mother fluffin kanye

Kanye West has been quoted as saying that he wanted less fans. He said it was because he wanted a core audience that understands him instead of a bunch of money and fans who like him because he's the latest trend. Really Kanye, you dont want bunches of money? He says more money is more responsibility. Ill just throw this out there kanye, ill take the money. Ill take it.

Borderlands

A new game was released recently that goes by the name of Borderlands. Its a rough around the edges post apocalyptic FPSRPG. No, FPSRPG is not a random jumbling of letters it actually stands for something. It means first person shooter rpg, which pretty much translates into a gun game that you can level up in. But the one thing that seperates Borderlands from most other games that have come out in the past few years is that it is good. It is great. It is awesome. I will be playing it for a long time to come. Inspired by Mad Max, Borderlands translates the feeling of a total wasteland that you must overcome and possibly rebuild. The sheer amount of weaponery available to you is unbelievable. Advertisements for the game stated there were "70 bajillion weapons", and im starting to believe they may not have been lying. Co-operative gameplay is stressed as vitally important in Borderlands, and with good reason. There are 4 classes, and you can have up to 4 players in a game. This can lead to some serious battles with the opposition, that raises in intelligence, toughness, and sheer brutality as more people join into your games. I really feel that Borderlands is going to set the precedent for lots of games to come, and i can only hope that creative developers continue to raise the bar on the quality of their games.

Domo Origato

So microsoft has announced a new product to attach to your xbox 360. Its callad "Natal", and its going to completely revolutionize the gaming industry. Natal is a motion capture device that you place somewhere around your television, and it is the most ridiculous piece of technology i have ever seen. It has full motion capture in real time for your body and the bodies of those around you. It also has facial recognition and voice recognition to help correctly "communicate" with each player. It adjusts itself automatically so that anybody can step in and play at any time. Most importantly, however, is that it lets you play the game with your body instead of any sort of controller. Gaming is now completely, unbelievably accessable to anybody. All you have to do is stand in front of the screen and play! Its the kind of thing you have only seen in arcades and disneyland, except it will be available for retail use in any home in america that wants it.

Sweet.

The quest for entertainment

In my neverending journey to conquer the realm of videogames, i have recently taken to buying used games and selling my old ones. While there are many websites that cater to this target market, i feel that the salvation of gaming still lies in good old fashioned game stores. Big chains like wal-mart are excluded from this of course, and stores like gamestop are key examples of what im talking about. They provide used games at discount prices and even take your old games to use as credit towards new purchases. They offer big discounts if you put old games towards approaching release titles, and give you stacking bonuses the more you trade in. I have recently started visiting my local gamestop more than i used to, and gotten to know the people who work there fairly well. The level of service you get from people who understand the games and share your passion is something you cant get from an online store, and its a factor that i will always include in my purchases. Gaming is meant to be a group effort! It isnt about sitting in your room by yourself, its about passing that controller to your buddy when you die. Teaming up to conquer unstoppable evils. Facing off in epic battle! The more the merrier.

Long Time no Blog

Well summer has finally come and gone for all you school going kids, myself included, and its back to the tedius grind of class after class after class. I suppose I have it easier then most what with being in a more open ended field. Video and Audio are fun considerations for a career choice, but i would recommend that nobody else ever join these degrees ever so that i may continue to entertain dreams of one day getting HIRED in this rapidly filling field.
Ya Dig?

Charles in Charge

I have been spending a lot more time with my brothers lately. After moving back home from Western to attend gaston college i have been seeing them more and more often then i have for the past few years. I realized one very important thing over these past few months, my brothers rule. We all get along so well, we almost never fight, and we always seem to have each others backs in tough situations. My younger brother and i live at home, and our older brother lives just over a half hour away. We all get together a few times a week to just hang out and play, and we have some of the most fun i have ever had in my life. Its great, and i love my family.

End of the Year

Well the semester is winding down, and i must say I have had a great time these past few months. Now that im actually getting into classes that pertain to my major im doing much better then i used to. The workload seems more managable when you're having fun doing what you love. I find it odd to think that i used to dread getting up and going to clas every day, but now its almost a relief to get to go shoot film or edit movies. Im having a blast doing this kind of stuff, and really look forward to more in-depth projects. I have all these ideas for new films to make and i cannot wait to put them together. The most enjoyable thing i did this semester was definitaly for my video production class. I was allowed to make any kind of movie i wanted, and having that kind of creative freedom was increadible. I loved taking my vision and making it into a corporeal thing! Hopefully ill get to do more stuff like that in the future.

SF4

Street Fighter 4, the long awaited new installment of the Street Fighter series of videogames, has finally been released. I must say that i am really impressed with the way it plays. Street Fighter, for those who are unaware, is a fighting game where two players each select one character and proceed to beat the tar out of each other. It is a venture into violence at its most primal and base nature, and it is fantastic. This latest venture into the art of fighting in the streets (and sometimes in odder locations) is a wonderfully balanced and varied game, where there are different characters to suit every style of play. The game is paced slower then most other fighting games, where each match is more of a tactical back and forth then a straight up brawl between combatants. Being able to utelize each characters moves effectively and quickly is the key to victory, and experience plays a large part in each victory.

I give it 4 karate chopping fists out of 5

The General part 2

But the men stood fast with their guns on their shoulders, not knowing what to do with these contradicting orders, the general said he would do his own duty but he would extend it no further, the men could go as they pleased.  But not a man moved, their eyes gazed straight ahead till one by one they stepped back and not a word was said.  The old general was left with his own words, echoing in his head.  He then prepared to fight.  He said...

I have seen the others, and i have discovered, that this fight is not worth fighting.  And i've seen their mothers, and i will no other, to follow me where im going.  So take a shower and shine your shoes, you've got no time to lose, you are young men you must be living.  Go now you are forgiven.

The General part 1

There was a decorated general with a heart of gold, that likened him to all the stories he told, of past battles won and lost and legends of old, a seasoned veteran in his own time.  On the battlefield he gained respectful fame, with many medals of bravery and fights to his name, he grew a beard as soon as he could to cover the scars on his face, and always urged his men on.  But on the eve of a great battle with the infantry in dream the old general tossed in his sleep and wrestled with its meaning.  He awoke from that night just to tell what he had seen, and walked slowly out of his tent.  All the men held tall with their chests in the air, with courage in their blood and fire in their stares.  It was a grey morning and they all wondered how they would fair, until the old general told them to go home.  He said...

I have seen the others, and i have discovered, that this fight is not worth fighting.  And i've seen their mothers, and i will no other, to follow me where im going.  So take a shower and shine your shoes, you've got no time to lose, you are young men you must be living.  Go now, you are forgiven.

Movie Shoot

Yesterday my brother recruited me to go help him with a movie shoot he was working on. It wasnt going to be a lot of work, but I decided that getting to see how a set works would be pretty interesting. We drove out to an old abandoned stripped down house where the shot was going to take place. We then spent about 2 hours setting up the one room we would be using that day. After that the actors arrived and I was ushered out of the room for the next hour, left with naught to do but twiddle my thumbs. After a short while the director came out and told me I would need to stop traffic when they shot, as the mics were very sensitive and picked up the sound of cars driving by. He then handed me a vest and two traffic cones and sent me on my way. For the next half hour, every time the director yelled "Stand by" that was my cue to sprint into the middle of the road, slam the cones down, and try to keep people from honking their horns, swearing loudly, or trying to run me over. It was, all in all, a very entertaining time. I got to spend a good while helping out with lighting, getting random stage effects such as rain prepped, and trying to fix continuety issues between shots. This was a very interesting expedition, and i would love to try it again sometime.

New Game Day!

Today, friday the 13th (ooh scary), Resident Evil 5 finally hits storefronts. RE5 is a shooter/horror videogame for the xbox 360 and playstation 3, and it is going to be fantastic. I feel as if my homework productivity will decrease significantly until the game has been conquered beneath my thumbs of fury. Resident Evil is a long running game series, and has steadily increased the quality of their games with each main installment. As it has gone so far, they are only going to improve their formula as they go along. One of the new features to this iteration is the introduction of Co-operative gameplay. For the first time you will be able to take one of your friends into the game with you to face the hordes of infected zombie monsters.

All is not well in the world of RE5 though, for a large amount of controversy surrounds the game. The game is set in africa, which means that all of the zombies you fight are africans. It also doesnt help that the main character is a white male. As you can probably guess, this has aroused a little unrest amongst a lot of people. However, no problems arised in the series 4th edition of the game which took place in Europe where the white male main character destroyed wave after wave of hispanic zombies. The series has never set a precedent for racism in any form before, but it doesnt seem fair that locations are off limits completely just because of the people who live there. To do it any other way would just be unrealistic. Nobody would believe that there is a city of 2000 white zombies in the heart of africa. Just not gonna happen. One of the main keys to making a game like this good is to engage the player in the story, and that means making the story stand up to scrutiny.

The Physiology of Relatative Ecosystems

It was warm this week.

You are here ----------> <('_'<)

I realized recently that most of the music I listen to now is unacceptable for anybody who is not in my age group. My younger cousins would be horribly corrupted simply because most songs seem to incorporate profanity into their songs with reckless abandon. The same reason also applies to my parents, as they cannot seem to accept profanity in their entertainment mediums either. Granted, there are still several bands that are acceptable for family listening. I am just concerned with the growing trend of desensitizing profanity in our music. It seems that we are more concerned with being edgy then maintaining any level of integrity in our music.

I like killing time

I watched all the extended editions of Lord of the Rings over spring break.  It took over 12 hours to do, but it was totally worth it.  Movies that good are one of the reasons i got into broadcasting, to think that all it took was one mans ambition to start the train that created these masterpieces.  One day I hope to make something so great that people feel compelled to watch them for the trilling story.

Life would be better...

If technology didnt exist and I could make my living as a sell-sword.  I would be the greatest mercenary in the land, renowned for my skill with a blade, and all would fall before its anonymous fury.  Or perhaps the life of a wandering rogue would be more fitting to my style, unseen at all times and taking what I please without anybody even knowing of my presence.  But Rogue is just 1 step away from Assassin, and i don't think that would be very enjoyable career choice.  Hell, if we are banishing technology we might as well bring back magic.  That would be pretty cool, but its almost an unwritten rule that once you get powerful enough at magic you gotta get yourself a town. Or at least a tower to cast your spells from.  Then again, nothing screams "obey me" like a fireball hurtling towards you vassals from the top of a tower constructed entirely out of laffy taffy (you're a wizard, you can make the tower).  Maybe i would turn to the ways of the ranger and forsake towns almost altogether.  I would live out in the wilds and become a master marksman with my bow, defending my terrain valiantly against my chosen enemy, which would probably be emo kids.  Im pretty sure its not a crime to kill them anyways, because they recently said that stealing a pair of your sisters jeans is punishable by the death sentence anyways.  I wish my lawn were emo, so it would cut itself.

Books and Time Travel

I was going to bed last night around midnight, and I decided to read a few pages in my book. I acquired this book from my friend and it is a very interesting read, but anyways...
I started reading around midnight, and what seemed to be a short time later I happened to glance over at my clock. It read 3:00 am. Surprised, I turned to my cell phone only to have my fears confirmed. It was actually 3:00 am, and i had finished my book. I had also unintentionally discovered what appears to be a rift in time, because their was obviously a very strong spell inscribed secretly in that book that teleported me forward several hours. It seems to be the only explanation for what happened, unless the book was actually good enough to enthrall me for so long. Thinking about it, that seems to be very likely.
I guess that means books are fun, right?

Pick up a book.

now.

the internet doesnt count.

I wish I had gotten to ride on the Magic Schoolbus just once...

Imagine how much more interesting school would have been if you knew that there was a magical schoolbus that took you on learning missions. It could shrink or grow on command, travel through time, and change its freaking shape. I dont know about you, but that would have made dinosaur week waaaaaay cooler. "What did you do today Brent?". "Not much mom, i just rode on the back of a raptor while it hunted down other, weaker dinosaurs."

Yeah, thats what im talking about.

sometimes you need to do your homework

I discovered something very important this weekend. No matter what you may be preoccupied with, you still should probably do your homework. Ive been getting into a lot of trouble recently by not doing what i am supposed to, and that is something i should probably work to correct quickly. My teacher (who is awesome, please dont fail me) has been fairly lenient with my ineptitude so far, but i have a feeling that he will only put up with so much before he just removes my head from its shoulders and mounts it on a wall in his household above his fireplace. and the last thing i want to be is a trophy. I continually find myself removed from my surroundings, but that may just be caused by my addiction to videogames and all forms of digital media and entertainment. I mean, how am i supposed to focus on homework and due dates when i have a virtual zombie apocalypyse on my xbox that can only be fixed by my iron hand and lead bullets. Furthermore, BOOM, HEADSHOT!

Rep Yourself for once

Do whatever you want, whenever you want. Just make sure you do it for yourself.