Cowboys & Aliens Review

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Possible spoilers ahead (I’m not going to mention what did happen, but rather what didn’t happen in the movie, so not much is being given away).

James Bond joins Indiana Jones on the big screen for a movie where the two of them fight against aliens. It sounds ridiculous, yet exciting at the same time. The idea is original to some extent, since it takes place in a Western setting with aliens; however, it’s still the same idea as every other alien movie (they attack the humans). The commercials weren’t very convincing for me; I was on the fence about whether or not to see the movie because I had no idea how good or bad it would be. Westerns are rare these days, but so are quality alien movies (Battle: LA was alright, but nothing special). It’s the first time in the last few months that I went into a movie not knowing what to expect and how much I would like it. I’ve stopped caring too much about what critics think, because it really doesn’t matter unless a movie is rated so low that you know it’ll be bad. Even poorly rated movies can satisfy, depending on your taste. This movie is not a 44% as its rating on RottenTomatoes stands, but you do know what you’re getting when you go see this movie. There are no major surprises.

If you don’t know the premise for the movie, aliens attack a Western town and kidnap some of the residents. Daniel Craig teams with Harrison Ford to go chase after the aliens and find those who were kidnapped. For the majority of the movie, Craig is unsure of who he is, or where he got the bracelet that’s powerful enough to destroy the alien ships. He has flashbacks throughout the movie which explain his past so you don’t have to worry about that part not being explained. Harrison Ford plays a tough cowboy who’s pissed off for most of the movie (which makes him pretty funny). He also one of the stupidest, yet funniest lines in the movie: “Gold? That’s ridiculous! What’s he going to do with it? BUY SOMETHING!?” I mean, it’s kind of obvious that he’s going to buy something with it. It doesn’t serve very many purposes. Regardless, both actors were solid in the movie and made it more entertaining. Olivia Wilde was looking good as always, and Sam Rockwell is known to be a good actor. When you have Craig and Ford together in a movie, you don’t really need any more well-known or popular actors to make the movie good, but their inclusion (Wilde and Rockwell) made the movie better.

There are some things that tick me off though about the movie. One of the characters is not human, but takes the form of a human (nothing has been given away, don’t worry), and it is never explained exactly where they came from or what their true form is. You just have to sit and watch this character, knowing they’re an alien, but dying a human. A little more explanation would have been appreciated. The second problem I have is with the aliens’ decision to come to the planet. They come for one of our resources and I don’t see how it would be beneficial to them. It’s not explained why they are mining this resource; so again, you’re left with no explanation. At least in Battle: LA, you know that the aliens came for our water (with which the Earth is abundant) and that it helps power their ships and devices. Regardless, those are the main two issues I have with the movie, as a proper explanation would have made the movie more understandable. As it stands, all I can say about the movie is that it’s an entertaining summer flick, but clearly the writers were too lazy to think of any ideas to help explain the movie.

The CGI wasn’t done properly either in some scenes. At times the aliens looked real, but then at other times you could tell they were computer generated. The aliens are fairly important in the movie (they’re also in the title), so I don’t know why they chose not put more money into making them look more real. This movie had a greater budget than District 9, yet in that movie, the CGI was done almost to perfection. Maybe they were too focused on assembling a great cast rather than working on the smaller things, but there are clearly small improvements that could have been made to make the movie better than what it is.

It really depends on your taste whether or not you’ll choose to see this movie. The beginning is purely a Western, which I didn’t mind, and it seemed to have decreased in quality once the alien chase began. It’s entertaining, with solid actors, and I don’t mind having spend $12 on the movie. I enjoyed it, and if you’re a guy, you should too.

Score: 7/10

“Wait since when do you cheer for them?" The band-wagon analysis

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 I really feel awful for true LA fans...Even their franchise knows that 90% of its fan-base are band wagon specialists.

If you follow sports actively and passionately no doubt you’ve experienced some pretty good highs and awful (and I mean AWFUL) lows as a sports fan.  Here are examples of my high (most shocking thing about that clip was Peja's rebound) and low... very, very low I did not watch the whole thing, just enough to make sure it was the right clip. These occurred within 3 days of each other and I was 10 at the time, but I can tell you every emotion that I went through, and where I watched these happen.  We can all agree that the highs are great, but the lows really do suck.  What makes the lows suck even more is when fans of the other team let you know what just happened, but this is fine, it’s a part of sports.  The thing that has the distinction of pissing me off and making the low even worse are special types of fans: band-wagon fans.  You know who this guy is, he was the first in line to buy a Lebron Miami heat jersey, he thinks Kobe is better than Jordan (I can’t even type that with a straight face)  His favourite NFL teams are the Colts, Saints, Patriots, Packers or who ever won the Super Bowl last.  He is quick to point out that he is a weird combination of a Barcelona and a Manchester United fan, and has been forever (or since 2007).  Lastly he was a Lakers fan in the early 2000’s (go re-watch some of their games; I do not think a more un-likable team ever existed).  In today’s world which is dominated by social media and you can get your opinion out pretty easily, it is very easy to spot the guy I just described.  During the NBA playoffs a guy who I have on Facebook went from cheering for the Celtics, to the Bulls, to the Heat to neutral (“I don’t mind Dallas!”).  Did anyone call him out on it?  Of course not, everyone else was a band-wagon specialist, and in this age, very few people born after 1990 are true sports fans.  When I say ‘true’ I mean you have a favourite team, you know about them and you actively follow them as best you can.  Personally, the teams I like have not had the best of times, Sacramento has not been relevant in the NBA for 7 years, the 49ers are an abomination, the Jays suck, and I do not really follow Hockey (but will, starting this year).  So when these teams are out of the playoff running right away; am I a band-wagon jumper for following another team?  Well, Yeah, but there are some key differences.  In this article I will outline what those differences are, as well as talk about the different types of band-wagon fans.  Now, before I get into it, I am well aware that Bill Simmons has written some pieces about this topic and I am sure many other writers have as well.  If anything here resembles other works on the Internet it is purely by accident (I can’t say I have read everything about this topic, therefore I don’t know what’s out there) and Full credit goes to those writers.  Now that we’ve avoided potential “You Copied sports writer/blog X” let’s get to it.  Starting in order from ‘acceptable’ all the way to ‘outrageous’.  Note: you can be more than one type of band-wagon jumper, it depends on the situation.

Sleazy Serge and Shameless Spain

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What is up with these Spanish scam artists? Serge Ibaka obtaining Spanish citizenship in order to compete in the upcoming Eurobasket as well as the London Olympics is more outrageous than the home cooking every international team encountered against Turkey at the past World Championships.

Ibaka probably passed many of the technicalities which keep other players from playing for European nations. He spent 2007-2009 playing in the Spanish ACB, and probably learned a little bit of Spanish. But he was born in the Republic of Congo and is far more Congolese than he is Spanish. Let us take a look at some other players who could have potentially participated in this same type of sleazy movement:

Jan Vesely

Vesely was born and raised in the Czech Republic. In 2008 he made his move to Partizan Belgrade and played there up until this past season (2010/2011). Vesely helped his team win 9 club trophies and has become fluent in Serbian during his time with Partizan. Jan is a perfect example of somebody who could have decided to play for a superior basketball nation but chose to stay true to his roots.

Anthony Parker

As a Toronto native, I have grown familiar with Parker's story while he played for the Raptors. He spent the years 2000-2002 and 2003-2006 in Tel Aviv playing for Macabi. Like Vesely, Parker spent more time abroad than Ibaka. But how absurd would it be if Parker decided to play in an International competition for Israel. Parker is a player who will never be selected for the U.S. Senior men's national team, so this would be his only opportunity to play for a national team.

Josh Childress

Childress played for one of the best club teams in Europe from 2008-2010, Olympiacos. Like Parker, Childress will never be selected for the U.S. team, but he could be an extremely useful addition to the Greek national team. Greece's best wing players have recently retired or are in their twilight years, so he could step right in and be a star. By the way, he wouldn't be the only black guy on the team (see Sofoklis Schortsanitis).

Spain's "Golden Generation" in basketball is beginning to age. They failed to defend their World Championship title in Turkey, falling at the hands of an over achieving Serbian side in the quarter finals. The addition of Ibaka will be a nice addition moving forward. He will be great front court partner with Marc Gasol, and Rubio will have two great players to run the pick and roll with. Spain is the only team to really challenge the redeem team and they have experienced tremendous success in the past 4-6 years. However, this is a ridiculous acquisition which should never have been allowed to happen.

Until next time,

Stevan Sauce Manojlovic

Water-polo World Championships Semi-finals Running Diary

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To the 5 remaining people who are still reading after seeing the title of this post welcome!   It is the 2011 World Aquatics championships from China and we have an amazing match-up in water polo today.  Juggernaut Hungary meets Juggernaut Serbia, the unstoppable force vs. the immovable object (feel free to add your own ‘two great teams going head to head’ cliché here).  To put this Serbia-Hungary game into perspective for the North American audience that may or may not be reading; this matchup is like Rocky Balboa vs. Ivan Drago, Red-Sox Yankees, and Celtics Lakers.  There is little doubt that these 2 teams are the best in the sport (a quick glance at their respective Wikipedia pages gives us the following count:  In the last 10 years Serbia and Hungary have won 25 and 17 medals!)  Those statistics are not from bush-league competitions either; they include the World championships, European championships, the water-polo world league and the Olympics.  Although Serbia has the edge in overall gold medals and total medals, Hungary boasts an amazing Olympic record (3 straight gold medals).  In addition to the medals, Serbia has named the men’s water polo team ‘Serbian team of the year’ for 9 years running.  Now that you know the background of this matchup we will get right into the running diary.  As I write this I will explain things as best I can to the people out there who have no idea how water polo is played.  Why am I writing this?  Several reasons:  Firstly, I am currently on vacation in Serbia, so this game will be easily available to watch.  Second, I really like water polo and this is a great opportunity to practice writing running diaries.  Lastly, I wanted to write this for fun and see how it goes (I’m also a huge nationalist).

The basics: 2 teams compete in an Olympic sized swimming pool.  Each side fields (pools?) 6 players plus 1 goalie.  There are 4 8-minute quarters, and the object of the game is to score goals by putting a ball into the opposing teams net.  For the complete set of rules please go here.

10:45am (Serbian time):  We begin!  Obligatory shots of both teams warming up, and the shots of the coaches.  These are a staple of any sports broadcast.  The announcer is saying some background stuff about how the teams got here, what a big rivalry this is etc.

10:48  There’s something odd about watching teams huddle up in water.

Captain America: The First Avenger Review

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Going into the movie, I knew Captain America would be good, but I wasn’t as sure as I had been months prior to the release because critics were giving the movie very average reviews, mostly in the mid 7s. After watching it last night, I can tell you it’s definitely better than average. I won’t go so far as the say it’s the best movie of the year (Harry Potter, X-Men Origins: First Class and Super 8 are still ahead of it), but it’s a great flick that you should check out if you have the chance. In terms of comparing it to other superhero movies, I would put it slightly above Thor, but still behind the first two Spider-Man and Batman films, along with the first Iron Man. I haven’t seen Green Lantern, but I’ve yet to hear anything positive about the film, so it’ll probably stay that way.

Assuming you’ve seen the commercials, you probably know the main plot. The movie takes place during World War II. Steve Rogers is a miniscule man with a lot of heart who wants to fight for his country and he’s given the opportunity to become a soldier by having an experiment done on him which turns him into Chris Evans (I mean, Captain America). His main enemy is played by Agent Smith from the Matrix (Hugo Weaving), who creates an army equipped with an all powerful weapon that is pretty much unstoppable. Now, of course, this is a superhero movie, so you really shouldn’t expect it to be that realistic. I don’t have any complaints about the plot, so let’s move on to something else.

Chris Evans was a strange choice when I originally heard about it. The only movies I’d watched him in were Fantastic Four and the Losers, and he was a pretty funny character in both those movies, but going on only those roles, I could not picture him as Captain America. The role is not very humorous at all; it required a lot more emotion and chest muscles than his previous films. Regardless of what I had originally thought, that doesn’t matter because I now realize how great he is for the role. He acted out the role well, and I’m glad I’ll be able to see him again as Captain America (if not in Captain America 2, then in the Avengers next summer). The girl with the lead role (Hayley Atwell) played her part, and though I didn’t find her to be the most attractive girl in a superhero movie, I enjoyed the scenes with her. Hugo Weaving did a good job as always, and the rest of the cast was good as well. Of course, you can’t expect the acting in a superhero movie (aside from Nolan’s Batman films) to be superb, but it was still a solid all around performance by the cast. Tommy Lee Jones served partly as the comedic relief in the film, and had a few funny lines (“That boy’s making me cry.”). Nonetheless, he still acted as well as he’s known for, and I’m glad he was in the movie.

The direction style is an interesting one, because besides the movie taking place in the 1940s and everything looking very retro and old fashioned as it did back then, the picture wasn’t the same as on most other movies. It’s similar to that of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, starring Angelina Jolie, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow, so if you’ve seen that movie, then you’ll know what I am talking about. It gives the film an old and authentic sort of look and feel, which goes along with the timeline of the film. I’m not the greatest fan of these visuals, but they didn’t make the movie any better or worse. One thing that annoyed my slightly was the 3D. It was clearly post-converted and at certain times, the picture is blurry and you can see two lines instead of one. There’s one scene where the camera is scrolling over snowy mountains and they were blurry to the point that I wanted to take my 3D glasses off. Therefore, go watch the movie in 2D if you can. The 3D does add depth at certain points to make it look better, but the blurry points honestly make it not worth it for the extra $3. One other thing about the direction I’d like to point out is that I’m not too big of a fan on how some of scenes with Captain America fighting were filmed. I don’t like those scenes, in any movie, where the protagonist wins a fight, and then as he/she is walking away, there’s an explosion in the background, while they continue to walk away from the scene, in slow motion. There are some scenes in Captain America that are similar. He is either running from the scene or riding away with his bike through fire as the explosion is happening. I’ll give it more leeway because this is a comic book film and it’s filmed in more of a comic book style, but I really think directors should avoid filming scenes like that. It’s meant to look cool, but I find it to be more corny than cool.

Overall, the movie is very solid; no more and no less than what I expected it to be. That’s not necessarily a good thing, because Captain America was the most anticipated movie of the summer for a lot of people (of course, I mean guys). However, there is enough action and the movie should satisfy the majority of its fans and others who’ve yet to see the movie. It’s one of the best movies of the year, so far, and one of the better recent superhero movies.

Score: 8.4/10 (Not quite deserving of an 8.5, but close)

Breaking Bad Season 4 Episode 2: "Thirty-eight Snub" Review

Tweet Sorry this review took a bit of time, with Champions league action underway and The addition of a new staff member (check out his debut article for us here)  I only recently had enough time to put together this review.  As always, there may be spoilers ahead so beware and enjoy!

After the way season three of Breaking Bad ended,  it almost feels awkward watching season four's much slower pace.  The wonderful thing about Breaking Bad is that it can set whatever pace it wants and the quality of the program will not suffer.  'Thirty-eight snub', like 'box cutter' moves slowly, but is developing some key story points for later.  One of these points is Walt's continuing character development.  Remember in season one how all we wanted was for him to succeed?  How bad-ass he looked at times playing the role of his alter-ego 'Heisenberg'?  All of that is gone now.  He has truly broke bad, and at this point it really is tough to root for him like we once did.  Major props have to go to Bryan Cranston for portraying this change of character in Walter White as the series moved along.  It really is unbelievable that this guy was once the dad from 'Malcolm in the Middle'.

In this episode we see how Walter is attempting to cope with his current situation, an uneasy relationship with his employer Gus.  While the logical thing for him to do would be to just keep cooking and leave it at that (after all, he always wanted a professional relationship in the meth business).  However, Walt has his own way of dealing with things and apparently can not co-exist with Gus anymore.  Here we are treated to a nice scene portraying how Walt has changed from a moral stand point.  Back in season one he flat out refused to commit murder, now?  He is buying a gun with no cereal number, intending to use it on Gus.  The Breaking Bad staff as usual does a nice job of making the scene feel realistic.  I do not know much about buying guns illegally, but what I saw in this episode feels accurate enough.  Ultimately Walt does not kill Gus, at least not in this episode, but who knows anymore?  The reasons for this can be summed up in two words: intelligence and Mike.  Gus is far too intelligent to allow him self to be vulnerable at this point as he has correctly guessed Walt's plan. On the other hand, Mike is way too skilled to let Walt even think of getting within 50 feet of Gus.  This combination will make it difficult for Walt to do anything and when he tried to get Mike to betray Gus in this episode, he got a much deserved beating.

Entourage Season 8 Premiere: Breakdown

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Alright, so I just finished watching a great season 8 premiere of Entourage through an awful internet connection. The buffering was about as fast as Vlade Divac in his twilight years. I seriously contemplated storming into a Drexel administrators office Ari Gold style and going off on a bender of profanity, but I digress. I wouldn't go as far as saying that this is one of the all time great episodes of Entourage, but it was very solid, top tier material.

Vince shunning E probably kept most of the viewers pretty intrigued throughout the episode, I know that I was curious to see what would happen. Their private conversation was a little bit anti-climatic, but it did lead to everyone finally trashing that awful movie idea. Ari's comment was hilarious by the way, "It was actually disgusting".

What the episode lacked in trademark Ari Gold action, it made up for with more camera time from my main man Drama. You can always count on a problematic situation for Vince to result in primetime Drama. His attempts at fool-proofing the house as well as keeping Vince shielded and grounded brought out the unpredictable and inexplicable Johnny that I was worried we wouldn't see this season. The end of season 7 foreshadowed some success for Drama which I thought would result in a more controlled character. Thankfully, I was wrong.

I was definitely surprised to see E and scott doing as well as they are, their mutiny against Murray could have had a disastrous result. Johnny Galecki did a good job in his cameo appearance and generated some friction between the new partners which could be a taste of some great dialogue between the two in the upcoming episodes. On a side note, I wonder what will happen with E's hot secretary. As I recall, Drama showed an interest in her near the end of season 7. However, this is exactly the kind of story line which has vanished in the past (Ahem, Lauren London's character and Turtle).

Turtle looks like he finally found his niche as a human being, although I wouldn't be surprised if he and his girl break up soon. Her growing celebrity status as the "Tequila Avion girl" could become the wedge that drives them apart. Either way, his character has always generated some hilarious conversations with everyone, and hopefully his consistent roasting with drama will continue as the season moves along. There should be plenty of banter between the two now that they are living together again.

The love troubles facing E and Ari will probably bring some emotional depth which the show's never really had. Aside from Vince's depression because of the Mandy Moore break up, there hasn't been a lot of heartache for the main dudes. I don't think I can count Drama's break up with the French chick because it was more humorous than worrisome. Turtle had a serious relationship with the actress from the Sopranos, but their breakup happened at the end of a season which prevented viewers from seeing any real suffering.

Overall, I was very pleased with the way the show opened it's final season. It's too bad that this season will be so short. I'm excited, and a little nervous, to see how they will wrap it all up in such a limited amount of time. Keeping my fingers crossed for a movie in a couple of years.

Oh, I almost forgot. Billy Walsh is a fantastic character, he needs more camera time.

Until next time,

Stevan Sauce Manojlovic

Champions League Third Qualifying Round Preview

Tweet With soccer's premier tournament about to get interesting, it is only appropriate for this blog to begin its soccer coverage with the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions league.

The third qualifying round features 30 teams and 15 match-ups.  Of these, 5 match-ups are designated the 'league route' (for teams that did not win their domestic crown, but whose leagues are deemed strong enough by UEFA to warrant an opportunity to play in the Champions League) and the remaining 10 the 'champions route' (for teams that won their domestic league).  The 15 teams that come away from this round have one more bout of qualifying before the grand competition.


League Route Match-ups (team on left plays the first leg at home)

Standard Liege Vs. FC Zurich  (1)

Standard Liege is here by means of being the runner-up in the Belgian league.  The last time they qualified was in 2009, where they were on the unfortunate end of some poor refereeing decisions against Arsenal in a 3-2 loss in the group stage; which ultimately doomed them.  Their opponent is FC Zurich who finished second in the Swiss super-league.  Last year they were in one of the toughest groups in the competition with Real Madrid, AC Milan, and Marseille.

What the odds makers say: Standard the favorite at 1.83 (meaning if you put $100 on Standard, you would win $183, where as the odds on Zurich are a staggering 3.75! $100 to win $375)
My prediction: FC Zurich.  I think that they have more quality than they showed last year, and will look to prove it this time around.

Twente Vs. Vaslui (2)

Twente qualified for the competition for the first time last year, and will look to do so again this year.  Although last time around they gained an automatic berth by winning the Dutch Eredivisie, this time their path is a bit tougher, having finished second.  Their opponent is Vaslui from Romania (Full disclosure: I had no idea who they were until I looked them up)  Apparently they finished third in the Romanian league, so I doubt any one will fancy their chances against a strong Twente team.

What the odds makers say: Twente the favorite at 1.32
My prediction: Twente easily dispatches this Romanian team and moves on.

Benfica Vs. Trabzonspor (3)

An intriguing match-up between the second best team in Portugal and the second best team from Turkey (if you cannot guess where they are from by looking at their names I don't know what to tell you).  In my opinion this is the closest match-up in terms of how good both teams are compared to one another.  The winners here are the neutral fans who should be in for some good games between these teams.

What the odds makers say: Benfica 1.38
My prediction: A penalty shoot-out after two matches sees Benfica advance, but it could really go either way.

Dynamo Kyiv Vs. Rubin Kazan (4)

The second best team from the Ukraine (Kyiv) against the second best team from Russia (Kazan).  Given the dislike the two countries have of each other this should at least be a feisty affair.  Rubin Kazan has been very successful in terms of qualifying for the Champions League recently, having done so two years running.  Kyiv was last in the competition in 2009 so both squads have what it takes.

What the odds makers say: Kyiv favored at 1.70
My prediction: Rubin Kazan, with the second match being a thriller.

Regarding Harry Potter

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It started differently for everyone; for me I guess it started in Mrs. Storrey’s grade 3 class. This is where I got my first taste of the wizarding world that J.K. Rowling had created and I haven’t looked back since. To make it clear, this is not a review of the latest Harry Potter movie (I thought the movie was fantastic and a great finale to the series), if you want to read a well-written one, go here. It is simply one fan’s way of giving thanks to a franchise that has been a part of my life for about as long as I can remember. When Mrs. Storrey told us that she’d be reading the first three books in the series out loud to the whole class, I met the news with indifference, after all it was grade 3 and reading wasn’t one of my favourite things to do at time. But as soon as she started telling us the story of Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione and their adventures at Hogwarts, I was hooked. It further helped that she split the class into four groups and made us draw a Hogwarts house out of a hat. I picked for my group and drew Hufflepuff, I’m still not fully over it (no one wants to be in Hufflepuff, doesn’t it seem like Chris Bosh would get sorted there?).

So right away I was fully immersed and captivated by the happenings at Hogwarts. I remember getting the box set for Christmas one year and starting to read the third book (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) right away (Also, for people who have the books, can someone tell me who the person on the back of the first book is? I’ve heard Dumbledore which doesn’t make sense because it doesn't look like him, Hagrid, same goes for him and Gilderoy Lockhart which really makes no sense as he made his first appearance in the second book). When I finished grade 3 I didn’t stop reading the series but rather couldn’t wait for the fourth book (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) which finally arrived in the summer of 2000 (just to continue the NBA players sorting, Lebron James and Kobe Bryant would go to Slytherin, Shane Battier would be in Ravenclaw, Dirk Nowitzki, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant would be Gryffindors and Linas Kleiza would most definitely be a squib). I finished reading it in 3 days, devouring the pages as if the winner of the Triwizard Tournament had a personal effect on my life.

I even got to hear JK Rowling read the book at what was then called the Skydome (now Rogers Centre), I remember the large crowd anxiously and restlessly awaiting Rowling, not paying any attention to what Kenneth Oppel (author of the underrated Silverwing, Sunwing, and Firewing books) was saying and I was one of them. Even though I was seated in the nose bleeds (why are they called this? Shouldn’t it be “the eye sores” or something like that?), I was excited to see the woman who had provided me with such joy to that point in my life. In the end she read an excerpt of the first chapter saying that the parts of the books with the Dursleys were her favourites. It was that same winter that the first Harry Potter movie was released on November 16 which just happens to be two days before my birthday. Naturally I decided to have my birthday party at the movies to see my favourite book series come to life (All of the movies have been entertaining with varying levels of faithfulness to the books. Why does Voldemort have a nose in the first movie though? My favourites of the movies are The Prisoner of Azkaban, The Half-Blood Prince, and The Deathly Hallows part 1 and 2). The first thing I noticed about the movie was the way Hermione was pronounced, up until the movie I had always pronounced her name Her-Moyn for reasons that are now unclear to me. The second thing was the near perfect casting for all of the characters; could anyone else portray Severus Snape as well as Alan Rickman or Professor McGonagall as well as Maggie Smith has? The three main roles were cast how I imagined them to be so leaving the theatre that night I had no problem with how the book was translated.

What is going on with Nintendo?

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There is little doubt that Nintendo was the first revolutionary console ever released. Atari and Odyssey were released prior to the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), but Nintendo is the name that stuck, mainly because of its creation of the 8-bit plumber known as Mario. The Super Nintendo (SNES) was also incredibly popular, and then Nintendo kind of hit a rough edge with the Nintendo 64 (N64). The console had competition from the Sega Genesis and the PlayStation and ended up selling an unsuccessful amount of systms in its run. However, the N64 did have many games considered extraordinary, such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which is still rated the #1 game of all time on some websites; Super Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64, which set the bar for the 3D platform genre; and Goldeneye, which really defined the first person shooter genre (while proving that the N64’s graphics was sub-par). The GameCube wasn’t really a success or a failure, but it had massive competition from Xbox and PlayStation 2, and the latter is currently the top selling home console of all time. And then with the Wii, Nintendo, at least for some time, seemed to have raised the bar yet again, with its motion controller and intuitive games. Unfortunately, they chose not to care about the graphics, keeping the video quality at 480p, below the 720p that Xbox and PS3 display. The Wii’s video game library started strong and stayed strong for about a year and a half, until Nintendo decided to stop releasing good games.

My opinion on which games are the best is going to be somewhat biased because I grew up with Nintendo, playing Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong Country SNES as well as the classics on the N64. I can still play all of those games today and I still find them to be just as good as they were back then, even though the graphics are clearly outdated. Regardless of my preferences on games, it’s not what I’m arguing here. I don’t know what is going through Nintendo’s head nowadays. The Nintendo Wii was released back in 2006 and had a great start, selling out in almost every store in North America. It was released with Zelda: Twilight Princess, and many other popular Nintendo games soon followed. But after April of 2008, when Mario Kart Wii was released, the number of good Nintendo games being released plummeted. I myself did not buy a new Wii game for a full two years. It was as if they’d forgotten about their fans. Mario Party 8 was pretty bad, but for some reason, they didn’t bother to create a new one, even though the series is incredibly popular among Nintendo fans. Nintendo was clearly past the point of developing new fun and interesting platformers like Banjo Kazooie or Conkur’s Bad Fur Day for the N64. Of course, the developer of both those games is Rare, who works for Microsoft nowadays. Nintendo continued releasing very poor spinoff games including characters such as Mario and Sonic, but there weren’t any big games and truly memorable games being released. One of the best releases last year, Donkey Kong Country Returns, was a sequel to a series of video games not seen since the mid-1990s. I really enjoyed the game, and I’m thankful they revisited the series, but I want some more original games, as I’m sure many older Wii owners do as well.

Breaking Bad Season 4 Episode 1: "Box Cutter" Review

Tweet This review may contain spoilers so if you have not seen the episode yet and do not wish to have anything ruined, stop reading now. 

After what seemed like an eternity, we will finally be able to continue watching how the story of Walter, Jesse, Gus, Hank, and a host of others will unfold.  To be honest, I had no idea how the writers would continue the story after season 3's very dramatic final scene.  Would Walt and Jesse be on the run?  Did Jesse actually shoot Gale?  What will Gus do when he finds out Gale's been killed?  We truly could not have guessed the answers to these questions, we had to watch.  Part of what makes Breaking Bad such an interesting show is its ability to keep us on our toes at all times.  I can honestly say that I have not been able to correctly guess where the plot might be headed at any point during the series.  Whether I was watching the first season, the second, or the third, any ideas I had turned out to be wrong.

The season 4 premiere managed to answer the immediate questions that the season 3 finale left for us to ponder.  Before we got into the mix of things we were treated to a flashback sequence of Gale setting up the under-ground lab for the first time with Gus. It is revealed here that Gale had a huge role in convincing Gus to hire Walter White to cook for him.  I liked this scene because for the episode to make sense, it was absolutely necessary as I will explain later.  Following the flashback, we see the immediate aftermath of Jesse's shot, and Gale's death.  Aaron Paul's acting in this shot is absolutely phenomenal, he manages to bring out the emotions of having to commit murder for the first time in his life, and as the audience we fully understand what he is going through.  In my opinion Paul is the best actor on the show, as the degree of difficulty on this particular scene was through the roof and I think only he (out of the whole cast) could have pulled it off.  Gus's henchman (not Mike) arrives and finds Jesse sitting in his car.  He takes Jesse back to the lab where Walt and Mike are waiting.  This is where things slowed down a bit, as Mike insisted on waiting on Gus before doing anything else and we got some shots of other characters.  Marie coping with Hank's inability to take care of himself is probably the best of these shots.  It truly is tough watching Hank struggle with simple tasks such as going to the bathroom on his own, and Betsy Brandt portrays Marie's struggles with the whole situation very well.  Hopefully Hank being incapacitated wont drag on for too long, in my opinion it would make things very stale.  Other characters that were featured were Skyler White and Saul Goodman.  Saul is as paranoid as ever and is seen checking his office for bugs and wire-taps, while Skyler is as manipulative as ever, getting a locksmith to open Walter's apartment for her, and driving his car away so her son wont get his hopes up.  I really do not like the direction Skyler's character is going, I find it very tough to watch scenes where its just her, and honestly she just does not bring as much to the table as she did in seasons 1 and 2.  Hopefully, the writers will find something for her to do, other than causing audiences to cringe and beg for her scenes to end.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Review

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And so the Harry Potter series has finally come to an end on the big screen. After 8 movies and over $2 billion domestically in theatrical revenue, it’s safe to say that the series had a successful run. It’ll be interesting to find out how the careers of the three main young actors playing Harry, Ron, and Hermione will pan out. Whether they’ll continue acting or move into other areas of the movie industry, or simply leave the industry altogether we have yet to see. All three of them have developed into mature actors who’ve helped define the characters they portray in the movies. It’s a shame that we’ll never again see them as the three beloved friends who’ve stuck side by side throughout their Hogwarts years.

A lot of people were apparently displeased with Part 1 of Deathly Hallows, with too much talking and not enough action. That should not be a problem with Part 2. Even though there are points in the movie where dialogue is necessary and it slows the pace a bit, there is enough action to satisfy any Harry Potter fan. I am not certain that if the two parts were put together (one after the other and seen as one whole four and a half hour film), that it would have turned out to be a better film. The fact that the pace is significantly different in the two parts, made no sense for them to be put together but as separate films, they both work well.

Even though most people seeing the movie have probably read the books and know the plotlines, I won’t spoil anything for those who aren’t aware of what might happen at the end (in all honesty though, if you’re surprised by who wins, then you probably haven’t seen many Hollywood films), or which characters find their unfortunate end in this final chapter. As you know if you’ve seen Part 1, the trio continues their search for the horcruxes, which are objects containing parts of Voldemort’s soul, leading them to Gringott’s Bank in Diagon Alley where they must escape with the help of a dragon, and then finally, and rightfully, back to Hogwarts, where another horcrux lies; the rest of the film takes place at Hogwarts, where the ‘final battle’ happens. Everything else you need to know about the plot you can find out by watching the movie.

Deathly Hallows Part 2 Review Coming Soon

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Review coming early next week. Shame that it's her last HP movie.

Pick-Up Basketball Across the Pond

Tweet As I am vacationing home in my country of Serbia, I have not had much chances to write during this rather dull time of the sports year.  Champions league qualifying begins tomorrow and I may write some things about that, as well as taking a shot at a Premier League season preview.  In the mean time, here are some observations and differences about pick-up basketball here in Europe vs. back in Canada.


I decided to leave my house at around 5pm, the court is a 2-minute walk and I wanted to get as much runs in as possible.  I was back home at 5:15; outside temperature: 42 degrees Celsius... probably better to wait this out a bit.  By the time the outside temperature dropped to levels where I could inhale without passing out, it was 6:30pm.  There were about 9 guys on the court, 10 with me, perfect for some 5-on-5.

Difference #1: Nobody here plays 5-on-5

Its all about 3 on 3 half court.  Did I suggest some 5 on 5? Yes.  Did I get laughed at? Yes.  Apparently the Idea of 4 guys watching (with more coming) while 6 guys play is very appealing, oh well.  To be fair, games are played to 15 (ones and two's) and actually move very quickly because of...

Difference #2:  No clearing after missed baskets.

Yeah...

If you do not have your team-mates in a position to rebound and you put up a shot and miss you give the other team a point.  If you rebound and (conditioned by years of Canadian pick-up) head out to clear, your teammates, and people watching yell at you incessantly, while your opponents ramp up the shit talk for your stupidity.  You would think that this would mean many more inside shots and rough-housing in the paint but you would be wrong because of...

The Challenge: Rivals Episode 2

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Hey sorry about the lack of recaps for this intellectually thrilling (blogger's opinion) show but between AMC's Rocky marathon (I can watch those movies all day, they never get old although some things you look at differently today like when Rocky first kisses Adrian, that scene is kind of creepy by today's standards. Seriously, watch it again) and the FIFA Women's World Cup (What? There's two lockouts. Give me a break) I have not had much time to write about the happenings in Costa Rica. All jokes aside, I have been lazy these past 2 weeks and will try to write a new recap the thursday after each episode starting this week. Look for Episode 3 to be up sometime tomorrow. And now on to the show:

MVP of the Episode: Jasmine (she's kind of like Nate Robinson; short, unpredictable, wont always do or say the smartest things but will always be entertaining)

Quote of the Episode: CT - "I got more gas, I'm the gas station, those kids need to fill up if they need some help cuz i will not stop" Not sure what this was referring to but it was amazing nonetheless

This episode started off with Tyler getting mad that someone had taken his Magnum condoms (why he felt the need to mention the brand is beyond me) and that they are expensive. It was revealed to be Tyrie who got caught having sex with Jasmine which led to Kenny saying that Tyrie hasn't gotten laid in 14 years. They then showed Mike telling the rest of the castmates about super genetic crops to a stunned, bored and definitely confused audience (half of these people don't understand what genetic means). This leads to Kenny ripping on Mike's haircut calling it the worst he's ever seen which leads me to wonder, do people write these jokes for Kenny? The challenge of the week was crushing a car with a machine while the other person steers the machine so that the car can be pushed through a goal. The catch is that you have to sit in your partner's lap.