Angst aside I have been meaning to write about this particular series of films.
We're onto number five by this point I believe.
The Fast and the Furious
2Fast 2Furious
Tokyo Drift
Fast and Furious
(I don't know the new title...it has the Rock in it though)
Now I have a dislike towards these films, with the exception of the third one. I'll get more into why I actually like Tokyo Drift.
Now the main draw of these films is the fast cars, thrilling "races", and attractive women...and to some Vin Diesel being there.
My major problem has been these seem to be marketed and advertised (at least at first) as a fancy movie about tuned cars street racing. However, behind all the fancy paint jobs and unnecessary body work on these cars is an action movie with car chases.
So if you removed the fancy tuned cars you'd pretty much have the same movie. Speaking of the same movie after seeing the fourth movie in theaters I walked out and realized that it is pretty much the same as the first movie.
Paul Walker goes undercover to infiltrate this underground gang who happens to street race. I'm probably missing a few other elements but I just couldn't help but think about how similar these were.
They function well as popcorn flicks and I can see the appeal to the mass public. From that standpoint I have to respect the creators for going with such a formula.
Before I go on...I'm bitter at how they destroyed my favorite car, the Nissan Skyline GT-R R34, in the second and fourth movie. That is NOT okay by me.
But enough about those, let me explain why I like Tokyo Drift over the rest of them (though I can't speak for the newest one since I haven't seen that)
This movie focused more on actual street racing and didn't involve any undercover cop story or anything like that. It was about a teenager making his way in his new life in Japan and living out his love of street racing. Sure it had the mafia getting involved after awhile, but it still had racing in the forefront with the main character learning how to drift and race on the mountains of Japan.
I just liked the main character. He had a likable personality for me and eventually learned what kind of person he was by the end of the film.
The races themselves focused on actual driving talent instead of hitting sick jumps and using the NOS button and other bullshit from the other films. It just felt like a racing movie to me. I hope they make another film like that (doesn't have to be in the Fast and Furious franchise).
So my basic summary is my main gripe with this franchise is how they seem to want to make it about fast cars and racing it seems like they feature that to draw you in.
However! And I feel this is a big however. The previews I've seen for the newer movie don't seem to feature much street racing at all but just featuring car chases and other crap like that so maybe they've dropped the whole street racing angle of these movies. I don't plan to see the new movie, but maybe they proved me wrong on this one.
Just my thoughts. Nothing more.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
The World of Warcraft
Originally I was going to post something different but felt that this subject would be more interesting I think.
The inspiration for this comes mainly from seeing a review of the new expansion for WoW and hearing about my friends who still play it back on New Years Eve.
Currently, I do not play World of Warcraft but I used to as many of my friends know. I'm going to describe my experiences playing it and my overall opinion of the game itself. Not meant as a review but more as an impression of it.
I never planned to play it. I thought it would be boring and I wouldn't enjoy it. I had never played an MMO and my friends were all at the level cap (with several different characters in some cases) so I didn't think I'd have fun.
Lucky for me the Mac can run it and my Mac mini actually managed to run the game at a good pace with fairly good graphical output. Learning all the controls at first was tricky but I eventually grew into it.
Starting the game was simple enough though to this day I have no idea what the overall story of the game is. I began as a female human Mage. I wanted something simple to deal with. I had health and mana and would learn offensive spells and other cool things. Worked for me!
The combat engine was something silly, but that's just an MMO thing I think. Yahtzee described it best as you walk up to a monster and kick him in the shins, then he kicks yours back, and you repeat this until one of you dies, usually the one with the smallest pair of boots.
That's how the combat seemed to go for me mostly. At least during the earliest levels it does.
Leveling at the start of the game isn't too hard and exploring the vast world is very fun. Even when I had no goal in mind just knowing that I had the option to just walk wherever I could (until killed by a deadly monster) was very cool. That sort of open world appealed to me.
Once I could enter instances it didn't get very different. I mainly ran through with all my high level friends as they got me good gear for my character. I didn't feel I was earning any of that. I remember going through one with equal level players and I got this cool black robe from the boss, but I barely contributed during the battle so I didn't feel like I earned that.
On the other hand I think it sucks to run through an instance and lose a roll for something good. You could wind up empty handed which I didn't really care for.
Once I got higher level and figured out how to spend my talent points and fight my way around places the game did get a little more enjoyable. I was mostly by myself and playing instances with random players which didn't help me much.
I did like teaming up on mobs of monsters with each player having a role in combat. I'd usually turn one monster into a sheep and keep him that way until the rest were subdued and then we'd all go nuts. That was fun to work in that manner. I just wish I knew these people or played on a regular basis.
That was my underlying problem with the game, I rarely played with my friends. I can't remember why that was either. Maybe they wanted me to level up to 70 (the cap at the time) by myself and then be able to join them on the fun parts of the game.
I never got beyond level 64. I just couldn't play by myself and didn't really know people to help me with things. The matchmaking didn't help me either. There were just several quests that I simply couldn't find people to help with and I wasn't about to grind my way up the last six levels. Plus I spent 8 hours in one instance (Blackrock Mountains? something like that) and I did nothing. All that time and I didn't do a single quest. I didn't like that.
I just felt I was missing out on the really fun parts of the game. Maybe if I stuck it out to level 70 I might have been able to play some fun instances with friends but that didn't work out for me.
I really didn't care much about my role in the game. I'd make portals for free in the towns. I had enough gold for most things and didn't even really find myself needing to buy things so I didn't care about getting paid for making portals. I did take money when offered sometimes, but I'd just make a portal for the hell of it sometimes.
I am a little sad I never got to experience the really large scale raids and such with large groups working together to take down the most dangerous monsters and bosses. I watched my friend MJ do some of those and they looked confusing as all hell with the amount of stuff going on at once, but the fact that this group of players were all working together and knew what they needed to focus on was really interesting to watch. I just couldn't process everything that was happening to understand it myself.
Would I go back and play?
Well...not sure I'd want to invest that much time and money. I surely could if I wanted to, but would I really want to start over again from scratch? I have a feeling I'd run into the same problems. I'd be low low level and all my friends would have their Level 85 characters running about while I struggle to play catch up.
I guess the answer is no then. I can't expect them to babysit me while I try to catch up to them and it would take me far too long to reach that level. It took me several months to reach Level 64.
While I think WoW is a fun game I just think the amount of time needed to reach the "fun" part of the game takes too long, at least for me. So I guess if you can glean anything from my ramblings here is that I don't think WoW is the game for me. I do love the scope and interactivity of it, but the overall grind is just something I can't fully enjoy I think.
As for addiction to it...I wouldn't blame the game for that. You could easily find someone addicted to Halo or Call of Duty. I mean, WoW does offer a lot more to get addicted to but I think it boils down to the person having pre-existing addictive tendencies in their behavior. That's just the Psychologist in me talking I guess.
The inspiration for this comes mainly from seeing a review of the new expansion for WoW and hearing about my friends who still play it back on New Years Eve.
Currently, I do not play World of Warcraft but I used to as many of my friends know. I'm going to describe my experiences playing it and my overall opinion of the game itself. Not meant as a review but more as an impression of it.
I never planned to play it. I thought it would be boring and I wouldn't enjoy it. I had never played an MMO and my friends were all at the level cap (with several different characters in some cases) so I didn't think I'd have fun.
Lucky for me the Mac can run it and my Mac mini actually managed to run the game at a good pace with fairly good graphical output. Learning all the controls at first was tricky but I eventually grew into it.
Starting the game was simple enough though to this day I have no idea what the overall story of the game is. I began as a female human Mage. I wanted something simple to deal with. I had health and mana and would learn offensive spells and other cool things. Worked for me!
The combat engine was something silly, but that's just an MMO thing I think. Yahtzee described it best as you walk up to a monster and kick him in the shins, then he kicks yours back, and you repeat this until one of you dies, usually the one with the smallest pair of boots.
That's how the combat seemed to go for me mostly. At least during the earliest levels it does.
Leveling at the start of the game isn't too hard and exploring the vast world is very fun. Even when I had no goal in mind just knowing that I had the option to just walk wherever I could (until killed by a deadly monster) was very cool. That sort of open world appealed to me.
Once I could enter instances it didn't get very different. I mainly ran through with all my high level friends as they got me good gear for my character. I didn't feel I was earning any of that. I remember going through one with equal level players and I got this cool black robe from the boss, but I barely contributed during the battle so I didn't feel like I earned that.
On the other hand I think it sucks to run through an instance and lose a roll for something good. You could wind up empty handed which I didn't really care for.
Once I got higher level and figured out how to spend my talent points and fight my way around places the game did get a little more enjoyable. I was mostly by myself and playing instances with random players which didn't help me much.
I did like teaming up on mobs of monsters with each player having a role in combat. I'd usually turn one monster into a sheep and keep him that way until the rest were subdued and then we'd all go nuts. That was fun to work in that manner. I just wish I knew these people or played on a regular basis.
That was my underlying problem with the game, I rarely played with my friends. I can't remember why that was either. Maybe they wanted me to level up to 70 (the cap at the time) by myself and then be able to join them on the fun parts of the game.
I never got beyond level 64. I just couldn't play by myself and didn't really know people to help me with things. The matchmaking didn't help me either. There were just several quests that I simply couldn't find people to help with and I wasn't about to grind my way up the last six levels. Plus I spent 8 hours in one instance (Blackrock Mountains? something like that) and I did nothing. All that time and I didn't do a single quest. I didn't like that.
I just felt I was missing out on the really fun parts of the game. Maybe if I stuck it out to level 70 I might have been able to play some fun instances with friends but that didn't work out for me.
I really didn't care much about my role in the game. I'd make portals for free in the towns. I had enough gold for most things and didn't even really find myself needing to buy things so I didn't care about getting paid for making portals. I did take money when offered sometimes, but I'd just make a portal for the hell of it sometimes.
I am a little sad I never got to experience the really large scale raids and such with large groups working together to take down the most dangerous monsters and bosses. I watched my friend MJ do some of those and they looked confusing as all hell with the amount of stuff going on at once, but the fact that this group of players were all working together and knew what they needed to focus on was really interesting to watch. I just couldn't process everything that was happening to understand it myself.
Would I go back and play?
Well...not sure I'd want to invest that much time and money. I surely could if I wanted to, but would I really want to start over again from scratch? I have a feeling I'd run into the same problems. I'd be low low level and all my friends would have their Level 85 characters running about while I struggle to play catch up.
I guess the answer is no then. I can't expect them to babysit me while I try to catch up to them and it would take me far too long to reach that level. It took me several months to reach Level 64.
While I think WoW is a fun game I just think the amount of time needed to reach the "fun" part of the game takes too long, at least for me. So I guess if you can glean anything from my ramblings here is that I don't think WoW is the game for me. I do love the scope and interactivity of it, but the overall grind is just something I can't fully enjoy I think.
As for addiction to it...I wouldn't blame the game for that. You could easily find someone addicted to Halo or Call of Duty. I mean, WoW does offer a lot more to get addicted to but I think it boils down to the person having pre-existing addictive tendencies in their behavior. That's just the Psychologist in me talking I guess.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Blogging in a different location
I'm no stranger to keeping a blog. I'm not as active with it as I used to be with my livejournal in high school, but now that I am older and (hopefully) more mature the ramblings I do here might be more interesting to read.
It is quite fitting I am starting a new blog since the new year has begun.
For those who don't know me, or even for those that do and don't know, I have taken up the name of FATE over the years.
This is mainly a strong influence from the old Playstation game Chrono Cross. There was a character called FATE and his/her role (FATE was depicted as a male character but sometimes referred to as the Goddess of Fate) was quite prominent and represented technology and research as opposed to nature and the elements.
There was an artifact known as the Frozen Flame which was quite legendary in the context of the plot and many thought it would grant power or even wishes and desires to those who found it. FATE had a variation of the Frozen Flame in his Time Fortress, Chronopolis. This is where my alias originates.
Now I've drawn an alter for myself of the same name. This might sound crazy but I believe his behavior and appearance represent parts of me that are dormant. My FATE is more aggressive and assertive and has little to no fear and the utmost confidence. Much like V in V for Vendetta or the Harlequin in the short story "'Repent Harlequin' said the Tick Tock Man"
Enough about me, I'm here mostly to discuss how 2011 began for me.
That Friday of December 31st started okay and uneventful enough. Woke up at 6:30 to reach work by 7:45 in Latham and worked until 4 that afternoon. The bank was quite bustling and with one teller on vacation there were only two of us to handle things. Nothing I'm not used to, as I was originally at a much busier branch and was no stranger to long lines and constant streams of customers.
I left work quite exhausted and came home to shower and make myself look presentable enough. While my hair was drying off, since I have let it grow pretty long, I worked on getting to Prestige Level 2 in the new Call of Duty.
One blueberry turnover later and I'm off to my friend's apartment and ready to have a good time. I got to wear my goggles again and they were quite well received. This is one reason I love this group of friends, we are quite accepting of various things. We can be dissimilar at times but when you think about we are quite similar in many regards. I am happy to say I'm rather comfortable around them.
So I drank, as you'd expect, and managed to hold quite a lot. At least a lot by my standards.
Lots of socializing and catching up with a few people I haven't seen in a long time.
I should attempt to see them more often. I'm just not accustomed to simply dropping in on them. How do I know it isn't a bad time or anything? But I can always message or something beforehand or pitch an idea to them if I think of one.
Sleeping over there was good too. Hadn't done that in a long long time. Didn't get too much sleep but I had enough to make it through the day. I find myself amazed at well I can perform even with a lack of sleep. Guess a positive outlook and a can-do attitude can work wonders.
Getting breakfast with all of them was good stuff too. Even after not seeing these people for a long time I still remember what it's like to be with them and am happy they accept me as one of their own. Just knowing you belong with people is always good.
Not saying I'm some social outcast otherwise, I do have many groups of friends and the feeling is true for those groups also. It's even carried over to internet things (mainly gaming groups with people I never met).
So if you should glean anything from this post is that I'm crazy and have quite the imagination, but that is part of what makes me...me. I'm happy to say I wouldn't change any of that. Also, I will try and spend more time with friends.
I also hope more people read this than my livejournal.
It is quite fitting I am starting a new blog since the new year has begun.
For those who don't know me, or even for those that do and don't know, I have taken up the name of FATE over the years.
This is mainly a strong influence from the old Playstation game Chrono Cross. There was a character called FATE and his/her role (FATE was depicted as a male character but sometimes referred to as the Goddess of Fate) was quite prominent and represented technology and research as opposed to nature and the elements.
There was an artifact known as the Frozen Flame which was quite legendary in the context of the plot and many thought it would grant power or even wishes and desires to those who found it. FATE had a variation of the Frozen Flame in his Time Fortress, Chronopolis. This is where my alias originates.
Now I've drawn an alter for myself of the same name. This might sound crazy but I believe his behavior and appearance represent parts of me that are dormant. My FATE is more aggressive and assertive and has little to no fear and the utmost confidence. Much like V in V for Vendetta or the Harlequin in the short story "'Repent Harlequin' said the Tick Tock Man"
Enough about me, I'm here mostly to discuss how 2011 began for me.
That Friday of December 31st started okay and uneventful enough. Woke up at 6:30 to reach work by 7:45 in Latham and worked until 4 that afternoon. The bank was quite bustling and with one teller on vacation there were only two of us to handle things. Nothing I'm not used to, as I was originally at a much busier branch and was no stranger to long lines and constant streams of customers.
I left work quite exhausted and came home to shower and make myself look presentable enough. While my hair was drying off, since I have let it grow pretty long, I worked on getting to Prestige Level 2 in the new Call of Duty.
One blueberry turnover later and I'm off to my friend's apartment and ready to have a good time. I got to wear my goggles again and they were quite well received. This is one reason I love this group of friends, we are quite accepting of various things. We can be dissimilar at times but when you think about we are quite similar in many regards. I am happy to say I'm rather comfortable around them.
So I drank, as you'd expect, and managed to hold quite a lot. At least a lot by my standards.
Lots of socializing and catching up with a few people I haven't seen in a long time.
I should attempt to see them more often. I'm just not accustomed to simply dropping in on them. How do I know it isn't a bad time or anything? But I can always message or something beforehand or pitch an idea to them if I think of one.
Sleeping over there was good too. Hadn't done that in a long long time. Didn't get too much sleep but I had enough to make it through the day. I find myself amazed at well I can perform even with a lack of sleep. Guess a positive outlook and a can-do attitude can work wonders.
Getting breakfast with all of them was good stuff too. Even after not seeing these people for a long time I still remember what it's like to be with them and am happy they accept me as one of their own. Just knowing you belong with people is always good.
Not saying I'm some social outcast otherwise, I do have many groups of friends and the feeling is true for those groups also. It's even carried over to internet things (mainly gaming groups with people I never met).
So if you should glean anything from this post is that I'm crazy and have quite the imagination, but that is part of what makes me...me. I'm happy to say I wouldn't change any of that. Also, I will try and spend more time with friends.
I also hope more people read this than my livejournal.
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