Exploring Stuff That Makes Life Great
Video games wouldn’t give players a great experience if they didn’t feature a stellar sound design. Gears of War 2 is one of this year’s most highly acclaimed games for the Xbox 360. Epic Games went all out when it went to composing its soundtrack. The score was composed by Steve Jablonsky and recorded with the Skywalker Symphonic Orchestra and Chorus at Skywalker Sound. Continue reading “MUSIC REVIEW: Gears of War 2 – The Soundtrack”
Every now and then a good Sonic game is released to the masses. Fans and critics cheer and then Sega screws up the jubilee by announcing a new Sonic game that messes with the formula. Sonic Unleased has been touted by Sega as THE Sonic game that brings the franchise back to its roots and fixes many problems that have plagued recent Sonic games. Continue reading “Game Review: Sonic Unleased – A step in the RIGHT Direction”
I am a huge fan of Futurama- both in that I love the series, and I am a physically large fanboy. Bender’s Game is getting fantastic reviews, and is considered by most to be the best of the Futurama films released thus far.
However, I disagree. Continue reading “DVD REVIEW: Futurama – Bender’s Game”
[UPDATE 12/4/08: YouTube has now enabled Widescreen embeds.]
YouTube has officially switched from the default 4:3 ratio to a 16:9 ratio for videos playing on their website. This is definitely great for future web video content. Now there’s a reason to upload videos in 16:9 ratio. Obviously there’s a difference between 16:9 and true high definition, but YouTube is taking it one step at a time.
In the past, YouTube’s user generated videos and professionally produced videos looked practically identical. We’re finally getting to the point where we may see a rift occur between these user generated content and professional content. When YouTube began, it didn’t matter what quality you uploaded the video at because it looked like crap. Earlier in the year, YouTube enabled high quality video streams and now that it has defaulted to a widescreen display, there is a reason for content producers to actually care about the visual quality of their footage!
This will only help the internet web video industry as a whole. If there has been one reason why advertisers have been hesitant to step into the web video market, it has been because a lot of web video shows don’t look and feel like a traditional TV show. By having YouTube, the king website for web videos, shift their focus from low resolution videos to high resolution videos, the web video industry will grow and evolve.
This is a big day for not only web video content producers, but consumers as well. We’re finally getting to the point where quality matters.
The Polar Express: Presented in 3-D
Warner Bros./ Castle Rock/ Play Tone
Starring Tom Hanks
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Rated G
Running Time = 100 minutes (Two DVDs; one with 3-D version, the other with theatrical version)
I love Christmas movies. There’s something about the really good ones like Miracle of 34th Street and It’s a Wonderful Life that really resonate with me. Holiday films of recent have held less interest for me, especially “holiday” movies like Deck the Halls and Christmas with the Kranks. The Polar Express, however, Continue reading “All Aboard the Polar Express in 3-D!!!!”
The New World: The Extended Cut
New Line Cinema
Starring Colin Farrell, Q’orianka Kilcher, Christopher Plummer, and Christian Bale
Written and Directed by Terrence Malick
Rated PG-13 for some intense battle sequences.
Running Time = 135 minutes
As I watched this extended version of The New World, which was my first time viewing the film, several thoughts came to mind. I wish to share five of them with you now. Continue reading “5 Things I Learned While Watching The New World”