November: The Second Month of Absolutley Nothing

Oh Autumn, thou art boring as shit.

-William Shakespeare, probably.

Yet again, another month of not really much happening, I bought a Nintendo 2DS, I watched the new Star Wars trailer 150 times, I started watching the anime Fairy Tail and got through about 100 episodes in 3 weeks. I think that's it. Didn't go on any life changing experience, didn't travel anywhere new. I mean I went to London for a day to visit my best friend, that was cool, but I've been there before and I've seen him before. Seriously, November isn't a real month, it's December-eve, people putting Christmas lights up, ads on TV, it's nothing but "Christmas is coming!" No one gives a shit about November because nothing interesting happens in November. Sorry Thanksgiving, but as a Brit, I don't give a shit, hehehehe, that rhymes.

-Danny

ERASED

I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY!

SHIT! I AIN'T GOT NOTHING! QUICK! WRITE WHATEVER COMES TO YOUR MIND! BUTTERNUTFLUFFERNITTLE! WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!? I DON'T KNOW!! GODDAMMIT! HEAD TO THE PANIC ROOM!

-Danny

Happy Thanksgiving.

I am not American, nor do I live in America, I do not celebrate thanksgiving at all, but really that doesn't mean i can't be grateful does it? And really why should we only be thankful for what we hold closest one day a year? Oh well, better to show it all at once than never at all, so, here we go. I am grateful for the friends in my life above all else, afterall, they're the family you pick, i don't have to hangout with these people, i chose to because they're my favourite people (Sorry actual family, you're awesome too). They make me happier than most and I always have fun hanging out with them, so that's what i'm grateful for. Apart from that, I'm grateful that i've been able to get into university, i'm grateful my flatmates are awesome as well, i'm grateful that i even have any subscribers on my youtube channel, even if they aren't that many, the fact that anyone will watch you is something to be grateful for. And of course i'm grateful for all the other stuff that everyone else is, family, health, no nuclear war, the little things in life. I'm grateful for plenty and hope you are too, so, happy thanksgiving.

-Danny

Has Pixar Past Their Renaissance?

Pixar is one of my favourite film studios, not only does it look like the coolest place to work (They have an entire room dedicated...to cereal) but they have also made some of the greatest films of all time, not just in animation, but of all of cinema. Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Wall-E and Up. They're one of the few companies that can genuinley say that they have changed the industry for the better. But i'm sure i'm not the first one to point this out, their last fews films haven't been very good. Cars 2 sucked, Brave was meh, Monsters University was pretty decent. But this is a company that can do better than pretty decent, if their films aren't seen as masterpieces then most people would consider it a failure. And the fact that their last few films aren't as great as others, people have started to question whether or not they've past their prime. In my opinion, no, every company goes through ups and downs, hell, even Disney has experienced this multiple times. Fact is, no matter how much talent Pixar has behind every film, not each one is going to be great, however, i do believe that this might all change next year.

For you see, Pixar has not released a film this year, but instead, we will be getting two films next year in 2015, Inside Out and The Good Dinosaur. Yes. Both of them are original films, because if anything has been proven, it's that Pixar are best with original stories, because their sequels (Excluding Toy Story) usually are a dissapointment. And judging from the marketing of Inside Out so far, which is only 7 months away, it looks like it is going to be amazing, and a return to form for Pixar. Not to mention with Pixar legends such as Pete Docter (Monsters Inc) directing and Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3) and Bob Peterson (Up) writing it, i see no reason why this should fail. So, in the end, is Pixar past their renaissance? No, they've just hit a bump in the road, but Monsters University showed signs of Pixar returning to form, mostly within the last third, so here's hoping that will carry over into an entire movie.

-Danny

The Perplexion of Ariana Grande

I have plenty of issues with Ariana Grande, one of which being that her name sounds like a coffee at Starbucks. But my biggest problem is that literally everything about her contradicts everyone's view of her, for example, she's super hot, but on the other hand, she seems to be frozen in time and looks about 16, making everyone feel weird about thinking she's hot even though she's 21. But for me the nail in the coffin is that her songs are awful, truly terrible songs, i hate the beat, hate the lyrics, the instrumentals, the music videos, they're just so damn terrible...But she is the best singer in the charts right now. Hell, i'll go even further than that, she's the best singer to come out of this decade, a vocal range that can only be matched by the likes of Mariah Carey. Which is why everytime I hear one of her crappy songs on the radio all I can think is "oh good god, please make a good song soon". And I think I know what needs to happen, she needs to be completely rebranded. Right now her image seems to be the sexy cheerleader, the problem is, she's way too innocent looking to pull that off. Songs like 'Bang Bang' are all about being a sexpert who can really show a guy a good time, but she honestly looks like she still gets giddy over a first kiss, so no, i don't think this is the type of imagine she can pull off. I mean people like Jessie J and Rihanna can do this because I believe they've had plenty of sex, Ariana is too cute looking. I feel like she's more of the girl next door who is out of your league rather than a sex goddess. Imagine Taylor Swift but without any of the whineyness, that is what Ariana Grande should be. And atleast that would help get rid of the awkward boners from a 21 year old turning 16 trying to be sexy.

-Danny

What Would Walt Think Of Modern Disney?

When Walt Disney died, Disney pretty much went into a dive, their films were bombing, they were copying their own films, Disney didn't know what to do. And thing is, this wasn't a short decline, but this lasted for almost 2 decades of their movies not doing so well. But then of course we all know about the famous Disney Renaissance. The Little Mermaid, Beauty & The Beast, Aladdin & The Lion King. Disney was making hit after hit and to this day they are seen as some of the greatest films of all time. Then for about a decade their films were hit (Mulan, Lilo & Stitch, Tarzan) or miss (Pochahontas, Home on the Range). But recently people are saying Disney are going through a new renaissance. Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, Big Hero 6 (Sorry Princess & The Frog). Disney are back. But one thing that I have always wondered is, what would Walt think of this? If Walt saw these films would he be happy? Be devistated? Be shocked? Well, no one knows for certain, but in my humble opinion. I think he would be proud, he would be proud of seeing Disney remain true to it's roots and providing families around the world with joy and wonder, seeing the magic of Disney strong, constantly changing the industry, shaping childhoods and creating true art. Sure he wouldn't be proud of everything, but the big hits, the one we all remember, those are the ones that he would look at and know that his hard work has paid off, and his legacy is in good hands.

-Danny

And if you don't believe me, just watch this video, tell me if you still don't believe that modern Disney has just as much magic as classic Disney.

Favourite Characters I've Already Talked About

So I was going through my list of favourite characters, because I love talking about them, and I realised that several of them i've already taked about on this blog, not in detail like I do with the official series, but I get the main points across on why I love them, so here are the links to characters that I've already talked about that are my favourites.

Clementine: Link 1 & Link 2 (And yes I know Ellie wins, i'll talk about her eventually)

J Jonah Jameson: Link 1 & Any of my Spider-Man Reviews

Legion: Link 1

So there ya go, three more of my favourite characters that I love and I've talked about

My Favourite Characters - Olaf

Yes, I am being 100% serious here, in the series of my favourite characters, Olaf is one of them, and not just because he's cute, or because he's funny...I mean he is both of those things, but there's more to it, I think he is a genuinley good character with a surprising amount of depth to him beyond being funny & cute. So let's talk about him.

First off, let's get the obvious out of the way, Olaf is very cute & funny, I mean, how many people would love to have an Olaf for a friend? He's fricken adorable. And yes, he is very funny, he makes me laugh a lot, but it's not just that he's funny, he's a Disney comic relief, which is why it's even more impressive that he's funny. Olaf's brand of comic relief, you know the best friend to the main character? Barring a couple, they range from incredibly annoying to just okay. The only ones that I can think of that were genuinley funny were The Genie and Timon & Pumba, but others such as Mushu or the statues in Hunchback almost risk ruining the movies. So the fact that he is actually funny is rare, but what makes him unique is his style of comedy. Most Disney comic reliefs are loud, obnoxious and always speak in references, even the good ones. Olaf never does that, he's very quite, very kind and doesn't make a single reference, he's unlike any other Disney comic relief in both style and personality, he's my favourite Disney comic relief and he's a unique little snowflake (Bah-dum-Tssh!)

But the thing that pushes him into being one of my favourite characters is his dedication to his friend Anna. Whenever I watch Frozen, I always notice a little gesture or line of dialogue that he has that really makes his character shine through. Like take for example when they meet Kristoff's family and they think he's gone crazy and Olaf says "I'll distract him, you run, i'm doing this because I love you" now, this is played up as a joke because we know Kristoff isn't crazy, but Olaf was being completley serious there, he was risking his life for Anna. And of course this is shown again, later on when Anna is dying and Olaf is trying to start a fire to keep her warm, which, being a snowman, is not good for him. And then he says the line "Some people are worth melting for" and every little girl (and me) go "Awwwwwwwwww" and he is completley sincere, he is willing to die to save Anna, and he does protect her at multiple points in the film. Like when they're running away from the giant snow monster, he says he'll stay behind to hold him off, of course he doesn't really make a difference, but it's the thought that counts.

There are two qualities that I love most in characters, loyalty and sincerity, and Olaf definitely has both of those qualities, and not to mention being very funny and obviously cute (And a damn good singer) so all of those combined and he makes a really good character in my book, one of the best.

-Danny

Arrow 'Draw Back Your Bow' Review

Just like with The Flash, it's time to review the latest episode of Arrow. This week's episode focuses on Cupid, a woman who Oliver saved back in the season two finale and has now become psycho obsessed with him, even to the point of killing people to get his attention. Also in this episode Felicity is helping Ray out with a business deal as the two begin to develop a relationship and she floats further away from Oliver. And Thea is trying to hire a new DJ for the opening of her club. And to top it all off, the proms tomorrow!...Okay that last part is made up, but come on, this is kinda soap opera territory.

So let's talk about Cupid, I found her to be an interesting villain, the idea of someone so obsessed with someone that they would commit crime is always something that I've found quite interesting. And the character of Cupid was quite a fun character, the way how she almost had this childish demeanour to what she was doing; after all, her introduction scene last episode saying "I'm Cupid, stupid" was an entertaining line. But honestly, i don't think she was that cool in the episode, i don't remember much of what she does, just what she says. And her weird computer techy guy was just weird how he's able to find the Arrow's hideout with a laptop when the entire police force could never find him, can you say contrived? And even more so, what the hell did that scene add to anything, Cupid goes to the club, Arrow's not there, she goes to meet him at a different spot, whoopedy-doo. Oh and she joins the Suicide Squad in the end, that's cool.

And then there is the B-Plot of Ray & Felicity, and I'm sorry to all you "Olicity" shippers (I hate couple names) but let's face it, Ray & Felicity has way better chemistry than her and Ollie ever did. "Olicity" never made sense to me because there was nothing there build a relationship off of, the two of them work together because they have a set of skills that the other doesn't, but personally they don't have much in common, Felicity is the tech geek with low-confidence and often embarrasses herself, Ollie is the suave playboy badass who is always in control. I know they say opposites attract but there's gotta be something there that connects them apart from the fact they work together. Roy & Felicity have a lot more in common, they have similar personalities and they spend time talking about their personal issues with each other unlike her and Ollie. And let's not forget, Roy is just the cutest stalker ever, I mean he buys a company just to give her a promotion, gives her super expensive jewellery and is always trying to impress her...but he's just so darn likeable.

Finally for plots, there is Thea trying to hire a DJ for the club, and the DJ who ends up getting the job is literally the biggest cunt i think there is on television right now. He walks into the club, refuses to audition and just expects Thea to give him the job, waits around for the guy to get the job to fail and then at the end of the night, kisses Thea without any warning...what a prick. First of all, who do you think you are? Mariah Carey? You can't walk into an audition and be excepted to be given the job without people hearing how you play first (Besides, DJ's are just people good with iTunes so it's not something to gloat about). And waiting around at a club all night just in case the actual DJ is fired, that's not cool, that makes you come across as a loser with nothing better to do. And kissing a girl without any pre-notion that she was interested in you, that's kind of a fucked up thing to do in today's hypersensitive modern society. Seriously, this guy just screams douchebag, and does Thea really need another love interest? Wasn't Roy enough? Or if you want to give her a story, how about the one that has already been set up for her with Malcolm Merlyn? Hm?

But then that takes us to the theme of the episode; letting go of your loved ones, whether it be they're dead or just simply not all that into you. Weirdly enough this episode makes a weird contrast between the main story and the flashback. In the flashback Tatsu and Ollie go searching for her husband who may be dead, and then they learn that the people on the job he was on died, but once they get back home, he's still alive. First of all, fuck you for teasing comic book fans like that, for those people that know Tatsu's backstory, it was lame to tease it like this. And also this contradicts the theme of the episode, letting go of loved ones, but Tatsu doesn't have to learn to let go because the person she loves is still alive and with her. But in the rest of the episode, Ollie and Cupid have to accept that the people they love aren't going to love them in return, even to the point where Ollie has to give a big speech about letting go (And they even show a shot of Felicity, you know, in case we couldn't figure out who he was talking about). So why they not only tease at something we know is going to happen but also have it blatantly contradict the theme of the episode, it doesn't really make sense to me.

Finally, there were the two final scenes of the episode and teases for the rest of the season. The first one being Ray designing the Atom Exoskeleton, this doesn't really tell us much seeing as we all knew this was going to happen sooner or later, and it appears to be sooner. And the other is the appearance of Captain Boomerang...yes, you read that right, Captain-Boomerang. I've made fun of this guy in the past and...yeah this one little cameo already has me laughing on how serious they're taking him. I mean i assume it's intentionally serious but comes across as funny, i mean when he says "they always come back to haunt you" and refers to his boomerang, there is no way that was serious. My point is, this guy is the most ridiculous mainstream villain i can think of, in name and in powers, I honestly can't wait to see more of him from how stupid of an idea this is.

My final rating for this episode is a 5/10, really, nothing special happened in this episode, it has some good teases but the theme was all over the place and Thea's subplot was truly awful.

Oh, and afterthought: In the latest episode of The Flash he's already gotten the name Flash, that took 6 episodes, Arrow is 3 seasons into the show and they still haven't called him Green Arrow! Seriously?

ERASED

The Flash 'The Flash is Born' Review

So I didn't have a topic for today's post, but I thought "hey there was a new episode of The Flash yesterday, let's talk about that!" So that is exactly what i'm doing. Now as for my opinion on The Flash overall, i'll most likely do a full review on YouTube once the season is over, but right now, I'm loving it! But, focusing on this episode specifically; 'The Flash is Born' focuses on Barry having to fight the meta-human of the week, in this case that would be Tony Woodward, or as they refer to him in the episode, The Man of Steel (HA! I get it!). But, the twist here is that Tony is Barry's old bully from school, who now has the ability to turn his skin into metal *cough* Colossus *cough*.

Now it's still early on in the show, so these meta-humans of the week thing aren't bothering me just yet, but that being said I feel like enough has been established for us to actually focus on the story by this point. I mean the theme of this episode was all about controlling your emotions, if Barry wants to fight against Tony then he needs to learn to control his emotions...and run at 837 miles per hour from exactly 5.3 miles (How Barry knew he had travelled 5.3 miles is beyond me). But this would be my initial dilemma with themes established in this show, a lot of the time, the outcome seems to be "Barry just needs to run a little faster than before" which, i get it, he's The Flash, it's kind of his thing, but what's the point of establishing a new theme every episode when the outcome is always the same? I will admit this villain had a little bit more of interest to him, being Barry's old school bully, and the resolution when Barry is so happy that he beat him, admit it, we all want to experience that satisfaction over our old bullies. But the execution of it honestly felt like it could have been any other villain, i don't think they played up the personal connection as well as they could have. And then there were the flashbacks. Which I inherently have no problem with them in the show, but in one of the Flash-backs (Puns!) it has Joe teaching young Barry that there's no shame in running from a fight. And later on in the episode, Barry does just that...not before reshowing that line of dialogue, you know, just in case your audience was too stupid to retain that information. I hate it when shows do that, yeah, the flashback was 20 minutes ago, i can remember it, i knew that was going to be an important factor later on, give me some credit!

But really the final fight in itself was kind of underwhelming, and again, it comes back down to the theme, it ends the same way it does for every episode so far, he runs fast, not to mention the wasted personal connection to the meta-human and the repetition of the flashback, it kinda ruined it for me. But I still wouldn't call it a bad episode, after all, i did a post a couple days ago talking about Arrow and whether or not it is technically good, because it suffers from a lot of problems that i've talked about here so far and it's the same with The Flash. But I don't really hold it too much against it because I thoroughly enjoy the characters and it's a really entertaining show.

And even so, there were plenty of things that I liked about this episode, and it's the stuff that i like in every episode. First of all the buddyness between Barry & Eddie was nice, because Eddie so far is my least favourite character because he was the least developed, here we get some of his backstory, we see him interact with characters in a way he hasn't before. Like i said, I enjoy this show because of the characters so whenever they get development, it's always welcome.

And the subplot about Joe investigating Dr Wells in his possible involvement in the murder of Barry's mother. I like this for three reasons, one, it's actually focusing on the overall arc of the season, because i prefer story arcs over villain of the week anyday. Two, development of Dr Wells' character, again, always welcome. And three, that ending scene man...holy shit. I genuinely was kinda spooked by that ending, the Reverse Flash (or Professor Zoom of whatever the fuck they're gonna call him) showing up at Joe's house and threatening him was very well paced, had plenty of atmosphere and sets up plenty for the overall arc in the season. Who is this guy? How did he know Joe was investigating? What's he been doing since the first episode? Is Wells involved? It was a great scene, in fact the final scene in every episode has been the best because it's always the scene that contributes most to the story arc, which is what i really want to see have more focus because that's the best stuff.

I give this episode a 6/10, it has multiple problems, mostly with the A-Plot, but the B-Plot was so damn good that I really feel like they should have been switched around, because I'm done with the villain of the week, i just want them to focus on the main story by now.

-Danny

Frieza Returning to Dragonball Z...SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

It has been announced that the next Dragonball Z film, written by Akira Toryama will see the return of the most iconic villain in DBZ history, Frieza. And pretty much every fan's reaction to this was...well...read the title above. People flipped out over this reaction, it was like Christmas came early and...yeah I was kinda the same, seeing such an iconic character again would be fantastic. But now that i'm over the initial reaction, a few thought come to mind. First off, we're probably not going to see this film for a couple of years, I mean personally I'm going to wait for the Funimation Dub because this is one of those cases where most would agree, the dub is awesome. But also that means there is a chance that they could use the current Dragonball Z Kai dub actor Christopher Ayes over the original Linda Youngs. Now there's nothing wrong with Ayes' performance, it's just a little too fancy for my taste and, well, it's not as iconic as Young's (Side note: Being voiced by a woman didn't help in me as a kid always thinking Frieza was a woman).

And the next thought that came into my head was: But we've seen Frieza so many times after the Namek arc. I mean death has absolutley no consiquences in DBZ, Frieza had atleast 3 appearances after the Namek arc and people get brought back from the dead all the time in this show, so it's not that big of a deal. And one complaint that other people have had is, by this point in DBZ, pretty much every major character is tougher than Frieza. Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Gotenks, Piccolo, Majin Buu, Beerus, Whis, they could all easily take down Frieza, hell, maybe even Krillan could bea--hahahahaha...couldn't get through that with a straight face. And as for the fact all these characters beating him in a microsecond...Well obviously they're going to power him up morons...But that does lead me to my third worry, is this just going to be another back to basic Dragonball Z story? Good guy fights bad guy, bad guy loses. I mean, the latest DBZ movie put such a cool twist on things that was fantastic, i'm not really sure you can go back to the predictable old formula at this point.

But overall, I am super excited for this film, after all, the last DBZ film was so awesome, i am super excited for another. And who knows, maybe they'll get LittleKuriboh to voice Frieza again...wait a minute...THAT THNG'S A GUY!?

-Danny

I Wish I Was More Into Anime

I am a big fan of anime, or at least, I'm a big fan of the anime that I watch. Because really, even though I say i'm a big fan of anime, i really haven't watched nearly as much as I would like too; hell I don't even know if i'd be able to write up a top 10 anime list. I mean the anime that I do watch like One Piece, Full Metal Alchemist, Cowboy Bebop, Attack on Titan, Dragonball Z, Naruto, I am obsessed with them, I am huge fans of them. But that being said, when looking at all the anime that i've watched in my life, I really don't think the number would be all too high. And it's not a matter of a lack of interest, i would most definitely like to watch more anime, but the problem with that is, in reality I only want to watch anime that I know i'll love, because i feel like i haven't reached that point where i can be a casual viewer. I want to get engrossed in an anime, I want to love the characters, i want to be blown away by the animation, i want to the action to be incredible. And I think this is the reason why I haven't watched all too much anime, because i want every anime to be a new favourite of mine, and if I watched one that didn't do that, then i'd feel like I was wasting my time. But, with that being said, i'm about 30ish episodes through Fairy Tail and I am loving it! Only 160 episodes...to go...why is anime always either 13 episodes of 500+? Is it too much to ask for a normal paced show?

-Danny

Let's Look Through Some Old Photos

In the time that i've been doing this I like to use photos every so often, if I don't, it's because I'm too lazy to go to google and find a photo, but nevertheless, here are some photos of things that i've used and haven't deleted, completley out of context, enjoy.

Is Arrow Technically Good?

Arrow is one of my favourite shows on television right now, but whenever I say that, I feel the need to emphasise that technically speaking, it's nothing great, yet every week I always look forward to it, I am such a big fan at this point, but I keep thinking to myself "boy this is stupid". I mean, we're currently in the best time for television dramas, what with Breaking Bad, Mad Men, True Detective, Game of Thrones, TV Drama has reached levels of excellence like never before. So when I think of Arrow, is it as good as Breaking Bad? Fuck no, not even close. I mean the story is nothing really all that special, I'm definitely invested in it but a lot of the time the stories are over-dramatic, non-sensicle and logic tends to take a back seat. And it's the same for the characters, they're simultaneously poorly casted yet very well casted at the same time, the cast is all unrealistically hot and the acting is very melodramatic, yet they really do fit the roles very well and they seem to have a genuine liking for the material they're working with, it's not just a job to them, they're genuinely having fun.

Though then again I do tend to be a little bit more lenient on the series because it is very comic booky, yet at the same time there is a lot of stuff in it that we are legitimately meant to take seriously and I can't always do that because...well it's just so silly! That's why I'm talking about Arrow and not The Flash, the spin-off of Arrow which I also love, but it embraces the comic book nature a whole lot more without been expected to be taken too seriously, so I'm a lot more accepting of the over the top nature.

But then again there are some things about Arrow that I genuinely really like, such as the costume designs I feel are great (Except for Roy's costume, the bright red mask looks ridiculous) and the fight scenes, while nothing mind-blowing are very well shot and choreographed. As the series has been going on it definitely embraces the comic book style more, I mean he already has trick arrows that tie people up even though that's physically impossible. And as melodramatic and illogical as the stories are, the emotions that the characters feel do come across as genuine, even if it is hard to take the set-ups seriously some times.

So in the end, is Arrow technically good? Well from a story stand point, probably not, it's silly, it's unrealistic and isn't very dynamic. But the characters are likeable, even if they're not all too complex, the action and set pieces are very nice, it's a lot of fun, especially in it's current season. Is it as well written or as well shot as something like True Detective? No, but it doesn't need to be. It's being it's own thing as a cheesy and fun comic book show, if you can't get into it, then i totally understand, the melodrama can be really distracting and the technical aspects are quite average. But personally, I really enjoy it, and i'm surprisingly invested in what's going to happen, so again, technically it's not that good, but personally, it's pretty damn awesome.

-Danny

My Favourite Characters - The Doctor

Haven't done one of these in a while. Continuing my series of favourite characters, it's time to talk about The Doctor. Now I should clarify, I'm talking about David Tennant's portrayal of The Doctor, yeah I know it's cliched and it's an easy pick but for me, he is the best Doctor that we've ever had. The Doctor for me is everything he needs to be. He can be the everyman that you relate to, or he can be the hero that you idolize. He can be the leader that you fear or the friend you can trust. He's a genius, he's an idiot, he's brave, he's a coward, he's funny, he's serious, he is everything all at once, he is The Doctor. And the only actor so far who has pulled off being able to all of these things and more is David Tennant, every other actor has achieved a selection of those elements but never all of them. For example John Pewtree's Doctor I felt wasn't very empathetic while say Matt Smith's Doctor wasn't very threatening. Tennant has done it all, and more. And even though there are multiple moments in his run as the Doctor that are awesome, one that has always stuck out to me is his speech on the Titanic spaceship (yes, they did that once). This scene I feel was made for any new fans, and that if this was their first ever intro to the character, they would just look at him and go "that guy is a badass".

For me, The Doctor is the ultimate hero, he almost never solves problems with violence, always his brain, whether it be talking his way out of a bad situation or just simply outsmarting his opponents...or running, lots and lots of running. He was the man that would go to hell and back just to save a total stranger, the one who would (and has) given up everything just for the life of one man. He believes everyone has a purpose and everyone can help, he'll never leave someone behind as long as he can help. But with that being said, you better not piss this man off, because hell hath no fury like a Timelord who's pissed. A man who's more than willing to torture, to kill and destroy, all for the greater good, but...will always give you a chance, a chance to run, a chance to repent, a chance to fix your mistakes, the man of unlimited power, with unlimited mercy.

The Doctor is everything, he is an icon, a legend, a warrior, a hero, the man who has achieved what most wouldn't even be able to dream of. He is one of the greatest characters I have ever seen in my entire life, and of course, he is going to be on here.

-Danny

Good Job Naughty Dog!

Okay so after yesterday's rant about the triple A mongrels that is Ubisoft, I need to remind myself why I love triple A games, so, let's talk about the best of them, Naughty Dog. Naughty Dog was founded back in the 80's, developing small PC games by just a couple of people. However, that was a very different time in Naughty Dog's life, nowadays they're known for very different games. The first one which, and the franchise that put them on the map is Crash Bandicoot, yes, these were the people who created what went on to be the PS1 Mascot, they developed the first 3 Crash Bandicoot games and the first Crash Racing game, all of which I played as a child and all of which I loved. And for the second generation of the Playstation they created one franchise that would become part of the trio of awesome, Jak & Daxter. I've already talked about this franchise in a previous post, but i'll just say, it was one of my childhood favourites. But, after making two franchises for kids, Naughty Dog went in a completley different direction for the PS3 era, and that would be Uncharted. Not only was this their first completely mature game, but this franchise changed gaming forever. While Crash & Jak took elements from previous games, Uncharted became a franchise that other games were taking elements from. Particularly Uncharted 2, which pushed the boundaries on how cinematic a game can be, how it can make you feel and how gorgeous the environments can be. It became the perfect adventure story in gaming, and it was seen as their Magnum Opis...that was until their next franchise was released. In 2013, on the Playstation 3 (And eventually Playstation 4) we got The Last of Us. Now you've heard me say it time and time again, but i'll repeat, The Last of Us is the closest thing we've gotten to a perfect game. The story, the characters, the gameplay, the animations, the attention to detail, it is all perfect, eh so there's a problem with the A.I. every so often, find me a game that doesn't have that. Also they do DLC right, with Left Behind which I still think is some of the greatest DLC ever made. What other studio can say that they have at the very least two different games that are often seen as the greatest videogames of all time? Uncharted 2 and The Last of Us are both masterpieces of gaming, and take the medium to new levels. The effort and talent put into these games and never giving into horrible gaming trends like micro-transactions, day one patches or rushed development. Naughty Dog are the best development company who are making the best games. So thank you Naughty Dog. Thank you for being incredible.

-Danny

Ubisoft: Let's Talk.

I'm not normally one to bash on Triple A games, mostly because my favourite games are Triple A games. But there are plenty of things about that genre that I really, really hate, and every single one of them can be found in Assassin's Creed Unity. Now I am in general not a fan of Assassin's Creed, I played through the first game, thought it was really boring, never played the sequels. And now, with the release of Assassin's Creed Unity, reports are coming in that it had every problems that the worst of triple A games have to offer. First of all, the story, okay look Ubisoft, I know that gameplay is more important than a story but who's to say you can't have both? You can have great gameplay and a great story, maybe if you put some goddamn effort into it instead of repeating the same boring ass shit every single game, you'd actually make some progress. Reviews have all said that this is the same story told in the previous AC games with almost nothing different, just that it is set in France this time around.

Then there are all the glitches and bugs within the game, which people have defended by saying there's probably going to be a day one patch to fix this...I don't understand how people can defend this, because a good game shouldn't need a fucking patch to begin with! Do you know what a day one patch means? It means that Ubisoft got so greedy and impatient that they didn't even bother to polish the game properly before release, a good company would actually make sure it's fully clean before shipping it off in broken condition and promising to fix it later. And why? So they can make it to the Christmas shopping season, dude, you're fucking Assassin's Creed! You're going to make millions no what time you get released!

And then there is the DLC...so...much...DLC! Now i've made a post in the past defending DLC, I think it can add a lot to the story and actually provide a better experience. But here, Ubisoft has released about 50 different versions of the game and you get certain DLC depending what store you buy it from, meaning if you wanted the full experience then you have to buy about 50 different versions of the goddamn game. What makes it even worse is that it's all bullshit stuff that doesn't matter and you don't need, i don't give a damn about a couple of extra costumes, why are you charging an extra £7 for it!?

And finally, there the biggest nail in the hoarding coffin is the fact that this is a franchise that has been run into the ground, brought back to life and then buried yet again. This is a franchise that has seven titles to it's name, seven fucking titles! And they already announced the eight one before Unity had even been released! This is a franchise that has been whorded out unessecarily, and you know why it's unessecary? Because the main story ended with AC 3, you know, when the main character of the series (Spoilers) dies and his story is complete...Well if that's true THEN WHY ARE THERE EIGHT FUCKING GAMES IN THIS FRANCHISE!? And lord knows that they're not going to stop at eight, they're going to milk this thing for all it's worth, because respecting your games or audience? No that's not what the "cool kids" do, sure, go ahead and sit with EA at the cool kids table Ubisoft, because soon, people will see you for the big piece of shit that you are. Fuck you Ubisoft. Fuck You.

-Danny

Did Buffy Change Everything?

Has there ever been a show like Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Well...Supernatural maybe, but Buffy did it first! And better! I mean, just think about this description of Buffy. A horror/comedy about a typical teenage girl turned demon hunter with her geeky friends and a librarian as they kill vampires on a nightly basis. Eventually their group grows bigger with a rockstar werewolf, a lesbian witch, an emo vampire with a soul, amongst many others. Now...tell me if you know a show out there that is even remotely like that, in anyway whatsoever. You just can't, and you know what, this show was a lot more progressive than I think people give it credit for. In our modern day society, the demand for more badass female action stars is higher than ever, and here, Joss Whedon and Sarah Michele Gellar were able to give us one of the most iconic action heroes in 1997. There is also a lot of debate over representation of the LGBT communtiy in moder day media, again, Buffy had a lesbian couple that was never done to just sexy eye candy or a cheap gimmick, but actually created a well developed and believable relationship, and this was back in the 90's, which was not the best time for gays in the media, mostly because the media wanted so bad to prove that they were totally fine with gay people that they flooded the market with them, the problem is they had no idea how to write gay characters and they all came across as stereotypically cheesy. Point is, Buffy, whether people realise it or not, did a lot of things differently that for the most part was unheard of, or, at the very least, was handled much better here than in other shows at the time. Nice goin' Buffy, you rock!

-Danny

Does IGN Matter?

The same problem here as yesterday, people see a company discuss objective things and they assume that it must be an official fact, meaning if they don't like a game you like or if they give a positive rating to a game you hate then people get angrier than ever before, because they assume it's the official review because it's from a company. And again, that's not true. If anything, this should tell you how broken of a system this is, each review is by a different person meaning it's different opinions, meaning there's no damn consistency, one game could get a great review and one the exact same could get a horrible one, if people don't know what to expect then how can they know whether or not to take your reviews seriously when they don't know if it's the type of thing that that individual person enjoys, after all, clearly someone at IGN likes that type of game, it doesn't make any sense. And then there is the controversy on whether or not IGN reviews are paid off; the reason why people think this is because games like Call of Duty: Ghosts, a game that any gamer with a brain can tell you is not a good game, will get a positive review from IGN. I don't know if this is because the particular reviewer is a moron or if they were indeed paid off, but it kind of backs up my point in which people can't take this style of reviewing seriously, because who knows if it's a legitimate review of not? So, in the end, no, IGN does not matter at all, except for Greg Miller, that dude's cool.

-Danny

Does WatchMojo matter?

Oh WatchMojo, why do people think you matter so much? You make as much sense as company reviews (more on that another day). People seem to think that WatchMojo's top 10 lists are the end all-be all of top 10 lists, and if their list differs even slightly from yours then suddenly you feel invalidated because it's a company with multiple people deciding so it must be the correct and official top 10 list. The problem being that it's not, their top 10 lists don't matter because A: It's obviously subjective, just like every top 10 list and B: It's about a million opinions at once trying to make this list so it's so damn inconsistant. One video they insult Watchmen and then in another they praise it, how the hell can anyone take your lists seriously if we don't know what your preferance is? Not to mention it's obvious when they do a list without actually knowing anything about what they're talking about, like their anime lists, using the wrong clips from other shows, mispronouncing character's names, they're only doing for views, especially when something like Dragonball Z takes the top spot in an anime list, now I love Dragonball Z to death, but is it one of the best anime ever made? Hell no, it's just the most popular. Also when you're channel is based entirely around top 10 lists, eventually you run out of ideas, Top 10 Elevator scenes? Really? Who the fuck has a strong opinion on that!? Let's just face it already people, WatchMojo does not matter, stop caring so much about whatever they think is best because it's most likely going to have something wrong with it and it's just going to piss you off, leave it be.

-Danny

Star Wars The Boner Commercial

So the official title for Star Wars episode VII was announced a few days ago and it is called Star The Force Awakens Wars...or am I taking that too literally? 

Now a lot of people have had some strong feelings about this title, some think it's brillaint, others thing it sucks. Personally I think...it's just the f*cking title. Now don't get me wrong, the title to Star Wars is important, it's one of the definine elements of the films, along with the text crawl or someone having a bad feeling about this. But thing is, I have no idea what the context of this title is, I don't know what the meaning of this title is, you can't judge a title of a film without actually knowing what the film is about. The Phantom Menace I think is an awesome title, in context with the film it sucks, who the fuck was the Phantom supposed to be? The Emperor? Darth Maul? How exactly are they a menace? Or Attack of the Clones, pretty cool, except the clones don't attack until the last 10 f*cking minutes (and no I don't know why i'm censoring myself for this post). My point is, this title could be perfect or it could suck, I don't know because I don't know what it means. Does it mean balance has been restored to the force? Is it the Jedi? Or is the Force literally waking up, maybe it's just a euphanism for viagra. So I don't know what to think about this title, we'll see when the actual film comes out in 13 months...holy sh*t we'll have a new Star Wars film in just 13 months!...*faints*.

-Danny

Despicable Me's success.../rant

With the release of the trailer for the new 'Minions' I decided to talk about the success of the Despicable Me franchise, and when I say success, I mean monster success, this franchise has exploded with popularity. Despicable Me 2 is currently the 3rd most successful animated film of all time, grossing $970 Million in the box-office and you can't go to any fair, shop, arcade without seeing minion toys, it's a product that has exploded in popularity. And I think the movies are okay...that's it, and you know what? That's all they should have been. They're not fantastic movies, they didn't revolutionise the industry or have any deep meaning to them where it takes their audience seriously, this franchise is popular simply because it's cute. That is it. People fell in love with these films because they're just so damn adorable, the kids are adorable, the animation is adorable and yes, the minions are fucking adorable. Now if you love this movie simply because it's cute, then that's fine, you're perfectly allowed to do that, but the amount of people who i've met who claim they think it's fantastic surprisngly know very little about it and that is what pisses me off, here's an example: I have a t-shirt that is a cross between Futurama and Despicable Me, the Futurama characters look like minions and it says "Gruturama" I thought it was cool, I like Despicable Me and I love Futurama so I bought it. To thi day it's one of my most complimented T-Shirts, of course people love Despicable Me so it gets a lot of attention, but I can't tell you how many times i've heard someone say "Oh I love Despicable Me!!!!...But why does it say Gruturama???" BECAUSE THAT'S THE NAME OF THE MAIN FUCKING CHARACTER YOU IDIOT! How can you claim to love a movie without even knowing the name of the main character!? That's one of those cases where you don't love the movie, you just love the adorableness surrounding the movie rather than the movie itself. If the cuteness is the best part of the film then fine, but you have to at least acknowledge what else is actually happening in the movie! And it gets worse, there are some people i've met who can't tell me the characters names, the story, recall any jokes, in some cases they haven't even seen the fucking movie! Yet they claim they are fans of something they haven't even FUCKING SEEN!!!! But what really pisses me off about this is that the company that makes this franchise Illumination Entertainment are never going to make anything else apart from Despicable Me movies. The only other thing they've made is The Lorax, and that was god awful and no one even remembers it, despite only coming out several years ago (And that movie pretty much was pretty much Despicable Me just with a slightly different coat of paint). You know what they're next two movies are going to be? Minions, and then Despicable Me 3. This is a major problem, a company of dozens and dozens of people who want to make movies are too afraid to try anything different, and instead they're just going to keep beating this franchise for all it's worth. Why do you think the Minions are getting they're own movie? Because that's all people give a damn about, people don't care about the characters or the story, they just want the Minions and nothing else. And how much do you wanna bet that the Minions movie is going to be nothing more than them running around and looking cute and silly while doing it? And how much do you want to bet that everyone is going to see it and everyone is going to love it, even though the story is probably gonna be a piece of garbage and have nothing of value. And once this fad has been drained for all it's worth, Illumanation are just going to try and replicate the success and fail because they're too afraid to try anything new like other companies and are going to hit rock bottom...hehe, bottom.

-Danny

Wow i'm slacking recently

The last few posts have been quite short and i've only just made the deadline to them, just like this one! I need to pick up my game...

-Danny

Bonfire Night is the most ironic holiday ever

How many people watch V For Vendetta without realising it's based on Guy Fawkes? Probably just Americans. But yeah, Guy Fawkes night on the 5th of November, it's a real thing, also known as Bonfire night. It celebrates the failed terrorist attack a couple hundred years ago where Guy Fawkes and his friends tried to blow up parliment, basically, we prevented British 9/11 (Or 11/5 I guess) and how do we celebrate a failed terrorist attack? By setting of fireworks which are pretty much colourful explosions...wow we have an ironic sense of passion...

-Danny

I can't be bothered to post

Ugh, I was gonna do a post about the popularity of Despicable Me and whether or not they deserve it and analyse the different fans of the film and critique the characters but I can't be arsed, tomorrow i'm doing one on V for Vendetta so maybe the day after that, until them...muhhhhhhhh (so lazy).

-Danny

A-G-L-E-T Aglet! We didn't forget it!

5 years ago, the kids TV show 'Phineas & Ferb' released an episode based entirely around the main characters trying to spread the word 'Aglet', what's that you ask? It's the little plastic thing at the end of your shoelace. I know this because this show did not only an episode around it but also a musical number, all to spread awareness of the aglet. And you know something? It worked pretty damn well because 5 years later I still know about the aglet and so do a lot of people, piece of useless trivia all from an episode of a TV show from 5 years ago. Now if they could do an episode based around how to do taxes then that'd be super.

-Danny

October - The Month of Settling

October is rarely anything special to me, I can't think of any major event that happened to me in my lifetime that occured during October, and surprise-surprise, that's the same case this year. All I can really say about this month is that I have finally settled into university, I've made some friends, gotten use to staying somewhere different (though admittedly I do wake up sometimes in the middle of the night and forget where I am) and I'm getting used to being woken up by my drunken flatmates at 4am...that's a lot of fun. But yeah, there's not a whole lot to talk about, this month has really been nothing but settling into my new life, though admittedly I still haven't completely settled in, nor do I think I ever will. After all, halls of residence aren't exactly a housing situation that I'm used to, all you have to yourself is a bedroom and bathroom, as for the rest of the apartment there's a kitchen and a hallway with 5 other rooms for my flatmates and that's it, it's not exactly a normal living area, it feels more like a permanent hostel, it never fully feels like a home. So yeah, that's really it, if I ever actually get used to this setting then I guess i'll make an update (if it really matters that much) but I don't know what else to tell ya, this has just been a month of getting used to the old without much new happening.

-Danny

The Temptation for an Xbox One

When the Xbox One was first announced (And I swear to god that is the stupidest fucking name for a product I've ever heard in my life) I knew instantly that I wasn't going to buy it, always online, forced to have Kinect, no way in hell was I getting it. But of course Microsoft learnt from their mistakes (Or rather their pre-order numbers) and took out all of the dumbass features that everyone knew from day one were dumbass features except for the people responsible for the dumbass features. So these days it's all good if you want to get an Xbox One without people judging you (except for any gamers who are complete morons, and considering GamerGate i'm gonna say that number is pretty high). But my point is there were no technical backlashes to buying an Xbox, but that being said I still got a PS4, because they didn't fuck up at the start and have better exclusives. But recently I have been thinking to myself how much I would like an Xbox One, why? Well Sunset Overdrive is looking awesome and being made by one of my favourite studios Insomniac Games and also there's the Master Chief Halo collection coming out, 5 games in 1 disc, that is gonna be awesome. But thing is, I have a PS4, I have only had a PS4 for about a month now, I do not have the room or money for an Xbox One, so I am not able to get an Xbox One which means I cannot play the Master Chief collection which sucks. So that's really it, I was going to get into a big debate about console rivalries and 1st party developers and a Halo analysis but really I can't be bothered, they'd all make good topics for another day, but all this turned out to be me wanting the Master Chief Collection and not getting it...screw this I'm gonna go play The Last of Us for the 10th time.

-Danny