Saturday, April 14, 2012

Game of Thrones Season 2


At last the second season of Game of Thrones has begun on HBO. The third episode will air this Sunday night and I must say I can hardly wait. Having got into the series only recently I picked up the DVDs and watched the entire season and since then I have been hooked. This season is looking to be just as action packed as last season was and since I never read the books the series is my first insight into the plot. Those of you that read that book will either think it was better or worse than the book and I understand that but on its own it is still a really good series in my opinion. The book when made into a TV series or film will never be the same and they will always change or leave out things, this is the nature of film, yet try to keep an open mind and you may find you enjoy each in their own right. I am caught up with the first two episodes in season two so far and now I am forced to wait a week between episodes. This wouldn't be so bad yet HBO has an annoying habit of cliffhanging their shows to keep you yearning for more and coming back week to week. Some viewers enjoy this anticipation however personally I would return out of enjoyment of the series HBO doesn't have to leave it looming over your head the entire week. Just my two cents I look forward to the rest of the season and thanks for reading. Talk to you soon.

Friday, April 13, 2012

New Blog

Hello everyone I just wanted to make a quick post to let you all know that I am starting up a new blog for my day to day personal life ramblings. If you are interested please come over there and follow me. I hope to see you all over there and thanks for your time.

http://anapeslife.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

The Simpsons


The Simpsons have been one of my favorite shows for years now. They are one of the longest running of their type and continue to be funny years later. I have seen hundreds of episodes and own hundreds of episodes myself. While I like both Family Guy and South Park, The Simpsons are still my personal favorites. While the earlier seasons I find to be funnier the later seasons still have their charm. It is not surprising that they dropped off in humor for the most recent seasons because the show has literally been going for around twenty years. Personally I own every season of Simpsons that is currently on DVD which is 1-14 and season 20. I have watched every season I own multiple times and they are still almost as funny as the first time I watched them. For those of you that have never got into The Simpsons I would recommend them to everyone they do appeal to all ages. My parents have enjoyed watching episodes as do my brother and I and we all laugh at them. Talk to you guys soon.  

Monday, April 2, 2012

Boardwalk Empire Ep. 1-4

Hey everyone I just finished episode four of Boardwalk Empire with the roommates and I know I told you I would get back to you as I watched more of the series. Impressions are good so far but I still am a bigger fan of Game of Thrones. Boardwalk Empire is a well put together show however.

HBO has a knack for making very complex plot lines and a lot of character interaction. After watching the first episode I was feeling rather lost and that I had missed a lot between characters since I was still learning who everyone was. I am getting the hang of the characters now and even though new characters are still being introduced since I know the old ones it is not as overwhelming.

It is interesting how they are integrating some historical things into the show to go along with their main premise of 1920's prohibition. The famous mobster Al Capone is integrated into the show and has a plot based around him and his interactions with the characters. It is interesting watching someone who you only know based on their reputation and the history books come alive as part of a fictional show. The KKK also had a part in this last episode and there is a sub plot that involves them somewhat, dont want to give too much away. Although this is the prohibition days the richer characters have no problem getting alcohol and seem to share it around with their guests often. 

The main plot of the show is based around Nucky Thompson a politician from Atlantic City in New Jersey. He is very wealthy and isn't afraid to do a few nefarious things to keep his name in good standing and keep his position of power. Having a bit of a short temper he doesn't treat those less fortunate very well most of the time. I don't want to explain much of the plot as to ruin it for those of you who haven't watched it. I shall leave you guys with this then look forward to more updates and I continue with season one and more blogs to come. Thank everyone for reading and I appreciate your comments and spending some time on my blog. Talk to you all soon.

Saturday, March 31, 2012

FPS

First person shooters, or FPS for short are some of the most popular games of the last few years. The ease in which they are to pick up and play appeals to a wide audience. As a result of this the Call of Duty franchise has become the widest selling game franchise in history. The amount of people that play these games is staggering and everyone migrates to the newest game after just one year.

Along with the Call of Duty franchise there is Battlefield and Halo. These three make up for the vast majority of all FPS gamers across the four major systems. (Xbox, PS3, Wii, PC) Personally I started with Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and have been a fan of the franchise ever since. I think the appeal of FPS besides being so easy to pick up and play is how fast paced it can be. This is where the top few FPS can differ in play styles. Having not played much of Halo I will focus mainly on the Battlefield vs COD (Call of Duty) debate. While there are extremists on either side of this debate who absolutely loathe and despise the other franchise I believe both have their strengths and weaknesses. For fairness sake I will be comparing the two most recent from each franchise Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3.

The most recent Battlefield I have about 100 hours of game time logged personally. The strengths of Battlefield are that skill level does matter as does how cautious you are. Those people that tend to disregard their life and just rush in over and over again often don't do too well in Battlefield. Due to the structure of the game it requires a sneakier approach and you have to really take advantage of the map layout and cover to plan flank routes and assault routes. While this is the case in many FPS Battlefield is made much easier when playing with a squad of friends to coordinate movements and play the objective. Battlefield focuses more on points and objective based game play over kills so you get more people tying to win than just sitting around trying to get a ton of kills. The most points can be acquired usually by helping your team either by healing or supplying them with ammo so it doesn't benefit players that are selfish.

Due to the structure of the game usually players who see the enemy first are going to get the kill, this is true to real life as you hardly ever see the person that killed you. Disadvantages I see are subjective, it is based on my play style and could be looked at as advantages if you prefer to play differently. First off my major complaint has always been the map size of most Battlefield maps. I like being in the middle of the action and in large maps I often run a long ways just to get shot as soon as I get to the objective so its all for naught. As I said this is subjective for those players who like to take their time and move slowly this map size is ideal. Even saying this there are some maps I prefer to snipe on because then I can be effective from much farther away. The major difference that battlefield has between COD is the use of vehicles. Battlefield allows players the use of Jets (as of the last one) as well as helicopters, tanks, and all manner of vehicles. This is both a strength and a weakness. It adds to the diversity of the game so that's good however the vehicles can be overpowered when upgraded and under control of an experienced player. There is nothing more frustrating than getting killed over and over again by the same guy sitting in a tank all game. Overall I enjoy the Battlefield franchise and own both COD and battlefield.

Moving on to the elephant in the room we have Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3. While there are competitors to this franchise no one has been able to match their numbers for games sold. Call of Duty is better known for fast paced action and smaller maps that is often more reaction and luck based. Skill level has a lot to do with this game don't get me wrong but even the best players are unlucky at times and will die to something that is unforeseeable such as a random grenade thrown across the map. Decision making is the most important factor in Call of Duty, I would say the vast majority of players that are just average could be good if their decision making was better. You have to know exactly when to run when to crouch and when to lie down as at any moment its possible you come across an enemy and you have to be ready. The biggest mistake players make in my opinion is  rushing in to dangerous areas without realizing the danger there. If three of your teammates just died running through a doorway or around a corner don't try and be a hero and rush after them, chances are you wont be lucky and you will just be another victim. The smart thing would be to take another route to the location you are trying to go and if you can come up behind the area your teammates died you will most likely surprise whoever is laying in wait.

 People are much more concerned with kills compared to deaths aka kill death ratio or K:D. This stems from kill-streaks rewarding players for getting a streak of kills without dying. As a result in COD players are less likely to rush into dangerous objective zones for the purpose of winning the game. They would often times rather take a loss than take a bunch of deaths trying to win. For those players that do play the objective this is rather frustrating, as COD is a team based game most average players are unable to do most of the work alone. It is often just a matter of time until sheer numbers will overtake them and they cant hold off the enemy team at the objective any longer. In older COD's however not as much any more it was famous for whiny little kids that apparently just learned swearwords yesterday and couldn't wait to try them out every other word. As many people are in party chat now this isn't as much of an issue. Another disadvantage of COD is how often the player who should have gotten the kill doesn't. It isn't that hard to turn around and get the kill on someone who caught you by surprise. This is unrealistic as I highly doubt someone would be able to take a couple bullets and be as agile as ever.

The major difference that COD has to battlefield is the perk system. Perks allow you certain advantages and different setups can vastly improve your odds depending on your situation. This invariably leads to a more dominant setup highly used and people end up complaining. I don't think FPS developers can win though because no matter what they do people will be frustrated and complain about something. Overall it is a good game yet sometimes certain weapons are dominant and I enjoy both COD and Battlefield. For my play style COD fits it better as I like to rush and catch enemies by surprise, I enjoy being in the middle of the battle relying on reaction time even if it does end up costing me more deaths in the long run. Also mentioned earlier was kill-streaks, these reward players for doing well and cause average players to camp in hopes of getting a high enough kill-streak. Kill-streaks can be overpowered at times and perhaps are a good answer to the vehicles that BF offers.

This blog has gone on longer than I intended but I wanted to make one last point before I conclude. Having not been playing either Battlefield or COD much in recent weeks constant players have really passed me up. This leads to the experience not being as fun if your the one doing poorly in every game. The fun people have in FPS is directly correlated with how well your doing. I and I am sure most among us if they cant do anything in games they will turn it off relatively quickly. I think it is best to have fun while your playing and play casually. Makes the games much more enjoyable and then your not frustrated as much while playing. Happy gaming everyone and comment which you prefer and why COD or BF.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Dreams

Lately the topic of lucid dreams has been coming up more and more between my facebook wall and other sites I have noticed. As most of you know lucid dreams are when you are physically aware you are dreaming and as such have control over your dreams. Think of the movie inception, this would be a good comparison to get you thinking in the right direction. While this is an extremely interesting it is not a common thing for people to be able to have lucid dreams.

There have been a couple pictures floating around the internet of the past few weeks describing how to have lucid dreams but even these are not a sure thing. The basic technique is to lay on your back and lay completely still for 20-30 mins until your body enters sleep paralysis. Keeping your arms at your sides the most important thing is to stay perfectly still, your body will send you signals to change position or have an itch and you must ignore these. If you are successful in staying awake when your body enters sleep paralysis you will be able to open your eyes and as soon as you close them a dream will start. With some practice you should be able to realize your dreaming and eventually control your dreams.

I have personally tried this method several times with no success. I am not a person that often remembers dreams anyway so I don't think I am a good candidate to have lucid dreams. The few dreams I do remember are often as soon as I wake up and then I forget them within a matter of a couple minutes.

Dreams in themselves are very interesting and throughout history people have tried to decipher the meaning behind them. Back in ancient times people believed dreams were from god and those that could "interpret" them were held in very high regard. The allure of dreams today to me at least is for the time that you are dreaming it is your reality. Dreams have no limits anything and everything can happen and they are a very interesting view into your own subconscious.

When you think about something a lot in a day it can carry over into dreams. While I have had that when stressing about a test or something along those lines dreams can also be really random. I have had dreams with people from high school I haven't seen or had contact with in years and they somehow show up in my dreams. It confuses me how people I haven't even thought about in months are showing up in dreams. I don't really know if I personally believe that dreams mean anything but they are interesting nonetheless.

The biggest draw for I think everyone to lucid dreaming is the ability to be able to do anything. The bounds of dreams are limitless and you could stage wars to zombie apocalypses in the safety of your own subconscious. Hope you guys enjoyed and thanks for reading. I will post more later in the week hope to see you back then.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Boardwalk Empire

Just finished the first episode of season one of Boardwalk Empire with the roommates. Wanted to share my initial impressions and see if it changes throughout this season at all. First off in true HBO style the series is very deep into character development. This happened with Game of Thrones as well where I wasn't following the characters very well until a couple episodes in. As a result of this during the first episode I felt like I was missing a lot of the character interactions. This is a bit of an annoying feeling but if you pay attention during the episodes you will be able to follow along after not too long into the season.

After watching the episode I went to HBO.com to read the synopsis since that was really helpful to catch the details missed as I discovered during Game of Thrones. After reading the synopsis for the first episode I felt better about it and didn't feel like I was now missing as much. Continuing through the episodes I will continue to follow the synopsis as to keep up to date with the most recent character interactions. I am a little late getting into Boardwalk Empire as season's one and two have already aired with season three coming up. As such those that have been following the seasons from the beginning already are much more familiar with the characters than I am but that will come with time.

Initial impressions of the series are optimistic, keeping in mind that I dont have much knowledge of characters or their interactions yet I do not feel like I can get a good estimate of the series. This blog is for the purpose of recording my initial thoughts and feelings toward the series and then documenting any changes as it goes on throughout the season. The premise of the show is really good, prohibition was a very turbulent time in our nations history and it gave rise to some of the most violent criminals in history. I have always personally been interested in prohibition and so when hearing about this series it went on my list of things to watch. Also in HBO fashion this series doesn't skimp on language which can be somewhat distracting if overused. I have never  been against the use of language in TV or films but HBO is on the verge of overdoing it in some of their series. I understand that gangsters were tough people and it was a serious business but throwing fuck in every sentence somewhat takes away from the dialogue.

Overall I am excited to keep following the series and I will update you guys periodically as we continue watching the episodes. Thank you to all who follow me and I hope to share some things with you that interest you and that you will enjoy. Anything I talk about or give reviews on I encourage you to look into for yourself if you would like. Thanks for your time in reading this and I will talk to you guys soon.