Friday 28 December 2012

Copyright and Modern Internet Culture

As you may have guessed from the post title, this is indeed a paper that I wrote for school.  However, I put a lot of time and effort into this paper and I feel it turned out well.  It was in APA style originally, and this is how it transfers to an internet page.  Take a look if you're interested, it's pretty heavy stuff, but it's also a very important topic for us creative types on the internet.  Here's the link to the pdf of the paper: Copyright and Modern Internet Culture.

Thursday 27 December 2012

The Hobbit VLog Review

A week after I see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey I talk about it on camera! I talk a little bit about the movie, but mostly about the actors that do and don't appear in the movie (I mean you Benedict Cumberbatch).

Django Unchained Review

I talk about the new western action flick Django Unchained, directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, and Leonardo DiCaprio.


Wednesday 5 December 2012

Fanart Law

I found this video to be incredibly informative and useful when shaping my understanding of copyright law and I think everyone should check it out. It's great because it's a law professor giving a speech about copyright law in a way that's very understandable. I'm actually using it as a reference for paper I'm working on.



"Josh Wattles, $makepictures is an expert on copyright law bringing perspective and experience to the issue from multiple creative industries. From art, film, music, and books, Josh has been directly involved in or advised on copyright issues for the biggest properties in the world. He is also a copyright professor teaching courses at at Loyola, Southwestern and the University of Southern California law schools in Los Angeles."
by  deviantArt, posted on YouTube, 
September 10, 2012

Sunday 2 December 2012

Playing with Soundcloud

Hey all, I'm playing with sound effects and podcasts and stuff with Soundcloud. This is the fx of a Ford Ranger.

Ford ranger by JNJeffery

Silent Hill: Revelations Review

For my first review in a long time I take a look at the new Silent Hill movie. Did I like it? Did it make sense? Did Kit Harrington take his shirt off? All these questions and more are answered in this review.



Note: I shot and uploaded this video weeks ago, but I just realized I hadn't posted it here yet. Whoops.

Also, poor quality video, not quite sure why, but I will recode this one with a better program. When I have time ...

Monday 26 November 2012

Preemptive Strike!

Sadly there will be no post this week of top 10s, this is because it's the home stretch for school. I also have a large cosplay and a launch for a webcomic to get ready for. There is a silver lining, however. At the end of the term (and probably a little before that) I will post all the work I've done so far. Including the hilariously bad stuff too ;)

Tuesday 20 November 2012

Top Ten Funniest Baseball Player Names

I list off the funnies names in baseball. I recorded this on a less than satisfactory piece of equipment, so watch out for audio clipping and don't have the volume up too loud. I haven't graduated to Audition yet :|

Wreck-It Ralph Review

I check out Disney's video game inspired movie "Wreck-It Ralph". Be warned, there is some audio clipping so don't play the sound too loud.

Monday 19 November 2012

Absent Horizon First Issue January 1, 2013!

This is the flyer I handed out at AE Akimatsuri a couple weeks ago. For now I'm going to post everything on this site as well as the other, not totally finished site. I will also post the assorted pictures and pre-release artwork.






Wednesday 14 November 2012

Trikucian's Archives: Cultural History in Folktales

I've realized that it's been way too God damned long since I posted anything, so here's an old essay I wrote for my American Studies class talking about Rip Van Winkle. I plan on doing an audiobook of Rip Van Winkle in the near future. Let me know what you think!

Cultural History in Folktales

Change is a difficult concept for many people to grasp. It causes people to question and understand their own times and the times that came before. To help understand people will dissociate from the times at hand through folklore. In Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle the author represents a change in history through the life of his titular character. That which is unchanged becomes revered. In Rip Van Winkle, Irving explores folklore as a history of people trying to understand a great change in their society.

When European settlers came to North America they brought their culture with them. Local examples include the similarities between Ogopogo and the Loch Ness monster and the Westminster Abbey in Mission located close to the Xa:ytem spirit stone. Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving deals with the area of the Hudson River valley in the Appalachian Mountain range in what is now present day New York and mixing it with Dutch and German folklore. The characters and village within the story are Dutch, for the area was first settled by the Dutch. This fact is commonly alluded to within the story in a narrative sort of sense: “It is a little village of great antiquity, having been founded by some Dutch colonists” (Irving 449). If this were not an important fact overall it would only be mentioned that the area was founded by the Dutch once or so, but the historical Dutch are mentioned many times throughout the story. This history has become a folk tale of the people of Rip Van Winkle’s village and the other Dutch settlements of the area so easily that characters from these histories have become fantastical in nature. The gnomish creatures that inhabit the Kaatskill Mountains to bowl the ninepins that create thunder every twenty years are none other than Hendrick Hudson and his gang, for whom their river was named. Literally this section foreshadows a drastic event through the sound the ninepin bowling makes. The inherent Dutch undertones in this American folk tale are that these magical characters have become naturalized to the area, but they don’t fit. They dress like Europeans and their magical potion is their special alcohol, which would not have existed in native America. Irving uses the Dutch characters in America with the old German fairy tale about a man who sleeps for twenty years to create a folk tale out of the experiences of the people before and after the American Revolution to give a simplified rural viewpoint on the historical events. This dissociation from being American but being Dutch is central to effect, or lack thereof, of the American Revolution and how it barely etches the surface of the area’s folklore.

In Rip Van Winkle change came suddenly and easily, as it usually does. The difficulty with change is how people react to it. Van Winkle is a carefree character that lives life day to day. He first loses touch with reality when he is lured by the fairy creatures of the Kaatskill Mountains. Van Winkle is an impractical man with and “insuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labour” (450) and is content in helping others. This impractical personality allowed him to be swallowed up by the magic that these gnomish, ghostly figures presented. When he awoke completely lost he was akin to the settlers who were lost from their native Europe and needed their old culture to keep them from being depressingly homesick. “As he approached the village, he met a number of people, but none that he knew” (455). He had been alienated from his once close community through the magic that had been done upon him. His village had changed and become something alien to him, which he only recognizes through the help and memories of the village people. This section alludes to how histories are created collectively, and the tall tales are created by the ‘folk’ of the area.

In his life prior to the insurmountable event of the American Revolution Van Winkle was basically a useless person. He was kind and was socially active, but he did nothing to better himself or his family and helped too many people at once to be of much use. When he comes to the village twenty years later as the same man he becomes a village relic. Through the revolution the village had grown, become faster paced, and better connected to the outside world. Van Winkle, through his preservation, became a preserver of the time before and therefore thoroughly Dutch and steeped in heritage: “[Van Winkle] was reverenced as one of the patriarchs of the village, and a chronicle of the old times ‘before the war’” (459). As a person who preserved the history and culture from before the war, his fantastic story became village lore. “[Van Winkle] used to tell his story to every stranger” (459). His tale became more important to his village than the history of the revolution, despite the constant reminders of politicians and mementos throughout the village. This is because his tale was part of his life, therefore part of the village and its culture. Even the old gnomes in their dated clothing would continue unchanged and forever creating magical thunder in the Kaatskills. Thus the folklore is about the people’s history and one man’s experience, but expands to encompass a whole culture of people because of its context.

The author, Washington Irving, acts like the editor and narrator of this piece. He is fully aware of the connections he makes between history, culture, and folklore. As a person writing about an event many years after it took place he would have an outside perspective but gains access to the inside through the collective memory of the people. His tale of Rip Van Winkle is purely fictional, though he creates the sense of the folk who live in the area. “I know the vicinity of our old Dutch settlements to have been very subject to marvelous events and appearances” (460). He ends with the statement “The story, therefore, is beyond the possibility of a doubt” (460) to enforce the truth that the story describes the collective memory of both the Dutch folk and those displaced by the emigration to North America and further the American Revolution.

Rip Van Winkle is a delightful folk tale with subtle undertones about how history is experienced and recorded. In emigration to North America European settlers brought their culture and changed their folklore to include characters from their new world. This folklore was further used to understand the constant changes in their world and to preserve their old way of life in the new era. Folklore is the history of the people who create and experience it. The stories will continue to change and evolve but the essence of their creation will continue to live on in the culture of the people they represent.

Bibliography

Irving, Washington. "Rip Van Winkle." The Norton Anthology of American
Literature. Ed. Philip F. Gura and Francis Murphy. New York: W. W.
Norton & Company, Inc., 2003. 446-460.

Friday 2 November 2012

Old vs. New

I made a comic! This is in practice for the release of my graphic novel style comic Absent Horizon, the first chapter of which will be available January 1st, 2013.


Thursday 11 October 2012

Facebook: The Unsocial Network

I agree completely with Aaron Sorkin's (script writer for "The Social Network") remark that " It (Facebook) is pushing us further apart. Socializing on the Internet is to socializing what reality TV is to reality." The reality of Facebook and other similar social networking sites is that they are, in fact, not reality, in the same way "reality TV" is not reality. An old adage for filming reality, like the news for example, is that the subject of the filming cannot know they are being filmed. If they do, then they end up acting for the camera that they know is there. The only exception to the rule is Close Circuit Television (CCTV) because we know it is always there and we don't care. Even then we still make silly faces at the CCTV camera as we go into the bank, etc.

This performance-like behavior is the same that we see on social networking sites on Facebook. Facebook is just like the newsreel camera we know is there: we dress up for it and put on the face we expect people to see; whether that face is well thought out is irrelevant. The majority of posts and photos on Facebook are those of milestone events. A wedding, the birth of a new baby, or some kind of devastating news. Whether these events are sad or pleasant, they end up on Facebook. Dirty laundry also appears on Facebook, but even that, albeit unpleasant or unflattering, isn't indicative of the reality of that particular user, just of some point of their life they feel is interesting to share with the world. We rarely see the mundane, and the be honest the mundane is what makes life, well, life.

Essentially Facebook is edited reality, and because it is edited, it is no longer reality, making itself a paradox. It is impossible to be oneself on Facebook because nobody can express themselves completely without being face to face with the person they're interacting with. Humans evolved to interact with all five senses, whether with the world or with other humans. The majority of Facebook's communication is done through text, which is just a subsidiary of the sense of sight. There are photos, and on rare occasions video, but it is impossible for a person to give nearly as much meaning in a block of text. Communication through Facebook completely negates the senses of touch, smell, and taste, and negates much of the sense of hearing, and even sight. Through Facebook body language and inflection on words is eliminated, thereby making many words open for interpretations that have nothing to do with the user's initial meaning.

What I find most disturbing about digital communication is that if you know a person only through digital means you lose the ability to smell and touch them. That's a gigantic part of just and individual personality. One of my most cherished memories of my Grandmother is her house always smelled like freshly baked bread. Or swimming with my cousins and wrestling with them in the water. Facebook can catalogue these events and remind me of them, but it is little more than an online album. A social networking site could never replace actually talking with an interacting with a person in real life because it is simply not real.

Facebook has given people a means to interact with each other without actually having to interact with each other. People have gained yet another means to put their best or preferred face forward at all times without having to show what they don't want. While many will argue a drunken photo of a sorority girl and her friends "duck-facing" to the camera isn't their "best face", it is beneficial to the girl because it is proof to the world that she's wild and independent. This photo then has the potential to be seen by thousands of people, even go viral. People want to be seen, to be noticed, and social media has given them the means to do so very easily. The problem is that many people cannot distinguish the edited reality of Facebook, and even reality TV, and what they are actually experiencing in their physical lives.

Social networking, particularly Facebook, is changing how people interact with each other, and while we have gained speed and the ability to communicate on a world stage, we are also losing the means to communicate and connect on a personal level, and this will present a multitude of social problems in the future.

Aaron Sorkin's interview on "The View"

Wednesday 10 October 2012

Stan Rogers - The Musical Chair

This episode of Nash Bozard's "The Musical Chair" features one of my favorite folk artists, Stan Rogers. It hit me so hard that I felt I needed to repost it here. This man's music had a gigantic impact on my life and I love how much respect Nash gave him in this video. If you haven't listened to Stan Rogers you have to, he is just epic. And I dare you not to cry at the end of the segment.



Video is owned and produced by Nash Bozard of Radio Dead Air: http://www.radiodeadair.com/

Site Update

Hi Internet!

It's safe to say that it has been a flipping loooooooong time since I've updated this site. The reason being is I am super busy getting used to the new post-secondary program I just started. Awesome thing is, this program is all about websites and digital art, so just by doing my homework I'll have cool stuff to post. But, for other stuff I'm doing, I've got a bunch of artist alley tables over the Christmas season so I'm getting stock ready for that. This stock includes knitted hats, stuffies, pillows, cocktail dresses, and several wicked fanart pieces. As each of these are finished I will (eventually) post them on the site. I'm also working on an epic Loki cosplay and making several pages for this site. Right now there are pages, but they're going to look a lot more awesome once they are out of the editing phase. And I learn more about HTML and CSS. So, in the mean time, here is a picture of my signature and one of my favorite toques:



I'm also working on my Halloween costume, aka fixing up my old Bulma costume and then asking random drunk people for dragonballs :)

Sunday 30 September 2012

New Font: Sci-fi Stencil

I designed this font for the titles in my webcomic "Absent Horizon". I'm now one step closer to getting the first chapter finished!

Tuesday 25 September 2012

Robyn Initial Artwork

This is the initial concept for the Robyn character from my upcoming Webcomic "Absent Horizon". She is a young woman that comes into contact with the Warlord's army and through her wits survives the ordeal. I'm not saying any more than that ;)

Saturday 22 September 2012

Hansel and Gretel Trailer

This movie looks so awesome! It's been done for months, why do we have to wait until January to see it? Well, to tithe all of us fangirls over for the next four months or so I'm going to review all of the rare movies Renner did before he did The Hurt Locker. Also, an awesome trailer with Renner doing the narration! Yay!

Thursday 13 September 2012

Let's Talk Baseball!

So, if you've read my header, you have probably noticed that I am a big fan of Major League Baseball. Most notably of the St. Louis Cardinals. I know, I know, I'm not from St. Louis, I'm not even American, why are they my favorite team? To be honest, they're my favorite team because they're my Grandpa's favorite team. He and my Dad are the reason why I love baseball. But that's beside the point. My point is, I love baseball, and St. Louis is my favorite team, so I plan to talk about stuff that turns my gears in the world of baseball.

This year is really weird when it comes to the best and worst teams. The one that throws me off the most is that not only that Boston is at the bottom of their division, that being the American League East, but Seattle is not the worst in baseball right now! I follow how badly Seattle does because, well, it's the only city within driving distance of where I live. And it sucks for me because it's an American League team, therefore St. Louis, being a National League team, never plays there. Anyways, as it stands now, Seattle may be the bottom of American League West at 69 wins and 74 losses, but overall, in the entirety of MLB they're in the middle. No, really. Yeah, Texas has over 80 wins, but they're a bit of a monster this year. Probably because of their loss at last year's World Series (Go Redbirds!). Here is a list of teams who are lower than Seattle (in order from highest to lowest) in the standings:

19. Seattle Mariners (American)      W 69 L 74
20. San Diego Padres (National)      W 69 L 75
21. Kansas City Royals (American)  W 65 L 77
22. New York Mets (National)         W 65 L 78
23. Toronto Blue Jays (American)   W 64 L 77  (funny how the Canadian team is in the American League)
24. Boston Red Sox (American)      W 64 L 79
25. Miami Marlins (National)           W 63 L 81
26. Cleveland Indians (American)    W 59 L 84
27. Minnesota Twins (American)     W 59 L 84
28. Colorado Rockies (National)      W 57 L 85
29. Chicago Cubs (National)            W 56 L 87
30. Houston Astros (National)          W 45 L 98

Okay, Seattle may not be right in the middle, but they're close.  As for my St. Louis Cardinals, they're contenders for the National League Wild Card.  This year there will be two Wild Card teams from each league, which will be interesting to watch.  My redbirds won their last couple World Series coming off of Wild Card wins, thereby being the team that embodies "It's not over 'til the fat lady sings."

There's only one month, if that, until the Post Season, but there can be pretty big upsets in such a short amount of time.  I'm looking forward to St. Louis battling it out for the Wild Card yet again, as well as very curious about whether the Baltimore Orioles can keep their lead.  How cool would that be if Baltimore was in the Post Season?

ALL of this information was taken and recompiled from MLB.com.  Check it out, it's a great site!

Monday 10 September 2012

Captain Sam Initial Artwork

This is Sam. She is one of the five main characters of my webcomic "Absent Horizon". Initially she was meant to be the captain of a ship, but now I've changed the story so she meets Stewart, the main protagonist, on a long distance transportation vessel.


In this shot she has pointed ears, which only appear when she's using magic. Yes, this is a sci-fi, but it also has magic.

Monday 3 September 2012

Cos & Effect 2012 Top 10 Favorite Cosplays

I rate my top 10 favorite cosplays and costumes featured at this year's Cos & Effect at UBC. The interviews start at number 7. You need to watch number 5, it's the best.



Links to the participants:

jakface.tumblr.com
@kittytheshegeek on Twitter
CultureShock007 on cosplay.com
Academie Duello

Song during the credits by Rebecca Tripp

Filmed at Cos & Effect 2012

Thursday 30 August 2012

Lawless Review VLog

I went and saw Lawless tonight. All I can say about it is that it made me cry. And yes, there are spoilers in this video.


Tuesday 28 August 2012

Why Being a Recent Grad Sucks!

Bad Degrees
From: BestDegreePrograms.org

I am one of the many people that are recent grads but just can't seem to find work. In my case I actually did find work in my field, which was theatre and film, but then I got sick (better now but I got to be careful) and that forced me to take a cold, long, hard look at my future prospects, which in fact were not good with just my first degree. The sad truth of it is that a bachelor's degree rarely gets you a job. It's more of a stepping stone to a professional diploma, degree, or masters' program. Instead of looking at what your degree won't do for you, like this graphic shows, I think it's better to look at what it can. I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Design. This means I know a lot about performance space, story telling, design, the list goes on. We all know theatre isn't a big industry, and those that work in it quite literally fool themselves into working below minimum wage because they're "supporting the arts." But it is my step one into getting into the higher level degrees, even if I don't want to do theatre or film. I could get a Masters in Psychology with this bachelors, all I need are the requisite courses to get in plus the finished degree. It's all possible. Pretty much, when push comes to shove, be patient, be positive, and if you can't find a job in this crap market then go back to school, like I am, to be ready for when the market picks up again.

Saturday 25 August 2012

An Evening With Metallica VLog

I check out the special concert put on by Metallica at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver BC. This was the first of three shows to be filmed with 3D cameras to be made into a theatrical movie. Be warned, because this is a narrative and not a documentary, there are heavy spoilers in this review. Also, I am now deaf, but it was so worth it.



Saturday 11 August 2012

The Bourne Legacy VLog Review

I saw the Bourne Legacy last night? What did I think about it? Well, you'll have to watch the video, but I can safely say I forget most of the movie and just talk about Jeremy Renner. I can't remember if there were any spoilers, but to be honest this is the kind of movie where spoilers don't really matter.

Thursday 26 July 2012

The Dark Knight Rises Review Part 2

In the second part of my review of The Dark Knight Rises I discuss the motivations for several characters and how I perceived said characters. This part has spoilers!



After more time and consideration, I do feel that it had a little more plot threads than it needed and could feel bloated to some people. This was a different film than The Dark Knight and I feel it was a great ending not only to Bruce Wayne/ Batman's story, but also to this version of Gotham. Is is better than The Dark Knight? Well, that's debatable, but I do know I like this film better. I still personally feel it was a stronger piece because of how it portrayed the city, instead of just individual characters. When it comes out on DVD I'll watch all three together and see what I feel then. For now, I'm still of the opinion that one of the main reasons people don't like this movie is because it's not The Dark Knight. To be honest nothing can ever be just like or better than Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker, and what makes this third film good is that it goes for something completely different. This film has a lot of very strong points to it, and those strong points definitely outweigh the weak ones (such as Bane's voice, which I personally didn't mind, or the numerous plot threads we didn't really need). That's why I didn't give it a perfect mark, because it's not a perfect film, but it is a film that does exactly what the director wanted it to do and finished up on most, if not all, of the plot threads presented within it. What I do know, is that comparing it to all the other big films of the year, such as The Hunger Games, The Avengers, Prometheus, etc, this is the best film in my opinion. So far. I'll just have to wait for the real Oscar bait around Christmas before I make any grand statements.

Wednesday 25 July 2012

The Dark Knight Rises Review Part 1

In part one of my review of Christopher Nolan's latest entry into the Batman Begins trilogy I discuss my opinion on the film. No spoilers in part one!

Saturday 14 July 2012

Road Rage: Episode 4, Quesnel BC

I've finally made it to Quesnel! Bad news is, after this was filmed, I had another 2 hour drive to Wells itself and saw several deer and rabbits on my way up. Also, so far it's been really hot, which makes driving in a car with no AC awesome.

Friday 13 July 2012

Road Rage: Episode 3, Williams Lake

And here I am again, this time at Williams Lake. For some reason I decided not to turn off my stereo, so the music playing in the background is Infected Mushrooms.

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Road Rage: Episode 2, 100 Mile House

Welcome to my second of many videos where I rant on about traffic, and my involvement in it. This time around I'm in 100 Mile House (which is, for those of you who don't know, a town in the BC interior, not just a house) and, of course, I decide to talk about the bad traffic in Vancouver. No matter where you go in life, the shittines of the Vancouver road traffic will always piss you off.

Road Rage: Episode 1, Lone Butte

I'm starting a new webseries where I rant about how bad other drivers are on the road. To start off I take a pit stop in Lone Butte BC, a town so small I never knew it even existed! It's weird how, even though I live in BC, I know more of the small towns in Saskatchewan than those in the interior of BC. Well, I guess BC is easier to hide in.

Sunday 8 July 2012

High River Water Level in Mission, BC

Whilst preparing to embark on my road trip to Wells BC, I take a little time to check out the water level of the Fraser River in Mission. Be advised, Mission at the point in time this video was taken was not under flood warning. But I'm pretty sure Matsqui was.

Wednesday 4 July 2012

The Amazing Spiderman Review

A review (with no spoilers!) about the new to theatres The Amazing Spiderman. I will say this much, it is amazing.

Tuesday 3 July 2012

Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut DLC Review

I talk about the recently released Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut DLC whilst riding on the bubble chair lift at Sun Peaks. Minor spoilers.

Sunday 24 June 2012

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter Review

I talk about the new Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter movie and how I enjoyed it, but also how it didn't really resonate with those not from the states.

Tuesday 19 June 2012

Assassin's Creed 3 on Wii U

Assassin's Creed is my favorite series. Period. It's got everything you want from a good game and then some. Its story is spectacular and has great twists, you find yourself really caring about all the characters, who are written very realistically, and the art direction is spectacular. I once brought Assassin's Creed 2 into an art history class so I could walk Ezio around and the professor describe Venice and Florence how they would have looked like back in the day. This series really is that realistic and accurate.

I've been psyched for this series since the very beginning. Before the beginning in fact. I fell in love with the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time trilogy because of the great music and clever acrobatics and climbing based puzzles. When I heard that Ubisoft was going to incorporate that into a new game for the PS3 era that was not only more realistic but was also set during the Crusades. THE CRUSADES! A real world historical event that was not only during a point in history that rarely gets reinterpreted in the modern world, but is, and was, very controversial and ties in to the social and military unrest of the current times. It also had a lot to say about religion, politics, and how history is recorded. Wow, Ubisoft is showing the world that they have balls! It's still my opinion that the game only got an M rating because of all the religious themes, not because of the blood and violence. This first one has as much as the Uncharted series.

I am of course talking about the first Assassin's Creed, where you play as Altair. A lot of people say this game is boring, and it is in a way, that nothing really happens and it's repetetive. I take it more like its subtle, because the events of this game take place over a couple weeks, so the difficulty setting gets harder because the cities keep getting more and more on edge. And you meet King Richard the Lionheart! This was the first of many cool historical figures you meet in the series.

In the next couple, which I like to think of as the Assassin's Creed 2 trilogy, you play as Ezio Auditore da Firenze throughout the majority of his life. I'm not going to go into detail about why these games are awesome. Read the chapter in your European History book about the Italian Renaissance and you'll know why these games are so awesome.

So, of course, I, and pretty much anyone who's into video games, are super stoked for Assassin's Creed 3. And this game looks like it more than deserves the hype. In 3 you play as Connor, a half English, half Native man who is battling the Templars during the American Revolutionary War. In the initial videos we see him fighting the red coats, aka the British, which I find funny because Assassin's Creed 3 is being developed primarily Ubisoft Montreal. This is because Canada became a different country than the United States specifically because of this war and us Canadians, or Loyalists at the time, wanted to remain part of the British Empire. I do realize that these are the demos shown for the American media, so I'm not really upset we haven't seen Connor fight any blue coats yet. But I do hope before it comes out there's a British/ Canadian video that shows him combating the blue coats.

Anyways, that's all very cool and I can't wait, but the big news of E3 is that not only will Assassin's Creed 3 be available for the Wii U, but it looks just as good as the PS3 or Xbox 360 versions. This is amazingly good news for Nintendo's launch of the Wii U. Basically what this means is that Ubisoft believes this new system to be good enough for their premiere title. It also means that Nintendo, which has had issues with 3rd party developers in the past, is going to make its new system available for the big titles without them having to be substandard to the PS3 or XBox 360 versions. This makes me really excited for the potential of Nintendo first party titles like Zelda or Metroid.

All I know is that I'm going crazy with excitement for Assassin's Creed 3 and I'm counting down the days to when it's released.

Added July 11, 2012: Also, it’s just been announced that Michael Fassbender will not only star in the Assassin’s Creed movie, but he will be producing it as well!!!  My head exploded when I saw that.  My favorite actor in a movie based on my favorite video game, holy crap that’s amazing.  And not only that, it’s going to be independently produced my Fassbender in conjunction with Ubisoft so it’s not going to have some retarded thing in there because of studio mandate!  This just sounds like it’s going to be crazy awesome!

Original story posted by GamingUnion.net

Monday 18 June 2012

Mass Effect 3 Ending Deemed Accurately Advertised

Metal Gear Solid has its political intrigue, Assassin's Creed its immense attention to detail and awesome what the fuck moments, and even Final Fantasy has its moments as an effective world based story. But none of them compare to the grandeur of the Mass Effect franchise. Well, at least not yet.

Mass Effect 3 must have been the most riveting and intense game I have played to date. Every single piece of this game was masterfully done. Any of us who are fans of the series know this already, so I won't go into detail on just how awesome it was, in that respect. But everyone has their own feelings on the ending. I still haven't bothered to play it again because I want to replay Mass Effect 2 (and subsequently make my choices for the first one in that silly interactive comic) as a Paragon Female, and a Renegade Male. All I know is that if you just play it from the basic character they give you at the beginning of 3, the game can be pretty lack luster, and I'll leave it at that.

One thing I do know that the ending to the game was severely polarizing. I personally liked it. Granted, it initially kind of pissed me off when I thought of the final cut scene as the big ending scene that other big titles have, but then I realized that almost half of Mass Effect 3 is an ending leading up to the climax that is the battle in London, and everything after that is the denouement. What I didn't like was that you couldn't see the aftermath of the individual characters' stories. I know it's from Shepard's perspective, but it's the same reason why the ending to The Hunger Games trilogy was so dissatisfying. We had no closure. Maybe that's because they plan on continuing the story of one of the main characters who don't have to die, like Liara or Garrus, but that would mean a pretty loose connection to this trilogy.

Anyways, some people were so pissed off by the ending that they filed complaints. Plenty of the internet reviewers I like to watch were seething with hatred for the ending. And to be honest, I can see where they were coming from. The ending, the way it is now before the DLC comes out to extend it, feels like a limb has been cut off. And us, as the player, still feel that ghost limb, like we can move it, but when we look it's not there. It just ended, a stump of a story, so to speak.

Basically there's a point right at the end of the game where you can make one of three choices, and they effect the universe as a whole. These choices are posited to you by a God-like being, who in my opinion both needed to be elaborated on more for us who were playing the game, but also made sense how little he was seen from Shepard's point of view. To be fair though, from a writing point of view, the player character couldn't associate any weight to any of those decisions unless they played through the whole game and felt what was the right choice, for them.

In any case, many of those who played the game felt the need to protest the ending, and how it was advertised. The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)claimed that player decisions "completely shape your experience and outcome," and "drive powerful outcomes, including relationships with key characters, the fate of entire civilizations, and even radically different ending scenarios." What I read here pretty much coincides with how I took the writing in the game. It seems that the ASA agrees. The Better Business Bureau, however, actually did state that the ending was falsely advertised, but, like I've pretty much said before, the 'ending' is all up for interpretation.

In any case the Extended Cut DLC will be coming out soon, and fans will have something to either cheer for or gripe about all over again.

Original story posted by Gamespot.

Sunday 10 June 2012

Prometheus Review

My thoughts on Ridley Scott's newest movie, Prometheus. Done in a VLog, there are some spoilers, but they won't ruin your enjoyment of the film. I'm pretty sick, so that explains the pauses.

Thursday 7 June 2012

Snow White and the Huntsman and Game of Thrones Season Finale Reviews

After seeing Snow White and the Huntsman on opening night I do an impromptu VLog review. There are spoilers around the half way point.



Then, in response to the Game of Thrones Season 2 Finale, I compare the show so far to the book series as well as describe what I think is going to happen past book 5. If you haven't read the series and only seen the show I have to warn you that I talk about the books extensively, so BIG spoiler warning. Also at one point I say Tyrion Lannister when I mean his father Tywin, though it's probably obvious what I meant.

Friday 25 May 2012

38 Studios Collapse

Before I get into the main point of this post, I have to say one thing.  It is now May 2012.  The market crash was at the end of 2008, about three and a half years ago.  The stock market is still kinda funky, with hiccoughs here and there, but it's not really doing flip flops anymore.  Things are on the up, honestly, just take a look at any S&P graph from 2008 to today.  So, this being said, when I hear about a decent sized company going down now, and they blame it on the 'economic downturn', I want to call bullshit.  At least a little bit.

38 Studios, a moderately sized video game manufacturer, has just let over 400 employees go.  38 Studios is known for developing Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Owned by former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, who is renowned for being a three time World Series Champion (so of course this story caught my eye right off), 38 Studios is based out of Rhode Island and Maryland.  Earlier in the month Schilling asked the state of Rhode Island for more money for his new video game company.

What this tells me isn't really that the company has been hurt by the 'economic downturn' but that it was a new company with bad management.  Granted, Schilling, being a very successful Major League Baseball player, had tons of his own money to throw at the project, it could have, no, should have been a good investment if only it had been managed better.  Video games are only going to get bigger from here as they become more accessible, not only being on consoles and computers like they have been for decades, but now mobile phones and other handheld devices.  The video game industry is also constantly breaking new ground when it comes to new technology.  But this is stuff us video game nerds already know.

Pretty much what I see here with the collapse of 38 Studios is bad management and an owner who does not know the industry.  The man was a pitcher for most of his life, and there's a reason most MLB veterans go on to be announcers or managers, is because baseball is a crazy specific sport.  I love baseball, more than any Canadian chick should, but if this guy wanted to buy in to the video game industry he should have invested in one of the sports games companies like EA or 2K.

I'm sad to see so many trained and experienced personnel lose their jobs.  These people worked on their craft for years, only to have this happen to them.  But this isn't a sign that video games are going down.  They're not.  The video game industry is pretty cemented and can only get better from here.  We're almost out of this economic depression the world has found itself in, we all just got to be patient.

Adapted from the original post in The Boston Globe

Wednesday 23 May 2012

Possible Xbox 360 Ban

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a fan of the Xbox 360.  Initially it started with me having no personal interest in the console specific franchises like Halo or Gears of War, Mass Effect being an exception (although  Mass Effect 2 and 3 were also happily released on the PS3).  Then the PS3 was released, and although it did have a huge asking price at the time, it went down by the time the really strong console specific titles like Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.  So, my choice was set pretty firmly back then, and to this day I have to be honest, I am bias for the PS3 and its first party titles.  But the main reason I still haven't gotten an Xbox 360, other than continued disinterest in its franchises, are the frequent and varied hardware malfunctions.  I could go on for days about all of the stories I've heard of involving hardware failure of the Xbox 360, but we all know the release of the slim model has at least changed the kind and percentage of failures.  It's not that the PS3 doesn't have hardware failures; even my own old 40 gb blu ray lens died, the most common hardware failure, but that was after 4 years of consistent playtime.  Also, those several months last year when the PlayStation Network was down doesn't really help win people to the PS3's side either.


So, to the point.  It's funny, at least to me, that this new model of the Xbox 360 is under fire for a patent dispute with Motorola.  Judge David Shaw of the International Trade Commission has recommended the ban, and that Microsoft pay 7% the value of any unsold system to Motorola.  Essentially Motorola designed and maintains the patent on several features the Xbox 360 uses, including WiFi, video decoders, and the means by how accessories connect to the system itself.  Germany has already instituted a ban on sales of the Xbox 360 because of these patent violations, though it has not yet come into effect.

I remember back in the day when the 360 was released that all the techie buzz was around how Microsoft couldn't keep the patent for the build of the original Xbox so they had to go with a different company and a different structural design.  At the time techies were worried of hardware failures because the system hadn't been fully redesigned, among other things, and they were right.  And it's a shame, really.  I still have my old Xbox, and the thing is a massive brick, but it still works like a charm.  Now to hear that their redesign, meant to fix several of the hardware issues from the original model, is under scrutiny for unfair use of another company's patent isn't all that shocking really.

Whether the ban goes into effect or not remains to be seen, but I really do hope Microsoft is found accountable for using technology they do not have the rights to.  Don't get me wrong, I don't want the Xbox 360 to be banned; a monopoly isn't good for anyone.  But Microsoft is a big enough company, in tech no less, that it should be able to either develop its own tech or pay what's due for the stuff they're going to use.  This is just sloppy business practice.

Original report by Bloomberg.com

Saturday 12 May 2012

Season Finales

Here we are, at the end of the season for many a show, and we all find ourselves a little bit lost. Fear not, there are still many good shows to keep us satiated, like Game of Thrones and Legend of Korra. But right now I find myself thinking about whether these finales were worth all of the build up and if they've actually made me wanting to see the next season. Since there are quite a few that have just finished up I'll list them all out here:

Once Upon a Time:  What can I say about this show?  It first caught my attention because it's mixing the modern day with magic and another world, which is one of my favorite kind of plots.  But, to be honest, the show is very slow and very boring.  For all the time that we as an audience put into the show there just isn't enough payoff.  Granted, it is the first season, and the show is sold as a mystery, but even as a mystery it feels like nothing of note happens.  In the season finale (spoilers) we find out that August is the grown up version of Pinnochio, and he is turning back into wood because of his life as a hedonist instead of helping our heroine throughout her life, as he promised he would do.  In the episode before it he tried to trick Rumplestiltskin into thinking he was his long lost son, which I kinda wish he was.  There's this stupid line that August says where he asks if he even looks like the lost son, and to be honest, the older actor looks more like the kid who plays Rumplestiltskin's son that the kid who played Pinnochio.  Pretty much all that happens in the finale is that August reveals who he is and the lead runs away with her son.  That's it.  A whole season dedicated to her making that decision, something that could have happened in the first few episodes and only taken 15 minutes of screen time.  I was lost after they killed off the huntsman, him being clearly the coolest actor and character.  But there we are.  Will I watch the second season?  Maybe, in one go, but I won't be waiting for it.

Breakout Kings:  The season two finale was absolutely stunning.  It was chock full of everything that makes a dramatic television series good.  Good acting and characterisation, good writing, good tension, I honestly can't get enough of it.  Because I want you to watch this series I'm not going to give away any spoilers, but I will say that there were so many twists and turns that I had no idea what was going to happen next.  What I love about this series is that everyone seems like a real person, trying to run their lives on logic but having strong emotions and loyalties getting in the way.  If you haven't seen it watch it, it's definitely worth your time.   I can't wait for season 3, especially considering the big question posited at the end of the finale.

Castle:  This is a series that I'm a little bit on the fence for.  It has its good moments and its bad moments.  Because it is a syndicated series that has been around for several seasons it has a formula that it sticks to, which is some random person is murdered, the suspect is something weird or goofy, and then Castle and Becket go and catch the killer with sexual tension thrown in.  A good part of the show is about the sexual tension between Castle and Becket, and (spoiler) they finally get together at the end of the finale.  Yeah, that was nice to see, but you could see it from a mile away.  Honestly, this is really old school writing, and it would have been a much more dynamic show if they were off and on and stuff like that.  A show that does stir up this convention, and does it well, is Dexter.  In a way Castle is like a PG Dexter in a way, a show that's interesting and is a different take on the cop drama, but is safe for prime-time TV.  Now that they're together and Becket has resigned from the force the fifth season is going to be a lot different.  I'm sort of looking forward to it because I like Nathan Fillion, but I sure am not looking forward to the schlocky non main plot episodes I know are going to be there.

The Vampire Diaries:  I know this show is meant to be a high-school dramarama like all of the other stuff on the CW, but I've loved it since the beginning.  Simply because of Ian Somerhalder's portrayal of Damon.  This is going to be very spoiler heavy, you are warned.  I've sort of read the books, so I kind of knew what was going to happen, but the show goes off the book a lot, and in my opinion in a good way.  So, long story short, Klaus's body was killed, but his spirit was moved to Tyler's body.  Weird, but they can do something with that.  Elena trying to make a decision on which Salvator brother to choose was very reminiscent of Catherine's romance with both of them, but Elena was trying to be a good person and choose.  She chose Stephan right before she died, which happened very much the way that it had in the books.  And she turns into a vampire.  The difference is that in the books she was drinking the blood of both of the brothers and just so happened to drink more of Damon's so when she turns she has a sire bond to him.  In the show that one doctor who heals people with vamp blood had taken some of Damon's blood earlier in the series and had given that to Elena when she was taken to the hospital earlier.  You still with me?  So, since the sire bond was introduced with Tyler earlier in the season, and that it's in the book, Elena is for sure going to be sire bonded to Damon.  I'm looking forward to that.  I'm disappointed that Klaus and Alaric are gone, but I'm sure that Elijah, who's still around, is going to have some cool stuff to do.  I am very much looking forward to season 4, and Elena being a vampire, even though I don't much like vampires generally.

So there's still a lot of shows either on or coming out this year, and I'm both looking for stuff and dreading others.  I love how Game of Thrones is bringing the books to life, and I love how Legend of Korra is a big ball of fun, drama, comedy, and some mystery thrown in, and I have no idea what's going to happen in the next episode.  It's going to be an exciting summer.



Saturday 5 May 2012

The Avengers VLog Review

I go and see Marvel's The Avengers and talk about what I like in the movie and what else I would have liked to see. The first bit has no spoilers.



Monday 30 April 2012

Legend of Korra VLog Review

I also did a VLog on the new Legend of Korra series, which is a spinoff from Avatar: The Last Airbender, where I reveal my truly geeky, fangirly side. Spoilers!



Also, what I was going to say about the body shapes of the main characters, Korra, Mako, and Bolin, is that they are much more mature and quite a bit sexier than their counterparts in the original. Don't get me wrong, characters like Zuko and Katara were plenty attractive and had sexy moments, but just the basic body shape of the new characters tells me there's going to be more romance in the picture. Korra especially, she's so curvy that in her main costume the animators draw creases at the point where her middle curves out to her hip to show how curvy she is, and other little tells like that. The brothers have a more mesomorph, square shape to their shoulders, and strong jaws. And they're the same height as adult men, whereas Zuko and Sokka, even at the end of Season 3, where at least a head shorter than the men.

Game of Thrones (Midway) Season 2 VLog Review

Holy crap it's been forever since I made a post! Well, that happens when you get way into both making costumes and tax season. This time around I talk about how I think Season 2 of Game of Thrones is progressing.



Game of Thrones is owned by HBO

Friday 6 April 2012

Game of Thrones "The North Remembers" Review



I finally got the review done! I can't believe how long it took to edit, but my editor kept freezing on me, so that is partially to blame. I discuss the aspects of several characters, with emphasis on Jaime Lannister. This review is done preemptively and edited with jump cuts. Take note there is some swearing.

Tuesday 3 April 2012

Recently Uploaded Art

Some of it's new, some of it's old and recently tweaked.  The Game of Thrones Season 2 Episode 1 review will be up within the day!


This is the poster for my webshow.  The background is one of the shirts I've tie-dyed laid out flat.  I like how you can see the wrinkles.


This is one of my old characters that I recently redid in graphite because I hadn't done a portrait in a while.


This was a class project where I had to draw a scene where two men were sword fighting. So what better scene than when Jet attacks Zuko in Season 2 of Avatar the Last Airbender? This is a point in the fight when they both are using only one sword. It is done with water color paints and then inked over. I don't think I'll use water color paints again. 


And last but not least my Mass Effect Paragon/ Renegade toque.  The idea behind it is that you can change which symbol you wear on the front.  These were the first patterns I did with knitting, but I think they turned out well.  The next one I want to do is the mushroom from Super Mario Bros.

Friday 30 March 2012

Game of Thrones Season One Review

In gearing up for the second season of Game of Thrones, which airs its first episode this Sunday, I, like many a fan out there, rewatched the entirety of season 1.  So here’s my take of season 1, and what I’m looking forward to in season 2.  Make sure to stay tuned for weekly reviews of each episode as it airs.

When describing Game of Thrones the TV series, or A Song of Ice and Fire, the novel from which it is based, there’s no point in talking about the plot, or even the design, without having a full grasp of all the major players in our story.  And there are a ton.  There’s not much point to me listing off all of the main characters, their secondary, or all of their relationships, you can find that with a simple Wikipedia search.  Hell, even HBO has an interactive family tree online, which is pretty cool and you should check it out.  Anyways, what I’m going to do is take a look at the main characters and how their actors portray them, because, honestly, that and the production design is what makes the show worth watching on top of having already read the novels.

Also, spoiler warning!  If you haven’t seen the show or read the novels, stop reading this review and go do that!  They’re both friggin amazing and hook you right from the beginning.  Speaking of which, I’ll start with the Stark family.  The lead character of the show (I’m basing this on the main poster for season one by the way) is Ned Stark, played by Sean Bean.  He is the lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North of the island country of Westeros.  To put it in layman’s terms, think of Westeros as England and you’ll be dandy.  Ned Stark is a family man who is very loyal to his king, Robert Baratheon (played by Mark Addy).  He is married to Caitlyn (played by Michelle Fairley), and has five children with her, Rob, Sansa, Arya, Bran, and Rikkon (played by Richard Madden, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Isaac Hempstead Wright, and Art Parkinson respectively). His bastard John Snow (played by Kit Harington) also resides with them and is the same age as Rob.  Now, before you get on my case for basically listing them out, ALL of Ned Stark’s children are very important to the plot, and actually give us very different viewpoints on everything that’s going on because of their young ages.  Well Rikkon isn’t really all that integral until about the end of book 5, but you catch my drift.

It would be very difficult for me to try and talk too much about the plot with this show because it’s based on a 500 page book and basically is written well enough to hit all the high points of the book within its 10 episodes.  And the production value is so high it really does look and feel like a 10 hour long movie.  I really would love to watch Game of Thrones in theatres.  Lord knows its leaps and bounds better than most of the stuff released in theatres nowadays.

So, back to Ned Stark.  Long story short, Ned becomes the Hand of the King for Robert Baratheon, prompting him to move himself and his two daughters to the capitol of King’s Landing and ends up getting himself beheaded for treason.  Just prior to leaving, however, Bran, the second youngest, witnesses the queen, Cersei Lannister (played by Lena Headey) and her twin brother Jaime (played by Nikolai Coster-Waldau) in a, well, incestuous moment.   This comes as the end to the first episode, which I was enjoying immensely, up until the incest, then I was just like, ew.  Seeing Bran, Jaime pushes him out the window, effectively paralyzing him below the waist for the rest of his life.  From this point you can see how all of our characters lives begin to unravel.

I personally enjoyed Bean’s performance as Ned.  He was both the rugged, combat veteran who could still hold his own, but also a middle aged family man who genuinely enjoyed spending time with his children.  I also love Fairley’s portrayal as Caitlyn.  She makes the character both a relatable mother who wants the best for her children, but she’s also a believable strong noblewoman because of the grace and dignity she shows on screen.  Caitlyn really does have an inner fire to her and an ability to navigate politics without pissing off those that she expects to follow her, unlike Cersei.  She does cause that whole scandal with capturing Tyrion, which prompted Jaime to kill all of Ned’s men and then spear him through the leg, but she considered them her enemies anyways.  In the first season we see how all of Ned’s children are strong, but young, and all their actors do well working in the role of growing up in the middle of severe political strife.  My favorite is Arya because she rails against the social norms and wants to learn how to fight, which, in my opinion, is what saved her from the torture that Sansa had to endure after the death of their father.  But I’ll stop there because I don’t want to spoil stuff that happens in book 2 if you haven’t read it. 

This is where I have to introduce you to the Lannisters.  Man they are a fucking piece of work.  You’ve got Cersei and Jaime Lannister, the incestuous twins, Cersei’s children Joffrey (played by Jack Gleeson) and Marcella and Tomin, who aren’t of much note in the TV series yet.  Yes these are Jaime’s offspring, not Roberts.  Cersei is a total bitch too; everything she does just makes me want to punch her.  She is easily one of the most villainous characters of the series and Lena Headey does a great job of making her sinister, but also subtle, so you don’t really notice it at first.  Then she’ll do something, like randomly ask Sansa if she’s gotten her period, and you’ll be like, what? 

Then there’s Jaime.  He’s a really tough character because even though you want to hate him, you end up liking him because his actor is so damnably charismatic.  As is his character in the book but Coster-Waldau makes him so much more than I expected, with his swagger and confidence.  I was so glad to see him captured and treated roughly after all of the evil things he did.  But damn him, I still liked him.  Well, the incest still grosses me out, but I blame that on Cersei.  Cersei is calling the shots, and always has been, even though at the beginning it seems like Jaime is the dominant one.  She even says at one point that the Targaryens married brother to sister over the 300 years since their conquest to keep the bloodline pure (super gross), but the Targaryens are shown to have magical properties about them.  Like when Daenerys withstand high levels of heat, like being able to stand right in the fire.  I just want to slap her and be like you’re not magic!   You’re lucky those children don’t have some serious defect!  Jaime is actually a good example of an anti-hero, where he was villainous, but events turn him into a hero.  I won’t say what those events are, because a good bulk of them happens in book 3, but you can see it even from this early stage. 
I guess you want to know what I think about Tyrion Lannister, aka the Imp, played by Peter Dinklage, after I talked about his older brother and sister.  There’s not much to say that hasn’t been said really.  The man won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for the role, and even though I don’t care too much about awards shows, I do respect the fact that he won.  What I like about him is, being a dwarf, he’s had to rely on his wits his whole life, and because of that, he seems like he’ll be the one to win the 'game of thrones', as it were.  My other two candidates who most likely to “win” are Peter Baelish (played by Aidan Gillen) and Daenerys Targaryen (played by newcomer Emelia Clark,).

Peter Baelish has got to be one of if not my most favorite character.  For me there’s a three-way tie between him, Tyrion Lannister, and Jora Mormont, although I do genuinely like every character in this series.  Baelish, aka Littlefinger, is the Minister of Finance.  He was a lower noble that worked his way up to the king’s council.  He is in love with Caitlyn Stark and when he was a young teen fought Ned’s older brother for the right to wed her, but lost and was given a massive scar from his navel to his collar bone.  I love how the costume designer took that knowledge and gave him costumes with high necklines that also made him look so uptight, and then we find out he owns several brothels.  The reason I like this guy is not only because Gillen is so good at being a somewhat friendly councilman, to almost flipping a switch to become a backstabber, but because everything Baelish says or does says doesn’t seem important, until it is.  If you’ve read the books, you know what I mean, and if not, go read the books. 

This is where I get to those in the Dothraki side of the story and the audience is introduced to the other major player in the game of thrones, Daenerys Targaryen.  Notable characters who are part of her storyline are her husband Kahl Drogo (played by Jason Momoa), her brother Viserys Targaryen (played by Harry Lloyd) and Jora Mormont (played by Ian Glen).  Yes, Jora is the Knight Commander of the Night’s Watch’s son, and yes both Glen and Lloyd were both in some of the better Doctor Who episodes.  Though, not the same ones unfortunately.  That would have been awesome though.  I’ll be honest, Jason Momoa impressed me so much in his role as Khal Drogo that I went and saw Conan in theatres.  That movie did not do him credit, man was it awful. 

What I like about Daenerys’ storyline is that not only does it give us the most magic and character drama, it is centred around Daenerys (of course), who is a strong, albeit young, determined female ruler.  Honestly speaking I think that the Song of Ice and Fire series portrays women very well and I’m surprised to hear that a lot of critics say it’s just for men and centered around male characters.  Yes there are a lot of nude scenes with women, but there are a lot of nude scenes with men too.  And not all of them sexual, on both sides of the gender coin.  I think it comes from the whores, but honestly, if you want a semi-accurate portrayal of medieval life, or, hell, any time before the Victorian period, there’s going to be brothels.  Then there are the strong and intelligent female leads, who don’t have to compromise their femininity.  (With the exception of Arya, who has actively said she doesn’t want to be a court lady, but I think that’s more her railing against what society expects her to be, being a noble’s daughter.)  Daenerys being the conqueror, Sansa dealing with torture, Caitlyn being a noblewoman that generals listen to,  hell, even Cersei is a strong female character, even if she is power-hungry and despicable.  In later books we are introduced to even more strong female characters.  If the sex and nudity is what bothers someone watching this show they should a) not watch it cuz they’re too squeamish and b) stop being so shallow and look under the surface a little bit.
Now, I’m sure you’re probably wondering why Jora Mormont is one of my favorite characters.  Other than the fact I like his actor, who was an excellent choice to cast in the roll of the middle aged exiled knight, his character is appreciably multilayered.  He has a colorful past that’s always present, but you can also see him change as his love for Daenerys grows, even with his advanced age compared to other characters.  I’m also a bit of hopeless romantic, because (spoiler) his love is sadly one-sided for most of the book series.

I loved the costume and set design, especially the knight’s armor and the iron throne made of swords.  The music is beautiful and I can see it becoming iconic.  This is actually one of the few shows where I genuinely enjoy the opening sequence, which, unlike True Blood or Dexter, continues to be interesting because it, being a map, changes depending on where the characters are situated in the episode.  It also has really cool animations.  So, that’s my thoughts on Season one.  Even though I’ve read all of the books to date I’m still super exited for what Season 2 will bring, with its promise of more battles, more drama, and dragons!  Half the fun of watching a series or movie based on a novel series you like is seeing what they’ve changed.  See you next week with the review of the season premiere!

Game of Thrones is owned and produced by HBO, and A Song of Ice and Fire is owned and written by George R. R. Martin.

Wednesday 21 March 2012

Weekly Recap

This week's review/ vlog is late because I am sick.  So much so that I have lost my voice and I've pretty much slept straight through since Saturday.  But I did watch the finale of Walking Dead, as well as the new episodes of Once Upon a Time and Breakout Kings.  I've also watched all of the episodes of Spartacus: Blood and Sands, which include Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, and Spartacus: Vengeance.  Like I said, I'm really very sick, so this is going to be very brief.  And point form-ish.

The Walking Dead:  I have one thing to say.  And if you have read the comics there is one thing in the season finale that made you jump out of your seat and scream 'yes'!  Or clap a lot in my case because I'm sick.  And that one thing is the introduction of Michonne!  The awesome chick with a katana and two zombies (minus their arms and lower jaws) on leashes!  Everything else in this episode pales in comparison.  

Once Upon a Time: I'm honestly losing interest in this show, but it comes on after Walking Dead, and before the auto-rerun of Breakout Kings, so it's no skin off my back to watch it.  I still like Rumpelstiltskin, but the rest of the town is just boring.  A mystery show only really works if they know exactly where they're going with the plot, but you can see this show is both syndicated and episodic, so the writing is waiting for the big company to tell them where they can go and when they can go there.  Which leads to a lot of filler.

Breakout Kings: Although this show is also episodic, it makes sense that it is because of the show's set up.  Also, each episode brings more to the forefront, and the stakes to the characters are always important and very present.  The main plot is also not predicated on a mystery, which works well in its favor.  Everything seems up to the minute, and the characters have a chance to be both reactionary and productive, though mostly reactionary because of the show's base plot, where they go and catch criminals when they break out of jail, which isn't a bad thing.  This episode gave insight to Julia's past and skills, but also her deep psychological problems, and how she finally asked Lloyd for help.  Of course, the commercials have to ruin it for us by showing her kiss Lloyd in a future episode, but when Doctor Who did that when they showed River Song in that eye patch thing, the reason for it turned out to be way different than we expected, so it could still be a little bit of a surprise.

Spartacus: If you haven't watched this show, go and watch it, I dare you.  I love how this show is like a more elegant version of 300.  Yes, you read that right, I said Spartacus was elegant.  And I mean it.  Yeah, there's a ton of sex and gore, like Caligula level of sex and gore, just short of being a hardcore porn.  I'll be honest, I was expecting to see full frontal nudity on women, but I was pleasantly surprised to see there was more on men, and in not specifically sexual moments.  There's even one scene where two guys fight each other nude.  It's great to see something that's a (somewhat) historical portrayal of ancient Roman society.  As for it being like 300, it's either a complete rip-off or a soul sequel.  Every episode has slow-mo action, cartoonish blood, cgi gore, slow-mo sex, etc.  It even has a couple of the same actors.  This show works a lot better here because there is a lot less cgi and a lot more color, and the acting and plot is quite a bit better.  Also, Lucy Lawless!  In nude scenes!  Did that get your attention?

Now I'm going to sleep, because despite I haven't talked yet today, my throat is killing me.  See you next week!

Friday 16 March 2012

Kaylee (Firefly) Cosplay - Part 1

I've been bouncing a couple ideas back and forth for what costume I'm going to make for Emerald City Comicon, and my friend and I have finally come up with doing Firefly characters.  She will be doing Inara and I will be doing Kaylee, for which my production sketch is shown below:


In my opinion no cosplay should be exact for several reasons: its not personal or creative enough, the original was either cobbled together from what the designer found or had on hand, or it was a drawing that either was inconceivable in the real world or not detailed enough to be interesting.  Don't get me wrong, I understand that if you change the costume too much it's not the character anymore, but to me it's the essence of the character that counts.  So that's what I've done here with my Trikucian as Kaylee.  

On Kaylee's coveralls she has several appliques.  I've found different ones that would work, as well as some old pillow covers I'll cannibalize for their embroidery.  It's the sort of thing that would have worked for her thrifty character anyways.  I will have videos up relatively soon of my process of constructing the costume, as well as of me wearing it at the convention.  I'll also wear one of my tie-dyes under the coveralls both to save money and give it a personal flair.

As for the drawing, I personally like drawing it out and then coloring it in by hand, rather than on the PC like my other art pieces, so I can have a feeling for the costume.  It helps me work out how I'm going to pattern it out and put it all together.  I commonly make the patterns for my costumes, but in this case it will be easy because I'll be making it nice and baggy, with a little bit of elastic in the back.  Again, I know that's not exactly how it was in the show, but I have a curvier figure than Jewel Staite.  

That's another thing I noticed, is that when someone is cosplaying a western character people are less rigid about exactitude.  I think they really should be about Japanese characters as well, but that's how cosplay has evolved today, and that's something I really do think makes it less creative and more a hobby of perfectionism.  I look at creativity as bringing something new to the table, and a lot of cosplays I see are either just copies of artwork or of how other people did it.  I appreciate the work that went into those pieces, don't get me wrong, and they can be very beautiful, but I want to see people put their own flair into the project.  Those are the best costumes in my opinion.

Monday 12 March 2012

Weekly Recap V-Log 03/12/12



In this v-log I talk about Mass Effect 3 (without spoilers) and how I don't mind admitting my newbage at certain videogames, The Lorax, Breakout Kings, and The Walking Dead.  I also show off my new knitting projects, cuz I'm a dork.

Knitting Mania!

Somehow, in the space of one day, I finished two more toques!  



This toque was more of an experiment in stocking stitch but it's still wearable.  Stocking stitch really should be only two or three wide.




This is the same pattern as the Jayne toque.  This one turned out a lot better because the yarn was thicker and I followed the pattern where I put the stocking stitch for the headband section.  All of the yarn in this was also at least 30 years old.



Saturday 10 March 2012

Jayne (Firefly) Toque


In getting geared up for Emerald City Comicon I've knitted myself a Jayne toque (beanie for those not from Canada) from Firefly.


I do realize that mine is better made than the show, but I'm happy I got the colors right.  This is also the first time I've knitted anything in years, and my first hat.  I'm quite proud of myself, even if it is simplistic.  Even thought the pattern called for a stocking stitch I got lazy and just did the standard knit/ purl stitch, the one that you see on everything from t-shirts to sweaters.  The edging is done by crocheting.




You can see the different layers and pom-pom in this view.  This is also the first time I've made a pom-pom. The three colors of yarn are different widths, but I think it looks alright, especially considering the toque is intended to be Jayne's from Firefly.

So, yet again, my plans have changed for as to what costume I am going to make.  Because Mass Effect 3 hit me really hard, being one of the best written pieces of literature in any form I have experienced, I want to do my best making one of the main characters, probably Liara or a female Shepard.  Anyways, I'm definitely going to make a Kaylee from Firefly, and my friend is going to be an Inara.  I will also have this toque at the ready.  I'm still astounded I made it in one day.