Monday, 26 November 2012

Spirit Week!!!


So it's Spirit Week at my school right now and for once I'm actually showing school spirit by participating! Usually I don't do much when we have spirit weeks or days and then I feel bad when I see so many kids at school who have actually gotten into the spirit of things. This year though, things are different! For instance, I wore quite the ugly sweater today for ugly sweater day and many people seemed to love it! Not only will I have participated in todays theme, but I actually have a plan for each day of the week! As well, the fact that I had each day planned out before the start of the week, is an interesting concept for me... (Normally I always do these kinds of things last minute). I have to admit, I'm quite proud of myself! Winning one of the prizes by participating would be quite nice too though, just saying... :D

Monday, 12 November 2012

It's almost here!....


Oh my goodness! There is only one day left to the release of Black Ops 2 and I am so excited! Normally when these games are coming out I am really excited for the campaign (story mode) but know that the multiplayer is better and will last longer, plus they spend a lot more time on it so naturally it should be better. However, this time around they have spent so much time on the campaign as well to make it more in depth so that it too will take many hours to complete.

In Black Ops 2 there is technically two storylines to complete; one based in the 70's and the 80's following the unseen missions during the Cold War, while the second storyline focuses on an apocalyptic war in the near future; the year 2025. Not only are there two storylines, but for the first time ever we will see a Call of Duty game with branching storylines. This means that your decisions and the choices you make in the game will have different consequences then others, sort of a cause and effect impact that can change the course of the story and the end result.
                                         
                                           Black Ops 2 Zombies Reveal Trailer

The part of the game, however, that I think I am most looking forward to would have to be the Zombies mode. In comparison to the last two, this one seems like it is going to be a lot better and I am super excited for it! There are more maps first of all and this time there will be one map where you start off in one small area and then travel by a city bus to the next; visiting about five or six areas in total as the game play gets increasingly harder and the levels go up. The most interesting part of this map though is that while on the bus traveling to the next location (which lasts one round), you are in the very limited space of a city bus and still being attacked by a horde of zombies. You'd better watch out, as they will cling to your bus to try and get in to eat your brains out! The funny part is that there is a hole in the roof of the bus where you can climb out onto the roof and use your weapons to tear apart the zombies as they try to hop on. We are not sure exactly what the new "super weapon" is, but from the zombie’s trailer it seems to be some kind of air rocket that launches a huge pulse, tearing apart any zombies in its path! That, I'm excited to use!!

The great thing is, I only have one more day to wait for this game but it's funny that even that feels to long! Sadly I won't be able to play it too much this week but the great thing is I have a day off on Friday, so I'll be able to play it all day if I want to! This will be a nice break from the absolute chaos of my grade twelve year and also a really wonderful reward for completing the first term of semester one!

Sunday, 11 November 2012

Marvel Film Review Coming Soon...

  I did not get around to writing a marvel comics movie review as I said I would before in the post "The Wonderful World of Marvel", however I will be for sure posting one for the Marvels 'The Avengers' at some point before next Sunday. For now, I hope that you enjoy my review for James Bond's (007): Skyfall staring Daniel Craig ["A 'Bonded' Review: Skyfall"] which I saw last night and enjoyed ever so much! Make sure you check out my review(link^) and be sure to click on some of the links on the same page and watch the trailer! I promise you it's his best one yet!! :D

A "Bonded" review: Skyfall

  So I saw the amazing  new James Bond film yesterday; Skyfall! I must say it was definitely the best Daniel Craig Bond movie to date. In my opinion, there was a more heightened sense of realism when compared to the previous two films that certainly made the events of this movie more believable. Rather than creating a string of action packed stunts that would be nearly impossible in real life, this movie focused more on the dramatic storyline with the extravagant but realistic action packed scenes woven in. This, I believe, really helped to maintain people's interest into the plot of the film.
                                       
                                                          'Skyfall' (2012) Trailer

Bond soars with record $87.8M 'Skyfall' debut! (click here)

  As I previously stated, there was a much better storyline when compared to the previous two Bond films. Without giving too much away, I think that this one was more interesting as a direct result of the fact that the motives of the "bad guy" were much more personal this time around; rather than simply focusing on large scale domination, the villain in Skyfall is driven by vengeance.

For more on Skyfall click here!  To hear 'Skyfall' the title track sung by Adele click here!

With this Bond installment, it is in my opinion that they chose the perfect actor to play the villain, and James' main enemy. Javier Bardem plays the role perfectly with a sense of realism but also a quirky quality that makes him way more interesting than just your average action movie villain. To say there is depth to his character would be a major understatement. His character indeed has so many levels to his personality and it seems that at every moment, him and James remain just as insidious as the other. At some points it could even be said that he perhaps surpasses Bond in his intelligence and knowledge of the situation in which they are facing. This is a factor which we see affects Bond frequently and fashions every situation to be more realistic, in the sense that the "good guy" is not some kind of unbeatable super hero who is always one step ahead of the enemy. James Bond does have weaknesses and they do come through at different points in this film, just as they would for any real person.


Personally I think that Roger Ebert sums it up perfectly... :)

  "In this 50th year of the James Bond series, with the dismal 'Quantum of Solace' (2008) still in our minds, 'Skyfall' triumphantly reinvents 007 in one of the best Bonds ever. This is a full-blooded, joyous, intelligent celebration of a beloved cultural icon, with Daniel Craig taking full possession of a role he earlier played very well in 'Casino Royale,' not so well in 'Quantum' -- although it may not have been entirely his fault. Or is it just that he's growing on me?"

 Daniel Craig to portray Bond again and again and again... (click here)

Yes, I highly agree; Daniel Craig's portrayal of Bond has definitely been growing on me over his three Bond films released to date and I am very much anticipating so much more acting genius coming from him in the upcoming Bond films. Did you know that he has been signed on for two more installments? Well it's true, as it was announced last month that he will definitely be portraying Bond in at least two more films after Skyfall and there is a fairly good chance that there will be three more after those, adding up to a grand total of eight Daniel Craig Bond films! Now that, I am excited for! Here's to fifty more years of Bond, and beyond! :)

Wednesday, 7 November 2012

My goal :)

I figure that I need to do something to keep me calm and in a good mood, something that might also help me to keep in shape. I don't really do much for my body and my physical health but I really think that I should! Basically I take my dog for a long walk every day but I definitely think that I should do more than that.

I'm in pretty good physical shape but I could be better so I was thinking that I'm going to work on my cardio by trying to go for a run whenever I can. Whether it be actually outside or just on a treadmill, I think that this is very important for my health. However, I really want to also tone my body so that I look good too! So my idea is to start working out, perhaps at the gym that my parents belong to but seem to be not attending... I really think that if I'm exercising my body and working out fequently, I'll definitely start to feel and hopefully see a difference!

Also, however, I believe that my emotional health is just as important! I think that I should probably do something calming; something that'll keep me in a good mood all the time. So I was thinking I would try something like yoga or meditating, maybe even both!! I believe that if I take this iniative and also continue to eat well, or even better than I do know, that I should definitely notice a difference in a few weeks time!

Monday, 5 November 2012

THE BLACK OPERATIONS

So I'm kind of super excited for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2! More so than I would normally be for a Call of Duty game release, possibly because I've had a lot going on and a lot of work to do so being able to play this game will be a nice break for me! The anticipation just started to get to me though, today basically, so I really want it to come as soon as possible!


This time around I've been following all the news and the updates since they first announced however I hadn't "checked in" for a while until just recently, right in the middle of a time when they have released so much recently!! There has been all kinds of official updates but also some things have been accidentally leaked, while full versions of the game for Xbox 360 and PC have been leaked on Torrent websites where people have been downloading them to start playing early. Personally I would never do this because I wouldn't want to play the game before the intentional release because I wouldn't want to ruin the game for myself. Also though, you never know whether or not you can actually trust these versions of the games; so I wouldn't want to download it onto my Xbox only to have it destroy my Xbox or corrupt my game when I actually go to buy it. That would just suck!

However, from these leaks and torrented versions, there have been some nice videos being released of gameplay for the campaign mode and for the single-player zombies mode of the game. I have not indulged in any of the footage showing the campaign mode of the game because, like I said before, I do not want to ruin the game for myself. I have, on the other hand, seen one or two leaked zombies mode videos! I must say, it looks like it's going to be pretty great! Zombies was always one of my favourite parts of Call of Duty: World at War (game 5), so I'm really looking forward to seeing what they will do this time around!

I would post a video of the zombies footage, however I'm at school currently and anything related to this game is blocked on the internet because it is categorized as "games" and would of course "disturb our learning process"...so you'll just have to wait like the rest of us! OR maybe I'll post a link later from home, you'll just have to wait and see!! Luckily the game is coming out really soon, the 13th to be exact, so we don't have to wait much longer! :D

Thursday, 1 November 2012

The Wonderful World of Marvel

  For the longest time now I have been a fan of Marvel Comics and Marvel Comics Movies and I think I have seen almost everyone to date! Starting with the first X-Men film in 2000 and I have seen the majority of the films that Marvel released following this one including: X-men 2 in 2003, The Punisher in 2004, Spider-Man 1-2-3 (2002-2007), Fantastic Four and FF2: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2005 and 2007), X-Men 3 in 2006, Ghost Rider in 2007.

  The "New Era" of Marvel Comics Films, as it is sometimes called, started in 2008 with the release of the first Iron Man film. This is regarded as a new era of Marvel films because it is when they really started to use new directors, broaden the number of producers creating these films and was also the point at which they really started to improve the quality of these films, making for higher caliber Marvel movies.

  As I said this "new era" started with Iron Man in 2008 but was then followed by The Incredible Hulk in the same year, X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009, Iron Man 2 in 2010, Thor and X-men: First Class and Captain America all in 2011 and finally The Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man earlier this year (2012).


  These movies have all come and gone from theatres but the amazing thing is that the production of Marvel comics Movies will not be ending anytime soon! What we know for sure right now is that there will be at least 3 Marvel Films coming next year and one confirmed so far for 2014! These 2013 marvel films begin with Iron Man 3 on May 3rd, followed by The Wolverine on July 26th, then Thor: The Dark World on November 8th and finally the 2014 movie I mentioned; Captain America: The Winter Soldier coming out on April 4th 2014!! For the Iron Man 3 trailer click here!

  If you would like to know about these films that will be coming out, their respective Marvel websites are obviously the best places to go for up to date information as soon as it happens or of course you can simply google any of the Film titles! However, for the films aforementioned that have already been released for a while, years in most cases, you might be interested to know that I will be re-watching and reviewing them all, starting next Friday! I will be reviewing one of these films every Friday starting with the most recent Marvel Film "The Avengers" reviewed next Friday the 9th of November! In the meantime there will still be regular postings on other topics... so come back soon!