Okay, I've been hearing this news all weekend and week long. Apparently, there is a sudden call, from the abused community, to boycott the mega fight on May 2nd between Mayweather and Pacquiao, due to the past conviction of domestic violence. I have mixed views on this, and I also see some truths playing out. I'll discuss them.
The other day, I was listening to the podcast of Dontay's Box Nation on youtube. I'm not a huge fan of his, but I like some of his work, and respect his knowledge of sports. He made a pretty funny podcast talking about how the media is creating the angle of good versus evil for the fight, making Floyd seem like a devil of a person. Some of the points he made echoed my essay from a while ago, which talks about how society tries to minimize blacks and put them into an evil role, which has transposed into the minds of most other non-white races. He was really talking about the sad, yet prevalent issue of deep seated hatred in the hearts of mankind that causes them to seek dissension.
I also read a comment today, in a Yahoo blog by a guy named Truth which was pretty awesome. It was an article about the current ongoing hearing on Gay marriage rights. He said something to the effect of the fact that your subconscious is controlled by repetition and exposure, and whatever feeds that, feeds your beliefs and culture. He spoke about how the heads of society are feeding things that are wrong as acceptable, until eventually, it is assimilated into the culture. That was a very astute thought that I feel translates into the issues with this upcoming boxing match.
I think it's no secret that most people wanted to see Floyd Mayweather lose years ago, going back to the fight with Castillo. His behavior over the years, has not helped that public reception, with him burning money and being profane and loose in conduct. Then you have his case of domestic violence. Now, for the record, I have to pause here and break this down. I had this debate with a coworker earlier. I just don't get the vibe from Floyd, that he lays into women like that. I don't see an Ike Turner in him. Now, of course I could be wrong. But the fact of the matter is that people are going off of allegations, accusations, and one wonky conviction. I'm not downplaying the issue of domestic violence at all. It's horrible, and needs to be addressed. But, it feels like they are trying to attach Floyd to Ray Rice suddenly a week out from the fight.
An officer called into the radio show I listen to on ESPN radio this morning- the Robin Lundberg show. He put Robin and everyone else on check and stated the fact that even without publicly presented footage and large amounts of evidence in a domestic case, the severity of it will show in submitted police records and evidence taken by investigators. We all saw Rihanna's face after Chris Brown tapped her up right quick in the car. Those were photos taken during investigation. Floyd Mayweather admits to restraining his girlfriend while she was acting crazed during a disagreement. Neither in that case, nor in the other allegations, are there any police reports released showing battering to any degree like that. We have to draw a line, and realize that the media is smearing him. There are different levels of domestic disputes. The one that we are fighting against are the pounding outs that are occurring behind closed doors, not the monetary disputes between couples over money, property, and children. Learn to make the separation. I don't see Floyd as the type to sit around and lace women up. The reason some idiots do see that, is because they fall right into what the media is doing, and automatically marry the issues he has, with scenarios like Ray Rice.
Then I saw and article by Kevin Iole, petitioning the UFC to strip Jon Jones of his belt and punish him for his recent arrest for a hit and run, where he apparently injured a pregnant woman, causing a fatal breaking of her arm. (Exaggeration!) He apparently fled the scene, returned to get money from his car, and then left again. Drugs were said to be found in the vehicle. They suspect that he fled, so as to avoid being caught with drugs in his system. Now, the fact is that, a lot of speculation can and is being thrown at this matter. Of course, he has issues with his conduct. If he was in fact doing drugs, that issue needs to be addressed. But with a fight coming up next month, I find it hard to believe that Jon Jones, knowing the animal he is up against in Anthony Johnson, would be out doing hard drugs. The fact is, it's funny the way Kevin Ioloe seemed to have the first thing on his mind being running after Jon's belt.
But when I think about it, the truth is that Jon is another undefeated, coincidentally hated black athlete like Floyd. The minute you are in that kind of position, it seems like bad things surround you. Now, I will admit, that often it is of their doing. However, I know that they would like nothing more than to see Jon dethroned. What he has done, likely won't be done again. If he was stripped of his belt, and it was put into an interim match that Anthony Johnson won, the odds are low, in their opinion, that he would ever be the dominator that Jon was. They can live with that. They seem to always go after the guys who are undefeated and unbeatable for years. I know Dana is a closet racist, but Jon is making too much money for him to risk pulling this fight. And it's at a time where the UFC needs fights like his to compete with boxing.
Now you have riots going on in Baltimore after another black kid is killed by racist cops. The looting is stupid, and feeds the stereotypes that are put out there. The truth behind that, is that American blacks have unfortunately been beaten so hard into submission, that it's in their genetics to do no more than destroy their own things and people when angry. Of all the heinous things done by racists down south in the past, like Emmit Till and others, you have never seen anything like that done in reverse. Of course, it shouldn't be done at all to anyone, but I say that simply to bring out how mentally whipped people are. My friend brought out that there were some 23 cop killings in the nature of Travis Browne done in New York, in the month of April alone. That number is staggering, and it's pretty clear that there is a movement now towards all-out open racial hatred and warfare. The cop killings, I think, at this point are deliberate. Those cops knelt on that boys neck, aiming to snap it, and dragged a broken body to the van, tossing it in, pretending not to know what was going on. And the crazy thing is that this is happening without any white killings. It's not as if these racist cops are scared, and angry at their own being killed, and jump at the opportunity. They simply see an opportunity to kill another monkey, and do it for the simple pleasure and satisfaction. In both instances it's wrong, but the fact that it's the latter makes it more infuriating. Hopefully, these people down there can learn not to fall into what is expected of them, and use their heads.
When I see this stuff, it doesn't surprise me that they are launching at Floyd Mayweather and Jon Jones. With tensions this high, expect a supremacist controlled media to push for these athletes to be removed from the spotlight. But I don't feel bad for them that much. Jon's behavior is stupid, and he needs to use his head. Like Tiger Woods, he falls into thinking he can mingle and be equal with his associates. Just like Tiger, he has no idea that the people around him probably wanted him to fall. Floyd is stupid for what he has done in the past. And like it always does, the seeds he has sown are growing around his neck now. And I bet that he never thought it would happen. He spent so many years in control, he felt he spun the wheel of time. Now, in 1 week, he is watching a probably sizable percentage of his PPV revenue dissipate. He will now be haunted of "Woman beater" taunts up to the fight and long after it, even if he achieves his victory. If he cared more, and made more of an effort to put the good side of him out there, he would have an argument against all of his detractors. But people on top like him don't think that's necessary. Just like incompetent bosses I've worked for, don't think their staff makes them. Read the art of war. A general is his army. The way you live is the way you die. The thing is that Floyd does so much philanthropic activity in his free time. But the image he fights so hard to put out there, for monetary gain, is the image of a villain. In the end, his love of money, is his love of defeat.
I hope to some day be able to cheer for him. That would be a victory.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Clean Fighters
This past weekend had one of the biggest fluxes of high level competition in all combat sports that there has been in a while. I made it a point, after talking about the matchups at work, to watch all of them in their entirety. Among these fights was; Terrence Crawford vs. Thomas Dulorme; Lyoto Machida vs. Luke Rockhold; Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Adrezj Fonfara; and Lucas Matthyse vs. Ruslan Provodnikov. Those were the main cards that I made a point of watching, and in every one of those fights except for the Crawford and Chavez fight, I felt like there were question marks.
In recent times, I've been going into research and analysis of the corruption behind sports, and the fact that Mayweather, a fighter that I admired to a great degree, while having the tools to dispatch of Pacquiao, shows that today fighters see boxing more as a racketeering business than a sport.
I gained a huge amount of respect for Crawford in his win, as he showed an amazing ability to adapt to a very skilled opponent in Dulorme and turn the pressure up at will. He has the aura and attitude of a perfectionist when he fights, and I can see him dominating this division or even moving up one weight class in the near future. He is going to be able to do things similar to Mayweather in this sport due to his skill and athleticism. He won't be bothered by size often in his career.
In the Machida vs Rockhold fight, I just shook my head. Luke Rockhold was almost certainly juiced the heck up for the fight. From the opening bell, he was eating clean counter shots from Lyoto and showed absolutely no concern for any assault from his opponent. When a fighter is juiced, there is not only physical things in their body that give it away, but also certain behavior. A juiced fighter will show no fatigue, or concern at all for pain or danger. There is a natural reflex that the body has when it is assaulted, even if clean shots aren't being landed. When you watched that fight, Luke Rockhold taunted Lyoto while taking direct punches to the front of his face, without even moving an inch. It was over before it started. He eventually muscled Lyoto over and got a submission.
In the Chavez fight, the issues with Chavez's defense and technique surfaced again. He has moments where he looks impressive, but he wasn't able to overpower the bigger Fonfara, and eventually had to quit on his stool.
The Matthyse vs Provodnikov fight was strange. Everyone picked Ruslan to win by brutal KO in this fight with good reason. He is the naturally bigger powerhouse, and we all saw Matthyse get hurt by a small Danny Garcia. However, in this fight, Ruslan's output was way lower than usual, and he seemed to lull several times in the fight. Lucas looked very sharp and good with his offense, mixing it up beautifully, but it didn't look natural to see him be the first person to take almost no damage at all from Ruslan over a 12 round fight. I'm not sure what that was about, but Danny Garcia's stock rose with that win.
Not one fight was in question this weekend. There were upsets, but none of them were close. Now we look forward to May 2nd, where many predict a KO for Manny Pacquiao, and many a KO for Mayweather. That fight has me annoyed. When you hear Floyd's family and fans talk about the fight, it makes you wonder why they wanted it in the first place. They don't see Manny as a challenger at all. That is sheer stupidity, and a part of me is hoping that Bob Arum's prediction of a KO for Manny is correct. I'm sick of the easy street that Mayweather's career has been. The problem in this fight, is that while Manny is the perfect opponent for Floyd, he just happens to be in an undersized body. That, as Floyd pointed out in an interview earlier, will play a major role. I think Manny was smart to work on his speed. He had an edge before, but now it is apparent. The way I see things playing out is still a Mayweather KO, late in the fight or perhaps the middle rounds. However, I'm rooting for a great Manny performance, and even an upset. I think as the fight starts, Mayweather fans and his uncle and father are going to be struck speechless, as they have to come to terms with Pacquiao's underrated boxing ability, which they refuse to respect. The question is can Pacquiao sustain that pressure and keep Mayweather from resetting and figuring him out. If he doesn't stay on Mayweather like Maidana did, Mayweather will set traps and move, looking for counter shots.
Floyd senior says that Alvarez, Guerrerro, and Maidana would destroy Pacquiao. Therefore, he feels like this is an automatic stoppage. However, for everyone that will look at this KO and say that Floyd's training is the key; think about something- when he fought Maidana the second time, he had taken on Alex Ariza as his conditioning and dietary trainer, when he was already peak human. Let's not be stupid and forget that Mayweather always pushes himself to the limit. He pushed himself just like he is doing now, in fear of another tough fight. The first thing I said going into the rematch was, " I hope Maidana is ready. This is not going the distance." And what happened? Mayweather showed that he is out of gears and showed up with an inflated belly, taking much of the same damage if not more. He didn't rise to another level. He only looked slightly more durable and gritty in that win, going to the body with hooks and straight with some success and damage. That's all. I remember feeling for the first time, that what Freddie Roach says about his legs being gone, is true. He showed that a lot of his tough talk is simply posturing. So why do you fans think that a devastating KO in this fight for him would be natural. Why do you suddenly believe that he can create another gear after failing to do so in his last fight. Remember, he predicted a devastating domination in the Maidana rematch, and then backed up with excuses when he couldn't deliver.
What we seem to forget about Manny Pacquiao in our degradation of him, is the fact that he has faced bigger punchers and bigger opponents than Floyd. If anything, talk about Floyd's speed and how Manny hasn't faced than yet. But to suddenly act as if Floyd's size is going to overwhelm Manny, when a tougher Clottey, Margarito, and De La Hoya didn't, is just being ignorant. But at the same time that I say that, this is the one fight where Mayweather is going to be depending on his physical advantages to win. All of the talk about how much smarter he thinks he is, is mere posturing. He fears Manny's intellect. If it weren't for those physical advantages that Floyd has, he probably would have never agreed to the fight. I want to see a natural boxing match on May 2nd. Let the best man win. I'm hearing that the fix may be in for the judges to give Manny the fight. Oddly, I'm happy to hear that. Because at least I know that if that's the case, it can tip the scales even, since Mayweather is clearly going to do whatever it takes to win, including cheat with steroids. I'm not demanding an outcome, but I must say that if Pacquiao wins on May 2nd, I will officially back off of my conspiracy theories in boxing for the foreseeable future.
We have to wonder how clean fighters today really are. Whether it's throwing a fight like Nonito Donaire's opponent did a few weeks ago, or a fighter walking into the ring juiced up like Rockhold most likely did. Often, the upper powers of the fight organizations will cover it up, in the name of money. I watched Nonito Donaire's opponent cover up and refuse to fire back, under an onslaught of haymakers, until the fight was stopped. No sane human with boxing knowledge can look at that and not see it was fixed. Unfortunately, people turn a blind eye, and while the former is rare, the latter is completely lacking amongst the fans of the sport. He didn't even think of returning fire in that fight, and to make matters worse, the fool peeked over his gloves when Donaire stepped back to wait for him to continue. It was one of the worst acts I've seen in a while, and it's in a period of time where people are so stupid that it goes right over their heads. And who knows if Rockhold's test will come back positive. In sports today, it's getting to the point where the eye test is the only thing that will ever give it away. Fighters like Marquez can cheat, and ride off into the sunset. I just hope that for just this one fight, on May 2nd, that crap can be put on hold, and I can see the so-called greatest fighter ever, be truly tested.
In recent times, I've been going into research and analysis of the corruption behind sports, and the fact that Mayweather, a fighter that I admired to a great degree, while having the tools to dispatch of Pacquiao, shows that today fighters see boxing more as a racketeering business than a sport.
I gained a huge amount of respect for Crawford in his win, as he showed an amazing ability to adapt to a very skilled opponent in Dulorme and turn the pressure up at will. He has the aura and attitude of a perfectionist when he fights, and I can see him dominating this division or even moving up one weight class in the near future. He is going to be able to do things similar to Mayweather in this sport due to his skill and athleticism. He won't be bothered by size often in his career.
In the Machida vs Rockhold fight, I just shook my head. Luke Rockhold was almost certainly juiced the heck up for the fight. From the opening bell, he was eating clean counter shots from Lyoto and showed absolutely no concern for any assault from his opponent. When a fighter is juiced, there is not only physical things in their body that give it away, but also certain behavior. A juiced fighter will show no fatigue, or concern at all for pain or danger. There is a natural reflex that the body has when it is assaulted, even if clean shots aren't being landed. When you watched that fight, Luke Rockhold taunted Lyoto while taking direct punches to the front of his face, without even moving an inch. It was over before it started. He eventually muscled Lyoto over and got a submission.
In the Chavez fight, the issues with Chavez's defense and technique surfaced again. He has moments where he looks impressive, but he wasn't able to overpower the bigger Fonfara, and eventually had to quit on his stool.
The Matthyse vs Provodnikov fight was strange. Everyone picked Ruslan to win by brutal KO in this fight with good reason. He is the naturally bigger powerhouse, and we all saw Matthyse get hurt by a small Danny Garcia. However, in this fight, Ruslan's output was way lower than usual, and he seemed to lull several times in the fight. Lucas looked very sharp and good with his offense, mixing it up beautifully, but it didn't look natural to see him be the first person to take almost no damage at all from Ruslan over a 12 round fight. I'm not sure what that was about, but Danny Garcia's stock rose with that win.
Not one fight was in question this weekend. There were upsets, but none of them were close. Now we look forward to May 2nd, where many predict a KO for Manny Pacquiao, and many a KO for Mayweather. That fight has me annoyed. When you hear Floyd's family and fans talk about the fight, it makes you wonder why they wanted it in the first place. They don't see Manny as a challenger at all. That is sheer stupidity, and a part of me is hoping that Bob Arum's prediction of a KO for Manny is correct. I'm sick of the easy street that Mayweather's career has been. The problem in this fight, is that while Manny is the perfect opponent for Floyd, he just happens to be in an undersized body. That, as Floyd pointed out in an interview earlier, will play a major role. I think Manny was smart to work on his speed. He had an edge before, but now it is apparent. The way I see things playing out is still a Mayweather KO, late in the fight or perhaps the middle rounds. However, I'm rooting for a great Manny performance, and even an upset. I think as the fight starts, Mayweather fans and his uncle and father are going to be struck speechless, as they have to come to terms with Pacquiao's underrated boxing ability, which they refuse to respect. The question is can Pacquiao sustain that pressure and keep Mayweather from resetting and figuring him out. If he doesn't stay on Mayweather like Maidana did, Mayweather will set traps and move, looking for counter shots.
Floyd senior says that Alvarez, Guerrerro, and Maidana would destroy Pacquiao. Therefore, he feels like this is an automatic stoppage. However, for everyone that will look at this KO and say that Floyd's training is the key; think about something- when he fought Maidana the second time, he had taken on Alex Ariza as his conditioning and dietary trainer, when he was already peak human. Let's not be stupid and forget that Mayweather always pushes himself to the limit. He pushed himself just like he is doing now, in fear of another tough fight. The first thing I said going into the rematch was, " I hope Maidana is ready. This is not going the distance." And what happened? Mayweather showed that he is out of gears and showed up with an inflated belly, taking much of the same damage if not more. He didn't rise to another level. He only looked slightly more durable and gritty in that win, going to the body with hooks and straight with some success and damage. That's all. I remember feeling for the first time, that what Freddie Roach says about his legs being gone, is true. He showed that a lot of his tough talk is simply posturing. So why do you fans think that a devastating KO in this fight for him would be natural. Why do you suddenly believe that he can create another gear after failing to do so in his last fight. Remember, he predicted a devastating domination in the Maidana rematch, and then backed up with excuses when he couldn't deliver.
What we seem to forget about Manny Pacquiao in our degradation of him, is the fact that he has faced bigger punchers and bigger opponents than Floyd. If anything, talk about Floyd's speed and how Manny hasn't faced than yet. But to suddenly act as if Floyd's size is going to overwhelm Manny, when a tougher Clottey, Margarito, and De La Hoya didn't, is just being ignorant. But at the same time that I say that, this is the one fight where Mayweather is going to be depending on his physical advantages to win. All of the talk about how much smarter he thinks he is, is mere posturing. He fears Manny's intellect. If it weren't for those physical advantages that Floyd has, he probably would have never agreed to the fight. I want to see a natural boxing match on May 2nd. Let the best man win. I'm hearing that the fix may be in for the judges to give Manny the fight. Oddly, I'm happy to hear that. Because at least I know that if that's the case, it can tip the scales even, since Mayweather is clearly going to do whatever it takes to win, including cheat with steroids. I'm not demanding an outcome, but I must say that if Pacquiao wins on May 2nd, I will officially back off of my conspiracy theories in boxing for the foreseeable future.
We have to wonder how clean fighters today really are. Whether it's throwing a fight like Nonito Donaire's opponent did a few weeks ago, or a fighter walking into the ring juiced up like Rockhold most likely did. Often, the upper powers of the fight organizations will cover it up, in the name of money. I watched Nonito Donaire's opponent cover up and refuse to fire back, under an onslaught of haymakers, until the fight was stopped. No sane human with boxing knowledge can look at that and not see it was fixed. Unfortunately, people turn a blind eye, and while the former is rare, the latter is completely lacking amongst the fans of the sport. He didn't even think of returning fire in that fight, and to make matters worse, the fool peeked over his gloves when Donaire stepped back to wait for him to continue. It was one of the worst acts I've seen in a while, and it's in a period of time where people are so stupid that it goes right over their heads. And who knows if Rockhold's test will come back positive. In sports today, it's getting to the point where the eye test is the only thing that will ever give it away. Fighters like Marquez can cheat, and ride off into the sunset. I just hope that for just this one fight, on May 2nd, that crap can be put on hold, and I can see the so-called greatest fighter ever, be truly tested.
Saturday, April 11, 2015
The 2015 Car Show
Hey everyone. I'm uploading the latest episode of, "The Beast," where this time around, the beast - Jokatech, takes in some great attractions at the annual Car Show at the Jacob Javits Center. There was a great variety of cars there, and some I really wanted to take home. My personal favorites were the "2016 Ford Focus"- slated for U.S release in January, the "Toyota Mirai"- coming out next year as well, and the "Toyota FT-1"- my favorite car period, and proof that Toyota is taking over.
Alundra - Game Review
Alundra came out in 1997, during the height of the golden era of gaming, where the Playstation was battling the still potent Sega Saturn. There were so many rail shooters like Panzer Dragoon, and RPG's like Final Fantasy and Star Ocean, and Shining Force 3 that were blessing the market for avid gamers of the time. Among those games was Alundra. It had some cinematic stuff to compete with, but like Golden Sun would do later on, it found a way to stand out.
Alundra uses a very vivid and colorful, hand drawn style, that conveys an anime setting. The story starts with the hero washing up onto the shore of Inoa village. This village is a coastal town, where the residents have experienced much loss. The cry about having lost their ability to create, due to defying the gods. The characters have a very twisted and warped religious sense, that I had to roll my eyes to several times, but I got the gist of the story. The god that they were praying to, was really an evil villain who was trapped years ago by a former king. Their prayers were strengthening him all along. After a huge amount of calamity, the game climaxes with a final battle. The dialogue is at times deep, but overall, very comical and witty. Its humor holds up well over all these years. In fact, I was almost on the floor laughing during one of the last scenes in the village when the townsfolk realize what must be done and meet in the mayor's house. One of the village wino's, whose daughter you saved earlier, goes on some of the most classic and hilarious rants I've ever heard in gaming.
The graphical style is very much like Golden Sun. It doesn't use cinematic scenes. It uses the lush, in game graphics, with a few pretty effects to convey the story to you. And it shines in this. You never feel robbed by the presentation. Other games in this era that amazed me were games like Star Ocean. That game had a beautiful cartoon style. Another game that was pretty was Albert Odyssey. However, Alundra actually rises above those games. It's simply gorgeous. The trees and different climates, such as snow and rainfall, as well as falling leaves in the mountains, are so lush and tangible. They have a lot of pop to them. The overall world map isn't huge by today's standards, but it's big enough. I remember another game from this era that didn't do the world design well. That game was Chrono Cross for the Playstation. Many list that game as their all time favorite. Personally, I liked the gameplay a lot, but the world was way too small and repetitive. Alundra does have a reused world map like Chrono Cross, but it isn't overly done. It's just right.
The music in this game was composed by Kohei Tanaka. I had totally forgotten that he was the composer for Gundam, Dragonball, One Piece, and many other masterpieces. His work is simply marvelous and speaks for itself. The soundtrack for Alundra is perfect for the game. Every tune fits perfectly in place and does a great job conveying emotion. The catchy tune for the world-map and main village, are well done, and don't get annoying, even though you have to hear them constantly. This takes great composing. Then, in certain dungeons, the emotion and suspense will pick up, and have you on your toes. The music is right there to meet that emotion, down to the very last dungeon and boss. Even my wife leaned over during the game one time, and remarked about how emotional the music was. That's saying a lot, for someone who normally doesn't even notice video games. Games have to do a lot to bring those emotions out of such unsuspecting viewers, and Kohei gets it done.
When it comes to the gameplay, that is where I find myself very confused in writing this review. The gameplay is what keeps me from being able to say whether I love or hate the game. I hear so many people talk about how much they love this game, and I just found myself scratching my head at times. There were several instances where I swore I'd never play this game again after beating it. In this game, you start with a simple dagger. You get boots and some simple armor shortly after. Later on, you acquire a simple magic spell, and later magic books, and a variety of weapons. However, make no mistake- this is not an open equipment game. You do not buy weapons at the store, and manage your arsenal. There is a set, and limited range of items in the game. You get a flail, for instance, to break certain obstacles in the game. Later on, as part of the story, it's upgraded, and automatically replaced the old one. All of the items are like that. They are for a purpose and replace each other as you move on. The only things that can affect your defensive stats with any kind of control, are 2 or 3 secret special items that you can get in the game, only if you know what you're doing. They come in handy. You gather little items that increase your health by one block at a time. It takes finding several of these to make any difference. You get stronger swords later on, but for the most part the majority of your equipment, is elementally and or task specific, not empowering.
The difficulty of the enemies, who are adequately varied, was decent. The boss fights were insanely difficult. In fact they were so difficult at just a couple times, that part of me wanted to say that they were the problem. But it wasn't them. It's the depth perception and puzzles in this game, where the problem lies. The gameplay in Alundra is like Zelda, and focuses more on platforming and items than equipment and battling. The view is similar as well. It utilizes an angled overhead view. The problem with this game, is that the raised platforms and obstacles are not only misleading much of the time, but sometimes they are outright wrong. There are puzzles and parts of the plot in this game where it is almost impossible to know where to go, what to do, or who to talk to. I could go on for hours talking about that. The game requires you to platform in all of this chaos. Alundra is a big footed character, with the classic superdeformed head, and jerky movement. Many times, you are placed into a puzzle within a dangerous dungeon, where you have to figure out what to do with convoluted clues, or lack of any clues, surrounded by dangerous enemies who can kill with a few touches. You will have to perform complex jump sequences in some of the most crazy places. It felt like there were some puzzles that you had to rely on a glitch to complete. There are pathways in the forests and dungeons that you will need to walk through, that you will never see without chance. This is due to the way the game displays depth, as well as the occasional design flaw of just blocking a pathway with a platform of some kind. That is a very big issue. I often felt like I was permanently stuck in the game. In the last dungeon, there were 2 rooms with raises switches that required you to nail the art of jumping perfectly with Alundra for 16-20 consecutive jumpes, while jumping diagonally, up and down. That task was even harder than it sounds. Alundra's jerky movement and big feet, make him stick on walls when trying to walk between objects, and fall off of platforms prematurely, or jumping way too early, due to appearing to be where you are not. Even the shadows of floating objects don't know where to fall, and will often bounce around as the object moves. It's ridiculous. Somehow this game was left with these glitches as if they aren't a problem.
I beat this game with some tips on using spells on the last boss. It's a game that you can get permanently stuck in, if you are not careful. With that being said, I have to say I did love the game. The music, atmosphere, lush graphics, and challenge are all memorable. The ending was beautiful, and brought back memories of how far you came in the game. It was beautifully animated, and had wonderful music to close it out. The amazing thing is that I logged over 55 hours in this game. I wasn't loitering either. It 's a rare mark for a Zelda style game, to take Final Fantasy time to beat. That alone speaks of how much content is in this game. The game, unfortunately, didn't have that emotional pull on me that some of my favorite classics did, due -in part, to the wonky and ambiguous story behind it, that had you wondering what exactly, the characters thought evil and good were. But it was still a great game, and one that I'm glad I took Johnny Millenium's advice on, and played.
9/10
I beat this game with some tips on using spells on the last boss. It's a game that you can get permanently stuck in, if you are not careful. With that being said, I have to say I did love the game. The music, atmosphere, lush graphics, and challenge are all memorable. The ending was beautiful, and brought back memories of how far you came in the game. It was beautifully animated, and had wonderful music to close it out. The amazing thing is that I logged over 55 hours in this game. I wasn't loitering either. It 's a rare mark for a Zelda style game, to take Final Fantasy time to beat. That alone speaks of how much content is in this game. The game, unfortunately, didn't have that emotional pull on me that some of my favorite classics did, due -in part, to the wonky and ambiguous story behind it, that had you wondering what exactly, the characters thought evil and good were. But it was still a great game, and one that I'm glad I took Johnny Millenium's advice on, and played.
9/10
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
World Update
I'm a man of my word. I've been slacking a bit. The latest news has been going so fast, that I've trailed off into a trance. You have spreading ISIS alliances throughout western Africa, and large numbers of people being slain in Nigeria and Kenya. Many cells are awakening in unaware regions, and perhaps may be ashore in the states. That's serious stuff, and speaks of the times that we live in, as well as the chickens that are coming to roost for the sick regime that this country has implemented under the sheets. Many are unaware that these actions spawn from brutal maneuvers that the USA hides and has been hiding for decades.
On another note, I have to congratulate Duke and coach K on their great National Title victory. I hated Wisconsin, and I'm glad they were sent home. I also find it funny how there is still denial that fixes are put on in almost all sports. They wanted Wisconsin to win. It angered me that they were even in the National Title game. Not only because it killed my bracket, but because they cheated Kentucky to get there. The refs clearly had an agenda in that game. Then they even tried to give the title game to Wisconsin, but Duke shot that down. Then coach Ryan sulks about the refs. In the end, justice was metted out to some degree.
On to boxing. I've seen a lot of updates posted by the faithful Fight Hub newscast showing Floyd Mayweather training like a juiced boy should. He's hitting the heavy bag, and air shield like an animal. I always knew he had the conditioning to be a more busy fighter if he wanted to. But, you can see in the power, and in the drop in speed, that he's doing things a different way. Whether or not it's a legal way, we will see on May 2nd. Bottom line- right now Manny has a tremendous speed edge. Not only did Manny get faster and more explosive, but Mayweather has slowed down noticeably, making the difference apparent. If all things are fair, Manny should be able to tee-off on Mayweather in the fight. Like I was telling people, Floyd isn't going to have Manny running into shots all night. He's aiming to have him run into an ender shot one good time. Manny has to watch out. I like the medicine ball drill that I saw Manny doing to build explosion on his punches. It's a very simple, yet effective drill, that not many fighters do, where you shuffle pass a 5 pound ball to a partner non-stop, with one arm at a time. It looks like Manny is also working on counter techniques. He could explode on Floyd's face come May 2nd and surprise us all. I would like him to work on those chopping foot feints more. Floyd can time those, and make him pay. Other than that, he looks great. Floyd looks like a stronger, and slower version of himself. He isn't sharper on the mitts, or slicker with his moves. In fact, he was eating punches more than usual in sparring. All of that footage points to the almost obvious truth, that he is juicing and aiming for power. I won't say on the internet, how I plan on seeing the fight, but it just doesn't feel worth $100. We'll see.
I like the fact that CBS is taking boxing back to the public, and just signed Virgil Hunter on as an analyst. They need to streamline their fight crew. Virgil will bring meaningful education and conversation to the broadcast. I will enjoy that. This is one of the only good things Al Haymon is a part of. I give him that. But when you sell your soul to the devil- in his case himself, you have to do something good to sleep at night. He already has Peter Quillin ducking GGG, with lame excuses, like, "the money isn't right."
On a final note, I'm calling it now, that Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor will be a bigger shock fight than Mayweather vs. Pacman. It will also be bigger in the meaningful sense. I can't wait for that in July. Goodnight. Enjoy the art.
On another note, I have to congratulate Duke and coach K on their great National Title victory. I hated Wisconsin, and I'm glad they were sent home. I also find it funny how there is still denial that fixes are put on in almost all sports. They wanted Wisconsin to win. It angered me that they were even in the National Title game. Not only because it killed my bracket, but because they cheated Kentucky to get there. The refs clearly had an agenda in that game. Then they even tried to give the title game to Wisconsin, but Duke shot that down. Then coach Ryan sulks about the refs. In the end, justice was metted out to some degree.
On to boxing. I've seen a lot of updates posted by the faithful Fight Hub newscast showing Floyd Mayweather training like a juiced boy should. He's hitting the heavy bag, and air shield like an animal. I always knew he had the conditioning to be a more busy fighter if he wanted to. But, you can see in the power, and in the drop in speed, that he's doing things a different way. Whether or not it's a legal way, we will see on May 2nd. Bottom line- right now Manny has a tremendous speed edge. Not only did Manny get faster and more explosive, but Mayweather has slowed down noticeably, making the difference apparent. If all things are fair, Manny should be able to tee-off on Mayweather in the fight. Like I was telling people, Floyd isn't going to have Manny running into shots all night. He's aiming to have him run into an ender shot one good time. Manny has to watch out. I like the medicine ball drill that I saw Manny doing to build explosion on his punches. It's a very simple, yet effective drill, that not many fighters do, where you shuffle pass a 5 pound ball to a partner non-stop, with one arm at a time. It looks like Manny is also working on counter techniques. He could explode on Floyd's face come May 2nd and surprise us all. I would like him to work on those chopping foot feints more. Floyd can time those, and make him pay. Other than that, he looks great. Floyd looks like a stronger, and slower version of himself. He isn't sharper on the mitts, or slicker with his moves. In fact, he was eating punches more than usual in sparring. All of that footage points to the almost obvious truth, that he is juicing and aiming for power. I won't say on the internet, how I plan on seeing the fight, but it just doesn't feel worth $100. We'll see.
I like the fact that CBS is taking boxing back to the public, and just signed Virgil Hunter on as an analyst. They need to streamline their fight crew. Virgil will bring meaningful education and conversation to the broadcast. I will enjoy that. This is one of the only good things Al Haymon is a part of. I give him that. But when you sell your soul to the devil- in his case himself, you have to do something good to sleep at night. He already has Peter Quillin ducking GGG, with lame excuses, like, "the money isn't right."
On a final note, I'm calling it now, that Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor will be a bigger shock fight than Mayweather vs. Pacman. It will also be bigger in the meaningful sense. I can't wait for that in July. Goodnight. Enjoy the art.
"Into Me"- Art Series update
He everyone. This is another update to my ongoing art series - "Into Me." I encourage everyone to subscribe and tune into my blog. Not only do I cover my projects, but also new topics, sports, etc. I think you'll thoroughly enjoy it
This next series is a case of me doing something new. I always find my mind racing off, yearning to do things I haven't done before, or seen before. I did this next series of pieces all simultaneously, which is art in itself, if I only recorded it. I painted, wrote, and constructed all at one time. I really enjoy it. Art is one of the only hobbies I have that can fully distract me. I would have composed a short tune at the same time, but I just thought of that now. Oh well. I wonder if that would be in the Guiness Book of World Records......Anyway, without further ado, this first piece is called:
Like Free
The next piece is:
Like Me
I've been wanting to do a "Physical" piece for a very long time. I was lost at first, and then my hands began to move all by themselves. I anxiously awaited what became of that. Walla.
Finally, I did a literary piece that accompanies the two pieces. It's short
Like ME
..Like Me
Like me- a jet-powered butterfly with wings,
Because it's never enough for me to just be king.
Like Free- patch made to ever adapt,
Because it's never an ending for me to just be trapped.
No words could ever be enough- destined for dust.
Life formulates sinking equations and I rise up.
With each sunrise, I am born clay, and strong in the moon.
There's eternity in a moment, yet it ends too soon.
This next series is a case of me doing something new. I always find my mind racing off, yearning to do things I haven't done before, or seen before. I did this next series of pieces all simultaneously, which is art in itself, if I only recorded it. I painted, wrote, and constructed all at one time. I really enjoy it. Art is one of the only hobbies I have that can fully distract me. I would have composed a short tune at the same time, but I just thought of that now. Oh well. I wonder if that would be in the Guiness Book of World Records......Anyway, without further ado, this first piece is called:
Like Free
I was going for simple without sacrifice. There is a lot of symbolism in this one.
Like Me
Finally, I did a literary piece that accompanies the two pieces. It's short
Like ME
..Like Me
Like me- a jet-powered butterfly with wings,
Because it's never enough for me to just be king.
Like Free- patch made to ever adapt,
Because it's never an ending for me to just be trapped.
No words could ever be enough- destined for dust.
Life formulates sinking equations and I rise up.
With each sunrise, I am born clay, and strong in the moon.
There's eternity in a moment, yet it ends too soon.
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