I wouldn't consider myself a big television fan. Up until a few years ago, there really weren't any shows I consistently watched every week. The Simpsons had ceased to be a great show years ago, and even South Park and Family Guy weren't the shows they once were. Basically the only shows I watched religiously were The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.
Then one day my girlfriend (now wife) and I were walking around Best Buy and came across the season 1 box set of "Lost" on blu-ray. "Lost" was a popular topic of conversation around my workplace, and Katie had heard good things about it too, so we decided to give it a shot. We started watching it that night, and in just a few weeks we had finished all five seasons. We finished the season 5 blu-ray just in time to watch the sixth and final season air live. Strange (and nerdy) as it sounds, I believe "Lost" helped bring us together as a couple. We often stayed up late into the night to watch just one more episode. The show's riveting and sometimes confusing plot also provided us endless conversations and debates as we tried to unravel its mysteries. I had definitely never seen a show like "Lost" before.
Once the final season concluded, most "Lost" fans tried to look for another show to fill the void. I tried watching "The Event", "Terra Nova", and "Alcatraz", only to be disappointed by all of them. "Fringe" turned out to be an excellent show for a while, but I am finding myself severely disappointed by the current season. I plan to ride it out and see how it ends, but the show is sadly turning into a shadow of its former self. Out of boredom a few nights ago, I decided to go back and watch the "Lost" pilot. I ended up watching four episodes that night and finished the entire first season just a few hours ago. Needless to say, I'm hooked again.
"Lost" is not a perfect show, but it's the closest thing that I've ever seen. Even knowing how it all turns out, I'm still absolutely mesmerized while re-watching it. The characters, the story, the acting, even the music is top-notch. While my knowledge of current and recent TV shows is admittedly limited, "Lost" absolutely blows everything else out of the water. I can't recommend it highly enough for anyone looking for good television. It's part drama, part mystery, part sci-fi, and all awesome.
Also, Nathan Fillion is in one episode. That was pretty cool.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Monday, November 24, 2008
Maybe I'm just new to this whole videogame thing, but this, to me, might be considered kind of a step backwards, wouldn't you say?
So reading Ty's post about Final Fantasy music got me to thinking about what my least favorite RPG is. I had to think about it for a couple minutes, but then it hit me like a freight train. I absolutely do not like Lost Odyssey one bit. I think while I was investing fifty hours of my life playing it, I tried to convince myself that I was having fun, but ultimately when I look back it was just long, boring, and incredibly cliched.
To start with, the massive number of characters in the game could have easily been cut in half and had little or no impact on the story. Aside from having little story relevance, I wanted to punch Cooke and Mack in the face every time they went crazy over Seth. OH MY GOD!!! SHE'S A PIRATE!!! Plus it seemed like in about every other cut scene, one or both of them was whining about being tired or scared. IT'S A FREAKING EPIC QUEST TO SAVE THE WORLD!!! GROW UP OR GO HOME!!! I also never really was able to pin down Ming's reason for existence. She's the Queen of Numara and coincidentally she's also an immortal. But why? So there can be another one? I don't get it. Also, her romantic scenes with Jansen were cringe-inducing. Why either of them were interested in the other is bewildering to say the least. I guess it's so the game could have a love story. Oddly enough the only character I did occasionally enjoy watching was Jansen, when he wasn't fawning over Ming anyway. Kaim, Seth, Sarah, and the rest were either boring, unnecessary, or both.
Second, the music was utterly and completely forgettable. There wasn't a single song that caught my attention. It's not that the music was bad, it's that music in an RPG is supposed to grab you and immerse you in the story. I will always remember the music that played when Aeris was killed, when Sorceress Edea was introduced, and when Tidus and Yuna said goodbye to each other. I couldn't even try to tell you the music that played during the few pivotal moments of Lost Odyssey. Perhaps Final Fantasy has set the bar too a little high for music in an RPG, but Lost Odyssey fell woefully short.
Now for probably my biggest gripe with Lost Oddysey. Gongora is without a doubt the worst villain I have ever seen in a videogame. He is a walking, talking, cackling, cliche. There have been villains just like him, only better, in several Disney movies. The King's loyal advisor is obviously a bad dude, but no can see it until the world is on the brink of annihilation. Scar from The Lion King, Jafar from Aladdin, even Yzma from The Emperor's New Groove are all just like Gongora except they were voiced much better and are much more interesting to watch. Villains are paramount to the story in RPG's. You have to truly want to defeat the bad guy to invest forty or more hours trying to reach him. In the case of Lost Odyssey, I just didn't care enough about Gongora. Due to my apathy and the recommendation of friends, I'm not going to even bother defeating him. I just don't care. That's the sign of a pretty ineffective villain and a pretty ineffective game.
I really really wanted to like Lost Odyssey. I tried to convince myself that I was having a good time, but after taking a couple weeks off for reflection, I can see that it really just wasn't a very good game. The pointless and annoying characters, lackluster music, and a painfully bad villain add up to make a pretty disappointing experience. Now where's my copy of Final Fantasy X?
To start with, the massive number of characters in the game could have easily been cut in half and had little or no impact on the story. Aside from having little story relevance, I wanted to punch Cooke and Mack in the face every time they went crazy over Seth. OH MY GOD!!! SHE'S A PIRATE!!! Plus it seemed like in about every other cut scene, one or both of them was whining about being tired or scared. IT'S A FREAKING EPIC QUEST TO SAVE THE WORLD!!! GROW UP OR GO HOME!!! I also never really was able to pin down Ming's reason for existence. She's the Queen of Numara and coincidentally she's also an immortal. But why? So there can be another one? I don't get it. Also, her romantic scenes with Jansen were cringe-inducing. Why either of them were interested in the other is bewildering to say the least. I guess it's so the game could have a love story. Oddly enough the only character I did occasionally enjoy watching was Jansen, when he wasn't fawning over Ming anyway. Kaim, Seth, Sarah, and the rest were either boring, unnecessary, or both.
Second, the music was utterly and completely forgettable. There wasn't a single song that caught my attention. It's not that the music was bad, it's that music in an RPG is supposed to grab you and immerse you in the story. I will always remember the music that played when Aeris was killed, when Sorceress Edea was introduced, and when Tidus and Yuna said goodbye to each other. I couldn't even try to tell you the music that played during the few pivotal moments of Lost Odyssey. Perhaps Final Fantasy has set the bar too a little high for music in an RPG, but Lost Odyssey fell woefully short.
Now for probably my biggest gripe with Lost Oddysey. Gongora is without a doubt the worst villain I have ever seen in a videogame. He is a walking, talking, cackling, cliche. There have been villains just like him, only better, in several Disney movies. The King's loyal advisor is obviously a bad dude, but no can see it until the world is on the brink of annihilation. Scar from The Lion King, Jafar from Aladdin, even Yzma from The Emperor's New Groove are all just like Gongora except they were voiced much better and are much more interesting to watch. Villains are paramount to the story in RPG's. You have to truly want to defeat the bad guy to invest forty or more hours trying to reach him. In the case of Lost Odyssey, I just didn't care enough about Gongora. Due to my apathy and the recommendation of friends, I'm not going to even bother defeating him. I just don't care. That's the sign of a pretty ineffective villain and a pretty ineffective game.
I really really wanted to like Lost Odyssey. I tried to convince myself that I was having a good time, but after taking a couple weeks off for reflection, I can see that it really just wasn't a very good game. The pointless and annoying characters, lackluster music, and a painfully bad villain add up to make a pretty disappointing experience. Now where's my copy of Final Fantasy X?
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
WARNING: I am talking about baseball here
I'm pretty sure that no one who will read this cares about baseball, but I need to rant...
While not on the same level as the Broncos or Avs, I've been a fairly big Rockies fan since they came into existence back in 1993. For a long while after that, most fans in Denver were simply happy to have a professional baseball team and didn't particularly care that the team wasn't any good. The team was entertaining to watch, and due to the thin air of Denver, finals scores at Mile High Stadium and Coors field often more closely resembled football scores than baseball ones. Sandwiched in between several losing seasons, we even had one wild card berth to cling to. Besides, we could always take solace in the fact that at least we weren't the Montreal Expos.
Finally however, after about a decade dominated largely by futility, fans finally had enough and stopped coming in droves to Rockies games. In the first couple years of their existence, 76,000 people would cram into Mile High Stadium to see a game. That enthusiasm carried over to Coors Field, where their brand new 45,000 seat stadium was consistently full. From about 2002 to late 2007 however, the Rockies poor play often resulted in them playing in front of sparse crowds. High priced free agents like Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle were brought in to try to solve the team's woes, but these attempts ended up being spectacular failures.
Woeful as these years may have been though, Rockies' ownership kept telling the fans to be patient. Aside from veteran mainstay Todd Helton, the Rockies had many young promising players like Jeff Francis, Aaron Cook, Brad Hawpe, Garret Hopkins, and a very talented young left fielder named Matt Holliday. As difficult as it was for fans to buy into to this plea for patience, it was obvious that if these players developed and matured and predicted, it wouldn't be long before the team started to improve.
Finally in 2007, the payoff happened. The team muddled through the first 3/4 of the year, hovering around the .500 mark for most of the year before finally catching fire in September, sweeping their way through the NLDS and NLCS, before finally running out of steam against a superior team in the World Series. Though their incredible run was great team effort, there was no question that Matt Holliday was the catalyst. He had clearly supplanted Helton as the best player on the team, and finished second in a very close race for National League MVP. Rockies owners Dick and Charlie Monfort took the World Series appearance as evidence that their plan had worked. Their young players, led by Holliday, had matured and turned the team into a championship contender.
Then 2008 came around and due to injuries, sub-par play, and perhaps heightened expectations, the Rockies faltered. After this disappointing season ended, the scapegoating began. The Monforts publicly blamed the Rockies poor season on the alleged distraction that Matt Holiday's contract situation had brought. Holliday's contract was set to expire after the 2009 season, and it was expected he would command a contract of well over $100 million when he became a free agent. It was pretty widely known that the Rockies were not willing to pay this high price tag.
Well, the Rockies put and end to the distraction yesterday by trading Holliday to Oakland for three players of little to no repute. Perhaps one or two of them will become serviceable players, but the chances of any of them becoming stars of Holliday's stature are remote at best. The poster child for the team's master plan is gone. Fans had been told for years to be patient, because players like Matt Holliday will become superstars before long and the team will start winning. Well, finally that did happen, and they decided to trade him rather than pay him.
You can't have it both ways, Rockies! You can't tell fans to be patient and wait for these young players to get good, and then trade them for cheaper players when they do. From all indications, Garrett Atkins will be the next one to be traded. Ownership obviously has no real desire to build a winning team. If they want to be a franchise that is interested only in turning a profit, then fine. There are lots of owners is sports with that philosophy. In the end, sports are a business and if making money is your only true goal, then I am ok with that. What I am not ok with is claiming that you are trying to build a winner, only to dismantle it when it gets too expensive.
Dick and Charlie Monfort are thieves, liars and frauds. The Rockies are headed right back to obscurity and futility where they belong. Until they get different ownership, the Colorado Rockies will always be a major league joke.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/baseball/mlb/11/12/bp.hollidaytrade/index.html
While not on the same level as the Broncos or Avs, I've been a fairly big Rockies fan since they came into existence back in 1993. For a long while after that, most fans in Denver were simply happy to have a professional baseball team and didn't particularly care that the team wasn't any good. The team was entertaining to watch, and due to the thin air of Denver, finals scores at Mile High Stadium and Coors field often more closely resembled football scores than baseball ones. Sandwiched in between several losing seasons, we even had one wild card berth to cling to. Besides, we could always take solace in the fact that at least we weren't the Montreal Expos.
Finally however, after about a decade dominated largely by futility, fans finally had enough and stopped coming in droves to Rockies games. In the first couple years of their existence, 76,000 people would cram into Mile High Stadium to see a game. That enthusiasm carried over to Coors Field, where their brand new 45,000 seat stadium was consistently full. From about 2002 to late 2007 however, the Rockies poor play often resulted in them playing in front of sparse crowds. High priced free agents like Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle were brought in to try to solve the team's woes, but these attempts ended up being spectacular failures.
Woeful as these years may have been though, Rockies' ownership kept telling the fans to be patient. Aside from veteran mainstay Todd Helton, the Rockies had many young promising players like Jeff Francis, Aaron Cook, Brad Hawpe, Garret Hopkins, and a very talented young left fielder named Matt Holliday. As difficult as it was for fans to buy into to this plea for patience, it was obvious that if these players developed and matured and predicted, it wouldn't be long before the team started to improve.
Finally in 2007, the payoff happened. The team muddled through the first 3/4 of the year, hovering around the .500 mark for most of the year before finally catching fire in September, sweeping their way through the NLDS and NLCS, before finally running out of steam against a superior team in the World Series. Though their incredible run was great team effort, there was no question that Matt Holliday was the catalyst. He had clearly supplanted Helton as the best player on the team, and finished second in a very close race for National League MVP. Rockies owners Dick and Charlie Monfort took the World Series appearance as evidence that their plan had worked. Their young players, led by Holliday, had matured and turned the team into a championship contender.
Then 2008 came around and due to injuries, sub-par play, and perhaps heightened expectations, the Rockies faltered. After this disappointing season ended, the scapegoating began. The Monforts publicly blamed the Rockies poor season on the alleged distraction that Matt Holiday's contract situation had brought. Holliday's contract was set to expire after the 2009 season, and it was expected he would command a contract of well over $100 million when he became a free agent. It was pretty widely known that the Rockies were not willing to pay this high price tag.
Well, the Rockies put and end to the distraction yesterday by trading Holliday to Oakland for three players of little to no repute. Perhaps one or two of them will become serviceable players, but the chances of any of them becoming stars of Holliday's stature are remote at best. The poster child for the team's master plan is gone. Fans had been told for years to be patient, because players like Matt Holliday will become superstars before long and the team will start winning. Well, finally that did happen, and they decided to trade him rather than pay him.
You can't have it both ways, Rockies! You can't tell fans to be patient and wait for these young players to get good, and then trade them for cheaper players when they do. From all indications, Garrett Atkins will be the next one to be traded. Ownership obviously has no real desire to build a winning team. If they want to be a franchise that is interested only in turning a profit, then fine. There are lots of owners is sports with that philosophy. In the end, sports are a business and if making money is your only true goal, then I am ok with that. What I am not ok with is claiming that you are trying to build a winner, only to dismantle it when it gets too expensive.
Dick and Charlie Monfort are thieves, liars and frauds. The Rockies are headed right back to obscurity and futility where they belong. Until they get different ownership, the Colorado Rockies will always be a major league joke.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/baseball/mlb/11/12/bp.hollidaytrade/index.html
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
A breath of fresh air
What a concept. Barack Obama purchases a 30 minute time slot on prime time TV and never mentions John McCain once. He re-stated his plan to fix the economy and help working families. He re-stated his plan to re-focus America's military on Afghanistan and Al Qaeda. He once again proved he is the right man to lead America out of the previous 8 year nightmare. I've never seen evidence in this election that John McCain or Sarah Palin is capable of speaking for 10 seconds without attacking their opponent, much less 3o minutes. If anyone still needed proof that Barack Obama is a different kind of politician who will bring fresh ideas and attitudes to Washington, tonight was it.
Monday, October 27, 2008
I knew John McCain. Senator, you're no John McCain.
Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to align my views on the left side of the political aisle. I voted for Al Gore, John Kerry, and Barack Obama for president. That being said, partisan bickering and the deeply entrenched two party system in this country absolutely disgusts me. Our leaders in Washington rarely make decisions in our best interest. Rather, politicians toe their respective party lines, cozy up to lobbyists and special interests, and only worry about their constituents when they are trying to get re-elected. I don't believe Democrats are any less guilty of this than Republicans are.
However, one politician seemed to at least be trying to rise above all that. When I truly started paying attention to politics in the late 90's, John McCain really stood out to me. He seemed genuinely interested in reaching across party lines to get things done. Even my liberal political science professors at CU seemed impressed by him, citing things such as McCain's alliance with Democrat Russ Feingold to pass campaign finance reform. I remember he was even being mentioned as a possible running mate for John Kerry in 2004. Certainly McCain was a Republican and a conservative, but I was extremely impressed by his apparent willingness and desire to ignore party affiliation in order to get things done. In a political climate that bred bitter hostility between Republicans and Democrats, John McCain really seemed to be living up to his maverick label that he clings to so dearly today. Back then, I remember thinking that he was a Republican I could see myself for some day.
This respect that I once had for John McCain only makes the man I see today all the more frustrating and disappointing. While his politics have certainly shifted far right in an attempt to appeal to the Republican base, it's the disintegration of his morals and decency that I find the most disgusting. He attacked Barack Obama for his lack of experience and celebrity-like popularity, only to choose a running mate who isn't qualified to run a Starbucks, much less America. He attacked George W. Bush for using robo calls in the 2000 primary, only to use exactly the same dirty tactic against Obama in this election. In the last few weeks, McCain has relentlessly tried to make voters believe that Obama has terrorists ties and is trying to rig the election. His running mate has even been giving speeches at rallies in which she claims their supporters are part of the "real America." These rallies have also been incredibly frightening due to blatantly ignorant and blatantly dangerous words shouted by many of his supporters. Neither McCain nor Palin have tried to stop this hate speech, claiming that every candidate has some "fringe" supporters. I guess McCain realizes that voters don't want another four years of the same failed leadership, so he figured his best chance of winning is to paint Obama as un-American, a cheater, and a terrorist. The John McCain I used to know would not stoop to these disgusting stunts to win an election. I can't even recall seeing a McCain TV ad that wasn't partially or completely an attack on Obama. Attack ads are a part of any election and Obama has used them too, but John McCain has taken it to a whole new level.
Anyone who closely follows politics in America today has to be at least a little jaded. The vast majority of politicians blindly follow their party, viciously attack the opposing party, and do anything and everything to get elected. Actually helping the American people is usually an afterthought. I thought John McCain was different. I thought John McCain was a "maverick." I still cling to hope that should be be elected president and he no longer has to win over voters, he will revert to the good man I thought I knew. More than that though, I hope Barack Obama wins and I'll never have to find out.
However, one politician seemed to at least be trying to rise above all that. When I truly started paying attention to politics in the late 90's, John McCain really stood out to me. He seemed genuinely interested in reaching across party lines to get things done. Even my liberal political science professors at CU seemed impressed by him, citing things such as McCain's alliance with Democrat Russ Feingold to pass campaign finance reform. I remember he was even being mentioned as a possible running mate for John Kerry in 2004. Certainly McCain was a Republican and a conservative, but I was extremely impressed by his apparent willingness and desire to ignore party affiliation in order to get things done. In a political climate that bred bitter hostility between Republicans and Democrats, John McCain really seemed to be living up to his maverick label that he clings to so dearly today. Back then, I remember thinking that he was a Republican I could see myself for some day.
This respect that I once had for John McCain only makes the man I see today all the more frustrating and disappointing. While his politics have certainly shifted far right in an attempt to appeal to the Republican base, it's the disintegration of his morals and decency that I find the most disgusting. He attacked Barack Obama for his lack of experience and celebrity-like popularity, only to choose a running mate who isn't qualified to run a Starbucks, much less America. He attacked George W. Bush for using robo calls in the 2000 primary, only to use exactly the same dirty tactic against Obama in this election. In the last few weeks, McCain has relentlessly tried to make voters believe that Obama has terrorists ties and is trying to rig the election. His running mate has even been giving speeches at rallies in which she claims their supporters are part of the "real America." These rallies have also been incredibly frightening due to blatantly ignorant and blatantly dangerous words shouted by many of his supporters. Neither McCain nor Palin have tried to stop this hate speech, claiming that every candidate has some "fringe" supporters. I guess McCain realizes that voters don't want another four years of the same failed leadership, so he figured his best chance of winning is to paint Obama as un-American, a cheater, and a terrorist. The John McCain I used to know would not stoop to these disgusting stunts to win an election. I can't even recall seeing a McCain TV ad that wasn't partially or completely an attack on Obama. Attack ads are a part of any election and Obama has used them too, but John McCain has taken it to a whole new level.
Anyone who closely follows politics in America today has to be at least a little jaded. The vast majority of politicians blindly follow their party, viciously attack the opposing party, and do anything and everything to get elected. Actually helping the American people is usually an afterthought. I thought John McCain was different. I thought John McCain was a "maverick." I still cling to hope that should be be elected president and he no longer has to win over voters, he will revert to the good man I thought I knew. More than that though, I hope Barack Obama wins and I'll never have to find out.
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