My Precious.... Sequel

 

This article is about Andy Serkis discussing an Apes sequel

(Bad title, I know)

Perhaps the most under appreciated actor in all of film, Andy Serkis, has been many different things in his illustrious career. He's like the Orson Welles of motion capture technology (I know you like that connection Mr. Cullen), not only playing some of the most well done and famous examples of the tech, but also showing that mocap is a serious form of acting. He has played one of the most deranged creatures in fiction three times, that being Gollum of Lord of the Rings fame, with an additional two films based off J.R.R Tolkien's The Hobbit in which he will be reprising his role. He also seems to love monkeys, playing the titular character of Peter Jackson's King Kong (in which he was the most redeeming part). In addition to Kong, this year he played the ape Caesar in my favorite movie of the year, Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

In the article, they discuss the new sequel to the blockbuster hit to the classic Charleton Heston series of films, and many of the hints the film throws at us indicating a sequel, like the same space vessel that Heston's films used to transport the three astronauts to the "new" planet, disappearing in the film. Also, the (hopefully) real possibility of Serkis actually directing the next film. I think this would be a great move for the hopefully continuing series, as I think Serkis has the technological prowess and mind to bring about a grander, more epic direction for the next film. Even if that doesn't happen, Wyatt did a very good job with Rise, and, fingers crossed, he probably will with the sequel. If it turns out to be crap at least we all have The Hobbit to look for our fill of Andy.

Napster Ready For Its Final Slumber

 

This article is about the fall of Napster 

For anyone who has just downloaded the latest number one hit off of their favorite torrent site, please, a moment of silence...Napster is officially dead. For those of you who don't know, Napster was the original pet peeve of Lars Ulrich. For those of you who don't know who Lars Ulrich is, get a better taste in music. Napster made it possible for every person with a decent internet connection to have an unlimited amount of music for nothing, and in the process give the middle finger to every record label in the world. In other words, a win-win. They were the original Pirate Bay, Limewire and Frostwire. It was a website that nearly single-handedly jump started the digital music revolution, similar to the invention of the vinyl, cassette, and CD.

As a person who illegitimately acquires music (not torrents; Youtube converter, yo), it's a bit sad to see the website finally be shut down. After an extremely infamous beginning, they made several attempts to try to stay relevant by making people pay, but unless you're iTunes or Amazon, it won't work. After record companies had ruled supreme with an iron fist on the entire music industry for the past fifty years, Napster came along and broke all the rules, making music about the music and not about the money. Anyone who enjoys a band enough, they will eventually buy merchandise/concert tickets/physical copies of music, so the argument that the band doesn't make money is off-based. Napster was the kick in the butt the industry needed, and it's kinda sad to see it go.

The Grammys have DECENT nominations?! owait, nevermind

This article is about the credibility, or lack thereof, of the Grammys

Last year, one of my favorite bands, Arcade Fire, won the self-proclaimed (by the Grammys, not AF) biggest award in music, Album of the Year, for their superb album The Suburbs. After seeing that last year, I suddenly had some hope for the awards. Maybe they'll stop catering to the most popular artists in a futile attempt to try to attract a younger generation to their boring-as-hell award show. Well, after seeing the Grammy nominations this year, it seems like only half of them got the message.

I am a big indie fan, so after AF won last year, I was hoping to see more indie acts in the awards this year. The Grammys came through, albeit only a bit. Radiohead are nominated for five awards for their latest album The King of Limbs, with my personal favorite album of the year, the self-titled second album by indie-folk band Bon Iver, receiving four nods. When I came across this article in Pitchfork, I was obviously expecting them to be nominated for Album of the Year. Instead, it's only record, song, best alternative album, and best new artist. BEST NEW ARTIST. For those of you who don't know (which is probably everyone reading this), Bon Iver released their first album almost three years ago (which was almost as good as their latest). I swear, I try to give the Grammys a fair chance, but when I let my guard down after Arcade Fire, they promptly proceeded to kick me in the nuts while laughing about it while laughing about Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and Katy Perry are better artists than Bon Iver and Radiohead.

ESPN - The Worldwide Leader in Hypocrisy

 

 This article is about ESPN's negligence of Bernie Fine's sexual abuse of children

(Sorry about the lack of article, but I couldn't find an actual article of this, and I thought it was a really good blog topic, I hope the video will suffice.)

Well, lookie here. Not even a month ago, the story at Penn St. broke, and ESPN was at the forefront of the circus. They were also the ones to initiate the witch hunt of Joe Paterno, and were one of the main reasons he was fired as quickly and as unexpectedly as he was. They accused him of sweeping the child molestation crimes under the rug, when in reality, he may not have done the best thing, but he certainly wasn't guilty enough to force him out. He contacted the VP in charge of the campus police. In one day. Now, it seems like ESPN themselves have been sweeping the broken pieces of children under the rug for almost a decade. 

For those of you who don't know the Bernie Fine story, here's a summary: after the Penn St. scandal, two former ballboys at Syracuse came forward with allegations of sexual abuse by assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine. One of them was Bobby Davis, the man in the phone tape speaking with Fine's wife. ESPN had that tape for EIGHT years, and did not come forward with police because "it's not their responsibility to come forward to authorities". A much worse action than what Joe Pa did or didn't do in the Penn St case, which they were at the head of trying to demonize Paterno. It's sickening to think that a television network has the absolute lack of morality to not only continue allowing a man to abuse young boys sexually, but to also initiate the firing of Joe Paterno is comprehensible. 

DA-NA-NA NA-NA-NA

Pretty Much Dead Already

This article is about the mid-season finale of the Walking Dead

The second season of AMC's critically acclaimed series The Walking Dead wrapped up for the year with last Sunday's mid-season finale, entitled "Pretty Much Dead Already". The series has taken a drastic turn from its first season, focusing more on character building rather than the grand, apocalyptic feel of the first. Many fans have attributed this to showrunner Frank Darabont stepping down from the series after the first season. It has also divided the fans of the series, with many leaving the show because of the "campiness" it has displayed. Though I have been disappointed by the second season thus far, I have decided I will stay with the series (at least until Daryl is killed off).

 However, as a noob to the series (I started watching it during the first season marathon AMC played before the premiere, I like to think of myself as having a less biased mind toward the show. Although it hasn't been as good the first season, it is still better than most shows on television right now. I also have to attribute the degrading quality of the series to the absence of Darabont, who gave the show the epic scale that drew so many people to it, but also to the thing people don't like talking about: the budget cut AMC delivered to the series after the first season, a debilitating blow that took away the hordes of zombies we grew used to in the first season.

Also, the people need to stop calling them "Walkers" already. We all know they're zombies, you don't need to hide it from us.

Goin' on into South Park...

This article is about the new South Park game

A new South Park videogame has been recently announced by Game Informer. The new game will be published by THQ, and developed by RPG veterans Obsidian, who have made highly acclaimed games such as Fallout: New Vegas and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II. The new game will be fully written, voiced, and overseen by show creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, avid gamers themselves.

This is a move that has been a long time coming. Though there were several early N64 games during the 90's, those were mostly considered to be cash-in by Parker and Stone, the new game will be much fuller. The duo will also be a major part of development, and will have a huge role in the actual gameplay of the game, which has been compared to such series as the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi rpgs series. After taking on Broadway, it was only a matter of time before the two gamers could resist dipping their hands into the gaming world, after showing their gaming awareness in such episodes of their show as "Make Love, Not Warcraft", a parody of the the World of Warcraft, and "Guitar Queer-O", a parody of the Guitar Heroes series, amongst others.