Friday, December 25, 2009

Feliz Na'vi-dad!

Feliz Na'vi-dad from me and all on Pandora!
Merry Christmas 2009! I hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed Christmas. Enjoy it with your family and friends, but never forget about the "Christ" in "Christmas". Have a great day! Merry Christmas!
Feliz Na'vi-dad from me and Neytiri!


Tuesday, December 22, 2009

"Avatar"


I have no idea where to start. When I first saw the teaser trailer for this movie, I had no interest in seeing it whatsoever. I then watched the official trailer when it was released, which changed my mind a little. After seeing what the movie was about, it interested me a lot, and so I decided on watching it. Wow. There are only a few single words that come to my mind as I try to describe it to you now: "epic" being the simplist of them. Everything in this movie was so incredibly detailed, from the enviroment to the creatures that inhabited it. On top of the amount of imagination, the story and characters themselves set it a whole bar higher. It had the perfect amount of everything that makes a movie good for me. I found myself wishing it was longer than the near three hours it was. If your a fan of movies such as "The Lord of the Rings", "Star Trek", "Titanic", or "Terminator", or even if you're not, I want you to watch this film. James Cameron did an outstanding job. I only wish that it would be as mind-blowing on DVD as it was in the theatre. It was so effortless for me to get completely absorbed and captivated in this movie and never wanting to come back. I wish I could live on Pandora and become one of the Na'vi. Oh and Neytiri is mine.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Second UFC Fan Expo

Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada

Back in July of 2009, I went to Las Vegas, Nevada to take part of the very first UFC Fan Expo. The picture above was taken by myself when I was up there. It was a complete and total blast, and I was able to meet the following fighters:

Wanderlei Silva
Frank Trigg
Forrest Griffin
Josh Burkman
Keith Jardine
"Rampage" Jackson
Patrick Côté
Gabriel Gonzaga
Efrain Escudero
Marcus Davis
Kimbo Slice

... as well as Anne Rivera (former UFC Octagon Girl) and Arianny Celeste (UFC Octagon Girl). On top of all that, I was able to see in person:

Lyoto Machida
Martin Kampmann
Chuck Liddell
Randy Couture
Josh Koscheck
Gray Maynard
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua
Rashad Evans
Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira
Frank Mir*
Georges St-Pierre*
Edith Labelle (former UFC Octagon Girl)
and many others...
(*Not a part of the UFC Fan Expo, but rather I walked past them in the Mandalay Bay hotel two days before UFC 100)
Now the second UFC Fan Expo has been anounced to take place from May 28-29, 2010, with UFC 114 taking place on May 29 afte the Expo's second day. President Dana White promised in a release announcing the event that the upcoming Fan Expo will take the concept "to the next level". More than 200 companies are expected to exhibit and will feature "apparel, electronic gaming, food and beverages, fight gear, fitness equipment and supplies, nutritional supplements, and lifestyle products."
If you missed the first Expo in 2009, or even if you were able to attend, the second will no doubt be just as great, if not better. Tickets are on sale now, so if you are a MMA and UFC fan, do yourself a favor and fly up to Vegas in May, 2010. You will not regret it.
Below is a short video of the first UFC Fan Expo, and what is expected of the second one in 2010, plus more.


video credits to mmafaze.com

Monday, November 23, 2009

"2012"


I liked this movie a lot. For special effects, I give it an A+. If you've seen "The Day After Tomorrow" or "Knowing", then you'll have an idea of what kind of effects are in the film. The story itself was interesting, as it refers to the end of the world, according to the ancient Mayan calendar. This suggests that the world will come to an end on December 21, 2012. I thought the actors/actresses were cast very well also. Once the very first cataclysmic event occurs, the rest of the movie is pretty much non-stop chaos and action, from erupting volcanoes to massive tidal waves and everything in between. Even if you don't believe that the world will indeed end as predicted by the Mayans, this movie is well-worth the watch.
4/5

"Law Abiding Citizen"


"Law Abiding Citizen" is not your typical revenge story. It slowly builds up to become a high explosive-fueled vigilante crime and psychological thriller. After Clyde Shelton's (Gerard Butler) wife and daughter are killed in a violent crime in his own home, a plea bargain is made by Clyde's attorney which sets the killer free. Ten years pass, and when the second criminal is about to be put to death via lethal injection, Clyde strikes. In a violent and disturbing "accident", the chemicals were swapped for something a little more "deliberate". The violence doesn't stop there. From prison killing to torture, Clyde swears to kill everyone involved in the deal that set his family's killer free, and being an ex-CIA operative who was a natural tactician and killer, it seems to be a walk in the park. Studying up on law for the past ten years, Clyde gets himsef into jail, yet the killing continues. Some things may seem coincidental or even accidental, but everything that occurs is for a reason and a purporse. Everything in the movie is driving towards one idea, and that's to not make those kinds of deals. If you enjoy intense action/drama thrillers, then I recommend this movie. But be warned, its "R" rating is no joke. There is plenty of strong language and violence for everyone is this film. Think "Taken" meets Some-Other-Intense-But-Psychological-Death-Dealing-Machine movie, and you've got a mental picture. The moral of this is film in the end is: do not make deals with bad guys.
4.5/5

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Modern Warfare 2

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2


WARNING: SPOILER ALERT

Overview

With missions that range from Brazil, Russia, a military base in Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, and even America, Modern Warfare 2's single player is in itself an instant hit. The campaign is not as long as Call of Duty 4's, but this is its only drawback. Much of it focuses on a Russian invasion of the United States, especially in the Greater Washington D.C. area. The player will see sights such as the Washington Monument and the White House (called the "Whiskey Hotel" in the game), and the Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.


Plot

The player starts the game in Afghanistan as US Army Ranger Private Allen. Soon recruited by a General Shephers, Private Allen becomes a CIA operative and is placed in Vladimir Makarov's (one of Zakhaev's former lieutenants) organization as an undercover operative. A surprising mission takes Allen to a Russian airport, where he, Makarov, and a few others must walk through and kill everyone with automatic weapons. Once completed, Makarov kills Allen, exposing him as an American, and turns him into a scapegoat for the brutal terrorist attack on the Russian airport. Enraged by what they believe is an American-supported terrorrist attack, Russia stages a surprise invasion of the United States East Coast. Meanwhile, Soap and Roach infiltrate a Russian airbase to recover a lost ACS module. Task Force 141 (a spec ops group formed to take down terrorist organizations, primarily Makarov's) works on taking down Makarov. Traveling to Rio de Janeiro, Task Force 141 attempt to chase leads on Makarov's contacts, which turn out to be dead ends. As a result, Soap decides to rescue one of Makarov's mosthated enemies from a Russian prison camp, called the Gulag, and use him as bait to draw him out. With assistance from the Marines and SEALs, Task Force 141 manages to free the prisoner, who is revealed to be Captain Price. Price agrees to help them track down Makarov, but knows that they must do something extreme to end the war. Temporarily going rogue, Price hijacks a Russin nuclear submarine and launches an ICBM at Washington D.C. However, he rigs the warhead to explode in the upper atmosphere, which destroys th International Space Station but saves Washington. The resulting electromagnetic pulse cripples both the US and Russian forces in the city, causing helicopters and jets to fall out of the sky and small things such as red dot sights not to work. Army Rangers in Washington discover that the Air Force will assume that Washington D.C. is lost and will carpet bomb the city. They fight their way to the Russian-controlled White House and set off green flares on the roof in time to save the city. Even though that conflict is over, Makarov is still at large. Narrowig his hiding place down to two separate locations, Task Force 141 splits up. Soap and Price go to the boneyards in Afghanistan, while Roach and Ghost raid Makarov's safehouse in the Caucasus Mountains. Roach and Ghost obtain vital intelligence to put an end to him for good. General Shepherd, however, betrayes them and kills both Roach and Ghost. Shepherd intends to tke advantage of the global crisis to turn himslf into a global her as wll as write history however he sees fit. Price and Soap manage to escape Shepherd's ambush, and decide to tke revenge on him in one final, bloody suicide mission. After their helicopter crashes, Soap (who the player takes control of after Roach is killed) attempts to stab Shepherd in a sandstorm. Shepherd is able to repell his attack and stabs Soap instead. Price rescues Soap temporarily and after a brutal fist-fight between Price and Shepherd, Soap manages to remove the knife from his abdomen and throw it into Shepherd's eye socket, killing him. Soap and Price both seriously wounded, Nikolai arrives to extract them. Price warns Nikolai that they will be international fugitives fo what they've done, but Nikolai tells them he knows a safe place to take them.

Special Ops


Modern Warfare 2 features a cooperative mode entitled Special Ops, which consists of independent missions similar in design to the "Mile High Club" epilogue mission from Call of Duty 4. These missions will take place in a variety of locations from the campaign mode, but are not related to story of the campaign itself. Special Ops mode can be played alone and also supports two player cooperative play, where it can be played with another player split-screen locally, or online. It includes such scenarios as a snowmobile race between the two players, one player providing airsupport from an AC-130 while the other player conducts operations on the ground, capturing an enemy compound and searching areas for and eliminating 40 or more enemies at a time. Special Ops is divided into five separate groups of missions which are Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta and Echo. Each mission can be played at three difficulty levels which are regular, hardened and veteran. Successfully completing a mission earns the players stars, there are three stars available for each mission: one star for completing the mission on regular difficulty, two for hardened and three for veteran. Once enough stars are earned, more missions can be unlocked. Infinity Ward has stated that the total number of stars is 69, meaning there are 23 missions in total. At the end of each mission, a statistics screen displays how long the player took to complete the level and how many kills were scored, among other stats.

Online

The online multiplayer mode of Modern Warfare 2 retains the same experience points and unlockable reward system of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, but also introduces several new features. Aside from new weapons and equipment, 15 different kill streak rewards can be unlocked and selected by the player. Among these is the ability to receive a supply drop after four kills, a predator missile strike after five kills, and to call in a strike by an AC-130 gunship after achieving 11 enemy kills in a row. It is also now possible to upgrade perks to a "pro version". Another new addition to online multiplayer is in-game host migration - if a match host leaves the game, instead of the match ending (as in Call of Duty 4), a 5 second 'host migration delay' allows a new host to be selected and the game to continue. There has also been the addition of a new 3rd person mode which can be used in certain game types for multiplayer. Game modes include Free-For-All, Search & Destroy, Demolition, Domination, Team Deathmatch, and Capture The Flag.

Final Word

All-in-all, Modern Warfare 2's immersive single-player and intense multi-player makes it one of the very best shooters out there. Go out and grab yourself a copy today.

9.5 / 10

Marine by God


10, November 1775

I was born in a bomb crater. My mother was an M-16 and my father was the devil. Each moment that I live is an additional threat upon your life. I eat concertina, piss napalm, and I can shoot a round through a flea’s ass at 300 meters. I travel the globe, festering on anti-Americans everywhere I go, for the love of Mom, Chevrolet, baseball, and apple pie. I’m a grunt. I’m the dirty, nasty, stinky, sweaty, filthy, beautiful little son of a bitch that’s kept the wolf away from the door for over 225 years. I’m a United States Marine. We look like soldiers, talk like sailors, slap the shit out of both them. We stole the eagle from the Air Force, the rope from the Army, and the anchor from the Navy, and on the seventh day when God rested, we overran His perimeter and we’ve been running the show ever since. Warrior by day, lover by night, drunkard by choice, Marine by God. Semper Fidelis.

-Generation Kill