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Sunday, October 21, 2012

The State of Horror in film Sinisterly not so paranormal

I truly remember back when horror films even a cheesy one had well plot, direction and development. That was back from 1970 to early 2000. Even the sequels followed a set of rules that was told and explained  in the Scream franchises. Well nowadays horror stopped being about creating tension and a story.
  
In the last few weeks I went to see what the modern age of horror had to offer in light of Halloween. Sinister and Paranormal Activity . They both follow a very similar theme using old camera effect that the blair witch film made popular.

  Sinister
When Ellison a crime writer (Ethan Hawke) moves into a house with a horrible past of the previous owners being hung in the back garden. He discovers a film camera of previous families getting killed . Then well the plot sort of goes to shit Honestly spooky noises and a pagan god called Bughuul who eats children's souls. Yes, you read right pagan god of child eating . Then typically set spooky sounds and what not .The rest is a given and what happens in the end. Conclusions- O Ethan didn't you do good movies like Training Day, But why this film the director Scott Derrickson last film was 2005 was brilliant . So why did this film fails so badly maybe the film was written by a Amateur script writer and using the pagan god thing seems to scream desperation (Yes it is 1970's culture and pagans are so known for worshiping gods that eat children) Now the demon in appearance looks like Slenderman with a metal look to his face . So this film gets a 2.5/5 dead babies. So make up for this here is real horror







Paranormal Activity. 4
It starts where 2 ending the aunt killing the family and taking the child . Skips 5 years later to 2011  and another family another town where the kid from the second film and aunt are living next door. Now you may think could be a spoiler But think people ( scene kids playing soccer then a creepy child in the distance watches them). The perspective is done from the female teenager going around with a camera . Then After the creepy child hunter aunt or mom gets sick he stays with the house and repeat same things from the rest of the franchise . Conclusions just like saw final destination and tom six films why do these people get money and permission to vomit this -1/5 demons



Sunday, September 30, 2012

Testes vs Ovary Battle of the controller

2 weeks ago I was accused of bad behavior and reported to a bunch of people . So to show my good side
I'm doing this hot topic . From Ms. Pac Man days women in gaming have gone from being the damsel in distress to main roles . But has things really changed for the players . I asked gamers from all over Ireland the same series of questions and  mostly it was positive . Before I say the results and I want to talk about my thoughts first . My image of women in gaming is pretty a tame not too fanatical at all . If a girl told me she plays video games whether minecraft or street fighter as a example I'd say I can kick your ass . Then she would destroy me completely . I love it when girls are better at me at stuff whether games, knowledge about topics I know or martial arts to kick my ass in real life (actually that's a turn on for me ). Girls can drink as much as men fight love and work just as much as men can do . Economically it is a proven fact that women are overtaking the men in the work place in recent years. Now females in games. I never thought about I think about moves and roles if a gay character is strong I'll pick him or her same goes with women . Sure sexy costumes on a girl is fun for like 5 minutes then its all about story and bad ass moves or weapons. So I asked some cool people what they think. And here are the results
Declan from the @rcade said this about the roles of women on games "I think the gaming industry is making fantastic progress in the depiction of not only female characters but minorities like the LGBT community. You are always going to have people who will disagree or saying something controversial for the sake of controversy but the main thing is to keep moving forward and to realist that being a guy or girl, straight or gay, black or white doesn't matter when it comes to gaming!.
Sharon of the Akumakon convention and fellow Social media consultant says on unrealistic images of women on gaming are Putting female characters in sexy outfits does happen rather excessively  but if you merely judge the character on their costume - is that not the same as judging a book by it's cover? Harley Quinn was an important part to the Arkham City, sexy clothes or not.
 I haven't played Lollipop Chainsaw but I got the impression it's a very self-aware take on what's expected of a ditzy female character type, so i don't have a problem with it.
I think female being represented in these unrealistic body types do affect peoples expectation - but people are growing more aware to the fact that these ARE unrealistic and therefore don't expect to see them on real women.
So after learning people's views I still feel no different I play the game and put it down really no different I also don't get hard ons from gaming unless the skimpy clothed girl isn't going around without chainsaws beating zombies with limbs of other zombies .
So people learn get on with other it isn't about being feminist or man its its about being a decent person so grab a game pad and a girl and enjoy u two.
So as my mate damo said who cares about the dress can she shoot fireballs and chop off a guys head with piano wire.

Special thanks to Sharon Nolan Declan Doody Fergal Keenan Tariq Christopher and Jason Condren

Friday, September 14, 2012

Tekkonkinkreet- concrete violence and odd animation

Tekkonkinkreet is a film based on the manga by Taiyō Matsumoto is a story based around two orphans living on the streets in a old run down district in the fictional city of Takaramachi (Treasure Town). It shows how the two children survive as they create a 2 person gang that rules over the old area and how they handle other gangs in the area and how they confront the yakuza and even worse enemies trying to take over and change the city. As for animated film the story is very little to tell without spoiling it . The children back stories are not really explained Kuro(black) the eldest is the aggressive force. Before the story takes place he was violent and aggressive and out for blood  . He didn't care who he attacked or killed . Shiro(white) a naive simple child almost autistic in nature is the opposite barely aware of the events that happen to him around him . The real story and character revolves around the secondary villain yakuza Suzuki (Rat) a old style mobster who actually shows back story and  development as he explains who his kind are being forced out for a newer kind of villain which I 
 wont spoil for the audience . The movie title is actually a kid's pronuoncation of Tekkin Konkurito (Steel enforced concrete) The music and visual imagery used in the film can be odd at first glance but following the work of studio 4 degrees which has made such brilliant work such as Karenbo . It is film with action passion and amazing metaphors. 4/4 Cats


Monday, August 27, 2012

Cannibalistic habits and Nom-Con 2012

Well during the build up to Nom-Con 2012 . I was equally skeptical with this convention but not like with Arcade-Con . Nom-Con is the one convention that hasn't really dealt with rumors and gossip problems that Arcade-Con had but more of conflict of events in the weekend . In the same weekend of this convention there was The Dublin Tall Ship Festival , The Darklight Film Festival and Dublin Heritage Month .The second thing was security . During the Week before Nom-Con the American and Israeli embassies had bomb scares this only a 15 minutes away from the venue .

The convention was a complete success with some minor problems. First the good points at the convention . Team Giblets were absolutely brilliant with their hilarious and gross out Hentai panel . Saturday was the big events with the special events with Matt Greenfield Tiffany Grant and Andrew Partridge . But  sometimes life can throw you a curve ball that I wasn't expecting . Tiffany Grant was excellent providing a upbeat and positive panels with relaxed professionalism. But Matt and Andrew were a different story . Their  panels were depressing . I know the economy and anime industry isn't good at the moment .  But bluntly telling a audience not to get work in the industry you are working in is just depressing as the person trying to get employment in it . It can made me want to shoot myself . Negative advice from a industry leaders is terrible. Its like telling people in college to give their courses and majors because your debt and economy there will be no jobs for them. Maybe it was their moods at the time, But rephrasing things to sound like they have some hope to a panel saying there won't be conventions in the future because there is no industry and using the excuse that the crap anime is being licienced because titles  x y z similar to it are doing alright  isn't a sound marketing decision . But the Rave was excellent run and everyone got along with minimum problems . Sunday was a relaxing and hangover day but the highlight was Fionn Mcclean excellent run Anime Hell panel showing some of my favorite over the top clips and some I haven't heard of . Overall the convention was well organised my only complaints were the location was a little too small it would better to have medium size rooms or bigger rooms that could fit everyone and the Heat could have killed everyone there dear god it was brutal not getting air till 2 hours before the end . Minor complaint was stock in the dealers room was a little expensive and similar stuff to last year no new stock from what I saw . Overall I give the convention a 3/5

Monday, July 16, 2012

Arcadecon 2012 Predators Dr who and anime o my


Declan Doody one of the best con directors in Ireland

Well Before I give a general impression I will set the Scene. Set in the famous and at times infamous D4 hotel Ballsbridge Inn. thoughts before the convention were skeptic. But these thoughts were silenced as we entered the convention. The level of epicness was astounding the first part that made a major impact on me was the cue for tickets Well there was no cue everything thing was efficient quick and short.


    The events on Saturday was very well done with a very special thanks to the staff that helped me with my panel. The Battle Royale was excellently run the only pity is there should a rule that you can not be killed when having a smoke after your panel. But I will make a exception since the person who killed me was a fantastically dressed and attractive woman in a Nel cosplay so I allowed it.Predators Ireland were fantastic and patient individuals with the best and professionally made costumes that made you feel like you were about to be hunted down any moment. The special event Nightmare Ball was fantastic Jet Set Radio set the crowd alive with another blow from the Steam Punk Professor Elemental. The crowd was electric the whole night . The attendance at the convention and the staff  were so friendly during the whole weekend. 

Sunday 
The Sunday I spent it easing out of my heat created hangover from the hotel room  But had a interesting discussion with the Talented Bitsmith Game designers . The showcase of their game Ku is a special treat to see in play with a excellent blend of Classic RPG with steampunk motifs.
The Finale charity auction was amazing effort by everybody involved. 
So my final thoughts are this convention surely is a pinnacle of what it means to blend everything in geek culture with excellent cosplay events rpgs and allowing people like me to run panels to shock and awe the audience. So special thanks to Declan and everybody at the convention for making another convention a relaxed and fun convention. Side note the Head of Security is on my hit list now for ratting me out for the battle royale contest so next year nerf battle with him. 5/5 tentacles  


Wednesday, June 27, 2012

4 score and vampires - Movie Review Abraham lincoln Vampire Slayer

Based on the best selling alternative history novel of the same name and released in last weekend. Abraham Lincoln Vampire Slayer exaclty gives out what it says on the tin. Set between 1818-1865 Sets the story of Abraham lincoln from young child and witnessing his mother being attacked by the vampires after a incident at the dock with lincoln's father and a slave lord to the events of the civil war.

 The story is rather basic especially if you have some knowledge of american history . But the real credit does go to the blending of action scenes and the dialouge . First the dialouge and speech is well set for the time and instead of using cliqued action lines  they use qutoes for the time that may not be repeated much but will get you more immersed in the film and time . As for the action blending semi realistic action sequences with the 3D technology was excellenty blended to make it a eye pleaser . But what about the story this is where the film sorta falls flat really there is non the story is a sudo autobiography on Abe . The real facts are done quite well even the way they transitionn the fiction with real life events such as abe being a lawyer and moving to springfield but other elements such as him becoming a slayer in the first place just fell flat for me . Overall this film was a excellent sign of 2 things 3D with some what of a plot can make anything look fantatic and Vampires can go into sunlight and not sparkle.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Some Bronies holding a gun to my head-MLP Review

If you were born in the 80s or early 90s you probably have heard of My Little Pony . But it wasn't till Lauren Faust famous for her work on titles such as Quest for Camelot, Cats Don't Dance and Powerpuff Girls took a series infamous and famous for marketing a toyline for it to be popular. and created  My Little Pony: friendship is magic. The first season introduces a fascinating new concept well for a young girl shows- character development and villains that you can sympathise with. The main characters consist of Twilight Sparkle a purple unicorn pony who constantly tries to achieve near impossible standards of goals trying to please her mentor the ruler and demi god Princess Celestia AppleJack a workaholic earth pony Pinkie Pie a schizophrenic hyper active and at times slightly mad pink party obsessed earth pony fluttershy a quite timid Pegasus pony who's loves animals Rarity a semi English accented posh fashion designer pony and to finish things off Rainbow Dash who at times has caused debate in the past with the design blue and rainbow colored hair pony who is tomboyish and a bit of a risk taker some bloggers have commented in the past that she is the token lesbian pony but you can only analyse a show so much till you start talking Bull.

 So the First series takes place with Twilight Sparkle taking the narrative position trying to make the show a educational so for international viewers when you see e/i symbol on certain shows that means they are trying to make a educational show . After the semi success of the educational part of the show but a huge success with tribute to various TV shows movies and Internet memes . They knew they had a hit. In comes Season 2 we see 2 major changes besides the stepping down of Lauren Faust . The first major change was the drop of the educational marker leaving the whole educational portion and focusing on the true secret of success with the show a mixture of tribute to many different shows and movies and a small bit of pandering especially when giving background character a bit of speech aka Derpy the ditsy pony .The other major change was the step down of twilight sparkle as main narrative focus so some episodes don't even have her in it.
But what really is fascinates me as a non devout follower of the show is quite simple . the world is unlike its previous predecessors . Its not a Utopian society . They are villains that have well thought out plans Nightmare moon a sister demi god that wants to choke the world out of oxygen why because she represents the moon and always in the shadow of her perfect sister . Discord a complete misfit and reject from the higher demi god world that with a joker approach just wants to see the world burn and the changeling what I think is the mutated aftermath of what happens when demi gods reproduce and go wrong . And what tops it off  is simple background characters some of them are born with brand marks or cutie marks in the show of being gifted at being crazy so naturally its a world where one can be born unbalanced . Now where is the downside of the show . Well a show that has such a huge following can be over hyped at times some episodes such as the Jr ponies or cutie mark crusaders can be annoying since they never learn the lesson they are supposed to learn and seem to be focused. Now the real question is what is season 3 going to be like will it live up to the rest and what will happen with the Fandom after the dreaded episode 72 mark will they disappear into other fandoms or give up the con scene or ( I know I keep using the "or" too much) the real fear is the die hard creepy fans out there calling for someones head or the blood of someone if the show ends. When I asked the Leader and Admin of Bronies of Ireland about me writing this article he said "I look forward to reading it" . Lets hope he still feels the same after the article is read since he knows where I live. MLP 3.8/5 horse puns

Another review-Final Destination meets Sherlock holmes

When a anime series  create a unambigious title of their their show Im quite a skeptic since its trying to hard to make the show sound mysterious . But this took a major suprise me . Based in 1998 centres around a 15 year Koichi who moves from Tokyo while his father does a business deal over in india But he misses a few weeks due to a collasped lung .While in hospital he meets some of his classmates who visit him there and a mysterious girl whith a surgical eyepatch . When school starts the student act very different when he approaches the young girl . Circling around the events of a curse that happened 26 years ago and the strange occurances in class 3 .  Like all good mysteries im going to leaving the story like that because I dont want to ruin the story for people. Now the anime does have flaws the first 2 episodes can be difficult to get through with just a pure info dump till episode 3 . Also the ending sequence looks very similar to hentai ending with a visual novel . But the series has a good mixture of horror/ mystery elements and keeping a high pace story from episode 3 to episode 12 and to add to the mix using pyschological elements of the uncanny freud theory to keep you at a unease till the end. So I give a 4/5 umbrellas well worth the watch.

Friday, April 20, 2012

The Gamers B-movie of the Century

When the term B movie gets thrown around you can either picture A evil dead style from the 80s or the terrible bfilms of today from the shows they have on sci fi to the plagerism market like Transmorphers or Up and Away . But back in 2002 a film with a very niche market hit the world by storm . The Gamers by Dead man productions is just a pure Gem . The story is based on two main stories originally it begins with a group of friends gathering in college dorm room getting ready to play a generic rpg Dungeon and dragons game . Then the story splits into the characters they play themselves . The characters they play banding together to defeat the evil shadow. The comedic style used throughout the story combines the cliched sterotypes of gamers such as arguing over rules and people not showing up and the real humour is the real fluency of the script and conversation is so realistic the viewer can imagine themselves having the same dialouge with friends. The second remarkable thing is the marketing thing . While most B-movies use cheap selling tactics selling to crappy movie channels or plagerism marketing tactics the production company for these guys used the internet and the convention scene to create a international appeal with gamers and anime fans .
This film gets 5 d20 dice out of 5 here As one of the films that we will always wtach and enjoy with your friends

Sunday, March 25, 2012

End Call

This strangely obscure korean horror movie directed by the Kiyoshi Yamamoto the man who brought forth the movie Death Water . Centers around a group of teenagers dealing with issues ranging from lecherous teachers to abusive parents to getting a boyfriend . They call a number to which according to rumor is a direct line to the devil which will grant you a wish and in return you must live out the remaining days in the way the devil wants you to live. This very strange and at times long film is a very average Asian film but still worth a watch as you mix 1 part Wishmaster and 2 parts Hell Girl . Blended well with some strange scenes as in towards the end the oddly lit up fight scene. But has a good flow with the story with some interesting character development . this film gets a 3/5 phone calls . Available on netflix

Monday, March 19, 2012

Magical shopping Arcade Abenobashi

This classic goofy made by Hiroyuki Yamaga centers around 2 young cousins Arumi and Sasshi . Their family close friends but when a strange occurrence happens when one of the families decides to move away and Sasshi grandfather has a accident . The two cousins magically end up in a another world exactly similar to their own neighbor hood expect different. I know you may be asking yourself how why and what the fuck. Yes people today I am talking about a nearly episodic format show comedy . Each episode takes them to different world covering every  genre to parody from Noir to Mecha . With  a colorful cast of characters . This truly is a good watch for anyone new to anime or a hardcore anime fan . There isn't alot I can say about this show mostly because it will either ruin the show some bit of plot or ruin the silly gags for you so i recommend anyone who wants a good laugh


Monday, January 23, 2012

Sugar Alcohol and Nicotine Akumakon 2012



When people mention Galway it usually involves horses and gambling. But this past weekend it held the only Anime and Gaming Convention in the West. Akumakon in its second year was something like a complete surprise for me. This convention was absolutely one of the best conventions I've ever attended For a convention over over 400 people attended the convention was run with very little problems and providing a fun and relaxing convention .The staff and committee were absolutely excellent while being professional and effective in dealing with drama which there was little to see and helping special guests and panelists with their stuff . They also showed a personal enjoyment running the convention and being approachable to most people. Highlights Special Guests - MaskoX and Leo and Satan panel . They were amazing MasokoX and Chris O'Neill and Sean Kiely were entertaining and informative and showing that even being internet superstars they were still approachable and friendly human beings .The second is the Events each of the events seemed almost special and unique to Akumakon these included A special breathtaking performance of Chronic Candies and the work of Tab Kimpton a specialist and expert on Steampunk fashion. Fire dancing that not only was breathtaking seemed to entrance the audience including myself and on personal note hosting my first ever panel which was satisfying after so many years of getting rejection from my panel . The panel went particularly well including two pranks pulled on the friendly rivalry between Me being a anime fan and the bronies subculture. And The steam punk talk on the Sunday. Truly absolutely I have fallen in love with a Galway girl she's crazy fun and never dull . Her Name is Akumakon 5/5 stars booze and sugar rushs  
IwI would like to personally thank a few people that made the convention great
JoJohn Burke ,Sharon Nolan and The Commitee and Staff of Akumakon they did a fantastic job not just making a great convention but making everyone feel welcome and helping me with my first panel everduring the 
Bronies of Ireland Group   for being good sports about the the jokes on stage about them and the pranks for a a unique fanbase that can come out as sometimes cult like They seem a friendly and easy going group
Irish Cosplay and Cosplay Ireland are two organisations that have shown the true talent of the  anime community can do. And a final thank you for ever single attendee that made the convention welcoming .

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Bronies a Outside Review on their culture

Bronies culture was developed somewhere between October 2010 where people between the ages of 14- 35 immerse themselves the tv show my little pony friendship is magic . I know for some people this seems to be a strange fandom but lets not forget Tranformers, Gi Joe and Spongebob square Pants have all had their moment in time where they have also had cult following . After watching 3 episodes of the show I determine that these people must be a fan of waterbrush art because the series is like having sex with a clown bright color overload and living on a pinata diet(too sugary and sweet). These people have made fan art dressed in the style created fanfics and mash up videos all involving this series. The critical Response to this show from Ms blogger Kathleen Richter has deemed the show sexist and racist . Saying it show negative stereotypes of females and showing no black ponies in the show . Hold on and lets analyze this statement I may not have post graduate degree in feminism like Ms. Ritcher is but I can tell you 2 things automatically without watching that many episodes . 1 Stereotypes in women the show is specifically designed to teach kids about friendship its in the name the accents is only made to differentiate one creature from another  and 2 I'm pretty sure that as ponies they have fur why would they care about their skin color  if they are covered in fur and they are too many different colors racism in that world would be complicated to work out and would result of a whole generation of inbreeding and mutation because they don't like pink they would stick to staying their their own heard. Other haters a lot them involving negative comments on boards and forums have shown that these people need to go back to school . The spelling of these people and reasons for hating them are just plain stupid. the worst of these was covered by a Fox news red eye report where these people not just ridiculed them. but it seemed to show that how truly ignorant republicans can be at times and in my own opinion showed that one of the hosts looked like he was on cocaine. Now why do I have a hatred for these bronies , Technically I don't its just growing in a state full of radiation going through hardship when i moved here and attacked I am literally the exact opposite of everything the show stands for unless the secret magic is actually radio active veins and seething hatred for most things cute that don't have boobs.  But in the greater circle of things what are the bronies they like a animated show they costume fanfics mashup videos and write reviews on stuff . Sounds familiar ...... thats right people this is the start of a offshoot of anime fans and comic book fans another geek medium that should of started back in the 60s and 70s with Fritz the Cat and Fire and Ice so in the future I shall find out why has it taken it so long for this group to pop up.  Also I like to thank the admin of Bronies of Ireland for indirectly providing me with enough info for this article