A Distraction

I saw Iron Man 3 today.

Surprisingly, nobody bothered me by talking loud. Nobody's cell phone made a sound too. I don't think anyone was even texting and bothering me with the cell phone glare. 

I made the mistake of thinking that it would be a pleasant movie experience for once. I was wrong. It wasn't my eyes or ears that would be assaulted by unwanted unpleasantness but my nose. The guy next to me had body odor like you wouldn't believe. He was a young man who smelled like an old man. It wasn't a sweaty smell at all but an old, stale smelling odor that made me think of unwashed laundry and morning breath. The guy either didn't wash his clothes or brush his teeth. Maybe both.

The movie wasn't even that good.

Matinee

I'm planning to watch the new Iron Man movie. Of course, I'll probably be watching it by myself in the very first afternoon screening. Why? Well, the answer is simple. The average movie-going audience here in the Philippines are obnoxious jerks. Seriously, I can't stand it. People don't turn their phones to silent, text during the movie and bring their stupid crying kids.

Is it weird that I usually watch movies alone?

Watching movies alone isn't a preference but more of a habit. I will admit that watching movies with friends is great, at least the friends I'm with don't do those things. I wonder if the stuff I mentioned annoys them too? Guess I'm a loner by nature. Sometimes I wonder if there's something legitimately wrong with me and that I should see a shrink or something.

The movie better kick ass.

Daimyo's Delight

The "Gold Edition" of Shogun 2 is for sale in my favorite local games shop. The set has nearly everything except the mod that allows blood effects in battle. I assume it's to keep the age rating low or something.

I'm conflicted. It sounds like a good deal but why not just wait for the next Rome Total War game?

Hmm...

Streamer

Why is it that Youtube videos take so much time buffering but the commercials they play before are as smooth as can be.

These things annoy me.

Shogun 2 FOTS OST - Falling Thunder

Screw katanas, I have gattling guns!

B.S. Traffic Jam

Our dear leader. President B.S. Aquino, is stopping by tomorrow in our pathetic city to do what he does best... campaigning. 

I don't give a shit really but it's going to cause a huge traffic jam tomorrow. I wish these political types would just rent out the convention center instead of using the streets. I know they want to be seen but let's be honest, politics is an elite club where common schmucks aren't not invited.

I hope tomorrow is either scorching hot or mercilessly rainy.

The Ryback's Promo

On the episode of WWE Raw last Monday, the wrestler called Ryback cut a promo against John Cena. I thought I'd give my two cents on it.

 

First off, the promo was prerecorded and edited. Ryback probably had a script beforehand which I hope he prepared himself. It was probably done in segments and multiple takes. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. In fact, it's pretty smart to do this as it is less risky than doing it live and slipping up. It's a way of protecting Ryback who I believe is not as good at cutting promos naturally in front of an audience.

As for the stuff he says, he kind of has a point. Whether you agree with him or not, it's not important. What matters is that he has some kind of motivation and he explains it lengthily. I'm sick and tired of heels in wrestling acting evil just because (herp) they're evil. The promo served it's purpose of making Ryback interesting and giving him some kind of reason why he's doing what he's doing. I liked it. It had an old school vibe to it.

It's just a shame that the WWE ruined it by having Cena shit all over it in their confrontation afterwards. Cena even tried to heap the "Boring!" chants HE was getting on Ryback. Man, I hate John Cena. To top it all off, they had Ryback back off when Cena challenged him. What the hell? The man has been booked as an unstopable force of nature for weeks and NOW he pussies out when going up against Cena who he manhandled the week before? Please.

John Cena should go fuck himself.

Fallout: New Vegas - Old World Blues Analysis Pt.2

A Bright New Future

One last thing I will say about OWB is that it touches on a major theme in the Fallout universe which is that technology lead to the downfall of man.

Fallout is an alternate history that doesn't just present the scenario of nuclear war. The universe is completely different with respect to the level of technology of the world. Despite the 50's aesthetic, the Fallout universe has futuristic stuff like robots, laser weapons, fusion-reactor cars and so on. You can call it "atompunk" if you like. The thing that strikes me most though is that it has a certain vibe to it that brings to mind the optimism people had about technology, specifically, nuclear technology.

Once upon a time there was optimism. People had high hopes for the bright future nuclear technology could bring. Of course, Hiroshima and Nagasaki happened. There was that business of the Cold War too. But for a moment, there was the happy thought of a future powered by the atom and not scoured by it. This is present in Fallout too. It wasn't as pronounced in Fallout 1 and 2 and was merely design. It was excessively cranked up in 3 as was all things "ironic". In FONV, it was left on the wayside since the whole NCR and Legion conflict was more important. But OWB allows us to dwell on the subject for a bit.

The world of Big Mountain is the most futuristic place in the game or even perhaps, the series. Big Mountain is at the very cutting edge of technology. It had the best minds on the planet working inside its labs and money was hardly an issue with so many clients, public and private. Yet, look at all the bullshit that's happened. The Think Tank being composed of disembodied brains in jars made sense. Not only was it meant to show their complete and utter lack of humanity but also that they were nothing but the raw power of intellect. They had no heart nor soul. It's a story of science gone wrong and goes to show that whatever new thing people can come up with, it can be ruined and used to create invisible rattlesnake coyote hybrids that stalk the desert and kill lots of people. It's the same story we've seen before with nuclear energy. Nothing has changed. Nothing ever changes.

But it's not all bad. In the ending of OWB, the Courier can choose to use the Think Tank for his own ends either for good or evil. Again, just like religion in Honest Hearts, science isn't evil per se. 

It all depends on the person and how he uses it.

Fallout New Vegas - Old World Blues Analysis Pt.1

Behind Big Mountain

Big Mountain was a private defense contractor before the War. It was a facility within a literal big mountain until an "accident" reduced Big Mountain into a big crater in the ground. Big Mountain was built with the intention to develop and invent the technology of tomorrow without any restraints. It employed the most brilliant minds of the day from all fields of study.

Even when the world was scoured by atomic fire, research in Big Mountain continued unabated without much care. At some point, the six chief scientists shed their bodies and became the Think Tank so that research can go on indefinitely. They shed more than their physical bodies as they took on new names and "reprogrammed" themselves as well. The Think Tank's research became more depraved as the years went on and eventually, all the other human researchers either escaped or were killed by rogue experiments.

At some point, Dr.Mobius realized that the experiments of the Think Tank had gone too far. He erected a radar fence around the crater to prevent the Think Tank from escaping and "experimenting" with the world beyond. Furthermore, Mobius hacked into his colleagues and reprogrammed them to lose all sense of time and history and trapped them in a loop. Mobius also waged a campaign of fear and terror to deter the Think Tank from escaping. It was so successful in fact,  that the Think Tank  believed that the world outside didn't exist at all. Mobius regularly played a broadcast to threaten the Think Tank and used his robo-scorpions, which could allegedly "steal a person's intelligence", to keep the Think Tank penned in. Ever since then, Big Mountain descended to a state of chaos and insanity as the power struggle between the Think Tank and Mobius raged on while the various experiments, lobotomites and haywire robots ran rampant around the facility.

Outsiders avoided Big Mountain for the most part since the large crater made it appear like the site of a nuclear bomb explosion. Ironically, many thought that Big Mountain, a facility dedicated to future technologies and wonders, had nothing of value in it hence they named it the "Big Empty". Those few foolish enough to wander close were either captured by robots and experimented on or killed outright by the various experiments if they were lucky.

When the courier was captured, his head wound activated a different protocol for the auto-doc which revealed to the Think Tank a way to escape. They would transplant their brains into bodies and walk out of Big Mountain. Dr.Mobius saw this and raided the Think Tank to take the Courier's brain before they could work on it.

A Little Twist

The story had a nice little twist. When you first meet the Think Tank, Mobius was doing his little broadcast of terror on them and it seemed like he was a mad scientist who needed to be stopped. As it turns out, Mobius kind of has a point. Even if the Think Tank are "funny" and have "wacky" personalities, they're pretty dangerous if you look at all the stuff they've been up to. In fact, Mobius had a pretty well thought out plan to keep them in check had it not been for several visitors from the outside world. 

 

After you beat his giant robot scorpion and meet Mobius, he doesn't even appear threatening. He seems more like a senile old man happily offering a child some candy (mentats) and constantly misuses words and phrases. Mobius seems the nonviolent type too since he needs a dose of "psycho" to get him worked up to sound only mildly threatening. The tables turn and it is the Think Tank and their ambition that is arguably the greater villain in the story. This is true since the Think Tank do attempt to betray you in the end, as futile as the attempt was.

What Has Science Done!?

One thing I like about OWB is that it's far from the "hilarious", oh-so-random humor that you might have expected. The dialogue and situations are indeed funny and entertaining but if you take that all away and look at everything seriously, OWB is pretty messed up. Many of the goings on are not just little experiments gone wrong but could qualify as full blown human atrocities. Let's go over them shall we?

1. The cazadors, the worst enemies in the game, were created in Big Mountain.
2. The nightstalkers were created in Big Mountain as well.
3. The toxic "cloud" surrounding the Sierra Madre was an experiment made by Big Mountain.
4. The experimental hazmat suits that produced the "ghost people" was also a follow-up experiment to the cloud.
4. Big Mountain operated and maintained a concentration camp full of Chinese POWs complete with slave collars that exploded if any prisoner escaped.
5. The Think Tank captures and lobotomizes people like it's nothing.
6. The spore carriers in the facility imply the toxins from Vault 22 came from Big Mountain.
7. Probably developed countless weapons and robots for war.
8. Vaporized the entire mountain and killed off much of the original staff.

I could go on but my point here is that Big Mountain produced more harm than good. Sure, they created useful stuff like the replicators and auto-docs but if only that was all they did.

The humor in OWB is certainly dark. It fits the universe of Fallout very well. Next time, I'll go over a major recurring theme in Fallout that is cranked up in OWB.

Fallout: New Vegas Analysis: Old World Blues Intro

Alright. So the previous DLCs of Fallout:New Vegas dealt with some pretty heavy stuff. In Dead Money, we learned about the dangers of greed and obsession. In Honest Hearts, we learned about human nature and the positive or negative influences of religion. In the third DLC, Old World Blues, the courier is teleported to the wonderful world of the "Big MT" where we have lighthearted adventures in wacky, funny SCIENCE! It's gonna be fun right?

Make no mistake though, OWB is a lot deeper than it looks and a whole lot more depressing than the wacky SCIENCE! would have you think.

The Main Plot

The story begins when the Courier, drawn by a mysterious and jazzy broadcast, happens upon an old drive-in theater with what looks like a satellite or at least, a highly complex machine of some sort. Upon touching the thing, he was transported instantly to the Big Mountain Research and Development Center (erroneously called the Big Empty or Big MT)  where he was experimented on while unconscious from the trip. The Courier awoke feeling a bit light-headed which was no surprise given his brain, as well as his spine and heart, were removed and replaced with implants. Stranded, the Courier stumbles on in search for his missing organs and a way out.

The Courier meets The Think Tank, a group of genius scientists who aren't exactly human anymore. He meets five brains-in-jars basically. The members of the Think Tank are: Dr.0 who is an alleged expert in robotics, Dr.Borous who has a thing for DNA-scrambling technology, Dr.Klein the head researcher of the bunch, Dr.Dala an expert in "Humanology" with a degree in Curiosity and Advanced Curiosity and finally, Dr.8 an Acoustics Expert who ironically has no voice.

The Think Tank were responsible for The Courier's organ removal but now seek the Courier's help. It turns out that the Think Tank are being terrorized by a former colleague gone mad scientist named Dr.Mobius who keeps the Think Tank trapped in their research center.

Big Mountain, as it turns out, isn't a mountain at all but a huge crater. A small laboratory accident blew the mountain up but no worries, an advanced shield system surrounding the crater prevents anything from escaping. This is good seeing how all sorts of dangerous monsters and "experiment" stalk the facility grounds and abandoned laboratories. Will the Courier survive? Of course he will. He's the mythical badass.

Next time, let's talk about the sinister undercurrents of this bright and cheerful place.

Tagalog Dubbed

I'm sick today with a cold and headache not that it makes any difference.

Have you ever seen Hollow Man? Well, have you ever seen Hollow Man in Tagalog?

Man, channel five dubs over the craziest things. From Spongebob to Men in Black, the dubbing is hilarious.

Laughter is the best medicine.

C'est Ma Cause

Cool. I wish I knew what they're saying.