Many people seem to have enjoyed Season 8, Episode 3 of Game of Thrones. I am not one of those people.
This was the episode we have all been waiting for. The anticipation for the “great winter battle” has been building for 8 seasons now so the stakes were very high. Unfortunately, Season 8 had truly no solid (i.e. printed) source material to draw from, and it shows.
Here are the reasons it was a true letdown:
| A young itinerant worker is forced to confront his secret extraterrestrial heritage when Earth is invaded by members of his race. |
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I found it completely shocking that some people actually liked this movie, although I attribute it to the hype and the action that overshadowed the actual meat of the movie (or lack thereof). Of course, many people also share my sentiment that Man of Steel sucks.
Man of Steel falls down on so many levels it is hard to know where to begin. The biggest hole in the movie was the cast: failing to create any believable characters. The “Man of Steel” (Henry Cavill) was very dull, delivered lines robotically, and was just absolutely unlovable. He certainly lived up to his name in the movie though, with no more personality than a steel girder. The same went for Lois Lane, played by Amy Adams that failed to create any spark on-screen between herself and Superman. She was hot, yes, but a great movie that does not make.
By far the worst scenes were between Superman and his parents as they try to explain who he is and what is happening to him. It is always interesting to see how a movie will approach these difficult aspects but they did not handle it well. “Son, you are an alien. No big deal” was essentially their approach. It was awkward. It was bad. It felt like the directors just wanted to deal with it quickly like ripping off a band-aid.
What was good about the movie? The action — kinda. There was a lot of it, but it was senseless. The movie was too long and yet it was full of action scenes that stretched on forever. Superman is basically invincible and so are his enemies. So why are they punching each other around for 10 mins? Don’t they realize they are not accomplishing anything? Neither Superman nor his enemies seemed to take any damage throughout their “epic” battles but they kept punching each other anyway. The graphics were really good though, that’s about it.
The way they explained Superman’s powers was also bad. See the spoilers for details.
To spare myself an essay, I’m going to stop here. If you liked the movie, I don’t blame you but you might want to get your eyes and ears checked 🙂 Give the movie another watch and pay attention to the things I have mentioned and I am sure you will understand my pain. Of course you can always just look at the pretty explosions.
Spoilers below
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I actually laughed out loud when Superman let his dad die in the tornado. It was a huge stretch for him to let his dad die just to conceal his identity but on top of that, they felt the need to spell it out for us by him specifically saying that he let his dad die for that purpose. Laugh out loud ridiculous.
His powers were explained by atmospheric differences between Krypton and Earth which was great. Except that no amount of atmospheric differences gives you the ability to fly. Jump high? Sure! Fly? No. Laser vision? Where did that come from? Near invincibility? You’re going to have to try harder than “atmospheric differences”. I actually love it when super hero movies use plausible explanations to bridge reality but when it’s not plausible, it is painful.
| A small-time magician arrives in an enchanted land and is forced to decide if he will be a good man or a great one. |
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The super short version: Oz the Great and Powerful was quite bad. Skip it.
My expectations were not very high for Oz, but I was greatly disappointed nonetheless. Despite being bankrolled and produced by Disney, with quite the record of success, Oz failed on so many levels.
The most notable failure was the acting. James Franco’s performance was predictable good for much of the movie but terrible off-base for others. He just never seemed to really find his place in the movie except for a few scenes. All of the actors, including each of the witches were painful to watch during most scenes. I felt like I was watching a highschool play at times, forgetting for many segments that the movie cost many millions.
Mila Kunis was most disappointing of all. Her first appearance onscreen was very painful and unnatural to watch. She didn’t improve throughout the movie either. She may not be Anne Hathaway but I expected much more from her acting skills.
Despite not being the primary target audience for Oz, I was unimpressed by the lack of universal appeal. Pixar, for example, is very successful at making movies that can entertain both kids and adults alike. Unfortunately, Disney has a long way to go in this respect, Oz being a great example. Many scenes were rather childish and played out too far as a very cheesy fairytale.
The one saving grace was the visual appeal, although it still fell far short of comparable visual masterpieces like Alice in Wonderland. Despite the fantasy landscapes being well put-together, other visual effects were not. The witches moved unnaturally in several scenes – so much so that you could easily picture the ropes and pulleys pulling them into the air.
I found myself laughing awkwardly, sighing, and rolling my eyes throughout at least half a dozen scenes. Oz was easily one of the worst movies I have seen in a long time. Viewer beware!
Whenever, I am truly interested in something, I tend to do a lot of research on it. Needless to say, when Nintendo announced the launch of their next big thing – the Nintendo 3DS – I never stopped reading about it (partially due to interest, and partially because the news was inescapably everywhere).
Haven’t heard about the 3DS? Have you been living under a rock?
I am certainly not going to get into a full review here, as they are very easily found via a Google search. If you want all the nitty-gritty details, see IGN’s Review.What I will cover here is my overall opinion and a summary of the neat little device.
I was lucky enough to get a chance to test out the device days before it came out and was very impressed with the 3D. I played around with some 3D pictures I took with the 3DS and they looked awesome too
Apart from the fact that not all of the games for the device will fully utilize the 3D to its potential, it is still really neat. However, you will likely find yourself turning off the 3D a lot to avoid headaches and to avoid having to deal with the very narrow viewing angle with which you can actually see the 3D (reiterate: the viewing angle is VERY small)
The 3DS has some great potential given how good the 3D actually looks, unfortunately most of the games available as of its release fail to impress. Pilot Wings may be the only game released that truly makes good use of 3D. Most of the other games were unimpressive or targeted towards young children (with Street Fighter as a possible exception)
When your options are to pay $299 for a PS3 (which is a powerhouse console that includes a Blu-Ray player) and $250 for a 3DS the correct choice is obvious. Also, games will be priced around the $50 mark, only $10 less than console games . . . That being said, if you already own all the consoles you want and are currently reading this article in a bathtub full of money – you might as well run out and pick it up.
Okay, so after all that it probably looks like I think it was a bust. For the most part, now, I think it is. However, I do realize that it has a ton of potential with future improvements. As the games get better and the price drops, it will certainly start looking very pretty. I definitely think Nintendo is on to something here but in the meantime I await the next iteration.
Have you run out and purchased one yet? If not, why?
I recently joined in on a podcast with Shaminda (Shum) Attygale, a friend of mine and fellow digital marketer, to discuss UBB and what it means for Canadians. This post will serve as a summary of what we discussed, however, for the full story check out the podcast. You can also check out his other podcasts here.
What is UBB?
UBB is an abbreviation for Usage Based Billing. The name mostly speaks for itself. It is the concept of billing customers based on their internet usage. This is already done to extent today, but a recent decision from the CRTC could change the amount that large telecoms are allowed to charge smaller internet service providers (ISPs). What this means is that smaller ISPs will no longer be able to offer unlimited bandwidth – one of their biggest value-propositions.
Canadians fought back against this decision, however, and this issue is now currently in hot debate between various levels of government, the CRTC, telecoms and ISPs as well as the Canadian public as a whole. To become involved in the discussion and get information on the topic visit: http://www.antiubb.com/
I will now attempt to present my arguments with as little bias as possible. However, it should be very clear that I am very much against UBB.
The Good
Currently a relatively small number of users fall into this category, however, soon most of us will as our consumption of media on the internet increases
This is true, however, due to the extremely low cost of providing additional data, the actual cost of an additional GB should be much less than ISPs are looking to implement
There is also merit to this argument. Interesting however, is the idea that although providers have had to incur costs to expand their networks to meet with traffic demands, their overall costs may have actually decreased over time. Technology continually lowers the cost to provide internet service. So arguably provider costs are largely offset by increased technological efficiencies/a growing user-base (more fees)
The Bad
In the digital age, many businesses rely on affordable internet access. If, for example, a video streaming site were to operate under with UBB in place, they would not be able to cope with the cost of delivering rich media that is high in bandwidth. The cost of doing business would quickly become too high, stemming innovation.
Canada is already lagging behind other countries
Many other countries have comparatively cheaper internet use rates (and mobile as well). If we allow ourselves to increase the cost of accessing the internet we will fall farther behind other developed nations.
It eliminates competition & stems innovation
As touched on previously, new innovative companies like Netflix attempting to revolutionize the way we consume content will be forced out of business. This is a big problem for consumers. UBB may also indirectly (or directly) be a means of eliminating the competition. Large ISPs like Bell and Rogers that are also cable companies support UBB because it reduces competition for their media businesses.
The Ugly
For a moment, let us assume that UBB is fair and will not hurt the economy (a BIG assumption). What should the price be to deliver a GB of data to the end consumer? Presumably the cost for the provider to deliver it plus a reasonable margin. ISPs are proposing to charge FAR above their costs. It has been estimated that it costs an ISP about 3 cents to deliver a GB of data (Source Article) and yet many ISPs charge overage fees in the neighbourhood of $1-$2 per GB. Margin like that charged for any other product would not be acceptable for consumers – so why should be pay so much for something that is so important in our daily lives?
What do you think of UBB? Agree or Disagree? Do something about it
Learn Something New 