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It may not look like much, but as far as I know this is the only picture available of the art shown off at Miyamoto's roundtable at E3. Let the Internet matlocking commence.
Throughout the years, Mario has faced off with his nemesis, Bowser, countless times. And from the first time we dueled the spiky behemoth on a rickety bridge over lava, to the time when we booted him into a sun at the center of the galaxy, those epic battles are always accompanied by really, really freaking awesome background themes. The circumstances and motives behind these showdowns have shifted over the lifetime of the Mario series, and the music also changes to fit the situation, giving us everything from head-bangingly intense rock songs to grandiose orchestrated tracks worthy of a blockbuster movie.
However, throughout the long history of Bowser Battles, what music stood above the rest? In this article, Ill be choosing what I believe to be the Top Five Bowser Battle Themes in the Mario series. So without further ado, heres the list:
We didnt really know what to expect when Super Mario 64 first was released. Could the perfect platforming formula that Nintendo had created translate to 3D? Well, if you still had any doubts by the time you reached the end of Koopas Road and saw Bowser in all his evil, polygonal glory, they were quickly dispelled. Bowser was back, and with a bitching rock theme too boot. It starts pretty simply with a very basic drum line that shifts to something more complex once the wailing lead guitar kicks in, and all the layers of the song just click together in a resounding, raw statement of Bowsers intent to kick your pudgy plumber ass. In other words, this song takes the essence of many of the other tracks in this list and distills it down to the rawest components of a great Bowser battle theme.
Number 4 Paper Mario 2: The Thousand-Year Door (Spoilers ahead, but the games been out for over five years now, so if you havent beaten it by now, its really your own fault if the ending is now ruined.)
A lot of the music in Paper Mario 2 was incredible, but for a character that was relegated to comic relief for most of it, Bowser gets what is undeniably one of the best battle themes. The game starts out with Princess Peach getting kidnappedby a bad guy that isnt the King Koopa himself. A majorly pissed-off Bowser then treks across the world trying to kidnap her back, and failing miserably. However, when he decides to take his frustration out on your party in this battle late in the game, it comes at the worst possible moment. Youre in the Very Definitely Final Dungeon, and have just finished a lengthy and difficult fight with the leader of the evil organization that kidnapped Peach. And then Bowser quite literally drops through the ceiling and demands to fight you right then and there while the bad guy escapes with the princess to release a demon to destroy the world.
This song works for the battle so well, because of a weird combination of breakneck speed and sinister instrument effects that sound like one hell of an evil circus. It lets you know that even though Bowser was the butt of jokes through 90% of the game, right now hes poses a very real threat not just to your party, but to the rest of the world. Its this frustration and sense of urgency that really makes the theme stand out.
Once you defeat Bowser for the second time in Super Mario 64, youre probably pretty confident about the final showdown with him at the end of the game. Youve collected all the stars, unlocked everything in the castle, and are ready to defeat the spiky tyrant to get back your princess and eat that cake that youve been looking forward to!
And then you drop down the hole that leads to the final arena and wonder why the lights gotten so weirdand hear the first terrifying chords of this song played on a pipe organ. Not so confident now, huh?
If theres one way to make any song ridiculously epic, throw in a church organ. Ganondorf used it to great effect in Ocarina of Time, and probably learned the trick from this battle. Like the regular Bowser battle theme in this game, the song is simple, with only the organ and no other instrumentation to distract from the legendary showdown occurring between two old and bitter foes.
After Super Mario 64, Bowser lost his credibility as a threat to most gamers, and was reduced to competing in Kart races, board games, and general comic relief. That all changed in Super Mario Galaxy. From the moment he swoops down and rips the Peach and her castle out from the ground and hijacks it into deep space, you know that thismeans war.
But its pretty hard to top a pipe organ in terms of epic battle themes, so what can the composers behind the Super Mario Galaxy soundtrack do to regain that sense of imposing power that we havent seen since the N64?
How about full orchestration, and an ominous choir in the background? Now we have a boss theme that seems more suitable for a Final Fantasy villain than an oversized turtle that hasnt been threatening for nearly a decade. This song lets the player know that Bowser is finally back with a vengeance, and while listening to this song play during the fight, I was cheering on his long-overdue return.
Number 1 Final Bowser Battle: Super Mario World 2: Yoshis Island
It may seem impossible that there is a song out there that can possibly be a better battle theme than the one from Super Mario Galaxy. But really, its almost too easy to make an epic battle theme when you have access to full orchestration and a real-life chorus. With the audio systems on the SNES, you have to focus more on actual song structure and less on sheer dramatic impact. And the final Bowser theme from Yoshis Island pulls it off perfectly.
Like #5 on this list, its a straight-up rock n roll song, but where the themes from Super Mario 64 work with simplicity, this song kicks all restraint to the curb and unleashes the furious power of sheer, unadulterated RAWK. The lead guitar shreds, then drums pound, and then when you think it cant get even better, the rock organ kicks in. Listen to the song in all its face-melting glory here, because there's really nothing more that I can say to describe it effectively:
(It doesnt hurt that the actual battle itself is also one of the best in the Mario series.) read more
((Some minor spoilers for those who havent seen the movie or read the graphic novel.))
This movie is a miracle.
By all rights, fans should hate it and everything it stands for. Zach Snyder has taken source material akin to the Bible a sacred text that was transmitted and recorded as the pure Word of God chopped it up into pieces, then stitched it back together to form some gigantic Frankensteins Monster for the unwashed masses to see in movie theaters.
And, somehow, it works. The Watchmen movie, even though its not perfect (Ill get into some of my personal gripes a little later on), its by far the best adaptation of the graphic novel that we couldve ever (reasonably) hoped for.
Its honestly exactly as a described: imagine the original book as the script itself, and the actors and cameramen and directors shot each panel and scene nearly exactly as you see them. There are some lines spoken by different people, certain scenes switched around (or dropped entirely), and of course the endings different, but the same messages, morals, and characters still ring true. Dr. Manhattan and Laurie on Mars debating the value of human life, Rorschach with the naive psychiatrist, Dan Dreiberg and Hollis Mason reliving the glory days over a couple of beers, all the scenes and moments that are most integral to the story are there. The rest wouldve added far more depth, granted, but the movie as it stands is already saturated with visual symbols, meaningful lines, important foreshadowing building to the apocalyptic conclusion. And I loved it.
Watchmen 101: Never fuck with Rorschach.
Probably one of the best reasons why this movie works can be attributed to the actors in it. Jackie Earle Haley has already drawn rave reviews for his portrayal of heroic sociopath Rorschach, and Im very inclined to agree with them. He utterly dominates every scene hes in, like Heath Ledger did with The Joker in The Dark Knight. He gets the distinctive pattern of speech, the rasping voice, and his escapades around the city throughout the movie will simultaneously have you rooting for the character, but still cringing at the brutality he visits upon the criminal underworld. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is tremendous as the Comedian. As the one actor that I was most familiar with coming into this movie, I was worried about whether I would see the character or the actor merely portraying the character. My worries were unfounded, Jeffrey Dean Morgan completely nails the cynicism, sadism, violence and yet the humanity of the character right from the opening sequence. It takes a lot of talent for someone to play such a cruel character and still have the audience bawling at his funeral.
Patrick Wilson also deserves praise for Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl II, and effortlessly transitions from impotent bachelor playing with his toys to a confident, ass-kicking hero alongside Laurie/Silk Spectre II. Malin Akerman and Billy Crudup (Laurie and Dr. Manhattan) were pretty good as well, but suffered the same problem Christian Bale has playing opposite Ledger as the Joker (yes, another TDK analogy, bear with me here), the other actors were just so good that they kind of get lost and overshadowed comparatively.
And so that leaves Matthew Goode as Ozymandias/Adrian Veidt. Hes drawn a bit of criticism for his role in the movie. Personally, iIts not his acting, its not his obviously-dyed hair, its not the suit with bat-nipples, its simply his presence that I found most jarring about his portrayal. Ozymandias, fitting with the name, is supposed to be an imposing, intimidating, larger-than-life character, and Goode just didnt pull it off. Were told throughout the movie what a mentally and physically strong character Adrian is supposed to be, verbally and through his actions. He dodges bullets, catches bullets and curbstomps his opponents while in the middle of a monologue. But while we see all of this on screen, we never really believe it.
Aside from the characters, Zach Snyder and his team took a few creative liberties when filming this movie. I already mentioned a few scenes are out of order and certain lines are spoken in different places and by different people, but that very rarely interrupts the flow of the story. There was one line at the end that I felt lost some gravitas in the transition, but that may be more of a personal gripe than anything else. In keeping with the apocalyptic theme of war, they also threw in quite a few references to 9/11, as you can clearly see the Twin Towers right outside Adrian Veidts New York office penthouse, and that image crops up a couple more times at the end. Snyders signature 300-style fight choreography also makes an appearance a few times, but its not distracting enough to adversely affect those fight scenes or the movie overall.
Then of course, theres the ending. Yes, it is completely changed from the novel. No, it doesnt suck. In fact, it actually makes more sense in the Watchmen universe than the original did. Blasphemy? Maybe, but Im still impressed at what the directors came up with, and the scene regarding the utter destruction of downtown New York City is just as heart-rending and dramatic as it was originally.
One final gripe I want to address with the movie was a few of the song choices. Some of them perfectly fit into the context theyre used (and in the case of 99 Luft Balloons, possibly the only time its been used in the correct context), but a few hit a sour note (pun very much intended). The lyrics to The Sound of Silence, Hallelujah, and All Along the Watchtower all fit the scenes theyre used in very well, but the songs themselves are so recognizable that their use loses any possible subtlety. I think this is just a problem with the medium rather than directorial decisions. In the original graphic novel, many songs were used as bookends to the chapters and provided themes echoed throughout them, much like these songs do in the movie. But reading those lyrics has a very different effect than listening to them.
So, overall, the movie was amazing. There were a few issues throughout it, but a few minutes worth of distraction and dissonance out of a nearly three-hour feature isnt so bad, and given the monumental task of translating Watchmen to the big screen, Im willing to sacrifice those moments for the emotional, provocative, and downright epic story the rest of the movie constructs.
Five-out-of-five stars. Go. See. This. Movie. read more
((Author's Note: Sorry about the huge wall of text, but I can't find any funny pictures to break up this article. If you want something less wordy and more snarky, check out my review of the movie Resident Evil: Degeneration which unfortunately got buried alive underneath the hug-fest-slash-orgy that erupted that weekend. Thanks!))
One of the biggest reasons why I wanted to buy GH:WT (and pretty much the only reason why it's not gathering dust right now in my basement) originally was for the custom song creator that was announced. The thought of finally sitting down and being able to play kickass rock remixes of video game songs seemed almost good to be true.
Unfortunately, after playing around with it for a bit, that seemed to be the case.
For those not familiar with the feature, let me explain it this way: the game gives you two different options for transcribing notes onto a custom track, using the Live Record, or GH Mix. Live Record allows you and your friends to sit down with the plastic instruments, choose the key you want to use, as well as various effects and kits to get a specific sound. you then proceed to thrash around until you get something that sounds cool. The GH Mix then allows you to go through that track and delete or add notes, loop parts, as well as change the tempo and effects.
This all sounds fun at first, but once actually sit down and try to make a song, the various limitations of the system start to get very frustrating. First of all, the interface is very convoluted and hard to get used to. You really have to spend a lot of time familiarizing yourself with the specific menus and options before you can even hope to sit down with your friends and have a productive jam session. Those hoping just to pick up a guitar or a set of drums and bang out the next "Stairway to Heaven" are out of luck.
In my opinion, the easiest way to write a song is just using the GH Mix feature. It lets you go through and add notes one at a time, which makes transcribing a song a lot easier. Using a plastic guitar to control all the functions is still very clunky and unintuitive like Live Recording, and takes a while to get used to. But once I got the hang of it, I managed to notate the Guitar and Bass parts of the Tetris B theme in about 45 minutes.
Even then, it's very tricky to get around some of the seemingly nonsensical limitations. for example, YOU CAN'T FUCKING WRITE TRIPLETS. They give you options for every other note style under the sun, quarter notes, sixteenth notes, 32nd notes, and even an option for "precise" timing, which allows you to position the notes pretty much wherever the hell you like, but no triplets? What the hell? Also, the octaves are pretty limited, only giving you three for the lead guitar and two for the bass, and the sound samples are terrible. It may just be that I'm using the Wii version (I don't know what the 360 and PS3 versions are like), but my ten-year-old Yamaha keyboard has better-sounding samples. They're screechy, grating, and overall don't sound anything like a guitar or bass. And you can't use two different samples in the song, you choose one and it applies it to the whole track. You can't change tempos midway through either.
I realize that Activision and Neversoft aren't trying to make a professional-level music mixing program, but some of these blantant omissions in a feature that's supposed to be utilized by people that are familiar with music just smacks of lazy developing.
But even with all these shortcomings, I still managed to transcribe a few game songs straight from my sheet music collection, namely the Yoshi's Island Athetic Theme, Rusty Bucket Bay, Tetris B Theme, Rainbow Road from Mario Kart: Double Dash, and Geno's Woods. As soon as I get a drum part written and my Wi-Fi connection up I'll try to get them uploaded to GHTunes so you guys can check them out.
So overall, I don't like many of the design and interface choices with the GH Mix and Live Record features. It's clunky, unintuitive, and severly limited. But that doesn't mean that it's impossible to write a great song with it, just that it's really difficult to do well, and it will take forever to figure out how. If Activision/Neversoft try to include this feature again in later Guitar Hero titles, I hope they streamline the system and include some mission options that I complained about above. The custom song creator in its current form, while a nice sentiment, just isn't anything better than an interesting gimmick. read more
So for Christmas, I finally couldnt say no to a 20 dollar price tag on Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition and picked it up to play over break. After carving a bloody swath through rural Europe (and having an absolute blast while doing it), I was walking through Blockbuster desperate to find something to watch other than Ryan Seacrests annoyingly-perky mug on New Years Eve. Then lo and behold I spotted Resident Evil: Degeneration nestled in the New Releases section. Even though RE4 was the first in the series that Ive actually played, I figured I knew enough about the back story already to watch the movie without being too lost. So heres a review of the straight-to-DVD CG film.
First of all, all Hollywood directors take notice: THIS is how you do a proper movie adaptation of a video game franchise. Forget Mila Jovovitch, they claimed that those RE movies took place in the same timeline as the games, but after a bit, it was probably clear that they should be treated as a separate entity.
Bad girl! No Canon continuity for you!
Not this movie, it fits so snugly into the plot of the game (as far as I know) that if you just slapped a few action commands in the fight sequences, you could very well have released this as a sort-of spin-off video game of its own. Of course, it helps that Capcom and the animation teams behind RE4 (if I remember correctly) pretty much made this movie on their own without executive meddling.
Degeneration opens up with a brief documentary-style explanation of the events that have transpired the seven years since the fall of the Umbrella Corporation, using fake news broadcasts about the destruction of Raccoon City and the rise of Bioterrorism events afterwards, as well as the emergence of two new global pharmaceutical companies somehow involved in all this WilPharma and TriCell. After this introduction, were introduced to Claire Redfield who has just arrived at an airport, and is working for the WHO or some sort of non-govermental organization investigating WilPharma, which has been accused of running unethical experiments on people using the T-Virus. These accusations are also tied to a US Senator who is arriving in that same airport.
Moments before all Hell breaks loose.
Of course, this means that all the pieces are aligned for when the shit hits the fan and zombies start attacking. Claire, the senator, and a few other characters are trapped in the airport by the horde of undead. So the SWAT team excuse me, Special Response Team (SRT) is called in to control the situation, along with a mysterious specialist sent by the White House. Anybody who has been keeping up with the series immediately knows that means, of course, Leon Kennedy.
Or, as I call him, the freaking Jack Bauer of zombie invasions.
Ah, Leon Kennedy. After playing through RE4, hes probably the character I know the most background about, and thus hes the one that I have the most to complain about as well. You see the picture of him on the front of the box for the movie?
Exhibit A.
Get used to that face, because he never changes expressions throughout the entire movie. Not once. Now, hes already kicking ass and taking names in RE4, but when appearing in this movie, a few years after that incident, he apparently has taken a few more levels in badass. Unfortunately it also seems to come at the expense of any character depth he might have had. He just spends the majority of the movie rescuing the other two female leads and serving as Mr. Exposition when the big conspiracy starts to unravel. This would be somewhat excusable if he only appeared in a few parts, seeing as the plot itself doesnt focus on his character very much at all, but hes in so much of the movie that it becomes really hard to look past.
Surprisingly though, with such a major zombie-slaying badass featured in the movie (and Claire gets a few good moments in herself) those expecting just a big survival situation with zombie shooting for the entire movie might be a bit disappointed. The airport outbreak scenes barely take up a third of the movie, and the rest of it focuses more on one of the SRT members and her brother who is involved with some shady dealings which might include the conspiracy behind the airport outbreak.
"And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids!"
While this plot is actually surprisingly well-constructed with some genuine twists and surprising reveals (And this coming from a person who yells out every TV Trope she recognizes and predicts the plot from the first fifteen minutes of the movie.) But there just isnt enough action throughout to keep the movie from dragging in some parts. This is probably the biggest flaw in the movie too much talking, not enough zombie heads going asplodey. Although, to be fair, the action scenes that are featured are engaging, and the boss fight at the end is pretty intense. But it would've been nicer to see those action sequences spread out over more of the movie's running time, instead of just bunched together in two parts. It would've jacked up the tension throughout more of the scenes, instead of just building at the beginning, almost completely dissapearing in the middle, and then jumping back at the end.
Moving away from the story though, one of the first things I noticed regarding the movie was the great animation throughout it. Some of the shots look downright photorealistic, and even the animated characters are really well done, with lots of visual detail. The graphic design team behind Degeneration clearly put a lot of effort into this movie.
Showoffs.
The only complaint I have regarding it is that some of the facial expressions and lip syncing are off somewhat, but it hardly detracts from the overall movie as much as some other issues I mentioned.
So overall, for a 90-minute, straight-to-DVD release, I really enjoyed it. It had a well-written plot that left plenty of openings for a sequel (or possibly to segue into RE5?), engaging action sequences, and great animation and voice acting, but some of the characterization and pacing holds it back from being anything other than an interesting addition to the Resident Evil mythology.
7.5/10 - I highly recommend fans of the series to check it out, but if you arent familiar with the backstory to begin with, this isnt really the best place to start. read more
Satch Boogie has been FC'd on Expert Guitar for GH:WT. Which means that now every guitar part for every song on the official setlist has been completed perfectly by the community at some point.
And it only took roughly a month and a half. Now, compare it to the original Guitar Hero (2 and a half years), Guitar Hero 2 (1 year, 2 months), and Guitar Hero 3. (about 11 months, although there's still one DLC track yet to be FC'd)
So I got to thinking, why did it not take very long for this game to go down? Many of the songs were perfected just days after being released. This is most likely due to several factors, the biggest one just being that the setlist is easier this time around. The previous games focused exclusively on guitar parts, so they could select songs that had ridiculously hard lead guitars without many other instruments. Now that it has shifted over a full-band focused game, they needed to have songs that had a better balance of all instruments. The previous games had later tiers that were made up of virtually nothing but songs like Satch Boogie, in that they were just long guitar solos, so that's why they took longer to beat.
Another factor is the addition of purple "slides" in the game. Remember One from GH3? Yeah, I thought you did. If that song was put in World Tour, the infamous Fast Solo A triplets would be connected by that purple line, meaning that if you missed a note, you could continue playing without restrumming. While this was meant to promote use of the slide bar on the neck on the guitar peripheral, many players just ignore that and tap on the regular fret buttons. Making tapping a more forgiving process helps more players try it out, and gives more people a better shot at FC-ing difficult solos with the technique.
And finally, it's probably just due to the fact that the community that plays the game competitively is a lot more talented than when the other games came out. It's been more than three years since the original Guitar Hero was released, which gives people a lot of time to practice. The time taken to beat each game has gone down with each successive release, so while the game engines and timing windows (which is one of the main reasons the original GH took so long to finish) change and evolve, the plastic guitar skills carry over to each game.
It's almost kind of dissappointing. While some of the songs in GH3 made me want to put my foot through the TV, the toned-down difficulty of many of the guitar parts takes away the same satisfaction of finally passing (or five-starring, if you're really good) tracks like Raining Blood. Not that I want ridiculously-over-charted songs in Guitar Hero - that's just bad game design - but Activision/Neversoft needs to change something up and put some more challenging (but fun) songs back in.
But in the meanwhile, there's always custom songs and DLC tracks to keep me occupied, as well as waiting for the day when the drum parts are FC'd. I'm not exactly holding my breath for that last one though... read more
After 21 months of polls, primaries, and nonstop coverage of the candidate's fashion sense, it's finally over. And even though I didn't support the man who won, he still achieved his victory fair and sqaure. Obama is now our president-elect through no other reason that that is what America wanted. As to what that exactly means, and what the circumstances behind those decisions were, I'm not nearly qualified enough to analyze that.
I left a comment on another post stating my intention to vote for McCain, and I followed through on that election yesterday, the first time I had ever voted in a national election. It's not because I'm racist, or I think Obama is a secret Muslim, or for any other immature, cosmetic reason like that. Obama, from what I've seen, is a terrific politician, speaker, and family man. I have no ill will towards the guy. I just didn't agree with any of his platforms, and I don't think he has enough experience to be President.
McCain wasn't my first choice for candidate, and I believe his campaign was run terribly. The ads he ran, his choice for VP, and his performance at the debates, all might've been able to stand in any other election, but for many voters, obviously paled in comparison to the juggernaut that was the "Hope and Change" movement on Obama's side.
But the Presidency wasn't the only position in question last night either. While the Democrats were expected to maintain their majority, what some didn't expect was to extend it as to almost reach the magical 60-seat mark that would allow the party to break any fillibuster in the Senate. Coupled with a Democratic (and arguably, very liberal) president, bills would get passed with little or no chance for opposition. This is something that truly worried me, and I would say the exact same thing if the Republicans were in this position. No one party deserves that much power over the legislature, and it all but nullifies the very reason for having a partisan legislature in the first place. Granted, that's assuming that all the Democrats vote one way, but that possibility of power is one temptation I do not want among our elected representatives.
Well, America wanted change, and it got it. Whether it will be a change for the better?...We'll find out soon enough. read more
Well, in case you havent heard, Guitar Hero: World Tour finally hit stores last night. However, some very lucky players managed to get their hands on copies even earlier, and one of them has already posted video previews of the expert guitar charts for (as far as I can tell) every song in the game.
Before now, weve heard many hands on previews, from people in the industry, as well as independent groups, but as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, and its great to actually see the new additions to the game in action.
So, my thoughts:
-Some of these songs would be almost at GH3s level of ridiculous difficulty if it wasnt for the touch-sensitive bar on the new guitar model. Many of the extremely fast trills, triplets, and arpeggios that wouldve been charted like One are now connected by that purple line. When you see strings of notes that feature that line, you can slide your hand up and down and the touch strip instead of tapping the notes on the regular fret buttons. Ive heard mention that its a little tough to get the hang of, but the person playing in these videos seems to be able to get through the sections in question without too much difficulty.
-I mentioned in an earlier post detailing a preview of this game that some songs feature notes that are played while sustaining another note. This doesnt seem to be something randomly thrown in to deliberately increase the difficulty, as far as I can tell, it only occurs when it would be accurate in real life. Like using the touch strip, it might take a little getting used to, but I think its a neat addition to the charts.
-The use of open notes in bass sections has also been revealed, and again, its only used when it would be appropriate in real life. Nothing too special here, it just adds a bit of difficulty to the bass parts. And yes, there is apparently a bass career mode.
EDIT: If you want more GHWT goodness, this guy's got a good start on full-comboing the setlist, as well as run-throughs of a few other songs that aren't found under the user I linked to earlier. read more
I read way too many webcomics already, with about 14 odd ones crammed into my favorites tab that I check regularly, and all but a few of those being video-game related in some manner.
Now, we all are probably familiar with the general format of the gaming webcomic, consisting of two or three stereotypical gamers that are supposed to be the authors’ extension of his wish to be cool, accepted, and witty. We’re all probably pretty damn sick of that formula as well (you know you’ve made it big when Yahtzee jumps on the bandwagon of hate).
So one day, I get a message from one of my friends with the site of comic that he tells me (and I quote) “is the shit.” But being the jaded internet denizen that I am, I put off actually reading it until it’s past eleven o’clock at night, and I’m trying desperately to avoid writing chemistry lab reports. What do I find?
“Brawl in the Family” (Ba-dum-pish!) strays from the clichéd setup of most gaming comics by not involving the author, or any other “real” characters for that matter. In fact, a lot of strips don’t even involve dialogue! With such a large reliance on visual puns and gags, this comic portrays and lampoons favorite characters like Kirby, Captain Falcon, and Mario with a sort of innocence that a lot of webcomics seem to have lost.
The art also deserves a mention as well. While not as complex as some other comics I’ve seen, and most of it done purely with line work, it still manages to convey the punchline effectively, as well as some priceless expressions from the characters.
If you have the interest and patience to read through the archives, you can definitely see great improvement in the art over time. And the fact that it updates fairly regularly on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays certainly doesn’t hurt either.
In the sea of mediocre webcomics that one has to filter through nowadays, it’s really great to see some fresh new talent stand out. If there’s a series that deserves more attention, it’s this one. So check it out, and if you like it, spread the word!
(Check out the embedded photos as well, I have my favorites included down there, I couldn't fit them all into the post itself!) read more
Let me preface this review by saying that yes, I am a conservative, and yes, I'm sick of Michael Moore documentaries and the general elitist attitude Hollywood has towards the USA.
That being said, this still isn't a great movie.
in case you haven't heard, An American Carol is the brainchild of David Zucker, and is supposed to be a modern day retelling of A Christmas Carol. Only this time, Scrooge is replaced by Michael Malone, a fat, lazy, slob of a director, whose anti-american documentaries are constantly upstaged by his feature-film director counterparts. In his desperation, he inadvertantly helps a trio of hapless terrorists who are planning on blowing up a benefit concert on Independence Day.
I was never expecting a deep political satire to begin with, it is directed by one of the comedic minds behind Airplane! after all, but I was expecting it to be funny. And it is in many places, but with such shallow, sophomoric gags and lines as to make Tropic Thunder look brilliant. This is political incorrectness at its most extreme, and many of the laughs are derived at the expense of Malone, the terrorists, and various other kooks that are encountered throughout the meandering plot.
"This beard makes you look like a terrorist! Which is funny and ironic because you actually are a terrorist, but I don't know that yet! Comedy!"
Some of the shots taken at the far-left are actually pretty humorous (in my opinion, at least). The interview with Rosie O'Connell was spot on her spouting lunacy that made even the main character cringe. ("Because everyone knows that 911 was the first time fire ever melted steel!")
But the one part of the movie that consistently made me laugh was Kelsey Grammar as General George S. Patton.
Is he worth my eight bucks though?
Speaking of Kelsey Grammar, there was a lot of stunt casting in this movie. Everyone from Paris Hilton to Bill O'Reily makes an appearance. Leslie Nielsen, Dennis Hopper, and Jon Voight play important roles, along with....Trace Adkins? Seriously? You couldn't find any other famous conservative musicians that actually play...y'know, good music?
"What the fuck do you mean 'We couldn't get Ted Nugent'?!"
So, overall, if you think South Park, Airplane!, and The Naked Gun are all hilarious, chances are you'll laugh at this too. But those actually expecting a more complex political satire should stay far away.
I give it a 6 out of 10. Still funny, but if you aren't conservative to begin with, this movie isn't likely to convince you to change anytime soon. read more
Welcome, and enjoy the random ramblings of the rare "girl gamer". Mi blog-a es su blog-a. Just remember to clean up after yourself when you leave.
-About Me-
Outside the Interbutt, I'm a college student, currently majoring in Biology. I'm a huge science and math nerd, and like laughing at jokes that no one else understands. My chocolate cookies are the best in the universe, and I bake a mean batch of scones as well. I've been a serious pianist for almost twelve years now, and enjoy playing video game themes to show off my absolute geekiness.
As far as gaming, I'm a relative newbie, only having played seriously for about nine years, and then mostly restricted to Nintendo franchises. As a result, I happen to be a pretty big Nintendo fan, so beware of a slight fangirl-ish bias when I comment.
-Favorite Games-
Guitar Hero/Rock Band
Super Mario series
Paper Mario series
Yoshi's Island
Super Smash Bros. series
Resident Evil 4
WarioWare: Mega Microgame$ and WarioWare: Twisted!
Warioland 3
Pikmin 1 & 2
Pokèmon G/S/C & P/D
SoulCalibur series (II specifically)
Elite Beat Agents
The Legend of Zelda: OOT & TP
Tetris
Donkey Kong Country 1 & 2
Donkey Kong 64
Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
Banjo-Kazooie/Tooie
Mario Kart 64 & Double Dash!
Old-School 2D Sonic games
-Video Game Piano Repetoire-
(These are only songs I have memorized, my complete sheet music collection can be found here.)
Feel free to message me if you would like a link to any pieces or have a request. Currently, I'm not working on doing any recordings of performances, but if enough people would like to see one, I'd be glad to oblige.
Super Mario 64- Final Bowser Theme
Super Mario 64- Dire, Dire Docks
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time- Saria's Song
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time- Song of Storms
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time- Title Theme
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Midna's Desperation
Super Mario Bros.- Star Theme
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island- Athletic Theme
Super Mario Galaxy- Space Junk Galaxy
Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow- Gym Theme
Portal- Still Alive
Halo 3 - Trailer Fanfare
Final Fantasy X - To Zanarkand
NEW! Pieces currently working on:
Final Fantasy IV - Clad in Dark (Golbez's Theme)
Pokmon P/D/P - Palkia/Dialgia Battle (SSBB ver.)
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island - Ending Credits
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