Sunday, February 20, 2011

Welcome to OZ

My lovely wife and I sat down last night to watch a movie. As always, I was able to talk her into which movie but instead of the usual fair this time we sat down to watch Summer Wars, an animated film from Japan by Mamoru Hosoda. This is highly unusual in our house since Marie really dislikes most if not all anime but she was gracious enough to watch it with me which made me very happy.

The movie is about a young dude who goes to the country to pose as a young lady's fiancée for her entire family. Soon though, the entire family is caught up in saving the world from a malicious Artificial Intelligence which is taking over OZ, an internet-style full virtual reality world that everyone uses for everything from talking to shopping to banking to everything else.

The movie has won several wards and in my opinion the movie is deserving of every award it has received. It is a great movie full of family value, romance and science Fiction adventure. The movie does a great job of showing the possible doom that can come from the internet highway we ride in a satirical way that does seem like preaching. Ultimately, for me the take away was the importance of family and the beauty of simply sitting together and enjoying food and drink as a group. This is something Marie and I have always valued but have fallen away from since she started working nights. After watching this film, it stirs a passion in my to be much more intentional about carving out time for this important tradition of the family.

As for whether my wife enjoyed the movie or not I can not speak to. However, in church today listening to the Youth Pastor preach about engaging youth culture he rambled off a pile of stats on internet usage in todays culture and at that very moment Marie leaned in close and whispered "That sounds a lot like OZ." I take that as a win for Anime in my books!!

Enjoy the trailer below for the film.

Friday, February 18, 2011

New Music


Over the past couple of weeks I have purchased some new music to fill my ears. I am typically a-can-listen-to-anything kinda person however it appears from my purchases that my soul has been craving some rock.

First up, I purchased the new release from a lesser known band I Am Empire who is signed on Tooth & Nail records. I admit it was a blind purchase because it was super cheap but thankfully they were very pleasing to the ears. They have a very radio friendly rock feel but with the inner glam metal style lurking on the inside. My favorite on the album is definitely track 3 "Saints & Sinners". For the price, I highly recommend it.
I also purchased the new album from Red more out of curiosity than anything else. I admit I never really liked their music. Some songs on an album were solid gold while the rest kind of felt bland and boring. I was very disappointed with "Innocent & Instinct". It start out with such great promise then nose dived. So when I popped in "Until We Have Faces" and it cut immediately into the guitar heavy, in your face music I was skeptical but after a few listens through the CD, it has now called dibs on the player in the van. What a great well rounded release. Hopefully this is not lightning in a bottle and they can continue to make great releases like this one. Highly recommend!!
Finally, I picked up The "Covering" from Stryper. This is purely a fan-boy purchase. Stryper is Stryper and they could release crap and I would still buy it. This release is different from their past releases though in the fact that they have made a cover CD this time around. Just some of the bands they cover are Kansas, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, and more. I have a friend who is very skeptical of a Stryper cover CD but I have to admit I really enjoy it. On the whole, they have been faithful to the originals and threated them with respect. It is not good enough to dethrone Red from the CD player in the van yet but it is in steady rotation at home.
Until later ... Now its time to Rock!!!!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Gaming Goals

I am a full-time student, full-time husband and full-time parent. I also work quarter time on top of all of that and do the majority of the house chores since my wife is very busy with work. This situation has lead to a drastic cut in the much coveted gaming time I so enjoy. As such, I am putting digital pen to paper and jotting down my personal goals for 2011.

5. Play Struttgar, my mid-30s Warden, to max level in LOTRO.

4. Finally beat the Story mode for Dragon Age: Origins and Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.

3. Play through the Story-mode for Mass Effect 1 and 2.

2. Rediscover my first PC love, the RTS (Real-time Strategy) game.

1. Run through Barad Guldur, a 12-man Raid in LOTRO, with all of my level 65 toons.

I will post in the spring with an update.

Happy gaming