2014: The Year of Okayness

2014 when I look back, there were no major events that I can think of...oh except I got into university, but i've talked about that plenty of times, plus i'm getting ahead of myself, let's go over the months.

January, February & March
I remember almost nothing about these months, I can't think of anything significant that happened to me, I was at college still, christ, I guess quite a bit has changed since then. But yeah, I was at college, lived at home, hungout with friends, went to the movies, that's really it. But then again I don't remember the last time I did anything interesting during the first quarter of a year. Oh wait, I did do something, I went to mother-fuckin' New York City. It was my first time going to New York and it was awesome and would love to go back someday.

April, May & June
This is where life started to change for me, I finished college, a place I had attended for 3 years, I did my exams, which are always the most nervracking experience a teenager can go through. And me and my friends realised that this would be our last summer till things had changed, we'd all be off to university and be all over the country, admittedly I never saw it as that big of a deal since the internet is a thing so we can still be in contact, but nevertheless, we still planned to make the most of the summer, which then leads into...

July & August
So yeah, again, the stuff that i did during the summer, i've already talked about, the first thing would be (and the major thing) was going to MCM Comic-Con in Manchester, England. This was my first ever convention, i went with a bunch of friends and it was a blast, probably the most fun i've had all year and we shall definitely be going again this year. Within this time I also had my 19th birthday and went bowling, also a lot of fun, mostly because I am the best at bowling. We also went camping in the woods, went for plenty of walks and basically, had a really good time camping. So that was our last summer as younguns before venturing into adulthood...spoiler alert, it's a lot like being a youngun.

September, October & November
This would be the time where I was at university in Sheffield, and so far it has been pretty cool. My flatmates are really cool people, I went clubbing for the first time in my life, lost weight, have to take care of myself now (With other people's money of course). And still made it home atleast once a month. Thoroughly enjoying my course, my lectures take place in the cinema, the other students are fun, so it's all good, although even when it's talking about stuff I like, I still hate my assignments, even when my assignments involve talking about Toy Story and American Beauty...actually thinking about it, my course rocks.

December
I just talked about this, read yesterday's post.

So yeah, overall, there have been a lot of changes looking back on the year, even though I don't feel as i've changed, the world around me has. So, who knows what 2015 will bring, well, tomorrow, look forward to seeing what I hope it'll bring. Until then, happy new year universe.

-Danny

December: The Final Look Back

I may be doing this a few days early, but that's because tomorrow i'll be looking back at 2014 as a whole. So, for today, let's take a look back at December. It's alright...what more do ya want from me? I finished my first semester of university, that was alright. Celebrated Christmas, that was alright. It's just been a month of alrightness. I can't think of anything incredible that happened this month, I found out that I'd lost 15lbs while away at university, that was cool, in fact that was probably the highlight of my month...so that probably says a lot about how my month has been. Hopefully the post tomorrow will be more interesting because yes, i am one of those sentimental assholes who enjoys looking back over the past year and making resolutions for the next year, because I fucking do them. So yeah, December, been alright, how's 2014 been? Find out tomorrow. Spoiler Alert: Pretty good.

-Danny

Wendy, Let's Talk About You

There are a few things that you'll never hear in this world. "I think our government is doing a splendid job" "Hitler may have had a few good points" "Brett Ratner is the best director of all time" and lastly "Wendy is my favourite character in Gravity Falls". Now that's not to say she's a bad character, but she's not as good as the others. When people talk about their favourite characters it's always Mabel, Soos, Grunkle Stan, or hell, even Old Man McGucket. But never Wendy (Or Dipper for that matter). So I decided to take a better look at Wendy and see if she's a good character or not, because personally, I think she is. Like most, she was the one that took the longest for me to like, mostly because she doesn't do much, but when they do make her a pivotal part of an episode, she's actually quite enjoyable. She's able to get a good laugh here and there, but there is more to it in that. Her character is a satire of the millennial teenagers, the ones obsessed with doing nothing and pretend to hate everything, they just wanna spend all day on their phones and breaking the rules...okay that could apply to teenagers of several generations, but it's down in the details of her dialogue that make her specifically a millennial. But then there is still a deeper layer to that, even though she pretends to hate everything, she does still really like Dipper and Mabel and the other characters, in fact I think it's pretty clear that she has more fun with these guys then the people she's supposed to be friends with. And unlike everything else in her life, she doesn't mock them or call them silly, Mabel & Soos are weird and don't always make sense, but she just goes along with it because they're just doing what makes them happy, rather than pretending to hate everything like her friends. She's adventurous, she's not afraid to get dirty and dangerous when solving a mystery, and she's empathetic towards the others, *Spoilers ahead* when Dipper finally confesses his feelings, she lets him down gently and reasonably, she doesn't see him that way, but that doesn't stop him from being one of her best friends. She's good to the people she cares about and has an entertaining and adventurous personality, sure she's also lazy and may not be the funniest character, but that doesn't make her bad, just not as good.

-Danny

Polygon, Seriously, Go Fuck Yourselves

I've had my fair share to say about journalist and review based gaming companies like IGN before, mostly because of their arbitrary business structure and corrupted review system and lack of spine. But none of them are worse than Polygon.

Polygon are the self-praising, ego-bloated, civil working rights, pat yourself on the back, nobs who try to come across as articulate and just when really they're bullshit speaking, click baiting maniacs who keep seeing controversial and trigger warning news stories and saying "Look at me! Look at me! I'm being an activist!". And the lack of logic in their arguments and stories made just for the sake of impressing people in their "hard hitting and brutally honest journalism" when really they're making mountains out of mole hills with no unique thought or perspective on pointless topics that have been covered before, dozens of times and better handled

For example, one of the big controversies in the gaming industry, especially over this year alone, is sexism in gaming. So a couple of their articles include the portrayal of prostitution & violence within Grand Theft Auto V. Now if you want to read the whole article-then it's good to see you have 30IQ points to spare-google it yourself, but here are a few snippets from the article, if you think they're being taken out of context, trust me, context doesn't help. "I know a lot of people desperately want to believe that killing a prostitute in GTA 5 is the same as killing any other character, but it’s really not." Yes it is. It fucking is. Killing a prostitute in GTA is just the same as killing literally any other character, they fall over dead, you steal their money, the only difference being you can have sex with a prostitute before hand, and really I would have thought murder would be considered immoral regardless of whether or not you had consensual sex with someone prior to murdering them. And for the record, i'm sick of people yelling at the fact you can kill people in GTA and shouting "IT'S WRONG! IT'S WRONG!" Well of course it's wrong, that's why you get a wanted level for it, you get punished for doing it, you twats.

"Unlike gangsters or cops or business dudes or hot dog vendors, prostitutes, as a class, are despised, marginalised and abused in real life, all the time.". This one really ruffles my jammies. Yes, prostitutes get abused in real life...so do a lot of people, it may be a more common occurrence than certain other classes, but to insinuate that they're the only ones that get abused in reality is rather insulting. There are homeless people in GTA, you can abuse them as much as you can prostitutes, and while some people choose to be prostitutes, very litte, if any choose to be homeless, and most would consider them to be mistreated and abused in real life. Or how about black people living in the lower class part of society? They get a lot of abuse and mistreatment in our society, where's Polygon's article about how that's wrong? (Don't give em' ideas Dan). My point i'm trying to make here is GTA does not discriminate in who you can kill, you can kill prostitutes, you can also kill business tycoons, gangsters, cops, old people, blacks, whites, men, women, birds, cats, dogs, if they're in the game, they can be shot dead. People who write up this bullshit need to stop acting like these types of games actively enforce violence on one particular group of people. Because they don't.

But the line that really pissed me off in this article, the one that went from "ignorant prick" to "Piece of shit" is the line "It’s one thing for games to portray the slaughter of soldiers…". Wow. Okay. So by your logic: Killing prostitutes is wrong. But having a game that shows the brave men & women dying and suffering for your protection, even though they arguably go through more pain & suffering both physically and psychologically than prostitutes, yet you suggest it is not as important as them. Ok...Seriously, to the author of this article, you are (And I am completely honest when I say this) an ignorant, biased, disrespectful, ego driven activist wannabee with his head up his own arse who doesn't deserve his job and abuses his position as a journalist to exploit his propaganda, one sided mind to appease the popular views of society without logic or facts to back up your points and are just adding fuel to the fire for a heated debate that has actual importance to it and plenty of logical and factual points to make and actual games to complain about, unlike you. You-Cunt.

...Also they gave The Last of Us a 7.5/10...Dicks.

-Danny

I Don't Get The Appeal, But That's Okay.

Some of the biggest YouTubers out there are beauty gurus, okay they might not be the most popular, but channels dedicated to just make-up, clothing, jewlery and other stuff like that is pretty much guaranteed to rake in thousands of views, the only thing more guaranteed to get views is to be a skinny British boy with an emo-haircut (Damn, a third of the way there). For a while I couldn't help but think "why do so many people watch this? What's the appeal of watching someone buy so much make-up? Are there really those many different brands to buy? God this is so stupid." But then I remembered that some of my favourite YouTubers, as well as one of my favourite hobbies are Blu-Ray collections. YouTube Channels of people buying blu-rays and having huge collections, I love channels like those, though to be fair, a lot of that is down to the personality on camera, like WastingMoney1 or John Flickster. But it's also something that I love doing in my free time, I always binge buy DVDs and Blu-Rays whenever I go shopping into town, hell, during the boxing day sales I ended up buying a stack of DVDs so high it went up to my pelvis. Quite a few of them I don't even like all too much, or even at all hell, some of them i've owned for months without ever watching, yeah I own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, is it a good movie? No. Yeah I have Superman Returns, will I ever watch it again? No. Yeah I bought the Alien Anthology collection, will I ever watch anything past 2? Hell No. And then I realised, everything I think is stupid about beauty gurus and their fans, would probably look at my interests and say the same thing. Yes people are going to have interests that seem strange to you, you just have to acknowledge that there must be a reason why they like it, it's like the old saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure.

-Danny

No Post Today (Apart From This)

No real post today, too busy with Christmas stuff, buh-bye.

-Danny

...And To All A Good Night!

Merry Christmas Everyone, and if there actually is anyone that gets offended by that term then Fuck Off. But for the majority of other cultures that don't take offense to that term, I hope you have had a lovely day. But being honest Christmas has become a less and less special time for me as time goes on, and not because i've been getting older, but because Christmas has been getting smaller. When I was a kid, we had the whole family around for Christmas, aunts & uncles, grandparents, the whole shebang. But as the years go on that group has gotten smaller and smaller, and this was the first Christmas where it was just me and my immediate family, my parents and my sister. And that's not what Christmas is about, Christmas is about spending time with the people in your life that you don't get to spend as much time with as you'd like, it's about reflecting on your year and endulging in stupid holiday traditions, but it's what makes them so personal what makes them so fun. My family has pretty much lost all of our Christmas traditions and we spend it with the people we see all the time. I dream for the day when Christmas becomes a huge event again, distant relatives gathering together, kids eager to open their presents, trying to fit a dozen people around a dinner table. Sadly those days are still a fair number of years away, and until then, this is what I do on the happiest day of the year.

Don't get me wrong, I love my family, but Christmas is something more than that. Christmas isn't just a holiday, it's an event, it's a time when people express their love for each other all at once, it's when they actively want to do as much as possible to make others happy. Yes there's a lot of commercialism in the matter, but that doesn't make the magic any less special when you see someone's reaction when you get them that one thing they've been dying to have. If you don't love Christmas then you're just not spending it with the right people. But for those of you that already have what you need at Christmas, then I say happy holidays to you and a happy new year.

-Danny

So...Do People Like Fairy Tail?

One of the anime that I am currently watching is Fairy Tail (BTW, Funimation, hurry up with new dubbed episodes already!) And I personally am thoroughly enjoying it. In fact I may have binge watched 100 episodes in about a week...worth it. But one thing i'm rather caffufled on is, do people in the anime community actually like Fairy Tail? I mean I think it's really popular, It's often considered to be one of the big 5 (Even though that used to be only 3) yet I rarely see people talk about it. I mean most of the time with these really big anime, especially the over the top ones like say One Piece for example, the anime community tend to dislike, because the anime community in reality are animation hipsters who hate anything popular and will attack you if you like anything popular or different from them and claim you're not a real anime fan...sorry, different rant for a different time. But I don't see people actually talk about Fairy Tail, I mean i've seen plenty of amv's for it online so it obviously has a fanbase. but even then, i don't think i've ever seen people fight over it, it's never brought up when talked about the big anime. It's not popular enough to be mainstream and it's not subverted enough to be hipster. It's sort of this middle ground anime that doesn't seem to have a reputation as being overhyped, underrated, simple, pretentious or...anything. I guess that's a good thing that people don't have strong feelings on it so I can just watch it without worrying about what other people think, but even so, it is a thought in the back of my head.

Oh, and Merry Christmas, I guess...

-Danny

Justin Lin to Direct Star Trek 3!

It has officially been announced that Justin Lin, director of Fast & Furious 5 & 6 will be directing the third entry of the Rebooted Star Trek series. Now on one hand, this news doesn't interest me, I mean really Star Trek 3 I don't really care about, as I said i'm currently trying to watch everything Star Trek related (And i'm way behind) and the rebooted franchise is the furthest thing from my mind, even though i really like those movies. But then I thought "well yeah but this guy did spark new interest in a dull franchise". I mean be honest, who the hell still gave a shit about Fast & Furious before this guy came along? Before Fast Five everyone thought the franchise was as drained as a series could get, but then he came along and decided to make it about more than racing and it actually worked, people flocked to the cinema to see it and likewise for the sixth movie. People started to praise them as the modern day action franchise and he brought a series back from the dead that had no right to be brought back. But with that being said, they're not exactly deep movies, so hopefully Star Trek 3 will have a good script for him to work with and all he has to do is make it look visually interesting, and we all know he can do that so I say, go for it man, I have faith in you.

-Danny

The Home Away From Home...

I've been home from university for a few days now, and even though I was only at university for a few months and i've lived in this place for my entire life and yet somehow...it feels different. Okay it's not the place that's different or the people, i think it's me. Being at university offered a kind of freedom that i've never had, i could stay up all night without worrying about waking up my folks, I could go out at 4am if i wanted, i could do what i wanted, whenever i wanted, i was...well, an adult. Admittedly being home does come with it's benefits, like never having to do the dishes or my own laundry is always a bonus. But still, the restrictions that come it is make it feel weird. So i'm sort of in this state of having two homes and no homes simultaniously...first world problems, ammiright?

-Danny

Films That Won't Make The Top 10 List

I am currently in the process of making my top 10 films of 2014 video, and even though i didn't see as many films this year as I did last year, gotta be honest, it's actually a lot harder to write up a list this year. I'm already feeling bad about what's gonna be an honourable mention, but what's even worse is what's not going to be on the list. So just a heads up; Birdman, Big Hero 6, John Wick and Whiplash are not going to be appearing on my top 10 list. Not because they're bad, I just haven't seen them, but of course distributors like to fuck with people in England by not releasing 2014 movies in 2014, but instead save them for 2015 in January, which is fucking awful because then they can't make my list, and i can't put them on next years list because they're not 2015 movies either, they're in this state of limbo for movies. The same thing happened this year for 'Her', it was a phenominal movie, but it was technically a 2013 movie released in February. This happens every fucking year, though it does make January a much more entertaining month when it's usually a giant piss bucket, but I would still prefer them to be released in the year they were meant to. But why don't you just wait a couple of weeks before doing your top 10 list then? Because this is the internet, no one gives a shit if you release it any longer than a week past January.

-Danny

My Favourite Characters - Grunt

In case you haven't realised, I'm kinda a big fan of the Mass Effect videogames, and i've already talked about several characters in this series; and i've still got about a dozen more to go, so, let's not waste anytime, up next, is Grunt. Grunt was a science experiment, bred to be the ultimate Krogan warrior, he has all the training and knowledge of all the greatest warriors in Krogan history, yet no identity of his own, he's born without a name, without a master and without a purpose, just the urge to fight. He even chose to name himself Grunt because it was short and felt it suited him. In his time travelling with Commander Shepard, he grew to be loyal to a cause and a team and found his purpose. Two of the biggest elements in characters that i usually respect the most is loyalty and bravery, and Grunt definitely has both of them. When Grunt & Shepard first meet, Grunt's instant reaction is to kill him, but soon respects Shepard for his quick draw nature as a fighter. After Shepard helps him get through his personal issues, Grunt becomes loyal to Shepard almost instantly, not out of duty, but out of respect. He was taken in by people and treated as an equal and an individual when he felt had no right to be, and would go on to prove his loyalty by even willing to die for his Commander.

But of course his talents don't end there, he is of course a brilliant fighter, able to hold off an army all on his own and killing foe after foe. Even though he was initially shunned by his own people as a crime against nature, he quickly earnt their respect and became the leader that he always saw in Shepard. He's proud of his culture and proud of his people, but he's also proud to be different and being able to think like an individual when he was born believing he was destined to be what his name would suggest, just a Grunt. He was the underdog (Or underkrogan) of his people, and he earnt his way to being one of their best fighters. Grunt is the best badass I've ever had the pleasure of fighting with.

-Danny

Did Legend of Korra Do The Thing?

The final episode of The Legend of Korra premiered today, how was it? doesn't matter. Here's what does matter, and here's what people are going to be talking about whenever they talk about this ending, the final few minutes between Korra & Asami. Basically, Korra & Asami are best friends, but people have been wondering if they were more than that. I personally never thought much of it, I just saw them as best friends...But now...Okay, well, nothing technically happened, they didn't kiss or confess they're love for each other, here's what actually went down:

The two were alone, relaxing with each other and talking about everything they had just gone through. Korra comforts Asami over the death of her father, the two talk about their future and their friendship. Korra suggests the two of them go on a trip together, emphasising "just the two of us". The two decide to go to the spirit world, where they'll be completley alone together. When they head out, it ends with them holding hands (again, putting a lot of emphasis on that fact) as they stare into each others eyes...So are they lesbians or not!?

Okay, maybe putting it a little too blunty there. But seriously, all I could think through the entire scene was "Kiss!...Kiss!" and it would have made perfect sense, it would have been built up throughout the series, clearly the fanbase would have been okay with it. But there's something more than that. This show has already pushed boundaries on female representation in kids shows, by having a badass female protagonist, a badass female antagonist, and having two female friends who talk about more than just boys. You'd be surprised how little that happens in any medium! Yet this show did all that, so imagine what would have happened if they ended their series, with the two main women of the show becoming a couple, madly in love. I don't think i've ever seen a kids show that has that, a lesbian protagonist. Can you imagine what this could have meant for the future of this medium?

But as of right now, nothing is confirmed, everything is speculation, but as far as i'm concerned, they're a couple. Because you know what? That's pretty fucking cool.

-Danny

Should The Interview Be Canned?

If you haven't been keeping up with the news, allow me to fill you in. The Interview is a comedy starring James Franco and Seth Rogen. The premise is two reporters who have an interview with Kim Jong Un, and the CIA hire them to assassinate him. This was actually one of my first ever blog posts, talking about Kim Jong Un's reaction to the film premise. Now after the recent Sony hacks, the hackers are claiming to be North Korea, protesting the release of The Interview, and are now threatening to bomb movie theatres that show the film. This of course has caused a lot of controversy, both Sony and multiple movie theatres have pulled the film and now it's looking like it's going to be canned all together. This has caused a lot of controvery from negotiating with terrorists, free speech, racism, and all sorts of issues like that. Now personally i'm not one of those "We don't negotiate with terrorists" type of people because the logic behind that is negotiating with them makes you come across as weak and makes you look bad, but i personally think that willing to let innocent people die just because of your stubborness looks worse, call me old fashioned (!). And this is the main reason why I am completley fine if Sony or movie theatres wish to pull this film, because first of all, i doubt this was going to be comedy of the century or anything so i don't really care. But mostly because, a lot of the people who want this film to be shown because of free speech, have been saying that it is most likely a hoax. And while I agree, it is most likely a hoax, i don't think it's worth the risk. So to those people who are defending the film, I just have to ask...what if the threats are real? What if a theatre gets bombed because of it, is it worth it? Is it worth sacrificing innocent people for a film that supposedly isn't even that great? Because I gotta be honest, if I had to chose between free speech and letting a few dozen innocent people die...i'm gonna go with saving innocent people, because the alternative seems selfish and stubborn to me.

-Danny

First Semester of University: A Look Back

Today is my final day at university. Well. Technically Friday was my last day at univerity, i've just been spending the last couple of days finishing up my assignments before Christmas. Now they're handed in, today is my last day here for the year before I head back home. So I have been at university for 3 months now, i've been supporting myself and living in a new town and have pretty much been in charge of myself (With parent & governments money of course) so i guess it would be time to reflect right now.

So i didn't really know what life was gonna be like, I mean i've seen plenty of films and tv shows set at university but they were mostly American, and even the British ones I didn't think they were going to be accurate representations of life at uni. But here are some thoughts/worries that I had before coming to university. First would be losing touch with my old friends from home, actually i think i was the only person not worried about this, mostly because people seem to forget that the internet is a thing, and phones, and trains. So yeah, i've had no problem keeping in contact with my friends, i talk to them all the time and i've even been home a couple of times to see them and hangout. So yeah, keeping a hold of my roots wasn't really a problem.

What was a big problem for me to start off with was food, I had no idea what I would do for tea every night, i barely ever cooked, and at home my folks would buy food in bulk to last the whole week, not an option here seeing as i only get one shelf in the fridge, so i have to buy food that i cook (by the way, i now have a love for cooking chicken) and can only store several days worth of food otherwise it'll go spoilt or i just don't have the room for it.

Turns out i'm still shit at making friends, I went through 3 years at college without spending lunch with anyone new and turns out it's the same here. Now it's not to say i'm anti-social, I get along with people and can have fun with them, but when it comes to holding a conversation by myself or finding anything of substance to talk about, that's when my subjects are limited. This is one of the reasons why i hope my best friends now will always remain my best friends because it's gonna be a hell of a job trying to replace them. But here that would be a bigger problem because people normally spend their second and third year living in a student house with their friends, and i am not close enough to anyone for this to happen...so fuck. Guess it's another year in student halls for me.

Also lectures & seminars are not what I expected. Admittedly studying film & screenwriting, my subject might have more than a normal classroom, but my lectures take place at the cinema...that's pretty fucking obsurd. But doesn't matter because lectures are kinda boring, i sit there for 30-40 minutes with people telling me stuff i already know, then we watch a movie, which apart from a couple of films, they're not great movies for the most part. It's the seminars that are pretty awesome, i've always preferred the small classes because that means there's more of a conversation between people and it's easier to remember people's names and personalities, so those are a lot of fun.

Apart from that, i can't really think of much that's changed, i haven't gone through any kind of life changing events or reinvented my personality. I spend my free time doing the exact same stuff i normally did back home. I mean granted it's only been 3 months but i've seen plenty of people that i grew up with changed already or atleast are trying to change their imagine. But, I'd like to think i'm the same ol' me. I like me. And I don't think university has changed me, if anything, it's made me realise how simple my life was, and i'd like to back to the simple life please...No? Okay.

-Danny

I May Be Addicted to The Last of Us...

So incase you haven't been able to tell with all of the posts i've made on this blog dedicated to The Last of Us, I'm a pretty big fan. In fact, I am more than happy to say it is the closest a videogame has ever gotten to been absolutely perfect, i'd say about 98% of things in this game are as good as they could be. And there are still about a million things that I haven't talked about that I would love to talk about. Even though it's only a year and a half old, it's already my most replayed game of all time, and every time i play it i notice something new. And I will most likely be making multiple posts on The Last of Us in the future. And yet, despite all this, it's not actually my favourite videogame of all time, it's only my 2nd favourite videogame, what is my favourite videogame? Well, that will be revealed in due time. But really people would say it doesn't make much sense on how i'd prefer that game over The Last of Us, because The Last of Us does a lot more right and is in almost every aspect, a better game, i'm certainly more addicted to it and in love with it than the other game. Now don't get me wrong, the other game is amazing as well and I love it to death, but in reality, The Last of Us is the better game, so why isn't it my all time favourite game? Because the other game is what changed gaming for me, it made me realise that they aren't just fun hobbies, they're art with stories and deep characters, and because of that it will always remain my favourite game...I don't even know where i'm going with this anymore, I think I just wanted to babble on about my love for The Last of Us, because I do love it. Personally, I think it's the greatest story ever told...i'm not exaggerating, I genuinely believe that.

-Danny

What if Marvel Got Spider-Man?

There has been a lot of talk recently (Or for about 7 years) of Marvel getting the movie rights back for Spider-Man. This is mostly due to the Sony leaks and the Amazing Spider-Man films just getting worse and worse reception and Sony literally not having a clue what they're doing with that franchise. But after the Sony leaks it was revealed that Marvel & Sony had indeed been talking about Marvel being allowed to use Spider-Man, but Sony got greedy and wanted creative control as well as power over the marketing and distribution. Marvel of course found this to be completely unfair and talks broke down. Because here's the thing, in a pre-Avengers world, Marvel would have folded in an instant, because people seem to have forgotten that before The Avengers was released, people like Iron Man and Thor were considered B-List superheroes, but now just 2 years later, they are huge names and are equal to Spider-Man, so Marvel doesn't need Spider-Man, but they know how much people want him. But recently it has been said that is Marvel did get the rights to Spider-Man back then Andrew Garfield would no longer be playing the character and they would start from scratch (Again!). And most people were upset by this news because no matter what your opinion on The Amazing Spider-Man is, everyone loves Andrew Garfield as the character, he is the perfect Spider-Man.

So here's my alternative, should Marvel get the rights to Spider-Man, then don't do Peter Parker again, we've seen him twice now, we don't need another Peter Parker story, instead, you know who people would love to see? Miles Morales. For those of you who don't know, in the Ultimate series in the comics, Peter Parker was killed off and replaces with Miles Morales, an african-american, this character would become so popular that he actually got a second run after his initial series ended. And people love this character and it would be something different from what we've seen already. And I think we all know who should play him. Donald Glover.

If you aren't aware, back in 2010 when they first announced a reboot of Spider-Man, a lot of people were petitioning for Donald Glover to play Peter Parker, of course this didn't actually happen, but it wasn't for nought. Marvel took notice of the demand for Glover, and wanted to honour that demand, thus, Miles Morales was born, inspired by Donald Glover. And in 2014, Donald actually got to play Miles in the Ultimate Spider-Man TV Series. Now, it's time to take it a step further, and have Donald play the web-swinger on the big screen. Now the one problem with this is Miles is 13 years old and that plays a pretty big role in the comics...I don't give a shit if they age him up, give him a new story, i just want to see it happen, if Samuel L Jackson can play Nick Fury then Donald Glover can play Miles Morales.

BUT! Before any of that happens, let Sony finish the Amazing Spider-Man series, i don't care if they don't know what they're doing, i don't care if the next movie (And should be the final movie) sucks balls, let Andrew Garfield have his trilogy, let him finish his story, he's earnt it, he deserves that much. Because he absolutely loves playing this character and people love seeing him as this character, so give him his goddamn movie.

-Danny

Zoella's Controversy

Zoella is a famous YouTube vlogger and is pretty much YouTube royalty with over 5,000,000 Subscribers on her YouTube channel, and is probably making more money than you and me combined. Recently, she released her first ever book "girl online" it's a fictional story about...something, I don't know, the actual story isn't important here, what is important, is who wrote the story. It's recently been revealed that Zoella, while she came up with the idea & characters, had a ghost writer do the actual book. Now if you don't know what a ghost writer is, it's when they hire someone to write the book for them, but another person gets all the credit, in this case, Zoella. Now this is a very common occurrence in literature and even when they don't use a ghost writer, editors and publishers will always be making changes to the finished product, that's just part of the system. What bothers me about cases like this is from a marketing stand point. Now like I said, i don't know what the book is about, I don't know if it's good or bad, but what I can tell you is that 90% of sales for this book, if not more, all came from the fact that Zoella's name was slapped on the cover. She's their main selling point here and yet, it wasn't even her that wrote it. Yes she came up with the characters but it's not her words, it's not her pacing, it's not her talent being used, just her ideas. She didn't write this book, someone else did, and when you're selling this based off of an author's name then that's pretty damn shitty. Now some people have pointed out to me that seeing as this is a very common practice then it's unfair to judge this based on a ghost writer, after all, what if someone like JK Rowling had a ghost writer on one of her new books, or had several editors go over and change things. But that's different because even though they're selling her books on her name, she & her team have still done work in the past that we can judge, we know that whoever is writing these books is a talented writer. Of course this is all hypothetical because I believe JK does write her own books, but I think i've made my point. You can't market this book from a new author with a pre-built fanbase when your marketing stand point is a lie and people are going in blind in buying this new book.

-Danny

Cartoon Cartoons (Cont'd)

And now to continue my brief review of the best of the best that Cartoon Network had to offer us in our childhoods. Yesterday I talked about the Hanna-Barbara era which were some of Cartoon Networks first and most beloved shows, but there are a couple that people often associate with that group when in fact they're not Hanna-Barbara shows. And one of those are...

Ed Edd 'N' Eddy
I...fucking...love this show! This is my all time favourite Cartoon Network series, I love everything about this, I love the characters and their unique personalities and the way how they interact with each other. The animation, while some might straight up find ugly, I find charming in it's simplicity and unpolished design. And of the course the comedy; this is one of the funniest shows i've ever seen in my life, it is some of the best slapstick that i've ever seen, it fully uses the possibilities of animation to its fullest and is hilarious because of it. I honestly have nothing negative to say about it, it's just straight up incredible.

Courage the Cowardly Dog
Another show that people often assume is part of the same group as the other shows, my assumption would be because they all came out in the 90's. But one thing we can all agree on is that Courage the Cowardly Dog was fucking terrifying, when we were kids, this show scared the living shit out of us, i barely watched it because it was so creepy, yet even though i didn't see every episode, i remember every single one I did see, they were that affective. And that's the best compliment I can give this show, it set out to scare the living shit out of kids...and it succeeded...oh boy did it succeed.

Mike, Lu & Og
Who the fuck remembers this show? Anyone? I think I saw like an episode when I was a kid and it sucked, no wonder it was cancelled.

Sheep in the Big City/Time Squad
I'm lumping these two together because...I never watched either of them, i don't know what they're like, they could be good, they could suck, I dunno. Also I'm skipping Grim & Evil because they were split into two different shows and i'll talk about them individually.

Whatever Happened to...Robot Jones?
A surprisingly fitting title, seeing as very few people remember this show, and seeing as it only made 26 episodes before cancellation, it's not surprising. I remember watching a couple of episodes as a kid feeling less than impressed, if anything it was just a lamer version of Robotboy...and Robotboy wasn't exactly the cool kid on the block. The jokes were okay, the characters were meh, the animation was awful, i mean while Ed Edd N Eddy has a boyish charm to how rough it looked, this just looked sloppy, like it was all done in a first draft. So no, it's not surprising that it didn't last.

Codename: Kids Next Door
This show I would say was probably the cleverest show out of the Cartoon Cartoons, mostly because taking simple things surrounding kids lives and exaggerating them into this big spy like organisation, is pretty damn ingenious. Everything is so big and important because, it's what a kid would think is big and important, what's evil and villainous is because that's what kids think is evil and villainous. I love the characters, I love the comedy, I love the animation and most of all, I love the concept, it's still a great show to watch.

Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
This show is fantastic. Simple as that. I don't think i've ever seen a darker kids' show in my entire life. Death is a main character, hell is featured in multiple episodes, characters get their skin ripped off in brutal manors, episodes could end on a really miserable note. It was so mean spirited to its characters and it is one of the funniest shows I have ever seen. I love this series for being one of the most unique kids shows i've ever seen, there's never been anything like it. Well, except for...

Evil Con Carne
This was the second series as part of the "Grim & Evil" show, which was eventually split off and the two became their own shows. The difference being Evil Con Carne was cancelled rather quickly, even though it was similar in premise and tone, to put it simply, it just wasn't as funny. Even though it's the same crew from Billy & Mandy, the characters in Con Carne just weren't as memorable or entertaining (except for the main guy) and i'm pretty sure everyone preferred Billy & Mandy, so it's no wonder it was cancelled so they could focus on the former show.

So, those were my opinions on the Cartoon Cartoons, the renaissance of hit after hit (after stinker) of Cartoon Network. And who knows, maybe one day i'll talk about their other television shows like Ben 10, Samurai Jack and Megas XLR...Oh of course i'm gonna talk about them, aliens, samurai and giant robots, these shows were awesome!

-Danny

Cartoon Cartoons: The Legacy of Cartoon Network

Everyone has their own renaissance, Disney had one, Marvel is currently one; oh and some Italians painter guys or something. Cartoon Network is no exception, when it first started in the late 90's to the mid to late 2000's, Cartoon Network was every kid's favourite network, it had something for everyone. But within this era of greatness, there were the Cartoon Cartoons. These shows were like the Justice League of Cartoon Network, the A-Listers, the ones everyone loved and remembers when they think of Cartoon Network, now this doesn't mean there weren't good shows outside of the Cartoon Cartoons (Megas XLR and Samurai Jack are great examples) But these were the core Cartoon Network shows, and i'm gonna give a brief look back over all of them, starting with the core of the core, the Hanna-Barbera era (hehe, that rhymes). Which were the original Cartoon Cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera studios.



Dexter's Laboratory
This is often considered to be one of the greatest cartoons in animation history, mostly for the talent behind it, Hanna-Barbera producing it, Cartoon Network airing it, Genndy Tartakovsky writing it, this show had an incredible team behind it, and considering the reception it got, their work paid off. This show is remembered and beloved by all and is still one of the most successful Cartoon Network series...I like it...I think it's funny, the characters are enjoyable but I never really loved it, I mean don't get me wrong, I watched it all the time when I was young, but even then it wasn't my first choice in comparison to other shows at the time, hell even to this day, i'd probably pick Powerpuff Girls or something over this. Again, it's not bad, I still enjoy it, but the jokes aren't that funny for me, the characters aren't all that interesting and even the animation isn't even that great, I personally think it's the weakest of Tartakovsky's work, but again, it's not bad, just not great.

Johnny Bravo
On the flip side of that is Johnny Bravo, a show I was never all too fond of as a kid, I just saw it as a decent show if there was nothing else on. But looking back at it as an adult, this show is pretty hilarious. I love how fast the animation is, i love all the adult humour in the show and I love the persistency of Johnny, he doesn't give a rats ass about anyone but himself and yet he's still so damn likeable for some reason. Even though you enjoy watching him get is camuppins, because he does deserve it, there's also something so charming about his can-do attitude. This is definitely one that holds up to be as good as you remember.

Cow and Chicken
I don't like Cow and Chicken, i don't think anyone really likes Cow & Chicken, the animation is ugly, the jokes aren't funny, the characters are annoying, the only reason why I think it's remembered is because it is kinda unique in how bad it is. The characters just don't look right, I mean have you ever seen a cow or a chicken that look this way? And what the hell was with that "Red" guy, was that supposed to be the devil!? Just because it's memorable, doesn't make it good, i don't think i've ever met anyone who considers this the best Cartoon Network show, and i'm pretty sure if you went back and watched it you'd see it doesn't hold up very well.

I Am Weasel
Fuck this show, fuck it's stupidly catchy theme song, fuck the fact that Cow & Chicken somehow got a spin-off even though both premiered in the same year! Same ugly animation, lack of funny jokes and annoying characters, except add a seriously catchy and annoying as shit theme song and take away the memorable character designs and you have shit, seriously, fuck this show!

The Powerpuff Girls
And we reach the end of the Hanna-Barbera and Cartoon Network colab era with The Powerpuff Girls and honestly it's probably their best. The best thing about this show is that it's perfect for both boys and girls, the Powerpuff Girls still act like little girls, they love pink and playing with dolls, but they also have super powers and kick giant monster ass, it doesn't have to pander to one of the other, it just does its own thing and just so happens to appeal to both genders. Most shows that do that either lean one way or the other or try to be as neutral as possible, but Powerpuff Girls is filled with semitocs and gender signifiers of both boys and girls. It was funny, it was cute, it was well animated and it was badass, great show.

And now that we leave the Hanna-Barbera arc, there was one cartoon that people often assume was part of this era simply because it came out at the same time and is beloved just as much...but we'll talk about that tomorrow. When we review the rest of the Cartoon Cartoons (Teehee).

-Danny

"The Climb" Arrow Review

Well...shit..so this was Arrow's mid-season finale, in this episode The League of Assassins has lost their patients and demands Oliver find Sara's killer within 48 hours or else they'll purge the city. Oliver finds out that Sara's killer was Thea, being controlled by Malcolm Merlin, but Oliver won't risk the life of his sister and takes the fall for her, forcing a trial by combat where Oliver gets his ass kicked by Ra's Al Ghul and gets stabbed through the chest and kicked off a mountain top...after it took him an entire episode to climb up, bad luck Ollie.

So let's talk about this episode, the first thing is the reveal of Sara's killer being Thea controlled by Merlin, now on one hand, i didn't see this coming, I never predicted that it could have gone down this way and it was a nice reveal. But on the otherhand, it was because of a plot device that was introduced in this episode and the fact that Merlin was behind it all was a little bit dissapointing. Not to mention the video on Ollie's phone was so obviously not filmed on a camera phone and was so obviously put in there during post that it was rather ridiculous. If Arrow wants to create sciency tech mumbo jumbo then that's fine, but don't take everyday technology and make it seem better than it actually is. So this big mystery turned out to be a mixed back, though I do enjoy that Thea learns of Sara's death at the start of the episode which helps create this contrast between the two, even though it doesn't make sense why Laurel would tell her but I don't understand half the reasoning behind the decisions Laurel makes.

But Oliver obviously not going to sacrifice his sister to the League of Assassins, takes the blame for her, and I have a major problem with this, several characters throughout this episode where able to tell when people were lying to them through their enginious detective skills of...just knowing. Laurel's mum "just knows" about Sara's death, Oliver "just knows" that Thea didn't kill Sara. So when Oliver is lying to the masters of deception, it's surprising that none of them "just knows" that he's so obviously lying. I mean you can't have a common character trait amongst several characters and not have the person who would most obviously have that trait not actually have it! And the battle between Ra's and Oliver will take place at the top of a mountain, which the episode cuts to him climbing up the mountain because...i guess they didn't want to have the climb be one big scene cause that would be boring as fuck.

But this was something that I liked, the build up to Oliver's big fight, the performances and pacing of these scenes really made it seem like he didn't know if he was coming back, hell, they fooled me for a second thinking "wait, what if he doesn't come back..." so I felt like that was very well handled. And the fight scene itself was fantastic, there was no music, the editing slowed itself down, it just let the scene create it's own tension, and it really fucking worked. From just the choreography alone you could tell Oliver was not winning this fight, and it looked pretty damn brutal, I think it might be one of the best fight scenes in the show's run so far. And then of course it all ends with Oliver getting stabbed through the chest and thrown off the mountain...I loved this scene. It was so unexpected, so well put together that I actually thought they might have just killed off their main character...though i seriously doubt it because...like I said, he's the main character. And I also like how Oliver still managed to get a couple of hits in, though obviously was no match for Ra's Al Ghul. So overall I think the fight scene was the highlight of the episode.

Then there are the flashbacks of the episode, Maseo's wife being kidnapped by...I dunno, I think it was that Asian Lady Gaga from season one. And that's really the only major story development from their side. But in present time Maseo is now part of the League of Assassins, which was revealed very early on in the episode...don't know why. But I will say, I hated the tease of Oliver saying "when...it happened" come on dude, that was so obviously the writers teasing us, it just didn't feel natural at all.

Final point for the story, we learned Ray Palmer's backstory and we get a little bit closer to seeing The Atom come about. First of all, I loved his backstory, not so much for the events, but how it affected him. During the Deathstroke purge last season, Ray and his fiance were attacked by Deathstroke's soldiers, his leg was broken and his fiance was killed. But last week when he kissed Felicity, he broke a promise to his fiance that she would be the last woman he ever kissed. I loved the way how they used his backtory, it develops not only his character in more ways than one. The backstory is pretty standard development, but what I really liked was just how personal he made it, just the detail of how loyal he was to his fiance makes him all the more fleshed out, it was brilliant. And then him telling Felicity about The Atom suit, all I have to say about this is I want the Atom and I want it now! Seeing both Arrow and Flash slowly set up their own version of the Justice League on TV, I really want to see that already!

Also there was a nice little easter egg for the Lazarus pit in this episode, when Ra's said people have been trying to kill him for 67 years, and anyone that doesn't know Ra's would think "okay dude, there is no way you were 67 years old" hmm, maybe he has some sort of pool that keeps him young...oh wait.

Finally, something i've never really talked about in this show in detail are the action scenes, everyone always says that Arrow has the best fight scenes on television right now, and yeah while I can't argue with that, I also think there is plenty of room for improvement. Now don't get me wrong, the choreography of the fight scenes is excellent, it's how it's being presented to us that doesn't sit well with me. I don't know if it's the editing or the cinematography or both, but they're doing something wrong that makes them less intense and exciting. I think it might be a mixture between both, because yes there is shaky cam, but not a whole lot, and yes the editing is fast paced, but not too fast. They're not bad enough to become a problem, but when combinding the two, that's when it becomes a problem. So either slow down the editing or get a steadier camera and you could have some damn impressive fight scenes in this show, because they're have been a few.

This episode started off just sort of average, but really started to pick up in the second half and has one hell of a cliffhanger (Literally) and I'm very much excited to see where this show goes from here. I'm giving The Climb an 8/10.

-Danny

"The Man in the Yellow Suit" Review

So um...yeah...the mid-season finale of The Flash...it was pretty fucking amazing. Recap Time! The Flash and Reverse Flash finally meet face to face, and even though Flash gets his ass handed to him and RF escapes, Barry learns to let go and finally move on with his life...oh and he tells Iris how he feels...oh and Caitlin learns that Ronnie is alive...oh and Dr Wells turns out to be Reverse Flash...oh and there's two Reverse Flashes...WHAT!?

So let's try and take this one plot element at a time, starting with the one I cared about the least, Barry confessing his feelings towards Iris that he loves her. Romance in these DC Shows are easily their weakest element, my biggest fear for the future of this show is that each of the characters are gonna start dating each other and it's gonna become this big stupid complicated mess that you will never give a shit about. Iris and Eddie are fine together, they're not annoying and their romance doesn't play a major role in anyway, I really don't want to see this become a big deal, hopefully Barry confessing his feelings all plays into the theme of this episode, that being finally moving on with your life. Also did anyone else think Iris was gonna die? I mean it was forshadowed in a previous episode, one of her major subplots got resolved in this episode, it would have been a big dramatic moment, she all but disappears for the final act, i thought it was a sure thing she was gonna kick the bucket.

Then there's Ronnie and Caitlin, being honest my biggest problems with this subplot are two things, one, the scene where the two reunite was really poorly handled, he was in a parking lot for no reason, then walks up to her and then walks away for no reason, and when she knows it's him she runs away for no reason, it was a sloppy scene. And my other problem is, this shouldn't have been a subplot, this is A-Story material here people! Save this for another episode so Ronnie gets the focus! But him saving Flash in the climax was really cool and also Holy Shit he can fly using fire! That is badass!

And finally there is the A-plot of this episode, Reverse Flash, I loved the way they handled this, Reverse Flash came across as such a cool villain in this episode, the way how he taunts Barry both psychologically and physically, you know he could beat the shit out of him whenever he wanted, he never lost control of the situation, even when imprisoned he was still intimidating; he was incredible. And of course there was the big reveal that there are actually two RF's and one of them is none other than Dr Wells. A lot of people suspected this would be the case, but they had an entire episode dedicated to that to try and throw us off the scent, and even in this episode, seeing Wells and RF in the same room together, pretty much sealed that it wasn't him. But then the reveal of two RF's, and we then find out that one of them is actually Dr Wells. This raises so many questions, how did he get his powers? What is his plan here? Why is he helping Flash? Is he actually a bad guy? Where did he get that future machine doohicky!? Probably the best way you could have ended the half-way point of the show.

Finally, there is the theme of the episode, letting go of the past and finally moving on with your life, I thought this was very well handled in the episode. It never felt like it was pandering to the audience like most episodes of Flash and Arrow do, every speech, every scene it felt just right to give it that dramatic weight but never going overboard. In particular of worthy mention is the scene between Barry and his father, that scene was perfect, the acting was top notch, the pacing and music complemented the scene perfectly and it's probably the best done scene in the entire show so far,

Being honest this is probably the best show on television right now (Shows like Game of Thrones not withstanding because they're not airing right now). Yeah it has it's problems but it also has plenty of great things about it too. I love the characters, I enjoy the comic book tone to it, the story arc of the season if very engaging and I look forward to watching it every week.

I'll be saving my full score for the season finale, but this episode easily gets a 10/10

-Danny

Sleep is Overrated

My sleeping pattern has gotten really weird recently, i've started falling alseep at 6am and waking up around 2pm, i have no idea why that is, i've just had a surprising amount of things to do, whether it be interneting random things (Proper phrasing is also overrated) and actually getting university work done, i'm surprisingly much better at doing work at 3am than I am when i'm actually at university. Also you know, it makes for great binge watching of TV. I have no idea what's brought this on, I don't know when it'll stop, one benefit is being able to stay up and watch the Schmoes Know Podcast live, that's a lot of fun, especially the discussions on the Schmoeville fan page. So...yeah, i don't really know why i'm sleeping so weirdly, hell i don't even know why i'm making a post about this, but then again this blog was made so I could talk about whatever the hell I wanted, and I wanted to talk about the strange sleeping pattern of mine, that's all, bye.

-Danny

My Favourite Characters - Marty McFly

The 80's seemed to be filled with the brim of these type of characters, the perfect guy, the one who can do no wrong and is good at everything, people like the Ferris Bueller's of Cinema. But the problem is, most of them are either assholes or are so perfect they're unrelatable. Marty McFly is the perfect "perfect guy". He's super cool, he rides a skateboard, he plays guitar, he has a smokin' hot girlfriend, he's a rebel, he's a rockstar, he's just all round cool...oh and he can travel through time; can't forget that.

But the reason why this works so well for Marty McFly and not for others is because he has to work for this perfection, nothing is ever handed to him, he has to fight tooth and nail to end out on top, because lord knows he isn't getting any help from his family or destiny. Everything goes wrong for this guy and he does whatever he can to make sure everything goes right. And of course, he ends up the winner, but it's the struggle he has to go through which makes him so relatable.

And on top of that, Marty is not only talented, but brave and honest, always trying to do the right thing, and not being afraid to stand up to those who do wrong, the most obvious of these being Biff, the main antagonist of the Back to the Future trilogy. Even though Biff could kill Marty (and has attempted multiple times) Marty never backs down, he never lets those who Biff harass go unprotected, whether it be himself, his family or just people in general, he's not walking away from a fight.

And of course we have to talk about how cool he is in other aspects, he rocks out on guitar, he does a damn fine rendition of Johnny B Goode, he has a freakin' hoverboard and has travelled through time, there is no one cooler than Marty McFly, and that's why he's one of my all time favourite characters.

-Danny

My Argument Against "It's Just A Movie"

I'm not gonna make this a big debate or a whole thesis discussing people's views on the media and art and culture and all that stuff, i could, but I just don't want to. I, like many people, am a fan of multiple products, Star Wars, Mass Effect, Comunity, Harry Potter, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, just to name a few of things I would consider myself to be a huge fan of, and I am one of those people that will complain whenever something gets screwed up. I mean don't get me wrong, when Michael Bay gets his hands on Ninja Turtles, i'm not there yelling "he's gonna rape my childhood!" because he's not, the stuff i love is still gonna be there, and Ninja Turtles has had plenty of shit before. But when Mass Effect 3 has a shitty ending from a videogame series I love, or Transformers 4 becomes the most successful movie of the year, I am gonna get angry about that, I can go on long rants about why they're ruining something good. And so many times people who aren't fans of these things, or cinephiles, or gamers, they always say "It's just a movie" or "It's just a game" and that really pisses me off because it is more than that. A movie or a game or a TV Show can be more that "just" it can genuinely affect people, it can get them emotionally and it can make them think in ways that they haven't before, media is art, and art is culture and culture can change everything.

Religion is a massive part of culture, and there have been literal wars started over people's different religions, now this isn't me bashing religion, you believe whatever you want. But when actual wars have started over something which people don't even know if it exists, over people getting in passionate debates over something they know is fiction, which one seems worse? I mean when I say The Last of Us changed my life, I know it exists, I can hold the game, I can play it, I can watch Behind the Scenes on how it was made. But religion is all speculation at this point, and i haven't seen any wars started over people's feelings for a videogame yet.

Why is it accepted that people can live their lives by the bible when for all we know, that's just as fictitious as To Kill A Mockingbird, yet one of these probably teaches better life lessons than the other (I'll give ya three guesses which one).

-Danny

To Go Where Every Nerd Has Gone Before

Stardate...uhh, Saturday. 6/12/2014.

Something that I have always wanted to get into but sadly never have is Star Trek, Star Trek is the iconic sci-fi show and Trekkers/Trekkies were the original fanbase, and yet I have never seen a single episode of any of the shows, nor have I seen the original films; my only experience with Star Trek comes from the rebooted movies, which I very much enjoy. So I've decided that by this time next year I shall have watched all of the television shows and all of the films, even if it turns out i don't like it, this is something that I must do.

And as of right now, I have seen the first official episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, released in 1966, and my opinion on it so far is...it's pretty much what I expected. From the variety of clips i've seen of the series combined with what I learnt from the reboot films and general cliches that people make fun of, I went into this show expecting a few things. Such as random crew members to die, some cheap & fake looking science fiction sets, a villain of the week mentality and of course, some overacting. All of which, were met.

This does make me nervous as I am not a fan of TV Shows that use the villain of the week formula, I much prefer over-arcing storylines over each season, but this is just the pilot, so hopefully I will be proven wrong. Also the cheap and campy sci-fi setting of the 60's is very distracting for me, mostly because of how obvious everything is clearly a set. But it's a sci-fi show from the 60's, i'm willing to let that go, but it is still distracting, hopefully it'll improve as the show goes on. Also the first episode reminded me heavily of The Thing, shapeshifting monster, trying to kill people, it's all there.

So i'm quite excited to beginning this new franchise, and hopefully by the end of it I will be a full blown Trekkie...or Trekker...maybe at the least i'll find out which one it is once and for all.

-Danny

Nearly 200 Posts

Shit the bed, i just checked and this is my 163 post, i can't believe it, it felt like just yesterday I did my 100th post and now i'm nearly at 200, so, the question remains, am I actually gonna do something for my 200th post of just do a fake out like i did with my 100th? I mean I did a fake out for the 100th simply because i only noticed a the day before hand and didnt think of anything to do for it, so maybe I will now that I have 37 days to think about it. Oh well, see ya on the 10th of January and we'll find out.

-Danny

"Flash vs Arrow/The Brave & The Bold" Review

I'm a big fan of The Flash, I'm a big fan of Arrow, even if my two reviews of the show may not have expressed that, I am, those two episodes just happened to be bad episodes. And now we have the first proper crossover between the two, an episode of Flash and an episode of Arrow both dedicated the both series, and being honest it was pretty damn awesome. The focus of this crossover is the two trying to capture Captain Boomerang (Why does this guy keep showing up on my blog?) but really the episode is about showing the contrast between the two shows and the differences between the two leads.

That was easily the best part of this crossover, seeing the contrast between both shows and both heroes, Flash is the light hearted comic book show that solves problems as cleanly and family friendly as possible. While Arrow is the darker of the series where people die and sometimes you don't win with your hands clean. What makes this work so well is that neither characters have to exaggerate their roles in order for this contrast to be created, Green Arrow (I don't care if the show doesn't call him that yet, i will!) takes his job very seriously and is very professional about his work, as well as being willing to shoot a couple of arrows into the bad guys in order to get what he needs. Flash runs in guns ablazing and will try to find the nicest solution rather than the most efficiant one. What makes it great is that neither is in the wrong, the way Barry works, works for Barry, the way Oliver works, works for Oliver. It was some of the best writing i've ever seen in either shows and i'm very happy with the way this all turned out.

And the way how the other characters interacted with each other almost felt like this was meant to be, they just fit like a glove and despite both shows having some differences in tone, they still work well together and I can see crossovers like this happening again in the near future, hopefully with some more Justice League members like the Atom or Black Canary joining, maybe if we're lucky we'll get some other A list members like Aquaman or Cyborg.

And then there is Captain Boomerang...I honestly didn't think I would have as many posts as I do making fun of this guy, i made a joke about how lame he was in my intial DC Line-Up post, then again in the previous Arrow review and in the Suicide Squad casting and now again here, why does he keep showing up? But, i'll be honest, he was kinda badass here, don't get me wrong, Boomerangs are still the dumbest weapon a villain can think of, and the puns didn't help...but he still looked cool using them. So, yeah it's a weird mixture between Boomerang looking both badass and ridiculous at the same time, i have no idea how they pulled that off.

But the biggest problem with both shows is their lack of subtlety, and how they always have to explain things as clearly as possible to the audience. Like when Diggle's wife (she's not his wife) sorry, not wife, was attacked by Captain Boomerang (Imagine explaining that to the doctor, "she was stabbed by a boomerang!") and in the next scene at the nightclub Cisco has to explain how they thought things were all fun & games. Why do they do this? We know they didn't expect this to happen, you already set it up in a way that they were warned things would be harsher in Starling City and guess what, you were right, you don't need to explain that, your audience can figure it out. The same with the whole Diggle calling his not-wife sweetie, and every time she replies "you only call me sweetie when you want something" and really, you only needed that the once, respect your audience a little more guys. I'll admit the lack of subtlety isn't as bad in this episode as it is in some, but I still want more out of them.

Also Thea & Laurel show up for like a scene...that's it for them I guess. Hell, even Detective Lance (Or Captain Lance, okay that joke is starting to get funny) doesn't have that much to do in the episode, but i did enjoy the little reference when he called Barry, Bart (Ha! I get it!). But still, the Flash cast got a lot more to do in their episode, why did most of Arrow get sidelined?

Overall these were some damn great episodes, and I can't wait to see the next time they crossover, and it's the mid-season finales next week which will hopefully be awesome and i'll review those as well. But as for this episode(s) it has the best writing of the season, the characters have great chemistry together and Captain Boomerang wasn't completley ridiculous.

I'm giving Flash Vs Arrow and The Brave & The Bold a 9/10.

-Danny

Naming Your Kids After Fictional Characters

It's been nearly 2 decades...i'm still waiting to meet someone called Hermione in real life! I bring this up because there was a recent study talking about how in recent years, a lot of people have been naming their kids after fictional characters, for example, this year over 2,000 newborn babies have been given the name Elsa, how many Disney character names do you normally meet? I mean i've never met anyone called Simba or Ariel or...Kronk. I guess Elsa isn't that odd of a name, I mean it hasn't been used in mainstream culture since the 1800's, but still. And there are also things of kids being named Danaerys, Dexter or Arya and stuff like that. Now you're probably on two sides of this, one: "oh wow that's really cool" two: "oh wow that's really weird". I personally am sort of on the first side, and by that I mean if a character has inspired you someway or affected your life, then why not name your kid after them, I mean Atticus Finch is one of the most inspirational literary characters of all time, why wouldn't you name a kid after him? We could all strive to be a little more like Atticus. Or even if it's just a simple, name your kid Elsa because it sounds like a cool name, that's also fine. But then you get into the territory where naming your kid after someone and that could lead to a negative impact. I mean I love Wander from Shadow of the Colossus, but i'm not gonna name my kid after him, you have any idea how much he'd get bullied for that? Or maybe Garrus Vakarian, yeah, cool name, but it's not even a real name, i'm not naming my son after an alien from a videogame with a fake name (A dog maybe). So really if you want to name your kid after someone fictional, then that's fine, just don't do it with someone that your kid would probably get picked on for being named Bilbo.

-Danny

Suicide Squad Casting

The movie that no one gave a shit about when it was first announced, now surprisingly has some really solid casting behind it...huh. So for those of you who don't know, one of the many DC movies being released over this decade is Suicide Squad, a movie all about the villains of the DC universe who now work with the government to do the jobs that will most likely result in them dying, but of course they're supervillains, they never die. And now we have our cast for this ensemble piece.

Will Smith as Deadshot, interesting choice because the last couple of Will Smith films have been total shit and the guy has an ego about being the main character of whatever film he's in so him being part of an ensemble is an interesting choice for him. As for the character of Deadshot, he's not one i've ever found particularly interesting, he's just a generic assassin with a damn good aim. But hopefully Will Smith will be able to bring some life to this character, great choice!

Tom Hardy as Rick Flag. Again, fantastic actor, I mean this will be the second DC Supervillain he's played after Bane, and it's a character I have never even heard of and after a quick google search, he really doesn't look all too interesting, but, again, hopefully Tom Hardy will be able to add something to the role.

Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. Hmm, how do I put this? Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! I fucking love this! It's about time Harley Quinn made it to the big screen! And Margot Robbie is a fantastic actor to play her! Just watch Wolf of Wall Street and tell me she doesn't scream Harley Quinn. Great actor, great character, perfect match. But who will be playing her puddin'?

Jared Leto as The Joker. Let's be honest, there is no way in hell they are going to be able to top Heath Ledger as the Joker, their best move would to be to go for the more over the top Joker rather than terrorist and scary-real Joker. And I honestly can't think of anyone better than Jared Leto to play him, he's proven himself as a superb actor, I know he'll be good, just not better than Ledger or Mark Hamill for that matter.

Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang. I've made fun of Captain Boomerang many times, because he's stupid as hell. Boomerangs aren't threatening! I mean a friend of mine told me to watch Assault on Arkham because he's apparently cool in that, but as far as i'm concerned, nothing is cool about Captain Boomerang. And Jai Courtney isn't helping his case, I mean I don't hate the guy like some people do, i've only seen him in Jack Reacher and he was fine in that, but he is just the generic Hollywood guy.

Cara Delevingne as Empress, this is something I have absolutley no opinion on. Haven't seen Cara's work before, no idea who Empress is, as far as I know she's the only member who actually has super powers, so that'll probably make her interesting, hopefully, i dunno.

So those were my thoughts on this casting is for the most part positive, mostly curious, all I can say is this film just became one of my most anticipated films of 2016.

-Danny

Sick...

Sick...can't post...see ya tomorrow

-Danny