Angel (Season 3)

After getting through Angel (Season one) and Angel (Season 2) getting to season three was a bit odd because it starts the season off with Buffy having died over in her show, which is also where season two ended. Season 3 is one of the more wild seasons truth be told. Angel becomes a dad, Wesley betrays the group, a human from Angel’s past is trying to kill him and Darla. The whole thing is just pretty insane.

His son Connor is born when Darla Stakes herself to save her son when she realizes she can’t possibly give birth properly and even if she did the only reason she loves him now is because the baby is inside her.

This is just some of the crazy and weird stuff going on this season. It truly is enjoyable and weirdly the show doesn’t go downhill or lose anything up until this point. The characters have continued to grow and change like real people, including the bad guys from Wolfram and Hart aren’t the same as they started out. You can slowly see the cracks where they aren’t so much as evil as they are regular humans doing bad things for selfish reasons or simply for survival.

My only real complaint at this point is much of the story has gone away from Angel finding redemption and helping people. The reason for this makes sense but I still wish that was more of a thing. regardless, the show is still a great watch. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

Time to Blame Games, Again.

It seems like every year this happens. We get a mass shooting and a politician blames video games. Ok, I live in America, we get a mass shooting every week or two. The blaming video games thing tho doesn’t quite happen every time. They break it out here and there like your mother breaks out the fine china to impress a house guest, usually right around election time. It makes things look better to the people they want to impress than they actually are. Most of them realize games don’t actually cause violence. There are dozens of studies that show it, here I will link a few.

University of Oxford

APA Review

Journal of Youth and Adolescence

Now if you don’t want to bother reading all three of those links, which I understand, the general idea is simple. There might be some link between increased aggression similar to how watching a football or hockey game will increase aggression, causing trash-talking or yelling and maybe the occasional fight, but they aren’t causing large scale violence or criminal activity. Hell, we have all seen fights at the grocery store, does that mean buying waffles causes mass shootings or crime? No, clearly not. So why are so many people willing to accept games cause mass shootings but not accuse movies of doing it or football games creating NFL players? Well, honestly it is easy.

People desperately want an answer to why these things happen and want to know how we make it end, but they don’t want to risk sacrificing anything that affects them. So what better scapegoat than video games? Many older people don’t play them, most don’t understand them and see no benefit to them and they sure as hell don’t respect the people that play or create them.

It is easy to cling on to faulty research from decades ago or beliefs that didn’t pan out, but it is hard to abandon those for new information. Video games don’t cause mass shootings, guns in the hands of psychos do. Guns in the hands of fanatics do. I’m not just picking on guns, giving psychos and fanatics knives or air places would have the same results. Video games, however, are not a cause. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Angel (Season 2)

As I continue to make my way through Angel, season 2 has a different tone than Angel (Season one)  We learn much about the past of Angel and how he became a vampire to begin with. We always knew he was pretty much one of the evilest vampires to ever live, but he and his creator Darla pretty much went through Europe and Asia killing men, women, and children until he was cursed by gypsies for killing one of their own.

This season will also introduce a new and loved character, Fred, she is a bit crazy and out of touch after spending 5 years in a hell dimension however who amongst us wouldn’t be?

Each episode does a great job of showcasing how the characters have changed since season one and continue to change during season 2. Lorne also really comes into his own with his club Caritas becoming a frequent place the crew will visit for much-needed advice and wisdom. Caritas is a karaoke bar and sanctuary where demons are incapable of violence. It is a really nice touch and a good way to explain how demons can interact without things going badly. It is also a nice addition to the show and worth checking out. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Junkyard Tycoon Business Simulator (mobile)

This is one of those games that looked pretty cool if you like tycoon games, had decent enough reviews to be worth checking out, and turned out to be horrible.

The general idea is you buy an old car, strip it for parts, and then sell them when the price is high to make your money back. This sounds easy and it techncially is, but it can be very time consuming. Many times I would spend more time waiting to sell parts than it took to get the parts in the first place.

The game starts off sloq as you can only have one car at a time, but as you get more money you can buy more space and more cars. This doesn’t really get you money faster so to speak, you still spens most of your time waiting. The more expensive cars are worth more money obviously but the waiting still sucks.

As with many mobile games I review, this one is best avoided. There are just better games out there that are far more fun. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Take Your Stinking Paws Off Me, You Damn Dirty Ape!

mastermixmovies's avatarMaster Mix Movies

Planet of the Apes is the classic tale of an upside down world where apes are the dominant species. It’s a concept that could have very easily been campy, but everything behind the scenes ensured that wouldn’t be the case. Respected actor Charlton Heston stars in what is perhaps the most iconic (non-biblical) role of his career. Ironically he’s the only major celebrity not wearing a monkey suit. Although the makeup may seem dated by today’s standards, it was groundbreaking at the time. Sure the mouths sometimes didn’t move properly. It didn’t stop the film from winning an honorary Oscar for Best makeup. Coupled with thought-provoking themes of class, humanity, war, and even faith, and Planet of the Apes became one of the most talked about movies of the late 60’s. My parents first introduced us to Planet of the Apes at a very young age. With all its profanity…

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Country Bear Jamboree — Master Mix Movies

The Country Bears is one of the earliest movies based on a Disney park attraction. Something that would become a bit of a trend moving forward. Why they thought making an entire movie centered around the “Country Bear Jamboree” was a good idea is beyond me. I didn’t see the movie until very recently. Despite […]

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Angel (Season one)

Angel is one of those shows I watched when I was much younger that I enjoyed, tho it had a counterpart Buffy the Vampire Slayer that I didn’t really care for weirdly. I recently watched season 1 just for a break in my usual stuff while my daughter is running around and I have to say all these years later and David Boreanaz is still a joy to watch. He really nails the dark and brooding part of the show, but his sense of humor is still note worthy. A lot of people can pull of the dark and broody attitude or have a great sense of humor, most can’t do both as well as David. His chemistry with Charisma Carpenter is also pretty great who pulls off the ditzy rich chick role amazingly.

Both characters will slowly grow into people that are trying to improve themselves as they are far from perfect. Angel is on a quest for redemption as his previous life of evil landed him with a curse from gypsies that gave the vampire his soul back. They fight the good fight against other vampires, demons, and lawyers. The last one isn’t a joke by the way, there really is a law firm in the show called Wolfram and Hart. They are basically involved in helping the underworld stary out of jail and hide their activity. It is a pretty cool concept that works out well. Regardless if you haven’t seen the show before it is worth checking out. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Forager (PS4)

Forager is a game that out the gate seems overwhelming and weird. You basically start as a guy with a pickaxe and are told to build something. After that, the game basically leaves you alone. You then collect resources with your pickaxe to build new things and collect money. More money will let you unlock more land and build bigger and better things.

Over time you can build machines that will blast resources for you as they pop-up and you can get new skills to auto collect them. There is quite a bit of land to explore, temples to explore, enemies to fight and plenty of things to build and upgrade. There is no shortage of things to do, tho they do get a bit repetitive most notably at the beginning when you are simply doing the same thing while struggling to get what you need to build basic things. It isn’t long before things start to open up tho and you start to notice how many things tie together to create a pretty original experience despite the fact it feels like a cross between Minecraft and Terraria, both great games in their own right. If you like them tho, you may enjoy this one. So by all means check it out, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Endgame Writer Explains Why There Was No Thanos/Hulk Rematch

ScreenRant recently talked about how co-writer of Avengers Endgame Stephen McFeely finally answered the question of why we never got to see that Hulk vs Thanos rematch many of us looked forward to. As one of the people that was initially annoyed by this I have to admit, it makes a lot of sense. The general idea is simple. After the snap, he learned to be more one with the Hulk and became Smart Hulk as the MCU calls him. Because of this, it was no longer a driving force for him to fight Thanos or anyone else.

That is it, that is why we never got our rematch. Because Smart Hulk had no desire to fight him again. Now while this does make sense, I will admit I still would have enjoyed seeing this. Going forward tho smart hulk can be quite fun to watch. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Quick Game Review: Rage 2 (Xbox One) — BeardedGamer82 Gaming Blog

Quick Game Review: Rage 2 (Xbox One) Rage 2 is an Open World FPS and the sequel to Rage that previously released on PS3 and Xbox 360. Rage 2 continues the gunplay success of the original Rage and shows why it’s so renowned for its top-notch gunplay. Each weapon and melee attack are done with […]

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