I haven't blogged in a long while, because I put most of my personal updates and interesting stuff I find in LR threads. Recently, I made my 2000th post (thanks to Finale again, without whom it would have gotten deleted!), and like the great majority of my previous "work", it was a LR thread. I thought earlier that I'd commemorate it in some way, but the results almost made me reconsider.
I know quite a few Bisu fans I like, so please don't take it personally, but seeing Bisu allkill my favorite team would be the hardcore SKT fans equivalent of seeing Shine allkill their team (with Bisu, of course). It's not Bisu's fault that we lost, it's ours, but I'm sure you'd understand that I didn't really want to burn it into my memory. I decided to man up and post it anyway, since sitting in a corner and repeating to myself that it didn't happen will only make me feel even worse about it.
That said, I have a few Easter eggs from previous LR threads, and I waited for a time to post all of them. Some of you specifically asked for the content you found there, so this is the time I should deliver on my promise. Thanks for all the support you guys have given me, and an extra shoutout to KasPra who makes a lot of graphics for me from the kindness of his heart.
I'd also like to thank Lightwip, moopie, Carnivorous Sheep, Ryo, ideas, thopol, swanized, OpticalShot, BlackMagister and O-ops (I hope I didn't forget anyone!) for helping me provide content the community seems to enjoy so much.
SK Telecom T1 vs. STX SouL, Round 2
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I haven't posted here in such a long while, and I feel guilty, so I'll post here now.
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Have been listening to Behemoth again lately, since this album:
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This came as quite a shocker to me for no real reason at all. Lately, my musical tastes switch widely.
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From Death Metal to The Sisters of Mercy to K-pop (I love/hate you, Craton) to Black metal now. I actually even gave bjorkish music a listen from time to time. Boy, was that a bad idea.
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I don't get why everyone likes Arnofsky so much. I HATED Requiem for a Dream and was just "meh" about the Wrestler. I'm really torn about watching Black Swan. My exact emotion after seeing Requiem for a Dream was as follows: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/2009/06/transformers_190609.html
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For movies that I watched recently and liked: Das Leben der Anderen (a german language movie about a security officer in East Germany spying on an actor) and Dear Zachary(the recommendation for which I got from TL <3)
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Let's hope some poor sod hasn't already posted this thread while I was writing this Wall of text. T.T
Hite Entus vs. STX SouL, Round 2
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If you haven't done so already, check out the Todd in the Shadows pop music reviews. They are friggin awesome and hugely entertaining.
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As an entirely different thing, you might want to check out my second favorite webcomic of all time, 8-bit theatre (it gets a lot better from 100 onwards).
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You want even MORE content? YOU ARE TEARING ME APART, TL!
(unplayed games will be given random description to avoid spoilers).
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Have another kitty for your neverending efforts, person who keeps clicking this tag.
MBCGame HERO vs. STX SouL, Round 2
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KasPra helped me with this one this time. His first pick!
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KasPra pick 2!
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He didn't pick this one, but he sent it to me earlier, and I think it fits in.
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Played this about 20 times today. I have a kind of love-hate relationship with the stripes, I think.
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KasPra pick 3!
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KasPra pick 4!
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KasPra pick 5!
(unplayed games will be given random description to avoid spoilers).
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Can you guess what movie this references? It's also my favorite movie of all time.
Samsung KHAN vs. SK Telecom T1, Round 2
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I'm totally in the mood for some heavier than usual music today, and I'd like to share some of my old favorite songs with you. I used to be quite the metalhead a few years ago, and I'm still fond of a lot of the music. Here's some things I listened to today to go back to some good moments in the past.
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I have to include something Estonian, so let's go with Manatark.
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My Dying Bride used to be my favorite band for a while. Ah, the days of Olde...
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Used to be the first Black Metal song I actually liked:
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I obviously have to include something from KasPra.
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This used to be the favorite song of someone I thought I hated. I liked the song though, so I kept visiting his profile for a few days before downloading it. He commited suicide soon after, which makes this song really weird to listen to. But I can't omit it from the list.
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My favorite song off the third album I ever bought.
(unplayed games will be given random description to avoid spoilers).
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Watch this, If you haven't yet:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6127548813950043200#
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6127548813950043200#
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I'm all out. Entertain yourself for a while.
Samsung KHAN vs. STX SouL, Round 3
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Happy new year to everyone I haven't wished it to yet! Let it be better to BW than the last one.
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I'm also overjoyed to see some new faces stepping up to do LR threads. And so many new players suddenly interested in BW! This year has so much potential to be great, let's not ruin it with constant BW vs. SC2 on streams.
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I'm thinking about composing a list of movies I've seen recently, and reviewing them in the spoilers of the next STX game. Would you be interested in reading it?
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I know the banner is bad, but KasPra has commitments (read: a wonderful girlfriend), and he's been spoiling me already. Maybe he'll be motivated better next time.
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KasPra infected me with Power Metal! >.< It will be better to stomach if you suffer with me.
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On the other hand, the recommended videos led me to a much better band in my opinion. I'm a huge Fan of Therion.
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Oh, and if you are wondering why I'm slacking off from doing LR threads, I'll just try to explain it away with work and... well, I'm becoming more and more addicted to Civ V. God damn that series for siphoning away my life force.
SK Telecom T1 vs. STX SouL, Round 3
Just polls?
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As promised, here are the movie reviews from the movies I saw most recently, ranked from 1-7:
#7: Taken
„Taken“ was a pretty stereotypical action-flick, IMO. I was pretty surprised at how competent Liam Neeson is at this sort of stuff, since he mostly plays in dramas, and this one... isn’t exactly tear jerk material. While the story wasn’t particularly bad, it really wasn’t memorable as a whole. The main characters daughter gets kidnapped (because a teenage son being kidnapped just never, EVER happens), and since the main character is basically the poster boy of the spy gadget sets you bought as a kid, there never seems to be any challenge in anything he does. There’s always that „been there, done that“ attitude, while being ruthless enough to hold a mans wife at gunpoint at a dinnertable. While it avoided some of the things I hate about action films, I really don’t think I’ll remember it at all this time next year.
#7: Taken
„Taken“ was a pretty stereotypical action-flick, IMO. I was pretty surprised at how competent Liam Neeson is at this sort of stuff, since he mostly plays in dramas, and this one... isn’t exactly tear jerk material. While the story wasn’t particularly bad, it really wasn’t memorable as a whole. The main characters daughter gets kidnapped (because a teenage son being kidnapped just never, EVER happens), and since the main character is basically the poster boy of the spy gadget sets you bought as a kid, there never seems to be any challenge in anything he does. There’s always that „been there, done that“ attitude, while being ruthless enough to hold a mans wife at gunpoint at a dinnertable. While it avoided some of the things I hate about action films, I really don’t think I’ll remember it at all this time next year.
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#6: Legend of the Guardians:
First off, let me say that I haven’t read any of the books, and didn’t see it in 3d. That said, I’m doing this for fun and for killing your time, so I won’t take any complaints.
Secondly, I wouldn’t have watched this movie if it weren’t for my friend Kadri who studies Art, and it is obvious why she liked it. While the story is really unsatisfying, the visuals are gorgeous, especially the 300 style fight scenes and the flying scenes. The owls look as if they are one-dimensional stereotypes, but... that’s all they are in the movie anyway. The Guardians are noble and courageous, the „Pure ones“ are fascists and slave drivers, and the hero feels so bland that I wanted to turn the movie off several times before I realized again how pretty everything was. This is how this movie felt, superficial, but visually engaging enough to be watchable. I’d suggest you watch it once to see what I’m talking about.
First off, let me say that I haven’t read any of the books, and didn’t see it in 3d. That said, I’m doing this for fun and for killing your time, so I won’t take any complaints.
Secondly, I wouldn’t have watched this movie if it weren’t for my friend Kadri who studies Art, and it is obvious why she liked it. While the story is really unsatisfying, the visuals are gorgeous, especially the 300 style fight scenes and the flying scenes. The owls look as if they are one-dimensional stereotypes, but... that’s all they are in the movie anyway. The Guardians are noble and courageous, the „Pure ones“ are fascists and slave drivers, and the hero feels so bland that I wanted to turn the movie off several times before I realized again how pretty everything was. This is how this movie felt, superficial, but visually engaging enough to be watchable. I’d suggest you watch it once to see what I’m talking about.
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#5: Defendor
„Defendor“ is just another take on the „Realistic Superhero“ craze of the last few years. But unlike most other superhero movies, watching this movie wasn’t an enjoyable experience. What the movie does right is how it highlights the inherent questionability of the premise – the title character is being ridiculed to the end by almost everyone, and the reason why he does this insane thing is... that he’s pretty much mentally handicapped, a naive child in a grown man’s body. That’s also where it went really wrong with me, since I need to be able to relate to the characters in a movie, and it is really hard to relate to someone who isn’t right in the head. His inadeptness and lack of common sense meant I couldn’t root for him for the entire movie, and the rest of the cast, while competent, wasn’t good enough for me to want to watch it again. Also, why is it called a comedy? I get that it is a pseudo parody of batman, but I didn’t laugh even once during the entire movie. It could work as a drama if you have a strong sense of empathy, but it really wasn’t for me.
„Defendor“ is just another take on the „Realistic Superhero“ craze of the last few years. But unlike most other superhero movies, watching this movie wasn’t an enjoyable experience. What the movie does right is how it highlights the inherent questionability of the premise – the title character is being ridiculed to the end by almost everyone, and the reason why he does this insane thing is... that he’s pretty much mentally handicapped, a naive child in a grown man’s body. That’s also where it went really wrong with me, since I need to be able to relate to the characters in a movie, and it is really hard to relate to someone who isn’t right in the head. His inadeptness and lack of common sense meant I couldn’t root for him for the entire movie, and the rest of the cast, while competent, wasn’t good enough for me to want to watch it again. Also, why is it called a comedy? I get that it is a pseudo parody of batman, but I didn’t laugh even once during the entire movie. It could work as a drama if you have a strong sense of empathy, but it really wasn’t for me.
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#4: Machete
This is probably the most watched movie out of all of these, but since it was among the 7 movies I watched last, I’ll review it anyway for the sake of consistency. Did I like it? Well, yes, actually, but not as much as the movie’s enthusiastic fanboys due to whom I rented it. Does it deliver on the promises of pure unadulterated fun and creative violence? Yes! Does it have enjoyable parodies of the anti-immigrant movement? You betcha. It’s actually hard to pin down what I didn’t like about the movie, but I’ll try – It tackles a serious issue with too much preachiness, and the parody part has strong ups and downs during the entire movie. „Machete“ is heavily reliant on the main character and his creative kills and aura (not a bad thing), but it also tries to introduce characters that amount to basically nothing interesting at all (Michelle Rodriguez and Jessica Alba are prime examples). I shouldn’t have hoped for anything artmoviesque, but that’s how I felt after having sit through the entire thing. It was a really fun way to kill an hour and a half between the cradle and the grave, but it’s probably not my cup of tea.
This is probably the most watched movie out of all of these, but since it was among the 7 movies I watched last, I’ll review it anyway for the sake of consistency. Did I like it? Well, yes, actually, but not as much as the movie’s enthusiastic fanboys due to whom I rented it. Does it deliver on the promises of pure unadulterated fun and creative violence? Yes! Does it have enjoyable parodies of the anti-immigrant movement? You betcha. It’s actually hard to pin down what I didn’t like about the movie, but I’ll try – It tackles a serious issue with too much preachiness, and the parody part has strong ups and downs during the entire movie. „Machete“ is heavily reliant on the main character and his creative kills and aura (not a bad thing), but it also tries to introduce characters that amount to basically nothing interesting at all (Michelle Rodriguez and Jessica Alba are prime examples). I shouldn’t have hoped for anything artmoviesque, but that’s how I felt after having sit through the entire thing. It was a really fun way to kill an hour and a half between the cradle and the grave, but it’s probably not my cup of tea.
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#3: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
This review is possibly the most redundant of the 7 (even though „Machete“has been watched the most), since almost everyone I know has heard of this movie and all of them seemed to know instantly whether they were going to see it. It’s also old enough for these opinions to be entrenched enough so that they’ll never change, but what did I think of it? I liked it very much for the reason most of my acquintances hated it – it was a movie for the gaming generation of the 80-s and 90-s, and everyone unfamiliar with it simply couldn’t relate. It has its weak points, for sure, the main character is a bit of a douche and the love interest is an apathetic boring hipster chick, but I honestly think that was necessary for the movie to work the way it did. You want to live in the world SPvtW takes place in, you want to know what crazy shit they throw at you next, while always treading in familiar territory due to the hipster romance of the main character. Definitely one of my favourite movies of the last year.
This review is possibly the most redundant of the 7 (even though „Machete“has been watched the most), since almost everyone I know has heard of this movie and all of them seemed to know instantly whether they were going to see it. It’s also old enough for these opinions to be entrenched enough so that they’ll never change, but what did I think of it? I liked it very much for the reason most of my acquintances hated it – it was a movie for the gaming generation of the 80-s and 90-s, and everyone unfamiliar with it simply couldn’t relate. It has its weak points, for sure, the main character is a bit of a douche and the love interest is an apathetic boring hipster chick, but I honestly think that was necessary for the movie to work the way it did. You want to live in the world SPvtW takes place in, you want to know what crazy shit they throw at you next, while always treading in familiar territory due to the hipster romance of the main character. Definitely one of my favourite movies of the last year.
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#2: Kickass
After watching the trailer for this movie I knew I had to see it in theatres. And when it actually came out in Estonia, I obviously didn’t feel like I wanted to anymore. The hype went plummeting down and I forgot about it entirely until I saw the ICCup A/B Tourney trailer. Unlike „Defendor“, this movie was actually funny, engaging, and had likeable characters from villains to heroes, and the story felt both plausible and entertaining till the very end. It visits the same theme of “Realistic Superheroes”, but a teen trying to do the right thing is just so much more compelling than a borderline retarded person with black facepaint and a small spy kit. While the main character was overshadowed by “Hit Girl” and “Big Daddy”, he still gave a great performance with several shades of “what the hell have I gotten into”. While the highlight of the movie is definitely Hit Girls sick and twisted nature, it is used sparingly, and Kick-Ass’s perspective makes the whole story work in the first place. I don’t even really know what could have been improved from a movie stand point, and thus, it makes #2 on this list.
After watching the trailer for this movie I knew I had to see it in theatres. And when it actually came out in Estonia, I obviously didn’t feel like I wanted to anymore. The hype went plummeting down and I forgot about it entirely until I saw the ICCup A/B Tourney trailer. Unlike „Defendor“, this movie was actually funny, engaging, and had likeable characters from villains to heroes, and the story felt both plausible and entertaining till the very end. It visits the same theme of “Realistic Superheroes”, but a teen trying to do the right thing is just so much more compelling than a borderline retarded person with black facepaint and a small spy kit. While the main character was overshadowed by “Hit Girl” and “Big Daddy”, he still gave a great performance with several shades of “what the hell have I gotten into”. While the highlight of the movie is definitely Hit Girls sick and twisted nature, it is used sparingly, and Kick-Ass’s perspective makes the whole story work in the first place. I don’t even really know what could have been improved from a movie stand point, and thus, it makes #2 on this list.
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#1:Black Dynamite
Whenever someone talks about movies, I always bring this one up and my conversation partners have a really hard time at shutting me up. It’s easily the best movie experience of the previous year for me, and most of you probably haven’t even heard about it! It’s a 2009 homage/parody to blaxploitation films like „Dolemite“, and almost painfully attentive to the smallest details like some characters mouth not moving while they are talking and overacting taking place all of the time. The main character is a blaxploitation ideal – a muscled ladies man who is a pimp of martial arts hookers (he took them all in, as a show of his generosity), who is „supa cool and he know Kung fu“, spends time at orphanages and partook in both Nam and CIA operations, while fighting drug trade. The trailer is already hilarious, and after I saw the ending, I had already made my brother wake up and shout at me a few times for waking him up by laughing so hard. It’s definitely not for everyone, but it worked very well for me. Watch it, and then watch it again. You know you want to.
Whenever someone talks about movies, I always bring this one up and my conversation partners have a really hard time at shutting me up. It’s easily the best movie experience of the previous year for me, and most of you probably haven’t even heard about it! It’s a 2009 homage/parody to blaxploitation films like „Dolemite“, and almost painfully attentive to the smallest details like some characters mouth not moving while they are talking and overacting taking place all of the time. The main character is a blaxploitation ideal – a muscled ladies man who is a pimp of martial arts hookers (he took them all in, as a show of his generosity), who is „supa cool and he know Kung fu“, spends time at orphanages and partook in both Nam and CIA operations, while fighting drug trade. The trailer is already hilarious, and after I saw the ending, I had already made my brother wake up and shout at me a few times for waking him up by laughing so hard. It’s definitely not for everyone, but it worked very well for me. Watch it, and then watch it again. You know you want to.
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I'm happy you still read these! Comeon, click on the others as well!
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So, I played Civ V lately. Random always keeps throwing me the Aztecs or Rome, which I don't mind at all since both are pretty aggressively playable from the start on. Much better than the scouting bonus America gets.
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Political campaigns are weird, weird things. Just Friday I met a guy who kept rambling about the "judeo-Masonic" connections he thinks my party has, calling all people present "jew-whores" and then finishing it all of by saying that everything was better in Stalin's time. He kept at it for half an hour, while drinking the tea we offered to people without so much as a hint of regret. I'm ashamed to live in the same country as that man.
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For the Fan predictions part, I'll probably have to use the Robert Frost poem again (it looked cool in Lightwip's version!), since I could find no cool war speeches or even similar poems in a short time. If you have hints, PM me!
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It's wonderful how many new members our BW community gets, I'm more awed every day, and I am happy that I can contribute in at least one way.
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And I'd probably posted my thread earlier if I didn't write those movie reviews. Sorry for all the drama, once again.
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Here's the obligatory cat picture you all waited for:
That's wierd. I remembered there being more. This urges me to create more of it and not slack off anymore. Thanks for the ride so far, TL BW community!