Night At the Museum

Night At The Museum stars Ben Stiller as Larry, who is currently unemployed and needs to get a job before he gets evicted from his apartment and loses custody of his son Nick. So Larry manages to score a job as a night guard at The Museum of Natural History. Larry treats the job as an ordinary night guard and gets the shock of all the museum exhibits coming to life, due to the golden tablet hanging on the wall near Pharaoh Ra's tomb. The other 3 security guards that have been showing Larry around don't feel he is right for the job and make plans to get him. Larry is then set for a massive load of antics which could cause him to lose his job and the relationship with his son Nick. 

It is easy to see how this fits into the comedy genre. Ben Stiller develops the character of Larry who is like an average, everyday parent but is manipulative and can come back to solve the problems faced. This is shown when Larry reads up on history to try and solve the problems the exhibits are creating. Its good to have the added comedy of the problems and dialogue, otherwise this film would turn out to be very boring in terms of our protagonist's journey. 

It's also good have different types of music played throughout the film. It goes from normal to fast paced and alternates often. It is quite diminished at some parts of the problems but then quite happy and smooth during the start and ends of the film. 

I found this to be very funny, especially with Larry having problems with all the exhibits; Like when the monkey steals his keys or when the little people fight with each other. It would be good to see what the sequel brings when it arrives. 

Rating: 5/5

Creating 'Unique' Roles - Alignment Switching

Venturing once more into the realm of generic and uninspiring role creation techniques, your attention should be brought to one of my favourite styles: Alignment switching. The concept is such a simply obvious trick that people probably don’t even think about it. When I realised how brilliant some roles can be when you quickly change their alignment I did a little dance. Well, in truth, no dance was performed, but I was tempted at the very least. The title is fairly self explanatory. An Alignment switch is taking a role and swapping its alignment from innocent to evil, vice versa or just fiddling with a neutral status and the results can range from train wreck disasters to colourful butterflies of Werewolf stardom.

As with the idea of Smooshing, Alignment switching still requires a level of thought. Sadly, it’s not as quick as saying “Evil dreamer, whoopee, let’s get to the next role.” A perfect example that is found adorned on the WereWiki is the Enchanter role. If you look at the Enchanter’s powers, you’ll notice a striking resemblance to the Malicious Hypnotist, who uses another player’s list to kill with. The Enchanter does the same, except it uses another player’s list to dream, protect, double, etc. So that is an incredibly basic alignment switch to create a nice innocent role. Not much thought was needed to adapt the Malicious Hypnotist to innocent form, because the hypnotise kill is an evil power and once changed to an innocent power (dream, protect, etc) then it’s a role of its own.

The Enchanter has been used in games before and I’ve never seen a problem with it. If the Enchanter wants to dream specific people, it needs to find someone with a list and get them to target who they want to dream, thus exposing a very useful role. So something as simple as that can prove a challenge for the Enchanter and goes to show that even the mildest change in a role’s power can affect how it plays a game.

Another example that I have used before was the Evil Cupid. The Evil Cupid would make two people fall in love nightly and would perform its kills by introducing a third player into the mix and rejecting another. The rejected player would suffer from a broken heart (a.k.a. they would be attacked). The Evil Cupid would create a new couple and reject/attack one of its players in the same night if no couple was linked (because the game required that a kill be present each night). In addition to that kill style, the Evil Cupid had several one use powers that related to the couple which included making them target each other, stopping their night lists and making them target the Evil Cupid.

As per a normal Cupid, what affected one player would affect both, but this was rarely something that people exploited for some reason (e.g. no couple was ever attacked by another team). The one speed bump in this role was that it was publicly announced who was in love (as should be) and this alerted the Protector of that team to who would be attacked in the next night, because by protecting one member of the couple, both were protected. This was a huge problem, so a change was necessary. The Protector could only stop people entering the love triangle, but once a person was in the couple, all the Protector could do was act as a Custodian for them (the shields of the couple would be raised slightly against the Evil Cupid’s attack).

I know that kill system may sound a bit over the top, especially since the Alignment switch method is meant to be simple, but I’ll list my thought process when I thought of it:
Evil Cupid. What makes it a Cupid that’s Evil?
Strings two people together like a normal Cupid. How can this be a kill?
Breaks one of their hearts by introducing a new Lover. What complications arise from this?
The Protector knows who will be attacked. How do I get around this?
Easy, the Protector doesn’t protect those already in the love triangle, it stops people from entering it entirely
It may not be as simple as the Enchanter’s train of thought (which was, ‘Malicious Hypnotist that’s innocent and uses innocent powers… cool’), but there’s a few key points that you can follow to help create a good template. In the end, it’s down to how far you can bend a role or a power to suit a new alignment.

To change a role’s alignment, the things to think about are ‘What makes this role special?’, ‘How can I change this innocent/evil power into an evil/innocent power?’, ‘What complications will arise from this?’ and, most importantly, ‘Is it balanced?’ Again, balance is the final decider to whether the role you’re thinking of will work or not. If the Evil Cupid broke the hearts of both the Lovers then it would be equal to two night kills every night. Also, by giving it day-kills the Evil Cupid would simply use them on their Lovers and get two kills for the price of one. I found it to be a balanced role and it actually won the game it was in, but not because its powers were grossly overpowered. It won because the player played well.

And that’s how to do an Alignment switch. The more complicated the role you’re trying to meddle with, the harder it will be to create a counterpart for it. Just like other role creating techniques, not everything is going to work. Personal experience will tell you how horrific some ideas can turn out with these formulas. Still, it’s worth a try if you want to create some chaos with yourself and if you’re lucky you’ll spawn a good role from your alignment fiddling fiascos.

Dragonball Evolution

When a film is adapted from a book, tv series or some other type of source material; it usually turns out to be average. However, there are some films which turn out to be at the good end of the spectrum like Watchmen and Kite Runner, or at the bad end like Message In a Bottle and The Pelican Brief. Dragonball Evolution pretty much hits the bad end and it does it pretty well in that aspect. 

Dragonball Evolution is telling us a completely different story to the one we have read and seen by Akira Toriyama. Goku (Justin Chatwin) is training with his Grandpa Gohan (Randall Duk Kim) and is given a four star dragonball for his 18th birthday. Goku is then struggling to fit in at school; being pushed around by bullies and timid when approached by his love interest of Chi Chi (Jamie Chung). He then finds his Grandpa has being killed by Lord Piccolo (James Marsters) and Mai (Eriko Tamura), which sets him on the quest to find all seven dragonballs before the eclipse, or some prophecy of Oozaru will destroy the world. Goku eventually runs into Bulma (Emmy Rossum), Master Roshi (Chow Yun-Fat) and Yamcha (Joon Park) who join the search for the seven dragonballs. 

The character development is major flaw for this film. It jumps from one area to the next without giving enough time to build the characters. In other words, it felt like they rushed through the whole thing. and because it strayed away from the source material so much I was like “this is not the dragonball I know and love. What the hell is going on?”. I mean it is all completely messed up. Like, Goku is supposed to be a forest boy with a tail who holds incredible strength but struggles to cope with the real world. Goku is not some high school kid who is bullied by useless humans struggling to stand up for himself. And still in this film, we still struggle to grasp any knowledge of his character entirely, even if Justin's acting ability was well portrayed. The same can be said about the other characters; Bulma doesn't have blue hair and hardly ever screams and yells at Goku or Roshi. Even though she is acting her part of a nerdy geek character from the source, she still does not give us that feel we had from the source. Piccolo, Mai, Roshi, Yamcha and Chi-Chi barely get enough dialogue or airtime for us to begin to understand them fully. The parts where Piccolo is telling Goku of his history and the fight between Mai and Chi- Chi are supposed to be vital key points for the plot, but they end up coming off sloppy, too short and rushed. 

Apart from that the music fits well. I would buy the soundtrack for the film as it was very fast paced and fitted each set and incident that our characters are involved in. The composer did a brilliant job putting it together. 

There were many other elements that could have been fitted in like Krillin and Tien cameos, a proper Kamehameha wave as the one portrayed in this film was absolute rubbish; it didn't even look anything like the one we see on TV, even adding the proper hair, antennae and anthropomorphic animals, beards, extras would have been better for this film too. And lets not forget the perverted humor of Master Roshi that this film lacked.

The film only runs for 84 minutes and needless to say, it was not long enough to build a proper story. It would have been better off as a 3hr film; like Lord Of The Rings. That way, we would have understood the characters more and had a better idea of the scenes from the film. Then again, maybe if we had Peter Jackson as a director and a different writer, this film would have stayed more true to its source. There has been talk about a sequel but I doubt I would go see it after seeing how this film lowered my expectations and just destroyed Akira's creation in my eyes.

Rating: 1/5 Rubber Chickens (it wouldn't have gotten any stars if it weren't for the music.)

Neopets: Neohomes 2.0

The basics:
*Who…can have one?
Anyone can! And yes, you can still have a classic Neohome in addition to your 2.0 home!
*What…is the difference?
Neohomes 2.0 is the new version of Neohomes. Instead of building tons of individual rooms, you have one giant room, but in 3D. There is more flexibility with the floors/walls of the inside than in the classic homes. Also, you can see outside of the home, and create your gardens there. I think of my classic Neohome as my primary house, and my Neohome 2.0 as a summer vacation house.
*When….did this happen?
Late July of 2008, Premium users were able to Beta-test. This was opened to the general community in early August of 2008.
*Where…do you find them?
The easiest place to find them is either on your lookup (if you’ve already made one) or from the link in your inventory.
*Why…did TNT make them?
Who knows? Probably because they wanted to use more up-to-date graphics and technology.

The details:
So, you’ve decided you want to take a look. First off, keep in mind that you can *only* choose one home style *ever*. Once it’s picked, that’s it. This is kind of a bummer if you end up changing your account theme later on, but that’s what they decided to do.
Once you’ve picked your home, you’ll be able to place the actual home somewhere within a square on your lot. You can arrange your gardens, house, and whatever else you wish on the grounds, in one big fluid area. Plus, you can zoom in and out to take closer looks at the smaller items, or get a whole view. There are also additions that can be purchased that are separate buildings that can be placed on your lot.

On the inside, you have a lot more options. You can rotate the room to see things from a different angle.
We’ll start with the floors and walls. These can be found with the little hammer icon on the left hand side. You can paint/tile them different colors. You’ll automatically receive some basic colors – two floor tile types, and one wall paint. You’ll see that you can select individual squares on the floor to tile, and individual vertical strips of the walls to decorate. Talk about a chance to become creative! There's a possibility that we’ll eventually be able to build our own additional walls, put in more windows, doors, and even columns!

When it comes to furniture, existing furniture is slowly transitioning to become compatible. Currently there are roughly 900 items that can be used in the new Neohomes, with a little less then 400 of them being NCMall items. Items that will work will have a little house picture in the bottom right hand corner, show up with orange around them, and can be put in the storage shed. (The same goes with gardening items). All furniture and other items can be found in the section under the chair and they were kind enough to divide this into sections for us as well. Once you have the item in the room, you can rotate it, and raise or lower it (IE, if you want the lamp on the table, a few quick click of the up arrow, and it’s on top).

Finally, you can put your pets in these Neohomes. Whether you want them sitting (well, standing) on a couch, working in the kitchen, or flying near the ceiling, you can put them there. They can also be put out in your gardens, around your home, or lounging by the pool. Naturally, they can only be inside or outside, not both, as they can't be in two places at once. Also, if they’re wearing any NCMall items that move/glitter, etc, this will still happen.

Unfortunately, there are some downsides to the new Neohomes. The additions available do not have insides you can go into at this time, and are all NCMall items. In fact, many of the more exciting items, including flooring and wall types are NCMall only. Also, neopoints items that have been converted are going up in price. While a few items have been given out through the Advent Calendar and the recent Daily Dare, it will take some time before a large variety of options are available at reasonable prices.

The Neohome itself is only one huge room, not multiple individual ones, and thus there is a significantly smaller area to work with. Yes, you can still partition it into sections, but there's only so many items you can cram into one room. Also, unlike the old Neohomes, you cannot rotate your items as much; you are restricted to 90 degree turns.

Probably the worst thing of all is the stress that loading up the Neohomes page can be on your computer. Often times, it will take quite a while to load (even on reasonable computers), and sometimes will even lock up your browser for a few minutes. So, unless you've got a gamer's computer, you're more likely to be waiting on it.

Overall, though, I'd say that the new Neohomes are pretty neat!

April Horoscopes!

CAPRICORN (DEC 23 - JAN 20)
Careful planning will make all things run much more smoothly - ensure you take the time for this. Also, make sure you spend some valuable time on your couch this month; you've earned it!

AQUARIUS (JAN 21 - FEB 19)
Don't let the success of last month outshine any achievements you earn this month. Friends and family are the key to happiness. Make sure they know how much you appreciate them. You can learn a lot from giraffes.

PISCES (FEB 20 - MAR 20)
Mix things up a bit this month, try something you’ve never done before, and be open minded to all invitations anyone makes you. Be careful of buses near the middle of the month.

ARIES (MARCH 21 - APRIL 20)
Mix it up a little bit -- you can't spend all day at work or at home! Get out there and find some new place to hang out or to eat lunch, as your energy is impossible to contain in any one location
You may think you're being clever, but it's far too easy to insult people today, so take it easy! Self-improvement is very important. Seek out ways that you can improve yourself and act upon them.

TAURUS (APRIL 21 - MAY 21)
Compliments can make someone's day. Try thinking about others this month and pay some people some compliments. It'll make you feel great too. Beware of goldfish - one could kill you one day!

GEMINI (MAY 22 - JUNE 21)
The beginning of the month will be tricky for you, but after the 16th, things will be much better. Listen to your friends and family and everything will be alright. The colour blue is your friend.

CANCER (JUNE 22 - JULY 23)
Difficult decisions lie ahead. Decisive and prompt actions are most likely to lead to a desirable outcome. You should exercise great caution when around pineapples.

LEO (JULY 24 - AUG 23)
Problems are much more easily solved if you stop them from occurring in the first place. Be vigilant this month in order to prevent bad things from happening. Be careful of sheep.

VIRGO (AUG 24 - SEPT 23)
Embracing change can be tricky, but if you do it with gusto, you will benefit this month. This will also be a good month for friends, both new and old, especially giving them really nice presents. Also, be careful of roses.

LIBRA (SEPT 24 - OCT 23)
Things will change for you in the second week of this month. Be attentive to these changes to ensure that you benefit the most from them. Be cautious of the colour green.

SCORPIO (OCT 24 - NOV 22)
"If it doesn't feel like work, it probably won't." The saying is certainly true. Don't slack off this month if you want to get anything back in return. Sugar is your friend, but be careful not to eat too much!

SAGITTARIUS (NOV 23 - DEC 22)
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Don't be taken by surprise by anything that you could have seen coming. Oh, and be alert for mice, and shoelaces too.

Watchmen

I enjoy watching films based on comic books or graphic novels. Especially ones that can relate well to its source, have a good combination of sound, action and acting quality, for example Superman, Batman or even Wonder Woman. These films are light-hearted and never usually step in the realms of the dark side. Well Watchmen did it differently; it pushed the envelope and stepped into the dark side. And what do ya know, it did well at the box office.

Watchmen is a film based of the DC graphic novel by Alan Moore and is about a gang of superheroes who all go about their day to day lives. However, they are supposed to be watching over the world and the events that occurred in the year it is set, 1985. A lot of incidents happen in 1985 which gives this film its dark side and give the watchmen a lot to deal with as the film progresses. Especially the main incident of murder of one of the members of the watchmen, which leads a vigilante named Rorschach on a investigation to piece it together. This in turn leads to some unexpected circumstances.

For the first 15 minutes of this film I was confused and struggling to follow the storyline. This was probably because I hadn't read the source material, although I did manage grasp parts of the main story. Then again, the elements of music, sound and special effect type action made this film more enjoyable to watch.

The sounds and music from this film fits well, but in some parts could have been better. The noise of the wind fits well as with the rattling and clanging echo when Dr Manhattan views a montage and flashback scene in Spectre's mind. Then again the classical music afterwards and when Rorschach is working works well with this film too. But there are some times where I felt there could have either more music or more sound. Those are the times when its just plain dialogue. But maybe that's the way its meant to be.

The action is pretty intense and hardcore. Just five minutes into the film there is a fight scene that is intense with knives guns and things being smashed. This is the kind of stuff that most action films lack and this kind of action is what makes this film more enjoyable. However, it does get very brutal with the bashing scene between a male and female member of the watchmen and Dr Manhattan's killing of humans one by one with a stream of blue laser of something. But all in all, the action is entertaining, which means it has done its job.

I felt this was a great and enjoyable film though, even if I did find it hard to follow. There were a lot of flashbacks in this film and I guess all of that jumping back and forth is what lost me. But then again, maybe I should have read the source material first to get a much better knowledge and idea of what the film is going to be about. But as mentioned before, many elements made this film enjoyable to me.