Computer Troubles

So I’ve been having some annoying computer troubles, as it completely died on the weekend. However two days of playing around and here I am. Back in the game. Unfortunately I had to clean install Windows XP. But it got me back here so it was worth it.

Not much to report, however you should head over to the United States of Eurasia mini-site as the complete track “UNITED STATES OF EURASIA (+ COLLATERAL DAMAGE)” is up for download!! Quick!! Get on it now.

I’ll post more soon.
Peace and love!

Muse – United States of Eurasia

So, Muse fans, thoughts of Muse’s epic treasure hunt leading people across Eurasia? I think it’s fantastic. Wish I could be involved though. But either way, its giving us a very special reward. Piece by piece we are getting (what I think is) the single: “United States of Eurasia”, which is from Muse’s 5th studio album coming out September 14th. What’s the best of this? Well, the best part is that “Uprising” is the first actual single. So by mid next week we could have two of the new Muse songs in our lap. And that would be simply fantastic. So far here at the rumoured lyrics from the teaser that can be found here.

United States of Eurasia (Maybe… it sounds like it)

(Yoouuuu-ooouuuu….)
You and me are the same.
We dont know or care who’s to blame.
But we know that whoever holds the reigns,
Nothing will change, our cause has gone unseen.
And these wars they can’t be won, and these wars, they can’t be won.
And do you want them – to go on?
Why split these states
When there can be only one
And must we do as we’re told? Must we do as we’re told?
You and me fall in line
To be punished for unproven crimes
No one we can trust
Our ancient heroes, they are turning to dust
And these wars they can’t be won

They aren’t official lyrics. Part are from Microcuts, and part are from what I hear.

Get on the hype train, Muse fans. The time is nearing for Resistance

6,000 Hits… ZOMG.

And we’ve reached another milestone. Wow, 6,000 glorious hits. Apparently Google or something is getting me visitors. But thank you to all who come and read my crap. I’ll make it worth your while one day.

Triple J Hottest 100 Ever the other day, Muse – Knights of Cydonia came in at #18. Would have liked it higher, considering there was some rubbish above it. And three flippin’ Radiohead songs, but nonetheless. Still an impressive feat.

I’ll see you all for my next blog post, which will hopefully be soon.

!

Re-visiting: Super Mario Galaxy

So, I finally got around to buying Super Mario Galaxy (yes, I know… two years late). $58AU at Big W’s Toy Sale this week, price matched at EB Games and then a $20AU voucher meant I only paid $38AU for it though. So I’m quite happy with that deal.

But since I’ve been spending more time with it recently, I must say I’m beginning to wish I bought it earlier. Sure, for the most part the game is definitely as easy as I remember it. But at least its fun easy, I have a few minor complaints about it still. Such as the damned camera, which they are still to perfect. I’m crossing my fingers for Galaxy 2.

Anyway, one of the major reasons I’m in love with this game is the fact that I feel like its a learning process. But to the usual extent, you know when a game presents you with a situation and then later in the game you encounter it again with some alterations (maybe in the scenario’s layout or the difficulty) but in Galaxy (and Mario games in general) I feel as though I’m being tested over the span of the games. A few times I found myself going, “Oh, that reminds me of something in Mario 64″ or “I did something similar to this in Mario Sunshine.” And I feel that is part of the charm that appeals to me about Mario games. And I love it.

Visually, musically, gameplay, the game impresses on all levels and I never got a chance to truly enjoy it to this degree when I played it a few years ago.

Revenge of the Fallen

I have been slow to get onto this topic. Which is slack considering I went to the first showing in my local area at 10.30 in the morning. And quite frankly I really enjoyed it. Granted I don’t think it was as good as the first movie, it was still a solid film. Though I have noticed critics are being way too harsh on it, I’d say it saddens me but I think if one concerns themselves with critics then you’ve already taken a wrong step.

I can see where most of them were coming from though, there are some fairly obvious flaws. The first one essentially nailed the plot. It was a simple Autobot vs. Decepticon scuffle to get the All Spark. And this is what allowed a large variety of people to enjoy it. For Revenge of the Fallen they have delved a bit deeper into the Transformers mythology by introducing audiences to the Primes, Matrix of Leadership and a wider array of Decepticons. This is what may have blocked the enjoyment of some fans, they simply may not have understood it. The concept of the Primes and the Matrix are only vaguely touched upon. Most Transformers will understand the key points of both concepts however.

To find out about these it would involve watching some older Transformers stuff, which most may not care to do and that is fair enough. Had Bay paid it the proper attention it wouldn’t have mattered. The Matrix of Leadership is believed to hold a part of Primus’ essence (Primus being the creator-god of the Transformers) which automatically makes a lot of things in the movie make sense, like how it revived Optimus Prime. As for the Primes, I believe they are the film’s version of the original 13 Transformers created by Primus to man him when he transformed into Cybertron, however in the movie time-line there appear to only be the 7. Like I said, it could easily be confusing for non-Transformer savvy movie-goers.

So with that in mind, let’s get into it!

The first chunk of the movie featuring the Autobot/NEST alliance was only mildly interesting, but I’m just sick of seeing the military kick so much arse in these movies. Which is why Demolisher was a pleasant sight, because he utterly obliterated the humans. Helicopters, tanks, they were mere playthings for this massive Decepticon. However, an air-dropped Optimus Prime certainly changed things. And this also led to a very disappointing end to Sideways, who was shaping up to be an awesome character. Anyway, beyond that disappointment it isn’t a bad opening. It also briefly touched upon the Transformers crashing onto Earth. Oh no!! The Fallen. Ooooh. How scary… Sure, not if you’ve seen the end of the movie.

As usual, the humans got a fair bit of screen time. It was to be expected, so I had already braced myself for it. Though they at least didn’t extend the influence of the humans in the main cast too much. The whole Sam going to College/leaving Bumblebee behind section felt a bit dragged out. Plus I hated his roomie at college anyway. But I was forced to deal with him as he didn’t go anywhere. Its definitely worth a mention that Michael Bay completely nailed the character of Starscream in this film. He was spot on his G1 character, a sniveling back-stabber eager to lead the Decepticons but never really able to deal with the problems of being leader. Leading up to the revival of Megatron, another character who was pretty much spot on as well. However, one flaw was the fact that I couldn’t stand hearing Megatron referring to the Fallen as “Master” and hearing him be called “Apprentice.” When did I change the channel to Star Wars? Jesus, Bay. But I didn’t like the Fallen at all anyway, I felt for a character mentioned in the title he was a very pointless presence. Appearing from time to time, then getting cleaned up in a one sided fight at the end of the film.

Action-wise, this film leaps over the first films head with great ease. But what else did you expect? If you want examples, I can name several scenes. The Forest Battle stands head above most action scenes I have seen in any movie. So thick and fast, and a pivotal moment in the film. The Devastator transformation was mesmerizing, my eyes were in disbelief at the cg I was seeing. And finally, there was some fantastic animation done with Ravage. Actually, I just loved Ravage, he was awesomely done and so was Soundwave. Though I think I can understand a lot of people being disappointed by a lack of Soundwave action. He may get his hands dirty in the next film though.

Ignoring the stuff with Sam in the middle and his annoying college events and a stupid Pretender (you’ll know her when you see her) it was quite a good film. A lot of Decepticons, however they outweighed the Autobots this time. Although, on the topic of Autobots, the Twins (Skids and Mudflap) stole so much screen time and just wasted it. I don’t care what anyone says to me, their humour was stupid, immature and boringly stereotypical. Sure, Jazz was pretty bad in TF1, but these two were in it more and didn’t even die. Thus allowing them to come back in the next one to infuriate me further. They also stole Bumblee’s screentime, and stopped us from seeing more Arcee, Chromia, Sideswipe and Jolt. It was just enraging really.

So to narrow it down.

Liked
-Decepticons
-Megatron vs. Starscream
-Megatron vs. Optimus Prime
-Sideswipe’s few moments rocked
-Soundwave and Ravage
-Devastator’s combining moment
-Jolt looked awesome

Hated
-Humans, too powerful
-Bay might as well make military commercials
-Twins stole Autobot screentime
-Story not really easy for non-Transformers fans to access
-Sideswipe, Arcee and Jolt basically ignored
-Sideways cleaned up way too early
-Where the fuck was Barricade?!