The Blogboard Jungle

...not the book.  Keep that in mind and you may enjoy it.     I finally got around to watching World War Z with Brad Pitt based on the novel of the same name by Max Brooks.  I am a big fan of the book, it's one of the few books I go back and read from time to time because some of the stories in it are just great to revisit.  This film, has absolutely nothing to do with the book so don't worry about reading the book before seeing this movie because they are drastically unalike.  I wrote about films based on books before and the little feedback I got recommended you should take each as its own separate story in its own medium.  It was with this movie in mind I wrote that and the recommendations helped me suck it up and check out this film, here's what I thought...     The Zombies :  The only running zombies I ever liked were in the remake of Dawn of the Dead, I don't know why it worked for me but it did.  These zombies ta...

      My schedule throughout most of the year keeps me from getting to things I'd normally get to when they are released.  Things like movies, books and video games that are highly anticipated but I just can't get around to them because of school, work, training and the like.  It's been like this pretty much because of school mainly, so it has created a huge back log of things I get to when most people have already checked these things out.  Because of the reasons mentioned, this is my first "Better Late Than Never" review for Assassins Creed III  on the Xbox 360.      I've been a pretty big fan of the Assassins Creed series on the Xbox 360 console since the original one, I think its safe to say I'm a fan of most open world, Grand Theft Auto style games.  This game I was looking forward to as soon as I had heard about it because of its historical ties to revolutionary times in American History and the people who work on this game...

Damage control for Xbox One.      Some of the announcements for the Xbox One turned a lot of people sour towards the product and in response to this Microsoft has back peddled and are stating the restrictions that were going to be imposed will no longer be an issue.  This can be viewed as a good sign for a company that listens to those they wish to do business with, even though for a minute it seemed they weren't listening.      Is the fact that this company is admitting its mistake and proposing fixes for some of the things that bothered us good enough for you to consider buying the Xbox One?  Admitting a mistake or issuing an apology can help change minds, it worked with me when Netflix was upsetting people with their dual accounts and the "Qwikster" idea.  I was about to cancel the service until they realized the error of their ways and fixed it .  I know I was happy enough with what Netflix did to fix their issues and ...

The format is not completely dead.          I recently wrote about anthology horror films , and how we don't see enough of them, and someone suggested I check out V/H/S .  I had been hearing a lot about it but no one mentioned that it uses the anthology story telling style format through found footage.  I have to say I don't like found footage stuff, never did, the Blair Witch Project and unstable camera work just bother me and I think it takes away from the story.  However, I tolerated it for  V/H/S and was not disappointed with the way the stories were put together.     You have to take the presentation with a grain of salt, anyone dumb enough to record themselves committing crimes to put on the web for profit would be shut down and arrested eventually.  But, this is straight to video horror so you have to over look it.  None of the characters are likable either but take com...

     In most of my movie going adolescence most summer block busters were featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Predator , Commando , The Terminator and  the  Conan the Barbarian  films to name a few.  Then he got old, became a politician for a little while and I guess now that he's done with that he's coming back to film.  I welcome the come back especially after watching The Last Stand, released on home video.     I saw trailers for this in the winter and was thinking it would be hard to convince people to see this in the theater with me, so it seems the studios didn't want to make that gamble either this summer with all the huge films due out. Smart move, while Schwarzenegger does not disappoint playing an over the hill sheriff heading off bad guys that are cutting through his town to get to Mexico, the bad guy and his whole scenario are a little too unbelievable.  The scenario being some fancy pants Cartel guy got a hold of a ...

I'm looking forward to some new martial arts flicks in the theater  If any film genre has been neglected lately in my opinion it is the Martial Arts genre.  I know it was it's biggest in the 70's and 80's but you really don't see them released as often as back then.  I never saw the RZA's film The Man with the Iron Fists but I always appreciate when Hollywood releases a new film that can fit that genre.  I also like that they have been more open to releasing some from over seas when they are epic enough such as Jet Li's Hero .      When they put their money and talent into something for that genre I always appreciate the effort even though the films may suck.  That being said, I've been keeping an eye on two films being released soon that fit the bill.  Only God Forgives stars Ryan Gosling and pairs him with Drive director again who wrote the film, it looks like a gritty revenge film that takes place in Bangkok.  Revenge i...

100 dollars less...after a price drop I'm sold.      I took a game theory class a few terms back and ever since I notice the moves these companies make in playing against one another, Nintendo was actually used as an example in one of the lectures.  It's only one hundred dollars less than the Xbox One but 100 bucks is 100 bucks and the more consoles that occupy peoples homes seems to determine the titles that get released on what consoles to some degree.  Xbox One seems to be the one not to go with with judging by negative views on social media because of all the restrictions they are putting on the console so far with used games and being on line.      Sony's doing the opposite (so it seems) for less money and may make people treat Sony like it's the good old PS2 days, when they were at their best.  They lost me at launch of the PS3 when it was $600 but it looks like they learned from their mistake.  I don't know ...

  It seems the most buzzing news I found today as far as gaming goes was the price of the Xbox One at $499.  That's not as bad as I was thinking, but not enough to get me to think about buying one either.  Sony still has to let us know their PS4 price to see who is really looking to get their consoles in our homes this coming holiday season. Is this number right?    I know I've already decided on what I am doing for the upcoming consoles and I don't think prices and games are going to have me very excited for anything else.  In fact, I am more excited to finish the games I have and some that are out now I won't be able to get to right away.   Last of Us is on my radar and I think I am going to want to play Watch Dogs as well, both of which are available for consoles I already own.  Graphics and game play are really good right now so I don't know how much better they will be with newer consoles. I think it is safer to wait and see which o...

Some people just hate what they don't fully understand.        Everyone has a right to their opinion, but it would be nice if when people state their opinions they are informed ones.  The sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) has come a long way since The Ultimate Fighter aired and since the first no rules event was held in the 90's.  For instance...there are rules now so when some one who is against the sport writes an uninformed article like this one , it bothers me.  It's well written and I agree with the writers view on promoters and how some may treat their fighters but don't try to get people to side with you by giving incorrect information.  The sport is not legal everywhere and I hate it when people try to put a negative spin on it to get bills denied in making it legal.  It's on television often enough now that you can watch and learn how the events are held.  So that the uninformed can be ...

    One of the best things that happened for me as far as watching sports on TV was when professional Martial Arts competition made a successful crossover to TV here in the United States with The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV.  It has become a house hold name under the name of MMA,  I was so happy as a long time fan of the sport that there was something I could watch every week.  I was looking forward to it getting popular enough that other promotions could do shows here in the USA and it almost happened.  Pride Fighting Championships (Pride FC) got one or two shows in before they went under and then that was it, it was all UFC from there.     I don't want to say I don't like the UFC promotion, if it were not for the way they publicized the sport it would not be making it as popular as it is today and the competition there is fierce.  Outside the cage there should be some competition too, I liked the idea of Pride FC champions and UFC champi...

     I have to say I am enjoying being able to binge on a whole season of a show through Netflix.  I did it first with Mad Men , Arrested Development , and Luther all shows were pretty damned good and seemed to get a big boost from the "too busy to follow a weekly series" fan base in the manner of streaming previous seasons.  I think the idea to produce some of their own stuff and release it that way is a great idea and I look forward to their originals, most of them anyway...     Arrested  Developments  resurgence is no secret and I'm happy with what has been done so far, (I'm only 12 episodes in) and House of Cards was awesome I really hope a season two is on the way.  Not everything has been great though, I checked out Hemlock Grove and fell asleep every time I tried to watch it, it just wasn't good.  Next month, they are launching another one that looks like an interesting prison show called, Orange is ...

     I was away for a while on vacation but all the next gen console buzz seems to have died down due to the lack of info or interest.  I don't know but I read something earlier that made it seem like we're all waiting for The Electronic Entertainment Expo better known as E3 for more details to make a better informed decision on which way our hard earned money will go.     I've already decided on what I'm doing for next gen console stuff , but that has not removed my interest in the subject.  E3 is next week so we're sure to hear more on the subject but other than people raging on what may or may not be included I have not read anything new.  I have been waiting on my backer edition of The Game Stick so I can write a review on it to see if it has any chance of being a new alternative to console gaming and it's supposed to get to me before the end of the month according to the emails I keep getting so that'll be up as soon as I think I have d...

     Does anyone remember these books?  In my opinion they were the original portable handheld games of generation X.  The stories in these books were mostly sci-fi, or fantasy related but they got young readers motivated to read and re-read a book to try and play out all the possible outcomes depending on the choices made in the stories.  I had not seen any books like these since I was a kid, probably because they are made for young readers but I always thought it was a good way to get young people to read since it got me reading. I'm one path in, looking forward to the other two.     Recently, I took a trip to Washington D.C. and in seeing all the sights to see there I came upon a book in the Fords Theater Gift shop titled The Civil War: An Interactive Adventure.  It's a history book that uses certain battles from the war as plot points for the story and gives the reader choices like the old school choose your own adventure books ...