 3 or 4 times and then suddenly it just...stops. Yeah that happens entirely too often (Lookin' at you Emma Blackery) and it can get rather annoying on just how often this happens, so how about this guys? If you ever think of starting a new series of videos on your channel, take a look at your previous commitment, did you commit to it? No? Well then don't start a new series...pretty fucking obvious.

5. Over Use of Annotations

Oh sweet tyrannosaurus...How often do you watch a YouTube video and then suddenly for no reason a giant red box appears and it just simply says "SUBSCRIBE!" Wdaft--get the fuck out of here! I've been subscribed for 2 years now! Stop telling me! And if I was finding your video for the first time then I'll decide for myself thank you very much! Although I will give you a hint, putting "SUBSCRIBE!" in the first 3 seconds of your video before I've even seen anything is not the best first impression. And not to mention whenever the entire screen is covered in annotations and you can't even see the video anymore...*sigh*. Now annotations can be used cleverly, mostly those invisible annotations that you don't see unless you put the mouse over them, they're cool. But with every invisible annotation there is that weird rectangle in the bottom right...does anyone click that thing?

4. Vloggers That Barely Upload

Your job is literally to talk about your life, yet you only upload once a month?...HOW DO YOU HAVE OVER A MILLION SUBSCRIBERS!?!? Ohh right, you're hot.

3. Like, Comment & Subscribe

If I like your video, I will like it, it I have a strong enough opinion then I will comment and if I like you then I will subscribe, reminding me to is not going to change anything, it never has, it never will, not for me, not for anyone, stop it...stop it...stop it.

2. Telling People "It's Just My Opinion"

Now look, you're entitled to your own opinion, whether or not it's the popular opinion doesn't really matter, what matters more is your ability to defend of your opinion, your reasoning behind why that is your opinion. However, nothing is worse than when you constantly have to tell people "It's just my opinion" in an attempt to stop people from giving their opinions in the comments. Now I know the real reason why you say that is to stop trolls from saying things like "Wut? You don't like this thing? omg how dumb r u!?" but let me ask you something...when has that ever worked? No troll has ever heard someone say that and thought "oh okay, in that case I won't offer my poorly constructed opinion". It never meets the intention that you wanted and also in the cases where you might have an opinion that is going to be controversial-or dare I say: jackass-ish. Using that as a way to justify the jackass opinion just makes you come across as even more of a jackass.

1. More Subscribers Don't Make You Better

They don't and if you think they do, then you are the pre-established jackass.

-Danny

The Death of Reality...Shows

The X Factor, American Idol, Pop Idol, Britain's Got Talent, The Voice, dozens and dozens of these reality talent shows (2/3 of that phrase can be debated) and I think I can say without question, this is an over-saturated market and we are sick of it. Not only is there way too many of these shows but there are very little differences between them, they can all be interchanged with minor differences. However, that's not the only problem that plagues these programmes, even if there were only one or two of them they still face a lot of problems.

Number One - The melodrama: These shows rely way too much on the melodrama to try and keep people interested in watching the show, whether that be a tragic backstory, a problem with a fellow contestant or...I don't know they're allergic to cats or something, trust me these guys will try to squeeze drama out of anything. Now why they do this is understandable, we as human beings love drama, it's like seeing a car crash, you know you shouldn't stare but you just can't look away, it's the same with putting drama in a reality show, it just makes it so much more juicy and important. But they can go overboard with the drama to the point where they seem to have forgotten the fun. When I watched shows like this, I watched them because they were fun, seeing people sing on a bright and colourful stage and watching the judges crack jokes at each other, it was a lot of fun, now with every contestant needing a tragic past in order to be on the show, I'm pretty sure Batman would be watching and shouting "dude, lighten the fuck up!". Really the only show that seems to have kept the fun is Britain's Got Talent, which these days is the only talent show I can stand, however, with that being said, BGT still has plenty of problems...

Number Two - The copycat acts: This is a problem that plagues the music specific shows the most, there isn't nearly enough variety within the musical acts as they all look the same, sound the same and act the same, it really is one of those "everyone's a winner!" type of things, because they're all pretty much the same person. And this is a problem that BGT faces as well, for what is supposed to be a variety show, there are a surprising amount of singers who all sound the same, have the same image and don't stand out in any way or make themselves unique.

Number Three - The Winners Don't Win: When was the last time anyone talked about Joe McElderry? or listened to a Ruben Studdard Album? Or gave a shit about what Michelle McManus is doing these days? How many of you would have to google those names to even know who they are? Let's face it, a winning act almost never goes big after the show ends, 95% of them end up with their first album flopping harder than a fish on dry land. If anything the runners up end up having a more successful career than the winners, it's like they're cursed and the only way to break it is to carry a small orphan boy up a mountain to drink from the stream that runs uphill...no wait that's the ending to Holes...

If anyone really thinks that this is the way to make it into the industry, allow me to give you some advice...It's not...it's really...really not...

- Danny

The Legend of "Smelly Cat"

Friends has been one of my favourite TV Shows ever since I was a kid, and I know it's not just me, millions of people world wide love Friends and it has become an iconic sitcom in the history of television. However no one loves it more than us Brits, I mean, seriously, we eat that shit up, it is on ALL the time; not even exaggerating, seeing as the show has been in syndication for ten years now, currently airing on Comedy Central, who have about 4 different channels by the way, are constantly airing episodes of the show everyday, back-to-back, all 10 seasons. There isn't a person in England who hasn't at least seen several episodes of Friends. It is truly amazing that a show that hasn't aired a new episode in ten years is still as popular to this day. But then I have to ask the question, is Friends really all that good?

Whenever people talk about how much they love Friends, there's always that one guy who says it's overrated or Seinfeld was a way better show, now too be fair, that's hard to disagree with. Seinfeld in terms of writing was much cleverer in terms of story and jokes, and if someone thinks Friends is just an average sitcom, I'll be honest, I can kind of see it. But then again...I see that as a good thing, Friends has become the staple sitcom, it hits all the right notes and appeals to everyone, it is the most iconic sitcom of all time (Sorry Cheers fans but, it's true). And honestly I still love the characters and I love the writing, why? Because-it's-Friends!

The fact that everyone loves it and watches it means that it must connect to people in some way, and there are so many memorable characters and moments "You had to be a bitch in high school! You couldn't have been fat?" always cracks me up. Frankly everyone can relate to it in some way, it's the show that popularised the "group of Friends" subgenre, and the group is diverse enough where everyone is in someway a member of the group, whether it's smart Ross, funny Chandler, sexy Joey, uptight Monica, free spirited Phoebe, princess Rachel...or Gunther.

The truth is that Friends is just so goddamn likeable and re-watchable, there are very few bad episodes, except season 6 when they did that "what if" episode (seriously, what the hell was that?). Yes, there are funnier shows out there, but very few shows are as likeable, as re-watchable, as iconic has as good a ration in terms of good episodes to bad episodes. And I did the math, that would be 1/168 episodes are bad. Now Elliott Gould on the other hand, that guy can never give a bad performance in the show.

- Danny

"Young Adult" Rant

So there's a really big craze going around in the book/movie industry these days, and that being the "Young Adult" genre, which I just straight up have to say it total crap. Oh, not because I think the products are lame (I mean some are obviously, but others are good), it's total crap because it is a made up genre. You know what the real name for a Young Adult Novel is? A Teen Novel! The only reason why they call it Young Adult is so that people in their 20's don't feel bad about reading a book meant for teenagers. "Oh, it's not a teen novel, it's a young adult novel, it's definitely made for me" despite the fact that all of the characters are teenagers dealing with teenage problems so I'm afraid to break it too ya guys...it's a Teen Novel!

Now look I'm not saying there's anything wrong with liking Teen Novels, if you're an adult who likes books for teens...then that's fine! Like whatever you like! Just don't pretend it's something other than what it really is, a teen novel. I mean I absolutely love Toy Story, but I'm never gonna consider it anything other than a kids movie, but I don't care, because it is a damn great kids movie! Which is also why I hate when people refer to it as a "family movie". Yeah, everyone can love Toy Story, kids or adults but let's face it, it's still made for kids, the adults are just a bonus audience. And it's the same with teen novels, you don't have to be a teen to like it, but that doesn't mean the book was made for you.














And this craze is just getting worse and worse, I mean making stuff like The Hunger Games of The Fault in Our Stars "Young Adult" is one thing, but the fact that some people are considering Harry Potter to be a "Young Adult" novel...no, fuck you, Harry Potter is not a "Young Adult" novel, it' not even a Teen novel! It's a kids' book! It's a goddamn kids' book! It was made-for-children! And guess what? I fucking love Harry Potter! And you know when I first took notice of it? When I was a kid! But it doesn't matter if you're a kid, teen or adult who loves Harry Potter, because Harry potter is fucking amazing, you should definitely love it, but don't go pretending that it's a Young Adult novel because again: There's-no-such-thing.

-Danny

Stuff

So, very first blog post, gotta make a good first impression uh...Pickaxe!...Sorry, just thought I'd say something that would break the ice (Bah-Dum-Pssh).

So yes, I am starting this blog as a place to write down thoughts or ideas that I wouldn't normally do in a video format, which by the way I also do videos if you didn't know. https://www.youtube.com/user/DannyBReviews

So then, here are some things you should know about me, well I guess you don't have to know but you might be interes-I'm gonna stop rambling now, here are some facts:

Firstly, my name is Danny, I'm 18 years old as of writing this, I was born & raised in East Yorkshire of England which means I don't even get the benefits of having the sexy English accent but instead one of the ones that makes it difficult for foreigners to understand what I'm saying. I will hopefully be going to university this September, if not then I am screwed. The things that I'll be talking about on this blog can vary very much but for the most will be based around discussing works of fiction or pop-culture, though I may do something different every now and again. My biggest passion is fiction, but that's honestly as specific as I can be, I love talking/analysing movies, TV Shows, videogames, anime, all sorts of stuff, though I suck as critiquin--critequ--critaq--talking about music. I obviously like listening to music but I am horrible at analysing it, sometimes I have trouble telling the genre of certain songs. I talk mostly in Friends quotes & Simpsons quotes so if you don't watch a whole lot of either of those then you may be confused on a lot of things.

That's all that I can think of now, I could probably spend more time trying to make an introduction this blog but I'd rather not, I don't wanna be formal, this is a more colloquial blog (Field-Specific Lexis high five!).

Anyway that's all from me, I'm gonna go watch some Friends
~So no one told you life was gonna be this way *clapclapclapclap*~

- Danny

(You clapped along didn't you? Nice)