ElfTheHunter
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Posts posted by ElfTheHunter
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Hey Alex,
how much of a discount will we get? Trying to see if I can get some people to share the cost with me, need to know how many I would need... I'm thinking of the 16 man server (Counter Strike: Source).
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Oh yea, 151 E
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South America? Am I right? Yea, a bit too far. But why do you have 1000ft cable lying around!!!?
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For my Anime class I was tasked with taking the movie Spirited Away (awesome movie btw) and editing a short trailer from it. So I ripped the DVD and used Windows Movie Maker for the first time... quite a bit of fun, and I'm quite proud of the result...
The music is Christopher Field's Gothic Power Remix (featured in FotR trailer).
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Well, I have five questions for each catagory...
Three possible answers, sort of like yes, no and maybe.
Each catagory starts out at 5, and as I answer the questions it either gains 1, loses 1 or gains nothing depending on the answer.
Questions are similar to will I see this movie in the next five years? Would I watch it to show a friend and so on...
I said 'almost' scientific, but really so far all the movies I've put through will get an appropriate rating even though I'll be like "OMG, that's too low!".
I already started converting some of my old ones into NewEth.
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Thanks for link, the TVs and Xboxs will be players (or rather) team responsibilty. I'll provide the network, they provide their own equipment and we go from there... Yea, I'm sure it'll be fun (if I survive the heart-attack).
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On July 19th I will be hosting the largest LAN party I have ever been to, or that has ever happened in my town. 64 players, on 32 Xboxs. I already have the facility nailed down, my school, got the proper signature and approval (and with a 300 dollar donation after the LAN). I'm currently looking for sponsors (already got Bawls, LAN addict, NCCS school) and am waiting to hear back from Alienware, ATI, Nvidia in order to get more fame/weigt on the LAN. I'm also hitting some local places for physical sponsorship: HTI a hard drive part manufacturer and Hutchtel and Mediacom the two local ISPs looking for ethernet cables and I'm also asking the local Ridgewater community college looking for 8-port switches. Of course, food places like pizza hut and dominos as well.
The network is seeming quite big, with five 8-port switches and thiry-two 100ft CAT5e cables. I plan to connect every single Xbox to our HQ. At our HQ we'll have the five switches, which then connect to a 16-port switch that one of our Staff members already owns, which then connects to our router (already owned too) so that we have DCHP dealt with. However, if there is too much lag with that many games/xboxs we'll need to go with plan B, and manually connect the right xboxes to one switch (thus we need 8 port switches, which can hold the four xboxs of each team). However, the bad side is the cost of all this, which we're hoping to solve through sponsorship.
And that's only one facet of the LAN, there's the prizes, scheduling, supervision, food, drinks, website, the list goes on... However, I'm having a ball, this is a lot of fun (specially because I'm in charge and the 3 other guys on Staff follow my orders). But of course, I'm taking the risks... if people don't pay, I pay. If it sucks, I organized it. But i'm still looking forward to it.
The LAN will have a team tournament, 8 teams total. And all players that come must be in one of the teams. And yes, if anyone wants to make a trip from somewhere to come to the LAN, they have my blessing but will need to either form a team or be in a team
But I doubt anyone will want to do a roadtrip for a LAN like this.P.S. I know the website is simply html and nothing special, but it does what it needs for the LAN.
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“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. I sense much fear in you.”
-Yoda
Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Directed by George Lucas
Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman…
Rated PG for sci-fi action/violence
This is the new Eth Review, I have create a specific almost scientific formula for rating movies. Now all movies pass through the same filters and will get proportional numbers. Episode One was in my opinion the worse Star Wars movie of all of them. And, let’s shock people, it to me is proof that George Lucas is not that great of a director.
Watch Ability – 7
Like most Star Wars, one of its most powerful facet is entertainment. Episode One does not do that good of a job, unfortunently. It manages to capture your attention at the beginning, but it is a shallow capture by simply throwing awe-inspiring images at you and playing on memories of Jedi knights and spaceships from the original Star Wars. After that the movie’s charm slowly erodes away, getting downright slow and boring in some parts. Who wants to watch podracing and Gungan battle again?
Genre Quality – 7
Well, on one hand there is no questioning the special effects. Simply put, George Lucas is a visual genius and nothing is too out-there to not be included in his movies. However Lucas relies too heavily on CGI, which spawned the Jar-Jar Binks abomination
And simply, the quality is too superficial to really count and as time goes by we will lose a lot of the interest in it.Originality – 7
It’s Star Wars. I can’t deny the powerful imaginative setting Lucas creates. And there is quite a lot of original visuals in Episode One, but originality is not simply original creatures and characters, but it also encompasses story editing, film structure and overall originality. And of course, being original is easy, being original and good is tougher. And simply put, Lucas was original but most of his originalities were simply not good enough to make the originality shine as an achievement.
Acting – 6
This is George Luca’s downfall, he is a horrible director when it comes to getting acting into his movie. Maybe he doesn’t care, doesn’t believe in it or whatever. And many actors who worked with him (Harrison Ford) also state similar opinions. I’m uncertain if the characters are shallow or the acting simply is not given the chance to breathe life into them. But it feels like all George wanted was a voice and face to his characters, and never an actor. And most of these are good actors such as Neeson, McGregor and Portman.
Plot/Story – 3
George Lucas strives too hard to make a history he forgets to make a story. Episode One (and the following two new ones) just lack the ring of a story being told. They feel like scenes, shots and moments in a history organized simply to feed the audience, and not to capture them. It seems like George Lucas never treated these movies as new movies, but simply accessories to the original trilogy.
Music/Sounds – 10
What can I say, John Williams is a god. And he proved it for the new Star Wars, providing music that is as memorable and powerful as the original trilogy received. Rich, deep and characterized the music practically spells out Star Wars. There is no question that the best thing Episode One had to offer was its soundtrack.
Trailer – 6
The power of the trailer relied on the sole fact that it was Star Wars, in 2000. That’s it, the trailer was not edited in a way to sell the movie, simply to preview the coming on a new Star Wars. Lucas knew that would be enough. I was overall disappointed with the trailer, but it did its most basic job of getting people interested in the movie.
Overall – 6.2
+: Amazing FX
+: Great Music
- : Poor Story
- : Jar-Jar Binks
Well, my first review (sorry, I have rated all of them but not written the review yet). Will do so as time becomes available, but yes, I plan to redo all my old reviews with new ratings (you won’t believe the difference, they all get more ranged scores). So do not compare this rating to previous reviews, compare it to 0-10 scale.
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My SW:E3:RotS ADVENTURE!!!!
(Won't mention the film until I release my 6 part massive eth review for all of them)
It began on Tuesday, at 4:30 in the afternoon. I went down to our local theater to buy advance tickets (no online purchasing), it was closed because they don't show matinees during weekdays. Went back at about 9:30, it was closed because they had just seated the last movie showing.
In school on Wednesday I heard that the theater has sold out their tickets almost three days before, so even if I had been able to get in it would be out. I went back at 6:30 on Wednesday to buy the tickets, found a line of 30+ people standing in the rain. That's almost a fourth of the day of waiting, I knew then I had underestimated the force. Tickets were sold out, began to panic. I was going to miss the midnight showing of SW!!!!
I went home and placed close to 50 calls, to movie theaters around Hutchinson in a 50 mile radius. The biggest theather (AMC theatres) located in the Eden Prairie had it showing on midnight in 10 of their 15 theathers, they were sold out in every theather. Carmike theaters were sold out in their 4 theatres. Every single place I called was sold out.
So I called defeat on watching the midnight showing, I was ill prepared and would simply have to deal with it. However, AMC had a 10:00 AM showing the next day, so me and my brother decided to skip school in order to go down there. I ordered the tickets online before 8:00 pm on Wednesday, we arrived an hour early (and that was later than I meant to arrive). I was afraid there were be no good seats and was willing to pay for an extra set of tickets for the 11:00 am showing in order to get better seats. But, while it was crowded for an 10:00 am showing it was no more than an evening show of any other blockbuster, and we were early enough to reserve good seats.
So I saw it 10 hours later than I meant to, but I still saw it. Anyway, await for the film comments for this weekend or next week.
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Yes, I was also pleased with the direction... the trailer was very well done. Finally, an obession for this year (there has been a void since RotK - Village sort of filled it, but it's better when dissapointment is not what waits at the end).
While I enjoy Harry Potter, I agree the movies have not done exceptionally well, the last one almost got it right but didn't... and even if they get the formula right and all the remaining movies rock, I will still judge the franchise based on the ill performance of the first ones... I really hope Narnia has a better start, and keeps it up.
My only concern is that 7 movies is a lot and I don't think they will all be from the same director.
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Why not add 13th Warrior and Mulan to Jerry Goldsmith, both have exceptional music.
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Best Game Music:
World of WarCraft... oh my god, it literally stunned me (you need to get the actual cd, since there are tracks on it that are not in the game).
Best Movie Music:
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers... I know, I know; RotK is so much better, but my personal preference stands with tTT, nothing can beat the Rohan theme.
Best Single Track:
Clint Mansell's "Summer Overture"... the LotR version is better but the original is also good.
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“There’s no connection, we’re not stimulated by the same things, we’ve buried ourselves under tons of crap, we’ve castrated each other.”
-Carlo
Ricordati di me (Remember Me, My Love)
Directed by Gabriele Muccino
Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Laura Morante, Monica Bellucci…
Rated R for language, some sexuality and teen drug use
Watch Ability – 9
Ok, this is always a hard part to review for these kind of movies. There’s no action, no fun part only interactions and human emotions to be seen, and these sorts of scenes are often a one time thing. To be honest, I don’t want to see this movie again but instead I will rate this movie on how well it will stay with me without me having to watch it. How long will these scenes and images stay with me, and in that area they have created a very memorable movie. The movie hits close to home, because these are problems we live with. Problems not unknown to us, which is often a dangerous thing for filmmakers to venture into as we also know how we’d likely react. So the challenge for a movie like this is to keep our interest by proving reactions and scenes close but still slightly different than our own. And they succeed!
Genre Quality – 10
This is one of the best family dramas I’ve seen. It doesn’t use common used problems like addiction, death or other slightly exaggerated (not denying their existence, just saying they are commonly used). Instead Remember Me (international English title, Remember Me, My Love is USA only) simply deals with the problems that a family and people in it face. A desire to prove oneself, to find oneself, to succeed, to start over… And how these desires and wants hurt and affect others that you love.
Originality – 9
While it is unique, it does have a few clichés.
Such as there being a severe accident, which affects everyone and drastically changes the plot, while it came at an unexpected time it was still there.
Basically I don’t think I can give it a 10, something in me saying it’s not terribly original. But, a very unique introduction with a narrative (and a similar conclusion) was quite original. I give this a 9.Acting – 10
Very well done for everyone. Of course, drama usually gives actors the full range of tools to do a good job, but it still takes a great actor to really show it. Monica Belluci did a great job, not unexpected. The father, Fabrizio Bentivoglio did a very good job. Laura Morante did a good job, but at times I found her acting a bit unfitting, with maybe a bit too much hysteria or an odd look here and there. She just didn’t seem to fit like everyone else, but not enough to be called bad acting. Now granted, my assessment is of lesser value since I don’t speak Italian so some of the tones and emphasis might have been lost, and maybe that’s why it all seemed to fit well.
Plot/Story – 10
The story involves a normal Italian family, or at least that’s what the tag line claims. Everything is going well, each person has tiny little problems that shape the form of the reactions and actions they give when the plot problem comes around. The beauty of the story is how common and well presented that problem is
, the father begins having an affair. The way I know how it was well presented is that my father had an affair, which led to the end of my parents marriage. And I never really understood that, yet in the movie I found myself at a point where I understood Carlos and quite sympathized with him, and the only thing I thought he was doing wrong was not considering the effect it would have on his children.
The story was subtle and down-to-earth enough to be easily and powerfully emotionally connected to and realistic enough to show how sometimes there is no solution, someone always gets hurt.Music/Sounds – 9
It’s understandable that I don’t know much of Paolo Buonvino’s other works, I assume a lot of Italian films I’ve never seen and might never see. But he did an excellent job in this film; it often stood in the background. But was on-call for tense moments where silence or other sounds were inappropriate. Nothing with overwhelming character but very appropriate and efficient.
Trailer – N/A (not figured in overall score)
Haven’t seen the trailer
Overall – 9.5
+: Good Acting
+: Great Story
+: Good Music
- : Italian (j/k, watch ability)
I saw three art/independent films this weekend. First was a documentary like film “The Life” about prostitution (it was horrible), then a suspense called “Noise” which had some good acting but very artistic and distant for me to enjoy it, this one however hit the spot. And just shows to me how many foreign films I’m missing out on. My next two reviews will be the bad and the ugly, Sahara and Alone in the Dark respectively. If anyone wants to put requests for movies (not stuff in theater) feel free to PM me, don’t expect me to get to it right away though
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82 for me...
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18... don't enjoy classics too much
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You are right Mythos, I am very much a soft critic... and no, it's not that all movies are 80% or above... the problem is that some movies are just plain horrible (and for some reason I feel writting reviews of them as pointless, though that would be the most helpful to keep ppl from seeing them)... One such example is Alone in the Dark, a doubt that movie would be more than a 3, but that's because there are more horrible movies. If you've seen any sci-fi channel movies then you know what kind of stuff I don't review, maybe I should start reviewing some of the bad movies to give a wider range.
And yes, I agree Sin City is for some and not for some, I happened to love it but I know people who hated it.
But thanks Mythos, it's nice hearing a bit constructive criticism
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Sorry for the late reply...
the movie is about crime, violence, vendettas and all things that lead to action... not really sure how to describe it without giving away some of the story, think of it as a crime comicbook in film format.
If you want to know the story
There are three storylines the movie covers, the first is Marv's. He is framed for the murder of a hooker he slept with (and he didn't pay her... he's so deformed that not even paying will get him close to a woman, so that's why she was so much more special). It follows him tracking down who did it, and why.
The second storyline is about Dwight, I'm not really sure what he is but he gets involved with the Dames, a gang from Old Town (a part of town where prostitutes rule). After the Dames kill some cops in a conflict, there is a danger of ending the truce between the cops and the Dames... this story follows how Dwight helps them deal with the situation.
The last story (and one that the movie opens with as well) is about Hartigan, a old cop he takes down the son of a U.S. senator to save a young girl from being raped and murdered. Because of the guys' connections, Hartigan serves 8 years in prison for the rape of the girl (her testimony is not accepted). The story picks up when Hartigan gets out of jail and goes to meet Nancy (the girl he rescued) when she's full grown. The danger happens when the old son of the Senator returns to exact revenge (he's known as Yellow Bastar* now, after the intense surgeries he went through to survive).
And yes, it's full black and white... well except for the odd red dress, green eyes or yellow bastar*
Color is used only when they deem it necessery. -
Richard Gibbs
"Are you Alive?"
Battlestar Galactica Main Theme
note:
plays nice as soundtrack to Homeworld 2
best show on tv
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“Hey! There is no settling down! This is blood for blood and by the gallons. This is the old days, the bad days, the all or nothing days. They're back!”
-Marv
Sin City
Directed by Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller
Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen …
R for sustained strong stylized violence, nudity and sexual content including dialogue
Watch Ability – 9
Yes, the action was great. Exaggerated and stylized and overall well done, but the action does continue forever. And the mistake is they throw the action to you at the beginning which highlights the lack of it at the end, and you get tired. Really, if the action and events were place in different spots this category would receive a 10. The dialogue is amazing though.
Genre Quality – 10
Good luck classifying it into a genre, but in what ever genre you classify it, you find near perfection in quality. The cinematography is amazing, colorization beautiful, pacing and dialogue very good. Really, you can’t find technical faults in the entire film. I can’t think of anything in the film that didn’t say quality. I give this a 10.
Originality – 10
Well, there should be no arguments here… A 10 all the way. This is the first direct adaptation that I know of, where everything is painstakingly taken from the graphic novel and recreated in a film environment. The closest thing I can think to this movie would be Kill Bill, but even that is a very different. And what’s odd, is that the content pretends to be cliché… A 10!!!
Acting – 10
Wow, not only is there a list of great actors, but they all perform superbly too. Benicio del Toro is probably the top acting in the movie, but no one did a bad job at acting. Bruce Willis, Rourke, Elijah Wood (the little acting he did). This is a well deserved 10.
Plot/Story – 8
The biggest problem with the movie is the story. And I can’t say that story is horrible, but it’s badly structured. And I think the problem is because they try to get the comic structure on film. They have several stories at the same time, yet not the usual convergence or keep the different storylines at the same time like Lord of the Rings does; instead it tells it as a series of short stories. The times they do intersect, there is no reference to that fact. While I understand that Sin City is the main story, we are shown three stories and we can’t but compare them. And since one of the best stories is Marv’s in the beginning, we find the other two less interesting and lose interest. The fact is, if the movie told all stories at the same time in the usual method, we would find the telling of a different story other than our favorite simply as a nice break. I must give it an 8, and that’s only because the plot and story itself is interesting, but badly structured.
Music/Sounds – 10
Great music, and it does a nice job not to interfere the movie. Sometimes it helps to paint the incredible surrealistic setting, others it plays nicely with the colorization. And when needed it stays quiet. Well done music all around.
Trailer – 10 (not figured in overall score)
Up until Sin City trailer, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was my favorite trailer. Now they are quite equally favored, but Sin City’s trailer (original short one) is more interesting (probably because it’s new). It was definitely a nice way to find out about an upcoming movie, they managed to raise my hype to the levels of Lord of the Rings.
Overall – 9.6
+: Artistic Presentation
+: Original Concept
+: Great Dialogue
- : Bad Story Structure
It might have failed to give me a new favorite movie, it remains either Two Towers or Fellowship, but it did reinvigorate my love for Hollywood. And it reinforced my belief that art and entertainment can be merged, not always perfectly and often it will lean one way or another (this one leans towards art rather than entertainment) but it gets to a close balance. Onto see if the rest of the year can provide competition! Spielberg, Jackson, Lucas, Howard, Scott, please, do your best!
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Thanks for the replies guys... I have enough (along with some e-mails)
This helps a lot, and I assume you guys don't mind being used in a report?
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I'm from Mars... and my name is Gordon Freeman, but some know me by Master Chief.
Ok, how about: I've lost a 50 dollar bill once, didn't tell anyone cause it wasn't the first time I had lost cash.
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For my Institutions and Traditions Class my instructor has asked me to conduct interviews about Divorce and Marriage and when I mentioned the possibility of getting interviews from off-US he found it quite interesting...
So if you wanna help me out, you can take the interviews below (either reply in this forum, PM me, or E-mail me at elfthehunter@gmail.com depending on how much privacy you want).
IF YOU HAVE BEEN MARRIED FOR 10 YEARS OR LONGER
(If married for less than 10 years, feel free to answer but mention how many years of marriage)
Name:
Location:
1.) What is the most important aspect of marriage?
2.) What is the single most important attribute in a partner that leads to a successful marriage?
3.) Do you typically argue? About what topics?
4.) Tipically how are conflicts settled?
5.) What advice would you give for young couples?
IF YOU HAVE DIVORCED AT LEAST ONCE
Name:
Location:
1.) What is the most important aspect of marriage?
2.) What would you do different? (Before or during the marriage)
3.) What advice would you give for young couples?
4.) What led to the divorce?
5.) What did you tipically argue about?
IF YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN MARRIED
Name:
Location:
1.) Do you plan on getting married?
2.) About what age do you plan to get married?
3.) What are the motives that you want to get married for?
4.) Have you had positive or negative experiences with marriage?
5.) If you got married, do you plan to stay married for life?
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But... what's wrong with dialogue? But I agree that immersion is something special, and since these are games not movies we should use our special abilities in storytelling.
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Finally finished it (on normal, not trying hard on first attempt... I learn from my mistakes).
Five faults of HL2:
1.) Shadows sometimes do not work properly, examples... the huge magnet in the machine would cast a darker shadow through the metal trailers, or in a tunnel scene the zombie would cast a shadow but not the wall, so it looked like a person floating without any ankles. But I think we can overlook these minor flaws.
2.) Long and often loading screens, not terrible... but you know, eventually we'll be complaning about a 2 second loading screen.
3.) Squad commands, they felt awkward and you ended up using your teamates simply as cannon fodder (understandable for the antlions, but not civilians)
4.) Teammates blocking you on hallways, keeping you from moving easily.
5.) Vehicles take some time to get used to, but once you do it's a lot of fun.
When a game presents as little as 5 faults, you know it's good!!!
SPOILER
Now, the story... I find it a bit over the top, but it's original! Not only that, but the star is how its told. Not just that there are no cutscenes, but the fact that all these different things (some vital to the story) are not given to you, and that answers are not always answered.
And trust me, some questions should never be answered. If the G-man is ever fully explained, there will not be another game in the series. And even though the final boss (er, encounter) was fairly weak, the last whole level was mainly physics play and power play, and the last speech of the G-man gave no answers, it was still awesome to have time freeze when the thing explodes.
I personally prefer a story like Halo, but Half-Life has its merits... and the method in which its told gives what it lacks in content.
removed
in Arts and Entertainment
Posted
How big is it Adam? I can host it maybe...
(1gb, 25 bandwidth)