Sméagol

“Only few people know that before their political career, Barack and Hilary were working for a top-secret government agency doing covert ops. This is them infiltrating an Iraqi prison.”

Have fun with it, and I’m eager to see the results!

Yeah, it was amazing. Best thing I’ve seen on TV for quite a while. I’d almost say: “Doctor, step aside! There’s a new gentleman in town!†I’ll be content if Sherlock Holmes 2 is half as good as this. And damn, that Lara Pulver was sexy! Anyway, I need this on blu-ray.

Going through all the tickets (that I can find). All the films I’ve seen in the cinema, which include some old films. Let’s see how my memory holds up, or else there’s IMDB. Catfish - Meh - Mildly interesting, but in the end I didn’t care much about it. I also didn’t like the hype surrounding it at the time. Le quattro volte - Great - Amazing, but only if you’re into arthouse, and don’t mind slow films. There’s no dialogue (well, only as background noise). Yet it manages to tell a complete story purely with visuals. One amazing shot which I assume is one take, can’t image how the director managed that. Men on the bridge - Ok - A Turkish film I went to impulsively, because it was a special screening, and the director was present, and she did a Q&A, and I like Q&A’s. The film was nice actually, 3 storylines about ordinary people in Ankara, but I may be biased because of the Q&A. I always find I appreciate films more with some background info. Skellig: The Owl Man - Ok - Family film. I went simply for the cast: John Simm, Kelly MacDonald, and Tim Roth. Nice adventure film but not amazing. La solitudinei di numeri primi - Great - If you’re into heartbreaking dramas once in a while, than this Italian film will provide your fix. Great performances by the lead actor and actress. They play two traumatised characters who struggle with their love life. If you’re not sobbing at the end of the film, you have no heart. Les amours imaginaires - Hmm - I found it pretty boring. It’s a French film about a love triangle: one straight woman, one gay man, and one bisexual man. The trailer suggested a more comic film, but this wasn’t the case, so I was left disappointed. That said, I think I’ve seen worse. The actress was hot though. 127 hours - Meh - Pretty boring, but since it’s based on a true story, it’s not really the film’s fault. I like James Franco, his performance was excellent, but I didn’t really care about the dude he played. My main problem was (if I remember correctly) just the stupidity of that dude being so antagonising. He lost an arm which he could have easily prevented. No sympathy from me. Incendies - Great - Great French drama / thriller about a brother and a sister, with roots in the middle east, who go find out who their dad is after their mother dies and leaves them a letter. The film switches between their search and flashbacks of their mother. The conclusion is chilling. True grit - Meh - Of all the Coen brothers’ films I’ve seen, easily the worst. Like Paj, didn’t care much for the setting, but I can look passed that. Still, the film did very little for me. To top it off, there were ugly CGI snakes and a fake horseride to end the film. Go watch No country for old men instead. Biutiful - Great - Another one for the depressive people. I love Javier Bardem, and he doesn’t disappoint. A very intense drama with a slight supernatural element to it. It’s about Javier Bardem’s character tieing up loose ends before he dies, which he does with good intentions, but not everything works out the way he wants. Black Butterflies - Bah - A Dutch film with Rutger Hauer and Carice van Houten, which I won’t say anything more about. Black Swan - Great - Awesome cast, and awesome story. You all know this one, so I’ll leave it at that. Never let me go - Great - Again, awesome cast, and awesome story. A drama with a slight sci-fi element to it. Loved the atmosphere. A very disturbing faith awaits the main characters, yet this is never emphasised. But when you think about it, it leaves you a bit nauseous.. In a good way. Blue valentine - Ok - The story of 2 people falling out of love. Nothing amazing, but good for the people who like to wallow in misery. Rundskop - Good - Belgian film, which I saw at a sneakpreview, so I was going in blind (I rarely go to the sneakpreview). Pleasant surprise though, I’d never seen the film otherwise, the setting / themes doesn’t appeal to me (farms and hormonal drugs). But looking passed that you have a good story and a good performance from the main actor. It’s about a guy who lost his testicles as a kid, and has to take hormonal drugs to compensate. Obviously, his life hasn’t been easy. The troll hunter - Ok - Very disappointing. Some cool troll designs, and nice action, but can’t look passed the dumb script. (Untitled) - Great - For those who have a very, very dry sense of humour. About the New York art and music scene. The film appears cynic at first, but actually has a positive message in the end. But before you get there, you’ll witness many absurdities. Arrietty - Great - Latest Ghibli, needs no further explanation. One flew over the Cuccoo’s nest - Great - Never saw this classic before. Jack Nicholson is simply awesome. Almanya; Willkommen in Deutschland - Good - Another sneakpreview, and another pleasant surprise. A German film about Turkish worker immigrants. Told from the perspective of a (modern) Granddaughter. It shows the initial hardships they went through, but the film is lighthearted and very funny. Since it’s told by the granddaughter who is more German than Turkish, everyone is the “flashbacks” speaks German. But to illustrate the language barrier, all the German people in the flashbacks speak.. uhh.. I think it’s Swedish. Very funny how they did that. Sweet film. Submarine - Good - British film, (teen?) comedy drama. About a boy looking for love. Once again, I get annoyed at bad decisions the main character makes, but it all works out in the end. A sweet film, great performances too. Circumstance - Ok - A political film about the situation in Iran. It’s about two girls who.. develop romantic feelings for eachother. In other words, hot Lesbian action. Again, this one is for the people who like to wallow in misery, and don’t mind a “bad” ending. That said, Persepolis has a similar theme, but is more entertaining. The two actresses are smokin’ though. Restless - Bah - Love story about two teens obsessed with death. One because his parents died and is now haunted by a ghost, and the other because she’s terminally ill. Should have been sweet, but I couldn’t get passed the dumb dialogue, and the acting of the two main leads. The artist - Lovely - Someone had the balls to go so oldskool it’s very fresh again. A black & white silent film. Amazing. A joy to watch from beginning to end. You laugh, you cry, and the performances from everyone, but the main actor and actress especially, are fantastic, and I have a huge crush now on Bérénice Bejo! The film manages to simultaneously poke fun at, and pay tribute to its inspirations. Film of the year for me. Beginners - Good - With Ewan McGregor. Another sweet film, about people dealing with relationships and love. Ewan McGregor’s dad tuns out gay. His dad, now he's dieing, finally found love, and now it’s his turn. Another film with great performances. Medianeras - Meh - two people in Buenos Aires, also struggling with their love life. Some mildly amusing events, but in the end I didn’t care for the two characters. And the director went out of his or her way to show Buenos Aires at its ugliest. Boring. The wizard of Oz - Good - No info needed. Just fun to see a classic on (half of the) big screen. Carnage - Good - Excellent cast, and again for people with a dry sense of humour. It’s not a film for people who like to sympathise with the characters, they are all assholes! Well, except for Jodie Foster’s character. This film is only dialogue though. If the humour isn’t your style, well, then there’s nothing else. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Great - You definitely need to pay attention, I seem to have missed some details. I loved how this was a different kind of spy film. Great cast (I’m becoming a fan of Benedict Cumberbatch after seeing Sherlock Holmes). The atmosphere is great.. Seventies was it? All the telex machines etc. Anyway, eventhough I didn’t get all of it apparently, I liked the unraveling of the conspiracy. Midnight in Paris - Ok - Not my favourite Woody Allen, then again, I have seen very few of his films. Owen Wilson’s character was getting on my nerves, despite being sympathetic. The time travelling was fun though. Ok, that’s it, my recap for MMXI. Around 30 films is appalling for someone who can see them for free. I’ll have to do something about that this year. Anyway, my shortlist of recommendations: The artist Never let me go La solitudinei di numeri primi Incendies Some recent films from last year currently still playing I intend to see:

Yeah, Figma is a series of posable action figures. I don’t like joints, so I stay away from action figures, but like I said, things like Samus’ powersuit, and the EVAs from Evangelion to name another example, lend themselves well for these kind of figures. I believe the professor Layton action figure someone here has, is also a Figma.

Thanks! I’ll be pre-ordering as soon as possible! I’ve always wanted Samus figures from Japanese companies, I hate the F4F stuff. Both look hot. Although I read the powersuit version is a Figma. That said, the powersuit lends itself more for jointed figures, so I guess it¨s not a problem (I’m generally not a fan of posable figures).

So in your game, Karane and Pipit aren’t together? That seems like the worst outcome though. In my game, they are (aww), Karane rejects Cawlin, and he’s an emotional wreck in my game as well . The cantine woman now complains that, though the wailing from the restroom has stopped, she now has to endure Cawlin’s crying .

Got this for Christmas, so I can finally share my experiences (damn, and it’s the first new game in quite a while by the way). Anyway, since I’m not finished yet, I’ll skip reading all the posts, glancing over the last few I see they contain plenty I don’t want to know .. Just a few quick thoughts, I’ll probably “review†the game more thoroughly when I’ve finished it. Although overall I’m enjoying this much, this Zelda seems to have more annoying things and flaws in it than previous (console) Zeldas (as I didn’t enjoy the last 2 DS Zeldas as much as the console games). The game is an obvious amalgamationn of elements of various Zelda games. While most are welcome, others aren’t, and some are poorly implemented, and then there are some elements obviously missing (or I haven’t encountered them yet, but at this point, I don’t think I’ll see another village anymore for example..). For example, the sky seems to be a poor successor to Wind Waker’s sea. From my quick glance above I saw this was already discussed. It’s a shame, because the bird makes navigating the sky more managable than navigating the sea in Wind Waker’s sailboat. But there’s not much to do or to see, so just like Wind Waker, simply moving from one place to another becomes a chore. I also think the controls are inefficient. I don’t hate motion controls (mind, I’ve never played Twilight Princess on Wii), but it really feels to me they could have been optimised by a large margin. Some things the motion(+) controls are excellent for, obviously the sword slashing, and the whip, but I don’t get why they didn’t use the pointer for the obvious things like the slingshot, bow, and hookshot. Constant recentering is annoying. And especially while swimming I’d like some more precise controls, I’m swimming like some drunk idiot. Then there are minor things, like the trials, which I hate, and that guy on fun fun island. Must be the worst character in Zelda history. Luckily I managed to get the heartpiece before I ran out of money, now I won’t have to return to it untill Nintendo releases a patch where you can stab him in the head and murder him. But. Plenty of things I do like. Love the artwork, love the music. Loving the story, it’s just fun to see a time before Hyrule, knowing where things are going. I really like how this game manages to represent an era long before Ocarina of time, yet it shows glimpses of a time even longer ago, filled with ancient technology. I’m enjoying the dungeons (and the mini dungeons leading up to them), and the Lanayru desert and its dungeons are so far the highlight for me. Loved the mining facility and its mechanic, and loved the pirate ship as well. The boss in the Lake Hylia Floria temple was awesome. Ghirahim is shaping up to be a cool enemy. What I think I love most though, is how the game finally got rid of the easy mode for a change, although most of it has to do with the controls. I died at my first Deku Baba encounter, for fuck’s sake! Then again, I had 2 hearts to start with, I lost some while flying in the sky because of some Octoroks (?). The first boss fight (Ghirahim) was also pretty tough, considering he was pulling his punches. Anyway, the swordbattles really make you work this time, even for common enemies, certainly a good thing in my eyes. Anyway, I’m glad to have a new game to distract me from.. other things. I couldn’t play as much as I’d like to / used to. I think I’ve done 5 main dungeons now? The last one was the pirate ship. I’m currently about to start the third trial, and I did some side stuff before that. I’ve fully upgraded everything there was to upgrade so far, collected all the “sky chests†available, and did some stuff for some of the NPC’s. Which reminds me.. Does the Karane (?) and Pipit thing have some alternative outcome? I actually gave Cawlin’s letter to her, and now the “restroom woman†is gone. She sure sounded disappointed. Anyway, I’m putting off the third trial, I have other stuff to do. Which I can do while enjoying the awesome soundtrack. I’ll make another post when I’m finished with it.

This will be shown at the IFFR here end of January, so I’ll be seeing it then.

I was off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz. Always fun to see a classic on the big screen, even when it only fills up half of it. It has been a while for me since I last saw it, it was nice too see the source of various references. Bit of the score was sampled by the Beastie Boys. Too bad the cinema fucked up by adding an intermission to it. Also saw a new film, Carnage. Great cast, haven’t seen Jodie Foster in a while. I appreciated the dry humour, and awkwardness of the situation, but I’m sure this film isn’t going to be for everyone. It’s just 4 people having a (ridiculous) discussion in a room. That’s what you’re watching for 90 minutes. It’s all dialogue. Fun to watch, but not something I’d consider an absolute must-see.

Balance issues already covered, I’d like to say, as a bystander, that the game didn’t really feel “vanillaâ€, I would have expected less powers. And I was the first to comment on your artwork, but again, they were fantastic, and coupled with the write-ups, they set the mood perfectly. The video is a great watch!

“I wonder what’s inside?”

As far as I know there’s no exact release date for 8, but it’s slated for next year. If that means Summer or the holiday season I don’t know unfortunately. You could however download the devvers preview (on your own risk obviously). See if you like it, while keeping in mind it isn’t the final version. Perhaps that, installed besides Vista, could tide you over untill then. As for deals, I don’t think you’ll see massive deals on OS software for the holidays. Again, it may pay off to wait. I can’t guarantee they’ll do it for the release of 8, but when 7 was launched they had massive pre-release deals. I bought a retail version from Amazon.uk for less than what an OEM version costs today. Then again, I believe this was a massive marketing campaign to try to make 7 a succes after the failure of Vista. So dunno if they’ll do such a campaign for 8.

Don’t care particularly for the/a timeline, but damn I want this. If I have money to spare, I’ll gladly get the Japanese version.

To me the choice between 64 or 32 bit is a moot point, since there’s no difference in cost. Always go with the better option, yeah? You have access to your full 4 GB, and you can get the 64 bit (and more efficient) versions of applications when given the choice. The only reason not to is if you’re dependant on software which isn’t compatible with 64-bit Windows. Companies using archaic systems for example. Never had a problem myself with such an incompatability. That said, if you’ve waited all this time to upgrade, perhaps you can hold out for several months longer, and get [Windows 8]? System requirements should be similar. Especially if you haven’t run into memory problems so far, then I don’t think you’ll miss the 0,5 GB before you upgrade. By the way, on my computer, Windows 7 is running a little over 2 GB. 1 GB seems to be cached, not sure what it means but I vaguely recall something about Windows reserving memory for much used applications and services. I’m using aero, and pretty much all the other performance options are checked. On the other hand, I’m not using system restore (don’t know how much that affects memory), and no virtual memory.

Browsing RedBubble I found a shirt that I assume has been commissioned by @ReZourceman:

Yeah me too.. WHY???

Yeah, I’m thinking of getting a second set of braces somewhere in the near future (when I can afford it). Nothing wrong visibly (regarding gaps / smile), but my teeth aren’t aligned properly anymore. They used to be, my first braces in highschool corrected that, but years later, and those fucking wisdom teeth are messing things up again. The last one is forcing itself through my gum at this very moment, it’s goddamn annoying. Don’t want to avoid eating, but I have to deal with chewing in the meantime.

Can’t help, but just wanted to say that cover is amazing. Captured the Tin Tin look & feel perfectly!

Don’t you pay more taxes when you have it payed out like that, as opposed to just taking the holidays? (But perhaps you don’t care)

“Johnny intended to commit suicide, but hadn’t decided yet which way to go: taking the short term approach or the long term one.”

(nice artwork by the way )

That was awesome.