Gamer, Blogger, Student

James Reynolds

jamesr87[.at.]gmail.com

I’m lucky in the sense I didn’t make this a formal blog and that RoboticOverlord has yet to grow into fruition so really I can write whatever the hell I like in any format unlike those who write formal reviews for submission and the such like.

For now I will talk about the two things I predominantly did yesterday night (That weren’t coursework) being:

• I watched the movie Religulous.
• I played some of the new COH Expansion.

Religulous was a delight to watch but hopefully not just as an Atheist. It spent the majority of the movie frankly discussing the God and the convictions of those who believe. The ultimate message throughout claimed to be “Nobody Knows” which is a fairly agnostic comment but his closing epilogue was staunchly anti-religion.

Ignoring that I enjoyed seeing him give Religion the Expelled treatment where you get people to agree to an interview then trick them into answering difficult or obnoxious questions and then editing it to make them look stupid. It was done very well and cut together to be really obvious but still very amusing.

The movie’s strengths came from it’s ability to draw a quote from the subject which wasn’t favourable and then watch them realise what they just said. The US Senator scene was particularly delicious.

Ultimately it’s a blunt commentary on the state of current Religion’s but also a very amusing depiction of the people in charge of them. Sadly if you’re deeply religious you will probably draw no enjoyment from the movie clips used to twist the comments into jokes.

As for the COH Expansion: Tales of Valour I found the new content really very enjoyable. It comes with some new campaigns which are about a specific group of people – In the case of the first mission (and the only one I’ve completed thus far) Tiger 205 which was a fearsome tank and crew who were the bane of the limey existence. You can now control directly where the tank fires which is far better designed than you might think.

The skirmish mode that Rob and I enjoy on a regular basis was not radically different but felt retuned and using some of the “custom” vehicles was definitely a refreshing twist. After all, who else fucking hates the German Motorbike?

We waged a mini-war as the Germans vs a mixed Ally team, we each took a flank of the map with me taking on a forceful British infantry rush on a small bridge on the left flank which was eventually secured by MG bunkers. Rob rebuilt the bridges to the middle and defended against an early onslaught there. (Which intentional or not deflected focus away from me and our home bases)

Eventually I researched up to .88s and Rob pushed them back out of the middle island giving us total control over 2/3 of the map. The fought hard to retake the middle with repeated joint heavy rushes where Rob with my Registered Artillery prevailed (At repeated high costs). Each time we knocked out the bridge and bought ourselves a few minutes.

Now with the upgrades done and resources in hand I established an .88 battery which more or less killed any possibility of further attack on the middle coupled with the Rocket Barrage skill and the Ammo to use it freely. 

We built up out Panther/Panzer divisions and took the last island from the Allies.

I fucking love that game, we both saved the reply (I keep losing mine though ;p)

Regards,
James.

Gamer, Blogger, Student

James Reynolds

jamesr87[.at.]gmail.com

Several things are accountable for my recent lapse in activity and in no particular order they’re WoW, Leslie and the Easter Holiday. I’ll run off what I got up to on my holiday for you but only because it includes some movies I wanted to tell you about:

Leslie and I treated ourselves to a visit to HMV which, since the credit crunch began kicking corporate fat cats in the balls constantly, has seen a substantial growth in their discount movie section. I kid you not, I saw a wrapped copy of Scarface for a measly £3 … What would Tony say? However, unlike most trips to HMV which see me leaving with a cheap horror flick and a terrible comedy (I bought Mum & Dad and 40 Year Old Virgin a few weeks back, will talk about them soon) we spent most of our time in the World Cinema section.

Leslie was struggling to decide between two movies, I forget what one was (perhaps when she updates she can tell you ;p) and the other which she eventually left with was Hansel & Gretel. Two things you should know about this movie; It’s a Korean Horror (and therefore instantly awesome) and it’s obviously not what you expect. It’s visceral, horrifying but delectably mellow for the most part. Offsetting the Christmas setting may seem like a cheap trick but every detail of this movie silently screams bloody murders whilst eating sweets for dinner…

Check it out.

Almost as if to prove a point I walked away from HMV with three movies also from World Cinema for the sum total of about £12 and at least one of those you will hopefully know of, they were; Downfall (Germany), Romanzo Criminale (Italian) and Brotherhood (Korea). So far I’ve only had a chance to check out Romanzo Criminale and before I say anything else go out and buy this movie. Buy it if you ever loved Godfather, Goodfellas, Scarface or have ever watched anything even remotely gang related and though “Yeah, pretty cool” because trust me Romanzo Criminale will show you the Italians know mobs better than anyone.

It’s somewhat based on the rising to power of an actual gang in Italy who grew to power in the 90s before their ranks eventually thinned and “scores were settled”. This gang was linked to kidnapping, killing reporters, killing judges and perhaps most importantly they were linked to the Bologne Massacre. They also had ties to the Right-wing Government and it’s entirely possible they were all pawns of perhaps the most notorious Mason fraternities to have ever existed (and been known about publically).

The movie depicts the founding members of the gang and tells their story from their first crime (and imprisonment) all the way to the top of the ladder and down again, it truly is a glorious crime novel (see what I did there? What do you mean you don’t speak Italian?) with scenes that could almost have been substituted for those classics I mentioned earlier and you wouldn’t have batted an eye-lid. The most criminal thing you could do is not check this movie out.

I also watched Mum & Dad which I mentioned earlier, I picked it up for £3. The premise is: There’s a (presumably) inbred family living just outside of Heathrow Airport who live entirely off of whatever they can scavange including people. They abuct the lead actress and force her (through very nasty visceral acts) to become part of the family but just as you think the family can’t get worse … Of course they bloody well do. This movie called itself the British Texas Chainsaw Massacre and it’s bloody right to do so. If you can still grab this cheap then do it, you’ll enjoy it more than you enjoyed the last 36 Saw movies.

I think that’s it for the movie summary and now I’ll spend a few minutes talking about WoW before actually getting on with work. I dinged my Paladin level 72 which was a long hard journey of procrastination and I’m sad to have left the Howling Fjord. I’ve moved on to Borean to enjoy some nice easy questing and hopefully pick up some instance runs as main tank, so far I’ve had a generally ok time of it as I’ve done Utgarde Keep a few times. The mobs hit pretty hard and my avoidance really isn’t up to scratch but I have to make the decision of either having stamina gems which contributes something silly like 800 Stamina to my pool (bringing my total up to circa 11k) but also additional damage and ergo threat or going the avoidance route which is obviously better for healers.

So far I’m mostly gemmed for Stamina with a few Defense gems but I’m going to do the research a little later and probably change that up a bit. I did spend pretty much ever last copper piece I had catching my Jewelcrafting up to my level, now I can craft rings and trinkets I can’t wear but at least the gems are great!

Leslie dinged 61 recently and I put some gold towards her epic land mount, she’s doing really well to have gotten this far and now she and I are enjoying brief levelling sessions in Outland with the occasional booster run from me. She desperately needs a good robes if anyone can recommend anything, I think she’s dying to look better

Anyway, I think that’s enough from me, I’ve got no reviews from XE given that they’re now getting the scraps from the XCN. Kind of a shame really that the last couple of reviews that went up were from the weak writers, I’m guessing that probably didn’t help much at all.

If you’ve got anything interesting to talk about then hit me up or @me on Twitter, I’ve been crazy busy so not checking it but now I’m back at the desk I probably will.

Gratz if you actually managed to read all of this!

Peace,
James.

Gamer, Blogger, Student

James Reynolds

jamesr87[.at.]gmail.com

Freedom of Speech for all! Just not women or non-muslims

:::Edit::: I finally found the BBC article link and dropped my Daily Mail one, why was the BBC hiding this story?

So today I was appalled to read that a local group of Muslims felt the need to picket the homecoming parade of British troops as they returned from Afghanistan. They brandished signs and placards with images of dying children and called them killers and monsters. Of course, 30 yards away from the men on the picket line we’re the obedient domicile caretakers that they call women. It’s almost poetic.

Anyway, if this show of hate for our country was not bad enough for people who are here entirely by choice the fact that they were given police protection leaves a particularly bitter after taste. Furthermore, in spite of the fact they were causing the disturbance, two patriots were arrested for telling them to leave.

These are people who murdered innocent civilians (100 deaths recorded in total) for a doodle in a paper they disagreed with, a group of people who terrorized a man for  writing a book they thought was offensive and NOW they wave the flag of free speech?

It’s about time we told immigrants, if you don’t like it – Get out. Nationals of this country should be heard and i’m sick of patriots being told to grin and bear the hatred imported from overseas.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Any interesting materials to share?

That’s all,
JamesR.

Gamer, Blogger, Student

James Reynolds

jamesr87[.at.]gmail.com

How to play (Players 1-2)

• Someone names a film.
• Then the next person has to name another movie, in which one of the actors from the previous movie was also in.
• Then they take turns repeating this.

Example

• Player 1: Batman Begins
• Player 2: Equilibrium (Christian Bale)
• Player 1: Lord of the Rings (Sean Bean)
• Player 2: Sliders (John Rhys-Davies)
• Player 1: You’re a cunt

Optional Rules

• Can include Television Series, Animated Series, Games etc as appropriate.
• The same actor can not be used twice consecutively
• The same movie can not appear twice in one game
• The same actor can not appear twice in one game
• You only win the game/score a point if you can continue the path and your opponent can not.

Alternative Hot Potato Rules (Players 2+)

• Same rules and gameplay as before
• Each player has n lives
• When a player can not continue a chain he loses a life and passes the go to the next player
• Aim of the game to be last man standing

Simple, but awesome.

I saw Australia and Seven Pounds, both awesome movies.

Regards,
JamesR.

Last night I ventured back into Karazhan for the first time in a fair few months – First time since before Christmas at least since thats when NI moved their raid schedule to days I couldn’t do and forced me to raid Mags and Gruuls instead – and I’m glad to report it went really very well. We followed a somewhat less than typical path of [Attum -> Moroes -> Maiden -> Opera (Oz) -> Nightbane -> Curator] before calling it a night.

Oh yes, I said Nightbane! The whole experience was much smoother than I was expecting with no wipes and most people well within the gear margins for such a run. Kudos have to go to our two tanks who – even though the Paladin was somewhat under-geared Spell Damage wise – did a top notch job of keeping me alive. That is not to say I didn’t nearly die once or twice, with no-one HoT’ing me for Maiden until about 50% and me tanking the Shadow Priest and then the Ret Paladin on Moroes it could have gone far worse.

My only two rewards for the night were my T4 gloves (that now makes 3/5 needing the head and Shoulders so I’m going to both Gruuls and Kara again soon as much as my current helm is actually better) and a fist full of badges which I turned in for an Epic relic which I felt was probably the best upgrade for me since there is only one other relic in the game worth considering but impossible to get. Although bizarrely my new Relic is proc based granting 100~ Attack Power on chance of casting a shock (Approximately 30-50%) … But the proc animation is the Blessing of Wisdom.

On other news I just finished watching a fascinating lecture approximately an hour and a half long on YouTube that I recommend checking out, you can find the first episode here (or watch below) and you’ll have to get the rest for yourself! It’s an interesting discussion about how the Bible as the inspired word of God has been altered many thousands of times, a quote from the videos approximates to: “There are more inconsistencies in the New Testament translations, than there are words.” Of course Theists are quick to say that he’s wrong and everything he says is either misleading or irrelevant, in fact I watched a Theist response to his book that in the course of a few minutes both said the book intentionally misleaded people and stated that it was O.k. for the church to make additions to the Bible.

It’s not misleading to CHANGE THE WORD OF GOD, but it is to talk about how scribes make mistakes and intentional changes over the course of thousands of years?

Sheer brilliance.

I have also spent some time on the Official Wrath forums in a few threads which illustrate perfectly how they don’t understand the implications of the changes they suggest. One of the things I truly despise is the idea that the Bard would be a viable new class. Yes, it would and could work but these people are ignoring the big picture! As soon as you put in a class who’s primary role is buffing (and they have described buffs for everything from Haste to Regen) Blizzard will then start making instances more difficult to scale with these buffs and ultimately all you end up with is a Raid that effectively requires a Bard and possibly several.

How is this a Good thing? There is no space in WoW for a pure buffing class … When told that he says that they will also have some DPS so the statement is effectively changed to There is no room in WoW for a required Buffing class let alone another DPS-Buff Hybrid.

Just to illustrate to you the general intelligence level of a WoW Forum poster there is also a thread asking if we will finally discover “Quel’thalas” in Wrath of the Lich King.

I have also recently watched two new movies, Planet Terror and The Happening. Planet Terror is a great Grindhouse flick which may not appeal to everyone but is still pretty funny. The key is to not take it seriously and you probably shouldn’t eat meat whilst watching

The Happening is shit. Do not watch it. I’ll give you five reasons:

1. Mark Wahlberg is one of the worst actors in the world
2. Zooey Deschanel (you might remember her as that annoying bitch who couldn’t act in Frasier) is absolutely terrible.
3. This movie might actually have the worst script ever made.
4. It’s not scary. It’s not even remotely entertaining.
5. It was the trees that dunnit.

I will sum up the movie with my favourite sequence:

————–
Women on Phone: Honey, are you near the Window with the tree? What can you see?

Wahlberg has shocked expression

Wahlberg: Tell her to get away from the window with the tree!
Women on Phone: Honey, get away from the Window with the tree!

Women puts Girl on Speaker phone
Girl is speaking jibberish

Women on Phone: Are you ok? What’s the matter?

Sound of Girl smashing through window
Women previously on phone hands Wahlberg the phone and runs away crying

Wahlberg puts the phone his ear
Wahlberg: Don’t go outside
————–

Don’t … Go outside? You have to see his face and the whole scene to really feel how stupid that is but my God people laughed at parts of that movie they shouldn’t have. Two people left at about the hour mark.

That is about all I can be bothered to write, nobody has submitted their 5 Tracks for my last post challenge so I will give you another chance.

Regards,
JamesR.

The Happening annoys me, because it’s a perfectly solid premise that M. Night managed to completely ruin.

Been a fairly active few days for me, I finally got my copy of Warriors Orochi through (14 days late I think) so I can start playing it for my Xbox Elite review.

Its good enough, but it doesn’t really have any place on a next gen console.

Recently i’ve also seen “The Kingdom” and Blacksheep. The prior was surprisingly good (not a Jennifer Garner fan) but Blacksheep … well … it was unique. I’ll give it that.

I’ll probably scribble up reviews for them on WSAG just to pad it out a bit.

I’m also finally get around to sorting out some ID so I can go drinking on my 20th. Won’t that be fun? Huzzahs! Presuming theres no problems with my (obscenely expensive) Passport application anyway.

Regards entail.

So you want more huh?

Well, I’ve never used more tags before, they could be useful if I ever integrated a personal blog into a website. You know: “Summary|MORE|Article”.

Anyway, you’ve probably come here wondering if i’ve written anything about the score in the title.

Only that its not fun being baited is it? Those are entirely harmless numbers, but you probably thought there was some kind of nasty hidden message right?

Well, you officially know how I feel now.

But I won’t ban you

Regards,
James.

Ps. No, I didn’t bring this back up, I was confronted on MSN last night about a post I made a nearly week ago.

PPs. For finding this you get a super-duper JAD Signature Strip!

(Hotlinking should be fine, its hardly massive. [Right click, Properties] for the URL)

I mini-reviewed BSG, Condemned and a movie I saw yesterday called Atoment. That Article can be found here.

Just in case you don’t fancy checking that, i’ll C&P the part about Atonement, since it is my duty as a Human being to protect others:

Atonement

This, I will keep brief.

I can put up with some chicky flicks and stuff … but this was fucking awful.

If I didn’t get to see so much of teh nipples, I probably would’ve left. The sequencing was schizophrenic, the dialogue painfully cliché and the plot fell short of my expectations … neigh … It ran head first into them like an angry bull determined to destroy my fragile existence.

1.5 Stars /5 – Nipples are win. Keira Knightley haf secksy body. Otherwise, shit.

Theres more, but I might as well leave you to check WSAG. Which you should do anyway, because there a few half-decent posts lined up and already published … For example Mark’s Stubbs the Zombie review and his “Nintendo Business Strategy for the Wii” article … Which he is no doubt hoping to draw attention to himself with.

Keep a look out for a new feature I plan on running every now and again called “Games You have to Play before you Die”, we have 15 lined up this week.

On the EEEEETEEEEE front things are warming up a little, theres recent controversy over changes being made to their Roleplaying System.

To try and appeal to the wider RP audience the Admins have decided to alienate some of their most active members, only time will tell if they have the spines to stand up for what they want. I predict no and they’ll just let the changes go through and live with it.

Of course, if they do that and just decide to stop RP’ing in a few months we’ll be able to look back on it and go “Remember when we used to RP?” …. Just like I look back now and think “Remember when we used to debate stuff?”.

Regards,
James.

First, Update: Zombie Genocider is MINE, as well as quite a few other Dead Rising Achievements – You need only check out my Live Profile:

(Click to go to the Xbox Live Site Profile)

Well I’m back from my awesome week staying with Leslie, huzzah, now back to sitting around staring at Forums >_>

Erm, we saw the Bourne Ultimatum – After making her watch both in quick succession the day before, and it was indeed very good. Very good. In my opinion, it is the best Spy Movie Ever (Casino Royale is a close second ), Kudos to Matt Damon. That man is INVINCIBLE.

Erm … Work hasn’t actually phoned me back yet >_> Which is fine with me, I’m enjoying being able to relax before going back to Uni.

Ehm … 6 Weeks and i’ve only logged into WoW Twice … Must get back into that <_< Need more help finishing my twink really … Twinks always get me through the dry streaks.

–Removed ET Hate on the grounds that … well … I like ET, and i’m trying my hardest to be above the petty hate Zip has for me.

Meh, Bioshock forums are good.

Regards,
James.

 I’ve been slumming it up at my GFs house recently since her mother is away for the week, I took the week off from work to, so I could spend more time with her.

Figure I may as well before we both go to University … And with me probably working the odd night here and there it might become even harder to see her.

Anyway, I’ve got a few things on my list which I plan to get done while i’m seeing her … like getting Zombie Genocider (45,000 now – about 8k to go) Maybe play Bioshock through again …Watch loads of movies i’ve been putting off … Plus, doing some basic cooking is cool

We watched Firefly/Serenity yesterday … I made her fall in love with it – her favourite character was Wash. Needless to say, now she hates Fox as much as me. We also watched Wolf Creek which was possibly the slowest starting movie in the history of movies.

Although, once it got going …. it got going >_>

I’m at home atm (thus the post) just getting some clothes and stuff … Supposedly a hair cut, but I think the barber is closed now – Tomorrow perhaps? Then i’m heading back.

Good luck and Have fun,
James.

I do still look at ET, and i’m not actually banned … so I do respond to PMs and the like. But i’m done posting there – At least for now. Kind of a Shame though … Ogame -> ET & WoW -> Bioshock -> ?

My current (and final?) post count is 1,770 (a Personal best). Screenshot taken of course … I know how fleeting these things are. But I won’t totally burn my bridges for now, I might decide to go back – but people who know me, and know whats been going on – will know thats not likely.

ANYWAY, I was just watching Sky News (at 6:20 AM) and I saw the damndest thing … Defcon (the Introversion game) on the news! During a broadcast talking about the European Missile shield against the middle east (I keep writing Middle-Easy … wtf) it popped up for a few minutes.

As always, Europe was getting gang-banged by everyone else.

I borrowed Final Fantasy XII off of Master Bone, so perhaps I will try and sink some time into that soon. We’ll see … As it stands, i’ve not got loads of time for it … So is it really worth it? I’ve still got Bioshock (on Hard), C&C3, BFME2, Viva Pinata and Dead Rising to farm Gamer Score on …

God I am tired … I stayed up all night just surfing the net … As you do.

Time for sleep, see you at 15:00 – 17:00.

Regards,
James.

Ps. I saw Hallam Foe, it was … Baffling, but a brilliant movie none-the-less. Jamie Belle(?) did a stand up job, and of course the guy I will forever refer to as Caesar is never a disappointment. Its funny, its fresh and it’s british. 3 1/2 Stars.