Well I saw Mars Needs Moms and needless to say it was crap. I have a written out review but alas it'll have to wait till I get school work done. In the meantime though, enjoy my abriged version of what I thought about the movie.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
The Little Mermaid in 5 seconds
Yep. Can't get a more simple love story then this :P
The Little Mermaid is owned by Walt Disney Studios
'5 second movie' idea borrowed from thatguywiththeglasses.com
The Little Mermaid is owned by Walt Disney Studios
'5 second movie' idea borrowed from thatguywiththeglasses.com
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Power Rangers Samurai
So after taking a day or two to calm down, I've decided to do a written review of the new Power Rangers Samurai series, rather then a video like I originally intended.
Where do I begin with Power Rangers Samurai? I guess I'll start with a simple opinion. That opinion being...it was okay. And seriously, that is the best your going to get out of me at this point in time. -_-
I'll admit, this episode pissed me off a lot when I first watched it. I mean REALLY pissed me off. But that was probably my own fault for having such unrealistically high expectations. With all the hype surrounding the new season and news that Saban had bought back the Power Ranger franchise from Disney to re-tune it so that is appealed to old and new fans, I was looking forward to an epic premiere to get me good and excited about Power Rangers again.
Instead...what I got was an episode 3 opener. Instead of showing how the Power Rangers became who they are, we get an episode about how the Green Ranger is all emo about not being able to hang out with his friends. Really Saban? You hype up this new and improved show for 2 months and then start with a random 3rd episode? WTF!!
To clarify, this episode was by no means a pilot episode. None of the main characters are introduced properly except by narration and even then you get no real feel for their personalities or characters, the bad guys just appear randomly without any intro or motive, the plot of why the two groups are fighting isn't explained, and the source of the Rangers powers as well as how they got them and became a team is never shown.
The plot of the episode is that Mike the Green Ranger is frustrated that he isn't as alert or as good a samurai as Jayden the Red Ranger is. On top of that, he feels isolated by the fact that he apparently can't see his friends or family due to his status as a ranger. He encounters a monster which is trying to collect fear from the people to fill some magic river and two fight, only to have Mike be defeated. Although he goes through an emo phase for a bit, Mike takes on the monster again with the help of the other rangers and defeats it through teamwork.
To me, this is not how a show should be opened. It's like coming in halfway through a conversation, only to hear someone tell the punchline to a joke that you didn't get to hear. To be fair though, it wasn't entirely a bad episode as it does demonstrate the importance of teamwork, patience and self-discipline, and shows the rangers in full fighting mode. But this really should've been saved for a later airing. Having watched RPM and the epic start it had, I was expecting something big, some huge event or crisis that would have lead to the rangers, despite being from different backgrounds, into uniting together to defend the greater good. Instead what we got was a character episode.
The sad thing is, I felt like I barely got to know the Rangers at all. Jayden seems like the stereotypical leader. Perfect, precise and disciplined in every way. Kevin was stiff and humorless. Both the girls were just straight up goofy cheerleaders. And Mentor-Ji seemed like your typical sensei. It didn't help that the actors didn't particularly do a good job acting either. Totally not what I had hoped for. And although it was interesting to see Mike's inner turmoil about being separated from his loved ones, I think the episode would have had more impact if we got to know Mike's background first and saw the events that lead to him becoming a Samurai Ranger, thus giving us an understanding of why he's having a harder time adjusting then the others.
The only thing blander then the Rangers was the villains. All of them look like rejects from previous PR battles and had no real distinct personalities other then 'I'm a monster and I'm evil! Rawr!' I also didn't understand why they were on a submarine in some swamp. Seemed almost like a cut scene from Turbo with Devitox. I'm also stunned by how bad the dubbing and animatronics were. Whenever one of the villains talked, their mouths either didn't move or didn't match what they were saying. It was like watching a bad Japanese dub. I also didn't understand why the monsters would automatically become big after being defeated in battle. True that has always happened in PR, but at least you saw the lead villains using magic or technology to make them grow. In this, they just grow because.
The best thing by far was Bulk, for obvious reasons. He acts like he never left the show and is still the same bumbling goofy tough guy we all know and love which is great. His nephew Spike on the other hand, I foresee becoming very annoying. And not in a lovably annoying Skull-esq kind of way, though one can't help but wonder if they might actually be father and son. Resemblance is kinda uncanny don't ya think? While seeing Bulk was great and all, I didn't like how they only used him in one scene that had nothing to do with the plot. Seemed more like fan service then anything and was a waste of Bulks character.
Now for the action part, which was actually pretty decent. I thought the fighting was well done, though not as quick as previous fight choreography from past seasons, the weapons were awesome looking and appropriate for the theme, and the transformation scenes were pretty cool to watch. Three things I didn't like however. The fact that they use cell phones to transform rather then something samurai related like daggers, talismans or paint brushes really made it seem out of place. The banter between the rangers and monster while fighting was corny and annoying and seemed to interfere with the fights at times. And finally, the zords were too bulky and toy like. In fact, they reminded me a lot of the toys I used to get in my McDonald's happy meal, that's how blatantly toy like they looked. Defiantly not the best megazord I've seen but nonetheless effective plus it had a bad ass sword.
So with all this in mind, will I be tuning in next week for the next episode?...begrudgingly, yes. One because I'm a geek, and two because I'm curious to see where they plan on going with this season. Despite my obvious resentment to the presentation of the season premiere, I do think it has some potential which I hope the writers and creators elaborate on and build up so that Samurai can full fill fans expectations. With that in mind, I look forward to next weeks episode with cautious optimism. Should that be shattered, I assure you all that you will hear from me about it. :) Till then, may the power protect you all.
~Efram
Where do I begin with Power Rangers Samurai? I guess I'll start with a simple opinion. That opinion being...it was okay. And seriously, that is the best your going to get out of me at this point in time. -_-
I'll admit, this episode pissed me off a lot when I first watched it. I mean REALLY pissed me off. But that was probably my own fault for having such unrealistically high expectations. With all the hype surrounding the new season and news that Saban had bought back the Power Ranger franchise from Disney to re-tune it so that is appealed to old and new fans, I was looking forward to an epic premiere to get me good and excited about Power Rangers again.
Instead...what I got was an episode 3 opener. Instead of showing how the Power Rangers became who they are, we get an episode about how the Green Ranger is all emo about not being able to hang out with his friends. Really Saban? You hype up this new and improved show for 2 months and then start with a random 3rd episode? WTF!!
To clarify, this episode was by no means a pilot episode. None of the main characters are introduced properly except by narration and even then you get no real feel for their personalities or characters, the bad guys just appear randomly without any intro or motive, the plot of why the two groups are fighting isn't explained, and the source of the Rangers powers as well as how they got them and became a team is never shown.
The plot of the episode is that Mike the Green Ranger is frustrated that he isn't as alert or as good a samurai as Jayden the Red Ranger is. On top of that, he feels isolated by the fact that he apparently can't see his friends or family due to his status as a ranger. He encounters a monster which is trying to collect fear from the people to fill some magic river and two fight, only to have Mike be defeated. Although he goes through an emo phase for a bit, Mike takes on the monster again with the help of the other rangers and defeats it through teamwork.
To me, this is not how a show should be opened. It's like coming in halfway through a conversation, only to hear someone tell the punchline to a joke that you didn't get to hear. To be fair though, it wasn't entirely a bad episode as it does demonstrate the importance of teamwork, patience and self-discipline, and shows the rangers in full fighting mode. But this really should've been saved for a later airing. Having watched RPM and the epic start it had, I was expecting something big, some huge event or crisis that would have lead to the rangers, despite being from different backgrounds, into uniting together to defend the greater good. Instead what we got was a character episode.
The sad thing is, I felt like I barely got to know the Rangers at all. Jayden seems like the stereotypical leader. Perfect, precise and disciplined in every way. Kevin was stiff and humorless. Both the girls were just straight up goofy cheerleaders. And Mentor-Ji seemed like your typical sensei. It didn't help that the actors didn't particularly do a good job acting either. Totally not what I had hoped for. And although it was interesting to see Mike's inner turmoil about being separated from his loved ones, I think the episode would have had more impact if we got to know Mike's background first and saw the events that lead to him becoming a Samurai Ranger, thus giving us an understanding of why he's having a harder time adjusting then the others.
The only thing blander then the Rangers was the villains. All of them look like rejects from previous PR battles and had no real distinct personalities other then 'I'm a monster and I'm evil! Rawr!' I also didn't understand why they were on a submarine in some swamp. Seemed almost like a cut scene from Turbo with Devitox. I'm also stunned by how bad the dubbing and animatronics were. Whenever one of the villains talked, their mouths either didn't move or didn't match what they were saying. It was like watching a bad Japanese dub. I also didn't understand why the monsters would automatically become big after being defeated in battle. True that has always happened in PR, but at least you saw the lead villains using magic or technology to make them grow. In this, they just grow because.
The best thing by far was Bulk, for obvious reasons. He acts like he never left the show and is still the same bumbling goofy tough guy we all know and love which is great. His nephew Spike on the other hand, I foresee becoming very annoying. And not in a lovably annoying Skull-esq kind of way, though one can't help but wonder if they might actually be father and son. Resemblance is kinda uncanny don't ya think? While seeing Bulk was great and all, I didn't like how they only used him in one scene that had nothing to do with the plot. Seemed more like fan service then anything and was a waste of Bulks character.
Now for the action part, which was actually pretty decent. I thought the fighting was well done, though not as quick as previous fight choreography from past seasons, the weapons were awesome looking and appropriate for the theme, and the transformation scenes were pretty cool to watch. Three things I didn't like however. The fact that they use cell phones to transform rather then something samurai related like daggers, talismans or paint brushes really made it seem out of place. The banter between the rangers and monster while fighting was corny and annoying and seemed to interfere with the fights at times. And finally, the zords were too bulky and toy like. In fact, they reminded me a lot of the toys I used to get in my McDonald's happy meal, that's how blatantly toy like they looked. Defiantly not the best megazord I've seen but nonetheless effective plus it had a bad ass sword.
So with all this in mind, will I be tuning in next week for the next episode?...begrudgingly, yes. One because I'm a geek, and two because I'm curious to see where they plan on going with this season. Despite my obvious resentment to the presentation of the season premiere, I do think it has some potential which I hope the writers and creators elaborate on and build up so that Samurai can full fill fans expectations. With that in mind, I look forward to next weeks episode with cautious optimism. Should that be shattered, I assure you all that you will hear from me about it. :) Till then, may the power protect you all.
~Efram
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Adventures in Magfest
First off, I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year. :) I'll admit, I was nervous about the upcoming year as 2010 had some pretty bad times for me, but considering everything thats happened so far, I say 2011 is turning out to be pretty awesome *knocks on wood*. And one of those moments of awesomeness happened last weekend at the Magfest convention in Virginia.
Normally I wouldn't go to a convention like this as a) its in Virginia which is 4 hours away and b) I'm not that big on gaming. However, when I heard that there would be at least 30 contributors from thatguywiththeglasses.com, I knew I just had to go and thankfully my mom complied by driving us there and buying tickets (thanks mom!)
Even though the convention was 4 days long, we didn't arrive till Friday afternoon which means we ended up missing the Linkara panel. :( Which sucked cause I was really looking forward to seeing the new AT4W episode. (Thankfully Linkara has since posted it on his website).
Speaking of which, we actually got to meet the MAN himself! Linkara was nice enough to pose for pictures and he even remembered the Pollo robot I made for Comic-Con. He loved the updated version, though said we still didn't exactly get the flaps right. Other then that we got to chat and Linkara even played Yu-Gi-Oh cards against my brother at one point. (ps. my brother won :P)
But the best part for me was when he let me hold the Dragon Dagger. To me, it was like being handed Excaliber.Very beautifully made dagger prop and totally awesome in every way. Naturally, I handled myself well and thanked him for the opportunity by being calm and respectable...in which I mean I squealed like a crazy fangirl and glomped the hell out of him lol. Thankfully though, Linkara didn't seem to mind and asked me to send him all the pics and video footage I got of him (which I will do once my computer stops being a bitch). I even managed to get on a first name basis with him which was pretty cool. We ended up running into each other a lot during the convention, more times then I ever dreamed I would. <3 Seemed like the universe was intent on getting us together. And each time was better then the next.
Speaking of running into people, I actually did get to meet everyone from TGWTG.com and then some :) Got a lot of good photos and even got to chat with some of them. I geeked out with Welshy about Doctor Who, discussed Shake Weights with Sean Fausz, and had some brief chats with JewWario, JesuOtaku, LordKat, Paw and Nella. Even got to see Todd play piano (he wore a mask the whole time so I never saw his face). All of them were so friendly and nice and it actually blew my mind that they were walking around conversing with fans like normal people. Was actually quite refreshing. The best part though, aside from the awesome and hilarious panel they did, was that they all signed Pollo for me. So now not only do I have the only Pollo prop in existance (aside form the orignal), but I have the only autographed one as well. I missed a few like Skitch, Snake and Mike Dodd, but I'll add them in eventually, assuming I see them at other cons.
Then of course there's Spoony, who had 2 panels there which I went to. As usual, Spoony was hilarious, both in his stand up and his Q&A. I also got to watch him sing the songs 'Tribute' and 'Chop Suey' on Rock Band. Gotta say, its a good thing Spoonys entertaining cause he definatly cant sing xD lol I only wish I had a chance to hang with him more. At one point I actually met his girfriend Scarlett. Unfortunatly I was rather drunk at the time and ended up asking her out xD.
The last person I had set out to meet was the Angry Video Game Nerd. I actually spotted him at the bar a few times but was either too nervous or too drunk to talk to him. He too was a nice guy and graciously signed my Pollo. Kinda disspointed in myself that I didn't ask him anything but it was still an honor getting to see him in person. His panel was fun to watch, though I couldn't help but cringe at some of the embarassing questions he got (specially the guy who asked why his dad was always pantsless in his videos ><) Poor guy.
The rest of the convention was pretty much okay. Definatly the smallest I've ever been to. It was great seeing and playing all the old arcade games there like Mario, Donkey Kong, PacMan and Tron. I wanted to play DDR and Rock band but seeing as I'm a noob, I didn't want to embarass myself in front of the leet gamers. The shopping and cosplays were slim pickins, but the cosplays I did see were awesome. Got to meet some fellow TGWTG cosplayers, like a Nostalgia Critic, Dr. Insano and even a Nurse. There was also a female AVGN and Critic which was really hawt. At one point I even got to meet the voice of Duke Nukem himself, Jon St.John who as really cool.
If I did have to say something negative about the convention it would be these 2 things.
1) There was no convenient food joints nearby. Your only options to eat would either be at the hotels limited and overpriced resturant or order to out some pizza/chinese which took an over an hour to arrive.
2) The eleavators. Dear god did I hate those things >< I normally wouldn't have used them but I was also visiting my friend who happened to have a room on the 25th floor. 2 of the eleavators broke so we had to wait forever for the other 2 to go all the way up and down and they got stuck quite often. Was really scary @_@ We also got stuck at least twice on a 'party elevator' where a bunch of rowdy nerds jumped up and down screaming said words over and over. Was extremely annoying. And they all smelled. Badly...
But all that aside, that was probably one of the best conventions I've ever been to :) Being able to meet Linkara and all the people from TGWTG.com was like a dream come true. They were all wonderful and funny and friendly and I never wanted it to end. Hopefully there will come a day where I get to hang out with them as an equal and talk on a personal level. Till then, I shall continue to work on my reviews and cosplay to my hearts content.
Next convention, AnimeNext. A good 5 months from now but one I eagerly look forward to nonetheless. There's a chance I might not go to Otakon this year as there's a show going on at my old summer theater group which I'd like to try out for, something I haven't done in a long time. However, I will be attending Comic-Con/Anime Festival, where me and my brother will debut our newest cosplay outfits (shh! its a surprise ;) ) So till then, I hope you all enjoy my pictures which are featured here on my deviantart http://eframtrabbit.deviantart.com/ .
TTFN! Ta-ta for now :) ~efram
Normally I wouldn't go to a convention like this as a) its in Virginia which is 4 hours away and b) I'm not that big on gaming. However, when I heard that there would be at least 30 contributors from thatguywiththeglasses.com, I knew I just had to go and thankfully my mom complied by driving us there and buying tickets (thanks mom!)
Even though the convention was 4 days long, we didn't arrive till Friday afternoon which means we ended up missing the Linkara panel. :( Which sucked cause I was really looking forward to seeing the new AT4W episode. (Thankfully Linkara has since posted it on his website).
Speaking of which, we actually got to meet the MAN himself! Linkara was nice enough to pose for pictures and he even remembered the Pollo robot I made for Comic-Con. He loved the updated version, though said we still didn't exactly get the flaps right. Other then that we got to chat and Linkara even played Yu-Gi-Oh cards against my brother at one point. (ps. my brother won :P)
But the best part for me was when he let me hold the Dragon Dagger. To me, it was like being handed Excaliber.Very beautifully made dagger prop and totally awesome in every way. Naturally, I handled myself well and thanked him for the opportunity by being calm and respectable...in which I mean I squealed like a crazy fangirl and glomped the hell out of him lol. Thankfully though, Linkara didn't seem to mind and asked me to send him all the pics and video footage I got of him (which I will do once my computer stops being a bitch). I even managed to get on a first name basis with him which was pretty cool. We ended up running into each other a lot during the convention, more times then I ever dreamed I would. <3 Seemed like the universe was intent on getting us together. And each time was better then the next.
Speaking of running into people, I actually did get to meet everyone from TGWTG.com and then some :) Got a lot of good photos and even got to chat with some of them. I geeked out with Welshy about Doctor Who, discussed Shake Weights with Sean Fausz, and had some brief chats with JewWario, JesuOtaku, LordKat, Paw and Nella. Even got to see Todd play piano (he wore a mask the whole time so I never saw his face). All of them were so friendly and nice and it actually blew my mind that they were walking around conversing with fans like normal people. Was actually quite refreshing. The best part though, aside from the awesome and hilarious panel they did, was that they all signed Pollo for me. So now not only do I have the only Pollo prop in existance (aside form the orignal), but I have the only autographed one as well. I missed a few like Skitch, Snake and Mike Dodd, but I'll add them in eventually, assuming I see them at other cons.
Then of course there's Spoony, who had 2 panels there which I went to. As usual, Spoony was hilarious, both in his stand up and his Q&A. I also got to watch him sing the songs 'Tribute' and 'Chop Suey' on Rock Band. Gotta say, its a good thing Spoonys entertaining cause he definatly cant sing xD lol I only wish I had a chance to hang with him more. At one point I actually met his girfriend Scarlett. Unfortunatly I was rather drunk at the time and ended up asking her out xD.
The last person I had set out to meet was the Angry Video Game Nerd. I actually spotted him at the bar a few times but was either too nervous or too drunk to talk to him. He too was a nice guy and graciously signed my Pollo. Kinda disspointed in myself that I didn't ask him anything but it was still an honor getting to see him in person. His panel was fun to watch, though I couldn't help but cringe at some of the embarassing questions he got (specially the guy who asked why his dad was always pantsless in his videos ><) Poor guy.
The rest of the convention was pretty much okay. Definatly the smallest I've ever been to. It was great seeing and playing all the old arcade games there like Mario, Donkey Kong, PacMan and Tron. I wanted to play DDR and Rock band but seeing as I'm a noob, I didn't want to embarass myself in front of the leet gamers. The shopping and cosplays were slim pickins, but the cosplays I did see were awesome. Got to meet some fellow TGWTG cosplayers, like a Nostalgia Critic, Dr. Insano and even a Nurse. There was also a female AVGN and Critic which was really hawt. At one point I even got to meet the voice of Duke Nukem himself, Jon St.John who as really cool.
If I did have to say something negative about the convention it would be these 2 things.
1) There was no convenient food joints nearby. Your only options to eat would either be at the hotels limited and overpriced resturant or order to out some pizza/chinese which took an over an hour to arrive.
2) The eleavators. Dear god did I hate those things >< I normally wouldn't have used them but I was also visiting my friend who happened to have a room on the 25th floor. 2 of the eleavators broke so we had to wait forever for the other 2 to go all the way up and down and they got stuck quite often. Was really scary @_@ We also got stuck at least twice on a 'party elevator' where a bunch of rowdy nerds jumped up and down screaming said words over and over. Was extremely annoying. And they all smelled. Badly...
But all that aside, that was probably one of the best conventions I've ever been to :) Being able to meet Linkara and all the people from TGWTG.com was like a dream come true. They were all wonderful and funny and friendly and I never wanted it to end. Hopefully there will come a day where I get to hang out with them as an equal and talk on a personal level. Till then, I shall continue to work on my reviews and cosplay to my hearts content.
Next convention, AnimeNext. A good 5 months from now but one I eagerly look forward to nonetheless. There's a chance I might not go to Otakon this year as there's a show going on at my old summer theater group which I'd like to try out for, something I haven't done in a long time. However, I will be attending Comic-Con/Anime Festival, where me and my brother will debut our newest cosplay outfits (shh! its a surprise ;) ) So till then, I hope you all enjoy my pictures which are featured here on my deviantart http://eframtrabbit.deviantart.com/ .
TTFN! Ta-ta for now :) ~efram
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