Last night I was having some trouble sleeping and I started to think about time travelling. I was thinking that if it were possible in the future and if it were easily accessible (like it is in the movies), then how come I haven't met my future self yet?

I came up with a few reasons:

• My future self chose to meet me when I was too young to recognize or comprehend who he was.
• My future self was too old to recognize.
• The intergalactic robotic war in the future had left my future self so disfigured, I was rendered unrecognizable to my current self.
• My future self used a memory clearing device on my current self thus removing the event from my memories (like in Men In Black).
• My future self dies before the technology is widely available to the public.
• The Space/Time Lords of the future demand that all time travellers wear either a cloaking device or a temporary full body transformation device when travelling to the past.

I know, I'm a geek who has watched one too many movies. But it begs the question, if it were possible to meet a version of yourself 30 years from now, what would you ask him/her? Or what do you think your future self would like to tell your current self?

Categories: other , random

What a movie. What a MOVIE! Okay, this movie was in no way great. It was good for what it's worth, but compared to other slasher legends, this one is just another run of the mill horror flick. What it has going for it is it's gimmick. It's all about the gimmick! I have no doubt that were this not in glorious 3D, that this would go straight to DVD.

This movie is boasting that it's the first rated R movie to be fully in 3D. I suppose all the ones in the 80's don't count because they weren't fully 3D. I have to admit, the use of 3D in this movie is fun, and in the end, is what saves this movie from complete disaster. Body parts, blood, and boobs are always flying at you off the screen, making for an enjoyable time at the cinemas.

I'm not going to go through the plot because, well, slasher's are hardly ever about the plot. It's all about the kills. "A killer is on the prowl in a small town, killing off the townsfolk left and right". There. Tag that on to any slasher flick. Our killer in this movie is a supposed disgruntled miner named Harry Warden. He wears a thick suit, a gas mask, and sports a pick-axe to boot. He's passable as a killer. I mean, I guess it'd be scary if he just popped up in your house uninvited.

What the film really lacked were characters that we could care for. All the characters were pretty much assholes. With the exception of the main girl, they all had it coming.

As a slasher fan, I would have appreciated some ingenuity with the kills. There are arguably 2 fun kills, but they're all hampered by the fact that all the kills in the movie were done by a pick-axe. I think that's why Friday the 13th is my favourite series. That bastard Jason Voorhees is one clever mother fucker. He comes up with all sorts of ways to kill people, from party whistles to sleeping bags.

One of the most over the top scenes was this 5 minute scene with Betsy Rue baring her all. Now, as a Christian man, I can't go as far as to glorify the scene, but just to think of what this adds to the lexicon of modern cinema amazes me. It's over the top and hilarious which is why I think it works. Judging by the crowd reaction during the scene, I'd say it was a fan favourite. If it was meant to be erotic rather than funny, I don't think it would have garnered the same reaction. I have to give Betsy Rue all the credit, she is one bold girl. She's not afraid to bare it all and apparently is not afraid of the cold one bit.

I say, if you're going to see it, see it in 3D or don't see it at all. Later geeks.

Categories: horror , movies , my bloody valentine

After two years of waiting, I finally got my hands on Gears of War. I solely blame this game's ad campaign for initially triggering my desires for an Xbox 360. Do you remember those ads in late 2006? They mixed scenes within the game to the song by Gary Jules, "Mad World". It's poetic.

The story is your standard sci-fi affair - an alien race is trying to take over the world, and you as the humans must foil their plans. The main character of the game is an overgrown, over-muscled, and chiseled ex-convict named Marcus Fenix. You and your team of grunts are charged with the mission of stopping an alien insurgence, a race dubbed The Locusts. If you're looking for a game with an in-depth and intriguing story, you might want to look elsewhere. But if you're looking for a game to shoot shit up with, then Gears of War is your best friend.

The game plays like a first person shooter but is more of a hybrid between that and the third person perspective. Your character hovers around the lower left side of the screen as you move and run around, but if you scope in with your gun, a cross hair will be added, and will play more similarly to a first person shooter. The key to success in Gears is ducking and covering. Just about every object, wall, and building you come across can be used for cover, effective for avoiding enemy fire. It works quite well unless an enemy lobs a grenade in your direction, in that case, you might want to run. The life system is similar to that found in the Call of Duty series; you're basically invincible just as long as you avoid being hit consecutively by enemy fire.

The game is simply beautiful on the eyes. The designs of the levels burst out with such detail. For me, the best levels are the ones outdoors and during the day. There are a few levels in caverns and/or at night-time that were frustrating because it made it difficult to see the enemies.

I think what makes the game so great are all the subtle qualities. For example:
-all the clinking sounds of your gear as you're running around
-the way the camera turns into a shaky cam style when you run (akin to any of the Bourne Identity movies)
-the foul mouthed soldiers that make up your team

Gears of War was everything I imagined it would be. The only complaint I'd say is that it would have been more convenient to either have a mini-map, full-map, or onscreen radar for use.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I love the ability you have to customize the soundtrack. The three albums I found most effective with playing Gears are: Sigur Ros' - Takk, The Devil Wears Prada - Plagues, and 28 Weeks Later - Official Soundtrack.

Anyhow, I'm playing through Mass Effect right now, which I'm loving. I'm about a third done, so look for that soon. Later geeks.



Categories: gaming , gears of war , xbox 360

So as I mentioned in a previous post, I received an Xbox 360 for Christmas from my dad. A great present it was! I've had 3 weeks to enjoy it so I guess I can give you my impressions of it now.

First the controller. In truth, I haven't felt a controller this comfortable in my gaming life before. As a child who grew up on the 8-bit generation, with just a directional pad and 2 buttons, there was quite a learning curve getting used to using two analog sticks at the same time. You might say, "Hey Lam, how bout the PS2? You have that machine, and that has analog sticks". True, but of the twenty or so games I have for that, all of them used either only 1 analog stick, or allowed the option to switch on to the directional pad. Using 2 sticks at the same time was at first just uncomfortable. This made for all sorts of trouble as I was playing Gears of War. Luckily for me, I had computer controlled teammates that watched my back.

I love the Media Center capabilities of the machine. Setting the machine up on our network at first was cumbersome, especially syncing it to my computer. I had to read several forums and threads upon threads to resolve some of the issues that I had had. After 3-4 hours of reading, I finally got the thing to work, and now all those worries are away. After updating the firmware to the latest version, the Xbox 360 was able to play all my movies (includign DIVX and WMV formats). No longer do I have to burn movies to a disc and play it on the DVD-player. The Xbox saves me a step or two.

Another feature that I wouldn't have thought of loving was the ability to basically customize the music soundtrack while you play your games. At first I brushed it off, but later on tried it while playing GoW, and loved it. I was able to select any music sitting on my PC and have that play instead of the generic soundtrack that was in the game. If you're one that feels music can be atmospheric, it can make so much of a difference in adding an intensity and urgency.

Anyhow, those are the only thoughts that come to mind right now. If you have the Xbox 360, please feel free to share what you love or don't about it. Later geeks!

Categories: gaming , xbox 360

I know lots of critics are saying that this year was a great year for films, but personally, I feel last year was much better. I remember when I was trying to compile last year's list of favourite movies, I had a really tough time... every day I'd be swapping around in the top five places.

I've watched just about all of the so called highly acclaimed films this year (including 4 of the 5 best movies nominated by the Golden Globes) but didn't connect with many of them as others had. This year was a bit easier and I found that more than anything, I was scrambling to find movies to fill in the bottom of the list.

Anyhow, here they are in reversed order:

10. Forgetting Sarah Marshall - One thing I love about the Apatow ring of movies is that although its crude and silly humour a lot of the times, his crew understands that to make the comedy work, you've got to give your characters a lot of heart. The characters are always flawed but we're still sympathetic towards them. Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, and Mila Kunis were all quite awesome in this. The bonus of having Bill Hader (probably my favourite comedy actor) in this was also great.

9. Gran Torino (review)

8. American Teen (review) - I know many critics are saying Man on Wire was the best documentary this year, but of all the docs I've seen this past year, I didn't feel as much as a connection as I did with American Teen.

7. Revolutionary Road - Stephen Colbert has called the "Titantic Part 2", and it might as well be, with Leo, Kate Winslet and even Kathy Bates in starring roles. But to me, this felt more like Sam Mendes' attempt at an "American Beauty Part 2". It's a perfect deconstruction of a middle-class family living in the suburbs during the 50's. The performances by Leonardo and Kate are tremondous, and it makes you really hurt inside because the situation that they're enveloped in is so shitty. Great flick.

6. Wall-E (review)

5. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (review)

4. Slumdog Millionaire (review)

3. The Dark Knight (review) - My review wasn't much of a review as it was a bunch of expletives, but there's not much to say to this that you haven't already seen, heard, or felt yourself. This movie was a great merger of the superhero genre and a crime drama. To me, it almost felt like a Scorsese gangster movie with Batman in it.

2. The Wrestler (review) - Not much more to say for this one. The only reason why I didn't make number 1 was because I knew I was going to love it and so there was a slightly higher standard for what I was expecting. Shouldn't take away from its greatness though.

1. The Fall (review) - This made it to first place mostly because I didn't know what I was expecting, and when the movie finished, I was dumbfounded as to why I had never heard of this movie before. The story was great and accessible to people of all ages, and because of the backdrop in the plot, it feels timeless as well. I enjoyed the story, I enoyed the characters, and most of all, I enjoyed all the visuals. This is only Tarsem's second feature, clearly the best of the two, and he has certainly set himself a high bar to leap.

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Here is the list of movies that I saw in 2008. If there's anything that I missed that you enjoyed, feel free to recommend them to me. What were your favourites this year?

You can view my favourites of 2007 and 2006.

Categories: movies , top list

Okay, so there' s nothing geeky about this post at all, but I just read this article and thought to share it with you. After I read it, I thought, "man, life can be pretty shitty sometimes, but life can also be pretty good". Case in point:

On the day that Donald Peters died, he unknowingly provided financial security for his wife of 59 years and their family.

Peters bought two Connecticut Lottery tickets at a local 7-Eleven store on Nov. 1 as part of a 20-year tradition he shared with his wife Charlotte. Later that day, the 79-year-old retired hat factory worker suffered a fatal heart attack while working in his yard in Danbury.

On Friday, his widow cashed in one of the tickets: a $10 million winner which, in her grief over her husband's death, she had put aside and almost discarded before recently checking the numbers.

"I'm numb," Charlotte Peters, 78, said at Connecticut Lottery headquarters in Rocky Hill.

Donald Peters usually bought the tickets for 10 weeks at a stretch, so the winning ticket he bought Nov. 1 for the Dec. 2 drawing was among several that Charlotte Peters put aside as she, their three children and two grandchildren coped with his sudden death.

"I was in the grocery store and I had it checked and they told me I was a winner," she said. "I had no idea how much it was."

Check out the full story here.

Categories: life stuff , other

Let the Right One In is a Swedish drama/horror movie that leans more towards its dramatic base than its horror. In fact the only reason I would call it a horror movie is because there is a vampire in it, other than that, nothing really horrific happens in the movie. Don't get me wrong, there is a little blood and gore, but its not used as a cinematic device to scare the viewers in any way.

The story is about a 12-year old boy named Oskar who is a bit of a loner without friends at school and without much of a relationship with his mom at home. He's constantly picked on by a bunch of bullies at school and doesn't have much of a backbone to stand up for himself. Cue in Eli. She is a new girl who moved in to the apartment next door, whom Oskar befriends and eventually falls for. Unlike anyone else in Oskar's life, she takes time to listen to him and be his friend, while teaching him a thing or two about confidence. Little does Oskar know that his new best friend is really a vampire.

Let the Right One In has been praised around the world by fans and critics alike, doing quite well for itself in film festivals. It's another story of "The Little Train that Could" being quite the low-budget underdog compared to other festival highlights, yet garnering much acclaim despite its sleeper status. Currently it's sitting at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes with 92 positive critical reviews out of 95 (ahead of Slumdog Millionaire, The Dark Knight and Wall-E if you can believe it).

In the end for me it lacked the connection that I was hoping to get from the movie. The performances were pretty great for such young actors and the storyline itself was interesting, but it didn't grip me the way I was hoping for. In the reviews that I've read for this movie, the critics have praised it because of its use of a mature storyline for a story about kids. In that sense, story is accessible to anyone despite being about kids... and vampires. Of its near two hour run time, I'd say that the last fifteen were the best. It was the only time where I felt something real for the kids.

I watched the movie with my brother, and I think he enjoyed it more than I did. He said that what he liked was that they did a lot of things that were unconventional, things you wouldn't expect to see happen if it were a Hollywood made movie. And to that I say 'true'. Definitely check it out if you want to see a different twist on the vampire sub-genre.

I'm going to write up my top ten of 2008 some time this week, so stay tuned for that. That's it for now, later geeks, and have a happy new year!

Categories: drama , foreign , horror , let the right one in , movies