EyeShotFirst

The new Tomb Raider is supposedly only going to be on the Xbox One. I think it might end up going multi-platform later. I don't really care about Tomb Raider anymore. It seems like every time Toby Gard leaves the Tomb Raider team, you get mediocrity. The last Tomb Raider was literally trying to be Uncharted, and I think Uncharted is the one that needs to try being more like Tomb Raider. It's like the last Harry Potter movie was trying to do Twilight.

I was busy trying to reattach my jawbone from the Bethesda presentation. I've just never seen the exclusives for XBox as being all that worth making the switch. Everything I want to play is always on the PS4 or the PC.

You would think Microsoft would be busy trying to outdo Sony at every turn, but anytime Microsoft takes a step forward, they take a step back. Come on Microsoft, help me like you!

People are quick to start a confrontation about almost everything. I've had simple non-political/religious small talk turn into a heated argument with the snap of a finger. It's happening more and more.

I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying that people should have the right to support whatever they want. If somebody puts on a shirt that says "Fuck the world" It is their right. And I have seen people wear that shirt. If Jim Bob who is flying a rebel flag starts enslaving people, then by all means punish him.

I don't fly a confederate flag, in any part of my decor and attire. Don't take me as a racist that is grasping at straws. I don't support a lot of things, but I support freedom, and especially freedom of speech.

TV's Frink said:

You want the flag to represent history, put it in a museum.  Don't fly it from your Capitol or wear it on a fucking t-shirt.

 So nobody can wear a cross on their neck, a kippah on their head, or wear a shirt expressing pride in being gay, as it might offend somebody? I agree that it shouldn't be at a place that represents everybody such as a capitol, but again you can't cherry pick tolerance.

We are pretending that a part of our history never existed. Yeah, I understand the stigma attached to the flag, and feel that for all intents and purposes, it shouldn't be flown high in certain places. But if it is up in a strictly historical sense, I can't agree with the total eradication of the flag in question.

This country was built with blood. I grew up with a false sense of our nation's history. I was told the bullshit story that we came to this land and ate turkey with the Indians, and it was all happy. When I grew an interest to dig deeper and found out how our history with the native people actually went down, I was shocked and appalled.

The issue with slavery was mostly glossed over as well. I was taught about Civil Rights, but I didn't get any of the key details. I learned more about Civil Rights and slavery through my own will to learn outside of school.

Look, every religious or political symbol can be considered hateful or offensive depending on whose point of view you take. All we hear about the Civil War is the glossed over red and blue of it. We don't hear about the sheer brutality and the stand points of both sides. It wasn't 100% about slavery. I had family that fought on both sides, and it was one of the most brutal wars we've ever been apart of. People think Isis and Al Qaeda are something to fear, but nobody kills Americans better than Americans.

We need to stop making revisions to history to make ourselves look better. Our flaws should be permanent scars to be a stark reminder of who we have been and could be again at any point. It wouldn't take much for this country to fight at that level again.

If you believe in freedom, you can't tell a person they can't fly a flag, because you don't like it. It's an American right to hate within the law. There is a whole lot out there that offends me, but I won't do anything about it, as long as it isn't physically hurting me.

I have said it more than a hundred times. Tolerance is a double-edged sword, and you can't cherry pick things you can tolerate. I don't care if it is a stark reminder of something painful to you. If we eradicated everything that offended somebody, we'd have to blow the planet up.

You can buy a nazi flag on Amazon, but not a confederate flag...

Let that sink in.

Yeah, I replayed and beat Majora's Mask using a PS3 controller, and thanks to spending a lot of time mapping everything and adjusting the sensitivity, it ended up being easier than the N64 controller.

Speaking of Zelda, this project looks really cool. It's essentially making a new Zelda game out of the assets from Ocarina of Time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i29BmvQ1Yw4

Sometimes I make compilations of songs I like from certain artists, and I'll give them a custom cover. Sometimes I don't like the existing cover of a certain cd, so I'll make my own. I figure this is a good place to show things I've done, as well as for you folks to show things you yourselves have done.

Eyes Wide Shut

Don't know why I keep getting sucked into this movie. It leaves me thinking about it a long time after each time I've watched it. Somebody will bring it up offhandedly, and I'll feel compelled to watch it.

Many people say it's the worst thing Kubrick did, or they feel it wasn't as good as it could've been, but I actually find myself liking it as much as anything else he had done.

Something about it that just sticks with you. 2001 stuck with me, but not in the same way that EWS did. 2001 impressed me as a visual wonder, but it didn't have the psychological effect that Eyes Wide Shut had.

I think Eyes Wide Shut enhances my obsession with the unknown, and the many rumors and conspiracies I've come across in this life. I feel many of it's outer themes are open to interpretation, much like 2001. But at it's core there is a look behind the curtain at the inner workings of people in power. It's like a peek into the Bohemian Grove or into the Rothschild mansion.

I'm not one to go screaming Illuminati, nor do I believe many of the conspiracy theories I read or hear about. I am deeply interested in it all though.

^I got into Sinatra simply because I grew up hearing Love and Marriage every time Married With Children came on.

I do to check if I see somebody I recognize, but aren't too sure if it's them. I usually don't have patience for credits, but these days they like to sneak shit in the credits. Jackie Chan movies usually merit sitting through credits.

It depends, what kind of beer you talking? If it's Miller, Bud, or Heineken, I'll take the chocolate milk.

You are the biggest producer in cinema. You run Big-Ass Studios and what you say goes.

Take any movie, good or bad, from any time in history and act like it has never been made before. Do you want to cast the same actor in their respective role, or do you want somebody new. Can a young James Cagney be in the same movie as a middle-aged Gary Oldman? You bet your ass he can.

Who will direct it? Who will score it? Who will be in charge of the photography? Will you call for a re-write or leave it as is? Do you want to change the name of Big-Ass Studios?

The change doesn't even have to be to improve the film. Maybe you'd like to see a serious movie with comedic actors.

Sounds like there'll be too many heroes and villains to keep up with. I hope the result will be a clear story we can focus on. The problem with the prequels was the sheer amount of crap going on. I felt like a child lost in the airport watching those movies.

I hope you already bought the silver paint. All the Mad Max fans are buying it up to make it to Valhalla. ;)

Mad Max: Fury Road

I watched it this weekend, and while I had heard it was good, I still felt a little hesitant. I have to say I was more than surprised, and I instantly wanted to see it again after it was over.

The action was over the top and crazy, like you'd want from a Mad Max film, but it doesn't feel like a soulless explosion porn that you expect from the modern action film.

I don't want to give away too much, but this is the first action film I've enjoyed this much in a huge chunk of my life.

It's the real sequel we should've gotten to The Road Warrior.

I think he should've become Vader earlier. Episode 1 should've started with Obi Wan discovering Anakin as some rough around the edges ace pilot with promise. Maybe the impending Clone Wars has caused the Jedi to search out anybody who looks like they might have a knack for combat.

Show Anakin as more of what Luke might've been if he hadn't been held back by Owen. Maybe Anakin feels he's stuck in life, and sees Obi Wan as a chance for "Adventure, and excitement" like Yoda sensed in Luke.

Maybe have them grow close in their early adventures. Then the second film starts with the shit hitting the fan, and have it take it's toll on our heroes, and begin to create a rift between them. Then go with the standard Palpatine whispers in Anakin's ear, and makes him think that Obi Wan is a doo doo head. Instead of a blatant enemy, such as the sith with the red sabers. Maybe there never was such a thing, and Anakin blindly follows Palpatine much like many people followed Napoleon or Hitler, and he truly believes he is a good man. Heck, maybe have everybody know that Palpatine is a jedi. After all, the Jedi are entangled in politics. Law enforcement officers end up politicians quite often. Shove in Anakin in love story for good measure.

I think the promise that Palpatine is a going to be a great leader during the hard times the Clone Wars have brought forth is good for his uprising. Anakin's slip to the dark side could've been less drastic and more gradual. One thing I've noticed with great villains, is the fact that many of them believe what they are doing is right.

Obi Wan and Anakin could have their duel at the end of episode II, and end it with Anakin's supposed death. Episode III would start with many dark jedi, including Darth Vader, attacking the order, which would've already been weakened by the clone wars. You could have a duel between Vader and Obi Wan, lacking a lot of dialogue. I think the two being angry at one another is enough for consistency without giving away the identity.

There's more you could build off that basic outline..

Yeah, and we shouldn't assume that a man that lived as hard as Vader which resulted in him looking like Shaw, would've looked like that as a young man.

Who is to say that Anikan wouldn't have been more like Luke in appearance?

I don't think I ever put much thought into what he would've looked like when I watched Star Wars for the first time years ago.

Not at all a bad concept. Shaw as a young man, didn't look too far a stretch from playing Luke's father.

Unfortunately he was a good decade older than Alec Guinness, and looked it in Jedi.

Luckily I saw Mad Max first, so Road Warrior didn't spoil my first impression of the film. I just didn't care for Beyond Thunderdome, but I did like the visual style. The Road Warrior has been my favorite for years. I'm planning to see Fury Road within the next few days if I can. Me and some others have made plans.

Damn, I bet that was fun

I hate wisdom teeth. One has been giving me all kinds of issues, and has become infected. I have no dental coverage, so I'm gonna have to figure something out, because the tooth and possibly more needs to come out.