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Well…aside from the Simpsons announcement about a month ago, I wasn’t really expecting too much from Universal for a while. I knew that a project relating to Harry Potter was strictly underwraps, but, I did not know details about it. This morning, Universal finally announced that “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” will be opening in Spring 2009 where The Lost Continent currently resides. Let’s take a look at the press release:
ORLANDO, Fla (May 31, 2007) – Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and Universal Orlando Resort are partnering to create the world’s first fully immersive Harry Potter themed environment based on the bestselling books by J.K. Rowling and blockbuster feature films from Warner Bros. Envisioned as a “theme park within a theme park” and titled “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter,” the new environment will become part of the experience within Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park at the Universal Orlando Resort.
“Over the years we’ve received thousands of letters from fans around the world wishing they could visit Hogwarts and the wonderful locations described in each of J.K. Rowling’s beloved stories,” said Barry Meyer, chairman and CEO, Warner Bros. Entertainment. “Working with Universal Orlando Resort, we are confident that we’ll be able to provide Harry Potter fans with an incredible experience that upholds the richness of J.K. Rowling’s books and delivers on the authentic detail portrayed in our films.”
“We will rely on our company’s rich movie heritage and expertise in transforming film concepts into theme park entertainment experiences,” said Ron Meyer, president and COO, Universal Studios. “The Harry Potter stories are among the most compelling of our time. The millions of people who have read the books and seen the movies will now be able to experience the world of Harry Potter in person.”
Inspired by J.K. Rowling’s compelling stories and characters – and faithful to the visual landscapes of the films – “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” will provide a one-of-a-kind opportunity to experience the magical world of Harry and his friends. The fully immersive, themed land will enable guests to visit some of the most iconic locations found in the books and the films including the village of Hogsmeade, the mysterious Forbidden Forest, and even Hogwarts castle itself. “The plans I’ve seen look incredibly exciting, and I don’t think fans of the books or films will be disappointed,” said J.K. Rowling.
“We have a profound sense of responsibility for the Harry Potter franchise at Warner Bros. Bringing the magic of J.K. Rowling’s written word to the motion picture screen was the first step in expanding this amazing and imaginative world. Working with Universal Orlando Resort to bring it to life in a physical environment that you can walk through, relax in and ride on is the natural next step for fans to experience and enjoy,” said Alan Horn, president and COO, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Expected to open in late 2009, the new environment will feature immersive rides and interactive attractions, as well as experiential shops and restaurants that will enable guests to sample fare from the wizarding world’s best known establishments. Also debuting will be a state-of-the-art attraction that will bring the magic, characters and stories of Harry Potter to life in an exciting way that guests have never before experienced.
“We are going to devote more time, more money, more expertise and more executive talent from throughout our entire organization and creative team – as well as from Warner Bros., our partners – to ensure that
this entire environment is second-to-none,” said Tom Williams, chairman and CEO, Universal Parks
and Resorts.
Brad Globe, president of Warner Bros. Worldwide Consumer Products, added: “In Universal, we found the right partner whose unparalleled commitment will ensure that this is a world class destination. Their track record of success and the consistently high level of entertainment at all of their parks gave us the confidence to know that they will meet—or exceed— the extremely high expectations we all have for this project.”
The Academy Award-winning production designer Stuart Craig, who has worked to bring the world of Harry Potter to life in all of the feature films to date, leads the creative design for the area to ensure it remains faithful to the look and feel of the films.
“Our primary goal is to make sure this experience is an authentic extension of Harry Potter’s world as it is portrayed in the books and films,” said Craig. “I am very excited to be working closely with the Universal Orlando team to bring the area to life.”
The Universal Orlando resort destination (www.universalorlando.com) includes two dramatically distinct and adjacent theme parks, the Universal Studios motion picture and television theme park and Universal’s Islands of Adventure, Orlando’s most thrilling and exhilarating theme park. Universal Orlando also includes CityWalk, a 30-acre dining, shopping, club and live-entertainment venue as well as premier on-site Loews hotels and world-class film and television production facilities.
Harry Potter continues to be a global phenomenon. The series of books by author J.K. Rowling has been translated into 65 languages with more than 325 million copies sold in over 200 territories around the world. The films, produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, have grossed more than $3.5 billion at the box office worldwide. Each of the four Harry Potter films produced to date has the distinction of making it into the all time top 20 grossing films worldwide. The fifth film in the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix™, will be released in theatres on July 11, 2007.
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This should be a very important lesson to Universal. It is very important to secure these types of properties, as they will make you successful later down the road. Disney is screwed right now, in my opinion. Reports indicated that Disney had secured the rights to HP long ago, but turned out completely unsuccessful, which gave Universal the chance to get it. Now that they have it…Disney has some big competition on the way in 2009.
I’m excited…this is going to be amazing when its done.
Filed under: Harry Potter, Theme Parks, Universal Orlando | Leave a Comment
We’re Back!
Sorry for the delay…the computer crashed last week, and I had to get it fixed…its okay though, because now we’re fully loaded with Windows Vista: Home Premium edition! And so far, its pretty sweet…its running just fine with Windows Aero (something that wasn’t working with my computer while Vista was in beta test), and the computer seems to be running perfectly.
Coming up soon, I have a review of Shrek the Third, plus a feature on Vista and some other things. Stick around!!!
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splatR Breaks All Time Records!
It is with great pleasure that I announce that today, splatR reached two brand new records for daily views! First, the review of Linkin Park’s Minutes to Midnight became the post with the most views per day (1,026). That tops out the lyrics for Mat Kearney’s Nothing Left to Lose, which held the record at 826 views.
The second record we broke was daily views on the blog. The previous record was 1,421. We just managed to get 1,425 for the time period of 8:00PM yesterday to 8:00PM tonight (all the site stats are in GMT). Rock on!
I couldn’t do that without my readers…I have something awesome coming up a little bit later tonight.
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Maroon 5’s new album, It Won’t Be Soon Before Long, won’t hit stores until 5/22, but we’ve gotten the final copy of it, and the end result is something completely different from their last outing, Songs About Jane.
And I mean that in a good way. Songs About Jane had four of my most listened to songs in 2004 and 2005–This Love, She Will Be Loved, Harder to Breathe, and Sunday Morning. It was a fantastic album. It Won’t Be Soon Before Long is not the typical “more of the same” garbage that I’ve seen in a lot of the albums that I’ve reviewed lately (one of the only other albums that will be similar to this will be The Ataris’ Welcome the Night, a review that I have yet to post).
After losing one of their band members due to injury, it would seem weird that Maroon 5’s newest album would be better than the last one. The album has a very “retro” feel to it–it’s more like something you’d expect to come out of the 80s or 90s. The tracks on this one have very distinct 80s sounds to them. They’re all very upbeat, edgy, and grippy (thank you Stephen Colbert). That’s exactly what they were going for with this one–their inspirations for this album were Prince, Michael Jackson, and Talking Heads, three of the most popular artists of the 80s.
And, as I’ve already hinted at–it’s noticable. And it works. The band has really matured since Songs About Jane, and the end result is nothing short of absolutely amazing. Tracks like Makes Me Wonder, If I Never See Your Face Again, Wake Up Call, and Won’t Go Home Without You are among my favorites on the album. The songs have a really different sound to me, compared to everything that came from their last album. Even the slower tracks, like Won’t Go Home Without You, are more upbeat and lively than She Will be Loved was on the last album. The lyrics for these songs are amazing, as well–I’ve already posted the lyrics to Makes Me Wonder a few weeks back, but those aren’t all that are amazing here.
I think that its safe to say that this is one of the strongest albums that I’ve heard all year. There’s another one, as well…but that review is for a later time. Maroon 5’s It Won’t Be Soon Before Long turned out to be an amazing album, as I expected, and I can only hope that the response when it comes out is nothing short of spectacular–they deserve it. I give It Won’t Be Soon Before Long by Maroon 5 a 9.5/10.
Filed under: Album Reviews, Music | 1 Comment
REVIEW: Spiderman 3
I don’t understand critics…they always give these bad, “inspirational” films that have nothing to do with anything these REALLY GOOD reviews…and then give REALLY BAD ratings to movies that deserve better. I feel that way about how critics are treating Spiderman 3–if you look on RottenTomatoes.com’s Spiderman 3 page, the movie is down to a 61% at the moment…my big question: why?
I finally had the chance to see the movie today, and I was quite amazed at it–no, it wasn’t as good as the previous two movies, but, at the same time–I thought this movie was pretty damn good. The story was so full of plot twists, that it probably could have been spread out into two movies in itself–but, I’m not gonna complain. I left the theater impressed.
The movie stars Tobey Maguire, returning to his role as Spiderman once again (even though he keeps saying he’s not going to do anymore…he said it after the first and second ones), as well as Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson, James Franco as Harry Osborn/New Goblin, Topher Grace as Eddie Brock/Venom, and Thomas Haden Church as Flint Marko/The Sandman. And, of course, the movie would not be complete without an inspirational performance by Rosemary Harris–my favorite older woman.
The basic plot goes like this–Peter Parker’s life couldn’t be better–he’s doing great in school. He’s got his girlfriend, Ms. Mary Jane Watson. People love Spiderman…how couldn’t the Human Spider’s life get any better? There is, of course, one thing struggling, and that’s the relationship with his former best friend, Harry Osborn, who is still looking for revenge against Spiderman for killing his father (from the first installment, if you haven’t kept up). A convict named Flint Marko escapes from prison, and when on the run, ends up in an accident that turns him into The Sandman. Meanwhile, a mysterious symbiote ends up getting attached to the Spidey suit, turning it black and giving it mysterious new powers–and now its time for Peter to make a very important decision– what power would he rather have?
That’s all well and good–the plot was amazing. Despite there being many plot twists, which may be too much for the movie (although I thought it was great anyway), the movie really didn’t have as many action scenes as the previous films. The scenes the movie did have, however, were well put together. Of the entire first trilogy, this ending scene seemed to be the strongest to me–Mary Jane’s fate was a lot more intense than the previous movies.
The special effects in the movie were amazing too. Many of the critics have complained that Sandman is “ugly.” Well, yes, this is true–the character itself was kinda meant to be that way–but the effects that created it were amazing–the sand particles looked pretty good–and the way they came together and fell apart were amazing as well. Venom looked awesome too, especially when it got angry.
Overall, this movie turned out a lot better than what I was expecting–with all of the bad reviews that I’ve read, I really wasn’t expecting this to be good at all–but this movie is just further proof that critics suck. I give Spiderman 3 a 9.5/10.
Filed under: Movie Reviews, Movies | 1 Comment
Linkin Park’s new album, Minutes to Midnight, is set to hit stores on Tuesday, May 15th. After their last album, Meteora, failed to live up to expectations from the hit band, one could only hope that Minutes brings us back to the “good” Linkin Park. Does it succeed?
Well…not entirely. I must say that I anticipated this album too much. That’s not me saying that its not good, but, at the same time, its not as good as it could be. The band definitely has a “new sound,” and there is a lot less of the rap-style rock in this album. That’s a plus, seeing as how I felt Meteora had too much.
I feel like I’ve heard a lot of this stuff though–from a band called Fort Minor, which also features frontman Mike Shinoda. Especially those rap-based songs feel like they came from Fort Minor. That’s not necessarily a bad thing–Fort Minor, despite being a rap-based group, isn’t all that bad. But, at the same time, I have heard some of this stuff before. Its pretty much the same concept as Fort Minor.
There are a couple really good tracks on this album. Their single right now, What I’ve Done, is easily my favorite track on the album. It also features tracks such as Leave out All The Rest, Shadow of the Day, Valentine’s Day, and In Pieces are among my other favorites on the album. Naturally, one would expect me to say that is because those are the more rockin’ tunes on this one. And that’s all true. I feel that these tracks are the ones that represent this “new sound” that LP has in this album.
There’s also one track on this one that I just can’t stand–Hands Held High. The lyrics are great, but the way it was presented was not good at all–I really wish they would have taken a different direction with that song, in particular.
All in all, this album really isn’t that bad–but it could have been much better. I give Linkin Park’s Minutes to Midnight a 7.5/10.
Filed under: Album Reviews, Music | 3 Comments
splatR’s 1,000th Post!!!
Well…the moment is finally here. splatR has reached its 1,000th post! I’ve been planning this out for about six months now, how this one was going to fare. So, first off, completely unannounced, here are the winners of the Posts 1-1,000 Bagel Awards!
Best Movie-
Nominees: Spiderman 2 (2005’s winner), King Kong (2006’s winner), V for Vendetta (2007’s winner).
The Winner: King Kong! While Spiderman 2 and V for Vendetta were both amazing movies, neither of them had the true connection with me that King Kong had with me. The movie was something that I call “beautiful.”
Best Album-
Nominees: Dashboard Confessional-Dusk and Summer (2007 Winner), Coldplay-X&Y (2006 Winner), Jimmy Eat World-Futures (2005 winner)
The Winner: Dusk and Summer by Dashboard Confessional. I still listen to this one all the time, and the new single “Stolen” is one of my favorite songs at the moment.
Best TV Show-
Nominees: Heroes (2007 Winner), Family Guy (2006 Winner), The Real World (2005 Winner).
The Winner: Family Guy…my favorite show ever. Despite Heroes being freaking amazing, Family Guy has had such a strong connection with me, and will continue to in the future.
Best Game-
Nominees: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2007 Winner), The Movies (2006 Winner), The Sims 2 (2005 winner)
The Winner: The Sims 2! After all of the expansion packs from the past few years, The Sims 2 is still one of my favorite games–there’s so much to do, and building houses, community lots, and making your own Sims still has something about it.
Hall of Fame-
Nominees: Spiderman 2 (2005 Winner), King Kong (2006 winner), Nintendo Wii (2007 Winner).
The Winner: Nintendo Wii. It’s the only one on there that isn’t a movie (which is weird, since I’ve always covered more games than movies on the blog). Wii is the most amazing device ever. Am I right?
Now that I’m done with that…how about more lyrics today? Here’s Quietdrive’s “Rise from the Ashes.” I picked this song for 1,000 because its showing that despite the challenges that I’ve had with school, work, and everything I’ve been involved with, I’m still able to rise up and get to where I’m at today. That’s just in the title alone. Anyway, here’s the song already:
I've felt this way before. I fell right through the floor, And I am certain I've become, Broken, bruised, and numb. Would you restate your opinion, And hold back your investigation? Do you see the sins you're making? Because I've made them all before. I will now rise from the ashes. Don't call me pretentious. I'm sitting here making my own rules. And if I fall from the ceiling, You'll be down there waiting. And my only hope, Is falling down. And by my own admission, You'll find that my condition, Is worse than you imagined. You're better off if you know, But every time before that I, Have tried to measure pain inside, You can't ignore it. Right now I can't ignore it. I will now rise from the ashes. Don't call me pretentious. I'm sitting here making my own rules. And if I fall from the ceiling, You'll be down there waiting, To finish me. It's settling, Inside of me. It's settling, Inside of me. It's settling, Inside of me. It's settling... I'll take my heart, And rip my feelings out, Before they make me doubt. And I'll fall down with flames burning, Alive again. As long as you know that... I will now rise from the ashes. Don't call me pretentious. I'm sitting here making my own rules. And if I fall from the ceiling, You'll be down there waiting, To finish me. Finish me.
How about a “Freakin’ Sweet Music” Chart? I haven’t done one in a while…Here’s my current top 10.
1. Makes Me Wonder, Maroon 5
2. What I’ve Done, Linkin Park
3. Signal Fire, Snow Patrol
4. Rise from the Ashes, Quietdrive
5. Not Capable of Love, The Ataris
6. I’m Taking You With Me, Relient K
7. Whispers in the Dark, Skillet
8. Thriller, Fall Out Boy
9. Stolen, Dashboard Confessional
10. Must Have Done Something Right, Relient K
I’m hopefully going to get things in order and bring back Music Manic on a full-time basis soon, so hopefully the Top 10 will start up again.
And, that’s about to conclude the 1,000th post on splatR. As everyone knows, splatR’s concept has been tested for the past few weeks, and things seem to be good–so now, I’m happy to say that splatR is officially the new name for That One Blog. It’s officially the new “thing.” I’m really excited to see the future of the blog in this direction, and hopefully we’ll make it to 2,000! I’d like to thank all of my readers for coming by, and making this 1,000th post a reality. It’s unbelievable to think that the blog has been around this long, and of course I couldn’t do it without people actually reading it. I’ve done many website projects before, and none of them have been as successful as splatR has. I look forward to the future here on the blog, and I can only hope people stick around to see what lies ahead! Thanks again guys!
Filed under: Blog News, Freakin' Sweet Countdown, Lyrics, Movies, Music, Nintendo Wii, TV, Videogames | Leave a Comment
Wow…post 999. I didn’t actually think that this moment would actually come–in just a few minutes, splatR will celebrate its 1,000th post, and I must say, it’s been quite a ride so far. So much, that its almost been a somewhat emotional day for me.
I’m not going to lie, back in January, site stats were drastically falling, and I almost cut the plug right then and there. I’m really glad I didn’t. The past 2.9 years have been nothing short of amazing, and I’m really looking to go 2.9 more (well, more than that, obviously). There’s been a lot of awesome content on the blog so far. So much stuff that I look back, and either laugh at (all of the high school drama), or reflect on as what I find to be some of the best things in the world…and then the not so good stuff.
The 1,000 post mark may seem like it should have come a long time ago, especially since the blog has been operational since June 2004. I feel like this moment should have happened a while back. But at the same time, I’m glad its here now–this is the right time for it, as I officially give splatR its grand opening (see my next post), and as I open up Summer 2007 with a crapload of content.
Here’s to 1,000 more. Stick around, my 1,000th post is coming up, and its nothing like what anyone expected from it.
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I found it appropriate to make my first Virtual Console review on Super Mario World, with my review of Super Paper Mario right before it. Super Mario World released in 1991 on the Super Nintendo as one of its launch titles, and made every other 2D Platforming adventure look like crap–the game was amazing with its enhanced graphics, updated storyline, massive overworlds–it lived on to be one of the best Mario games ever.
It made its Virtual Console debut just about a month ago, and of course I was quick to get it. But I must say, I’m not too impressed–of course, you can’t be completely satisfied with anything on the VC–its all dated material that you’ve already played before, and you could be playing something new and original instead. The transition from the SNES to the Wii wasn’t too bad, but using the GameCube controller to play this game just isn’t fun.
Everything is still the same here, as far as the gameplay goes–nothing was really added to the game. You have to use either the GameCube controller or the Retro Controller, which was designed for games like this. I haven’t played with the Retro Controller (as I can’t seem to find one anywhere), but with the awkward placement of the buttons on the GameCube controller…it didn’t make it too much fun.
That’s my one gripe. On the other side of things, this game is still fun to play, and I’m actually quite glad that I picked it up. I give it a <b>7.5/10</b>.
Filed under: Game Reviews, Nintendo Wii, Videogames | Leave a Comment
The Blue Men Are Invading!
In just a few weeks, the Blue Man Group will be invading Orlando in their brand new show at Universal Orlando. Blue Man Group at the Sharp Aquos Theatre will have its grand opening on June 6, 2007.
That being said, here’s a few Blue Man Group videos I found on YouTube.
Filed under: Universal Orlando | Leave a Comment
REVIEW: Spiderman 3 Soundtrack
The Spiderman 2 Soundtrack was one of my favorite albums of 2004–it had a great mix of songs on it, from Dashboard Confessional, Jet, Lostprophets, and many others–it was amazing. It brought me to like a lot of different artists, and I consider it to be one of the albums that defined my current musical styles.
Unfortunately, I don’t feel like that’s the case with the Spiderman 3 Soundtrack, which made its release today. I’m listening to the album right now…and I can’t help but feel a little bit let down, especially since 2’s soundtrack was so great. Perhaps my expectations were really high for this one…but I must say that I’m not too impressed.
Don’t get me wrong–there’s some amazing tracks on here, I just don’t feel like this album has the connection with me that 2 did. There’s new tracks from The Killers, Jet, and Snow Patrol here–that’s pretty cool, right? Snow Patrol’s new song from the album, Signal Fire, is one of my favorite songs at the moment, and is the “main single” for the movie. The Killers have a pretty good song on here, as well, with Move Away. Red River by The Walkmen isn’t too bad…but not exactly a GREAT song, either. Sounds Under had a pretty good song on this one, as well–Portrait of a Summer Thief. Pretty good song.
The thing that I liked about Jet’s song is that while the song from 2’s OST was amazing, this one is pretty good as well–it’s called Falling Star. After Jet completely disappointed me with their recent album (I’m not gonna lie…I hated it. And I never got to review it…perhaps I should sometime). I think I’m pretty settled on Falling Star being right on par with “Hold On,” their single on the last OST.
Then…there’s some not so good tracks on here. I’ve never really been a fan of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs…so the big question on my mind is, “WHY?” WHY on the Spiderman 3 OST? Wolfmother’s song isn’t too thrilling, either. There’s a lot more BAD on this OST than good…and I’m kinda let down by that one, big time. I was really counting on this being an AMAZING soundtrack…but, I guess that just didn’t happen. I give the Spiderman 3 OST a 7.5/10.
Filed under: Album Reviews, Music | 1 Comment
REVIEW: Super Paper Mario (Wii)
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again–I’ve had very different opinions on each of the Paper Mario titles. The concept of the series is cool, the stories are always funny, but each game has lacked something, and I don’t know what. Paper Mario, for N64, for example: Kinda got boring after a little while, and was one of my least favorite games on the N64. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door for GameCube was a great game, but I felt like it wasn’t long enough, and I felt like it too was missing something.
Now, the franchise’s first outing on the Wii, Super Paper Mario, has me finding that “missing something,” and I’m quite amazed–this game ROCKS. They set it up like your typical 2D platforming title (with many elements from the original Super Mario Bros.), and added a couple of things. For example, you get to flip to 3D mode and discover new secrets, hidden pathways, and other things to that extent. You get to play as different characters–Mario, Peach, Bowser, and Luigi. You get all sorts of different “powerups,” called PixL’s, which will aid you in your quest. This is truly a lot of fun.
Controlling the game is as simple as turning the Wiimote on its side and controlling it like an original NES controller–it’s that amazing. You won’t need any nunchucks or anything like that–just a simple Wiimote. Pretty much every button has a function, except for the B trigger, which I never found a use for. There’s even parts of the game where you flip the Wiimote back to its regular form and find hidden doorways, items, etc.–its quite amazing…I like it.
There are many levels throughout the game that you’ll travel through, collecting Heart pieces, and trying to save the world–same typical Mario story, right? There’s really nothing new here in the line of the story, except for Peach and Bowser’s wedding…shocker that its finally happening…or is it really?
This game doesn’t live on to be a “classic,” but its a lot of fun that’s definitely worth trying. The game will definitely hold me over until Super Mario Galaxy is released, when I’ll be in full-blown Mario mode. I give Super Paper Mario for the Nintendo Wii a 8.0/10
Filed under: Game Reviews, Nintendo Wii | Leave a Comment
LYRICS: Snow Patrol- Signal Fire
The perfect words never crossed my mind
‘Cause there was nothing in there but you
I felt every ounce of me, screaming out
But the sound was trapped deep in me
All I wanted, just sped right past me
But I was rooted fast to the earth
I could be stuck here for a thousand years
Without your arms to drag me out
There you are, standing right in front of me
There you are, standing right in front of me
All this fear falls away, you leave me naked
Hold me close, cause I need you to guide me to safety
No, I don’t wanna wait forever
No, I don’t wanna wait forever
In the confusion, and the aftermath
You are my signal fire
The only resolution and the only joy
Is the faint spark of forgiveness in your eyes
There you are, standing right in front of me
There you are, standing right in front of me
All this fear falls away, you leave me naked
Hold me close, cause I need you to guide me to safety
There you are, standing right in front of me
There you are, standing right in front of me
All this fear falls away, you leave me naked
Hold me close, cause I need you to guide me to safety
No, I don’t wanna wait forever
No, I don’t wanna wait forever
No, I don’t wanna wait forever
Filed under: Lyrics, Music | 1 Comment
Today I’ve got the other three trailers from the “Summer Big Six,” which include Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, an Transformers.
Shrek the Third
I’m not too sure on this one yet…it doesn’t look like its going to be anything like the other two movies in the series, which to me were classics…I really hope that the movie is truly better than what I saw here.
Spiderman 3
Oh. My. God. This. Movie. Looks. Amazing. If you read the blog back in 2004 (or if you read the archives now), you remember that Spiderman 2 was a big deal when it first came out. Now that Spidey 3’s on the way out, the rest of this week should be amazing. This trailer is just the beginning. Get ready for an album review, a movie review on Saturday morning, and a whole lot more.
Transformers
Another one that I’m looking forward to…this one looks pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. I wasn’t really into the whole Transformers thing when I was a kid…but this movie looks pretty good. I can’t wait until July 4th.
Filed under: Movies, YouTube | Leave a Comment
Today we’re celebrating the 1,000th post on splatR (occurring tonight), and to help us celebrate a bit, we’re going to give a rundown of the Top 10 moments that have happened at the blog in the past 2.9 years (three year anniversary of the blog is next month!).
10. Universal Orlando Trip Reports, Summer 2005: My first summer in Orlando, Summer 2005, was quite interesting. One of the things that made it so was the trip reports that I made every week, detailing my weekly getaway to Universal–there was always something good going on there that summer that it made it worth it almost every time. The last time I did one, my Mummy ride count was at 150…compare that to the 300 that its at now.
9. Music Manic, Summer 2006: Last summer (and returning this summer too, I promise), was a three-day feature with everything musical–I had reviews, previews, song reviews, lyrics, news, everything relating to music, in a three-day event that became the staple for how music content is covered on the blog–I’m bringing this back sometime this summer to look at some of the hottest new music out there.
8. Blog of Bagel Becomes That One Blog: I did something really stupid when I first opened the blog in 2004–I made a few blogs. Blog of Bagel was my personal blog, Digital Lust was my tech blog, and Bagel’s Photoshop Bakery was the blog that I had for stuff that I made in Photoshop. In Fall 2005, shortly after I went to college (and got somewhat smarter, I think), I decided to combine it all together and give it a new name. Clever concept, right?
7. The Web 2.0 Trilogy: Just this past week, I put together a list of everything that’s growing in the Web 2.0 Trilogy, a trend that I’ve had at least one major post about every year since 2005–in 2005, I got suckered into the Myspace craze. In 2006, sites like Digg.com continued to grow, further enhancing the Web 2.0 trilogy, and in 2007, I started coming up with ideas for the future.
6. Mat Kearney-Nothing Left to Lose Lyrics, 2006: Would you believe that a simple Lyrics post has gone on to be the most popular post I’ve ever made? The post itself has over 15,000 hits on it, which is triple the amount of any other post on the blog. Quite amazing, if I do say so myself.
5. Halloween Horror Nights: Sweet 16: In October 2006, I covered Halloween Horror Nights to a great extent–everything got reviewed–the scare zones, the haunted houses, and the shows…EVERYTHING was reviewed, and it was quite possibly one of the best month-long features I’ve ever done. I’ll be covering that again this year, as well as a Howl-O-Scream review this year as well…
4. Wii Wiikend, 2006: Shortly after the Wii was announced and E3 had passed, there was quite a bit of content that I had to share, especially since everything with the Wii was intriguing me like crazy. Wii Wiikend spawned three of the most read posts on the blog, including the Super Smash Bros. BRAWL Preview, which is the second most read post here.
3. New Year’s Eve 2005: The first year the blog was opened, I had a crazy New Year’s Eve celebration, in which I posted lyrics, the 2005 Bagel Awards, and a whole mess of other posts that became the “defining moment” for the blog. It was then that I decided that the blog was going to continue on for years to come.
2. Rap Rants, 2004: 2004 was a great year–the Rap Rants that I did every so often were quite funny, and to this day, people are still reading them. I’m not really a fan of Rap music, and I can’t stand some of the songs that are out there with an extreme passion–so, knowing me, I “went off” on it, and the results were quite great–especially the comments people left me on them.
1. Summer 2006: Summer 2006 was byfar the best year this blog has ever seen–we moved here to WordPress. We increased our readers per day level. We had so much great content here…it was amazing, and I’m really looking forward to topping it in 2007.
I’ve still got a lot on the way as we count it down to 1,000! Coming up next, a lyrics post with Signal Fire by Snow Patrol, the new single from the Spiderman 3 Soundtrack! A review of said soundtrack is coming tonight, as well. Stick around!
Filed under: Freakin' Sweet Countdown | Leave a Comment
REVIEW: Pokemon Diamond (DS)
It’s seriously amazing what seven years away from playing one of the biggest game franchises in the world can do to you. As I stated in my Impressions of Pokemon Diamond last week, I hadn’t played a Pokemon game since Gold/Silver, which made its debut on the Gameboy Color back in 2000. Such a long time has passed since that, and I thought it would be cool to give the newest installment, Diamond/Pearl, a run…and I was simply amazed.
Amazed at how great the gameplay is. It was great back then, and its even better now. With the Nintendo DS, they were able to do so many different things–the graphics, the features, the number of Pokemon–it’s shocking.
They’re up to 493 of the little critters…that’s quite an amazing number, when you think about it. 493 Pokemon you have to catch before you have truly beaten the game–that makes for quite a bit of work–something that I’m now going to have to play Ruby/Sapphire AND FireRed/LeafGreen to be able to accomplish–I’ve got a lot of work coming for me to be able to beat this thing.
The thing that I really like most about this game is that even though its been about 10 years since the first game was released, the formula REALLY hasn’t changed a whole lot, and I 
consider that to be a good thing–the simple “gotta catch ‘em all” formula was something that I always found to be absolutely brilliant, and only here can they enhance it to allow for a truly amazing experience. As with all of the Pokemon games, you have the choice of three starting Pokemon–in this edition, its Chimchar (fire), Turtwig (leaf), and Piplup (water). You’ll use this Pokemon to start off your collection. You’ll use it to battle against other Pokemon, to defeat them and gain experience, to collect more Pokemon, to evolve your Pokemon–the connection that you are supposed to gain between you and your starting Pokemon is truly the basis for how the rest of the game is supposed to work. Its quite amazing, actually.
One of my favorite features from Gold/Silver was the clock–the clock allows it for day and night to switch, which allows for different Pokemon to be out in the wilderness. For Ruby/Sapphire, this feature did not appear, and its back in Diamond/Pearl, and most people see that as a good thing. The feature has been enhanced, as well–for example, some Pokemon can only be found on a certain day of the week. You’ll also be up against different trainers and challenges in the nighttime than you would be in the daytime. Its a lot of fun–I think its one of the better features of the game.
There’s two things that I don’t like, and thank god one of which isn’t mandatory–Pokemon Contests. They are this REALLY annoying “competition” that you have between other Pokemon, in several different categories–Acting, Beauty, Dance…oh god, why? I would have rather seen something a little bit more masculine (since I’m pretty sure there’s more guys than girls that play Pokemon, as with most videogames). I participated in one of these events and decided that never again would I participate in one of those ridiculous shenanigans.
The other one is the Poketch, which is your watch. It comes with a bunch of stupid, useless applications, such as a calculator and a step counter–I really didn’t see too much of a point using it. It does have a tracking device to find hidden items, but the items you find aren’t going to be TOO exciting.
Now that I got that out of the way, back to the good stuff–the length of this game is simply amazing–I’ve played for about 13 hours already, and have a decently-leveled team (my highest leveled Pokemon is my Infernape, at Level 43). I’ve got four Gym Badges, and I’m nowhere near completion of the game. I’ve got about 29 Pokemon caught, and about 75 that I have seen in my Pokedex. Yep…I’ve still got a long way to go, especially if I’m going to be encountering the Legendary Pokemon soon (well, not SOON soon…I still have a little while to go, me thinks). Then, once you complete your Pokedex, you also have the National Dex to complete, which adds even more Pokemon to the mix, so that you can catch them all–this game is freaking massive!
Online play has finally hit the Pokeverse, and in a good way, too–remember those annoying link cables you’d have to use in the former installments? Well, not anymore! The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection now allows you to store friend codes (like all Nintendo games that have online functionality) and battle it out–you could even be battling someone across the nation! It’s a lot of fun, and I definitely recommend that everyone tries it out. There’s also the Sinnoh Underground festivities, which allow for underground battles and competitions–I haven’t tried this feature out yet, but from what I’ve heard, it’s pretty cool.
The graphics for the game are somewhat a step up from the rest of the games in the Pokemon series–the traditional 2D graphics have been enhanced. Everything is in 3D, with a top down view, like a lot of good RPGs out there. Personally, I think this was a great step to make, seeing as how the 3D that people saw in Pokemon XD for the GameCube wasn’t taken too well (the game didn’t get great reviews). The battles and everything are still in 2D, with more animations from the Pokemon than ever before–everything really looks amazing here. I wouldn’t have wanted this game to look any different.
For those that have a Nintendo DS–there’s no other way around it. Buy this game. You have to. I give Pokemon Diamond for the Nintendo DS a 9.5/10.
Filed under: Game Reviews, Nintendo DS, Videogames | Leave a Comment
The Web 2.0 Craze Gets Bigger.
Sometime last year, I posted an article about how sites like Digg.com and YouTube.com were becoming more popular in this “Web 2.0″ era. Damn, how things have gotten more complicated.
The year before that, I posted an article about Myspace.com and Facebook.com and how they were taking over the world, and to this date continue to do so, being among the most popular websites in existence.
This year, we’re starting to see more of that. With Wikipedia.org becoming bigger and bigger, and with more social bookmarking sites like del.ici.ous and Digg.com becoming more and more popular, this whole Web 2.0 thing just keeps getting bigger and bigger.
Today, I was browsing the internet and I happened to come across an advertisement for a social networking site, similar to Myspace.com, called YFly.com. It allows you to upload as many music files, video files, and pictures as you wish–and you even get this “personalized media player” to put it all up on. YFly isn’t the only one that has sprung up lately–Hi5.com continues to grow (14,000 people in Orlando, FL alone…the service is becoming bigger and bigger). Myspace.com has multiplied at least 100 times since my article in 2005 about social networking–now almost to 175,000,000 people signed up on it. Even here on WordPress, the numbers have significantly increased since I signed up on May 8, 2006…I’m pretty sure they’ve almost hit 5x what it was when I got here.
I love this craze–it can only go so much further before it becomes the standard of human life. Already, Myspace has saved me a lot of minutes on my cell phone bill–instead of getting annoying text messages that you don’t want, you get annoying Myspace messages that you still don’t want, and the beauty of it is that its free. You can even get on Myspace through cell phone. What’s next?
As some people may know, I’ve been spending a great deal of time playing Pokemon Diamond for the Nintendo DS in the past week. Wouldn’t it be cool if there were some way to be able to turn the online portion of it (which I have yet to experience due to lack of WiFi in the immediate area) into this big social networking experiment? It’d kinda be like Xbox Live, where everyone has their Gamercard and you can track what they do…I would love to see more of this social networking interaction into more videogames. I think that’s the most likely bet for the future.
TV, as well–you’ve seen those interactive shows, like American Idol…where you vote and stuff like that. There could be ways to take it further. There could be ways to make TV fun again. Now, I don’t watch American Idol frequently (I haven’t watched a single episode of this season. I just don’t care about it like I used to), but, I do know about this whole Sanjaya thing that finally ended a couple weeks ago (believe me, I hear too many people ranting about how much they hated the guy). Maybe if you were able to vote online in the American Idol Social Networking Ring (of course, it wouldn’t be called that), you could have increased the number of votes and gotten the guy voted off quicker (not that I condone voting more than once, or cheating on anything, for that matter…but you get the point).
The point I’m trying to make in all of this is that its very possible to turn this whole craze into something much larger. I would love to see it expand into different technologies. Hopefully in the next couple of years we’ll see some changes, see some new things that will just really make our heads turn. Communication and interaction has always been a major part of the human way, and now we can make it even better.
Filed under: Internet | Leave a Comment
Adult Swim (Cartoon Network’s “Nick at Nite”) has been around for a very long time…I think it was first introduced in 2000, if I’m not mistaken. That’s about 7 years, which is definitely a nice, healthy lifespan, right?
The programming block is starting to evolve a little bit, and to me, the results aren’t too pretty. Where the block should be focusing on more adult-like cartoons, it’s starting to show more interest in crappy live-action programming that nobody is going to watch.
Cartoon Network announced a new show called “Fat Guy Stuck in the Internet,” which is another live-action show to go along with other crap such as “Tim and Eric Awesome Show” and “Saul of the Mole Men.” Can’t we just sit down and watch a good old cartoon?
I loved some of the shows that Adult Swim used to air–Home Movies was fantastic, and you don’t see that one floating around too much anymore. The Boondocks was pretty good…another one that you don’t see around. Last time I checked, it was “Cartoon Network,” not “Cartoon Network with some Live-Action CRAP.”
I don’t care about these “nerds” that they’ve all of a sudden thrown on TV in cheaply made “home movie” form. I want to see THE “Home Movies” show. I want to see more Family Guy, Futurama, and American Dad. I want to see stuff that’s worth watching…because right now, after 11:30 (when Family Guy is over), it’s back to Nick at Nite for me. I really hope they get away from this “trend” soon…otherwise it’s over.
Filed under: TV | Leave a Comment
GameCube’s Hidden Gems: Part II
This week in GameCube’s Hidden Gems, I’m going to talk about my favorite GameCube game of all time, which nobody really played. Its a game called Beyond Good and Evil. Released by Ubi Soft in 2004, BG&E never went on to be one of the “big successes” of the console, despite its amazing reviews and fantastic gameplay.
The story goes a little bit something like this: welcome to the future, where an evil organization known as the DomZ is slowly but surely taking over the universe. You play Jade, a female photographer who sets out to unveil the government conspiracy behind the DomZ by taking pictures and stopping the DomZ yourself. Along the way you’ll meet an unforgettable cast of characters, such as Pey’j, who is a rather large pig.
The story was quite compelling, but the gameplay is really what shines here. It’s very linear, so if you’re expecting a huge, wide open course where you can do whatever you want when you want, you’re not going to be too satisfied. I like to think of this is something along the lines of Rayman (since the game was built very similar to it). The engine for this game also went on to King Kong in 2005, which was also an amazing title (and star of next week’s GameCube’s Hidden Gems).
Throughout the game, you’ll pilot different vehicles, such as a hovercraft and a spaceship. The hovercraft was your “main vehicle” throughout most of the game, as you journey along through the ocean to get to and from each location. You’ll also have different weaponry and powerups, which you’ll need to successfully complete each mission.
The one thing that I didn’t like about the game was its difficulty–I found it to be waaay too easy…I beat it within a week, I believe. But, the story was so open-ended, its almost like they should make a sequel. And I kinda hope that one day, they do…I give Beyond Good and Evil for the GameCube (also available on Xbox, PS2) a 9.5/10.
Filed under: Game Reviews, Videogames | Leave a Comment
I love theme parks. A lot of people love theme parks. But the one thing that I truly know more about is how they operate. Many people fail to see how much work ride operators really do to ensure that things are running as smoothly as possible. They fail to see what it takes to actually run the rides, to make sure that people are safe.
I was searching the DiggNation today, and I found this little link to a website which actually allows you to “operate” four different rides from around Disney World–Haunted Mansion (they actually call it “Phantom Manor” for some reason, and that’s NOT the name of the ride), Tower of Terror, Space Mountain, and Big Thunder Mountain. You’re basically the “controller.” You control the guest flow through each of the different preshows, loading of ride vehicles, and ensuring that the ride is operating smoothly, and when it isn’t, you’re responsible for calling the technicians to fix it. It sounds like a lot of work, right?
I would definitely recommend trying this out, especially if you’re a theme park fan. You can find it at http://sims.themagical.nl/.
Filed under: Internet, Theme Parks, Walt Disney World | Leave a Comment
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