Tag: Opinion

2 Years Today, Semper Fidelis

I don’t often share personal still on this blog, and I know many of you come here for reviews and opinions on games and movies or some quick news. So by all means skip this post,I won’t be insulted at all. None of that will be found here. This is simply me talking about what happened 2 years ago today, and why the United States Marine Core Motto is here.

First, me and my dad were never all that close. I have been calling him Drew since I was about 12. For the most part we watched some movies together here and there and in the summer until I was a bit older we played baseball, aside from that he did his thing and I did mine. He was also did some time in Vietnam and was a corporal in the United States Marines, one of the few things I have ever known him to be proud of besides the 9 years he spent working on an ambulance.

Despite us not being close he did teach me some things, many of them I found out later from my girlfriend were quite odd. For example he taught me how to make some basic traps and explosives. I never really got a straight answer on why besides “why not, they taught me so i’m teaching you” which as a kid made as much sense as anything else but as an adult, really doesn’t. He taught me some basic emergency first aid, which again his answer to why was “Why not, I know so I am teaching you” which again as a kid made sense. This pattern repeats quite a bit honestly. He wasn’t perfect tho, he was quite abusive towards me and my brother yet never my mother. In fact I don’t even think he knew he was abusing us tho I can really understand why he would think punching a 10 year old in the face was ok.

Oddly this stopped when we swung back. Clearly it didn’t end very well for me or my brother at the time,hell we were kids and he was a Marine, but it was almost like the whole thing was his way of making sure we could take care of ourselves and when he knew we could he saw no point.

Another thing he taught me, tho he never knew it was that if you have the ability you should help those around you. It always bothered me as a kid that he would take off to help someone that wasn’t his family when they got hurt or sick. Once at about 3 in the morning a guy was harassing our neighbor and he went and beat the crap out of the guy. As an adult tho, I find myself doing similar things to the point my girlfriend and Ex wife have numerous times told me I have a hero complex and need to save everyone.

All of this story does have a point. A little over 2 years ago we found out Drew had cancer. He seemed to have known for awhile and never mentioned it. See we lost contact for about a decade and when his mom died he came home for the funeral and just kind of stayed. He was here for a couple years before he died getting to know his grand kids. He had a few, 4 granddaughters. The youngest is only 2, only a few months old when he kicked the bucket actually. He died June 1st 2017, and as I write this that morning I was talking to my mom and she said she didn’t think he would last much longer and offered to drive over to get me so I could say good bye. At the time she didn’t really understand why I said no, but I told her he probably would’y last until I got there. See it is about a 20 minute trip to my house and back and I didn’t want my mom to not there.

It was only about 10 minutes later I got a text, “he’s gone.”  See I had visited the weekend before and had already had my time with him to say good bye. Neither me or Drew outright said it would be the last time we saw each other but we both knew. He just asked a bunch of questions he usually didn’t ask me, like ever. Truthfully I never told anyone this before, it was always just our moment, but I feel the need to share now. He asked how the kids were but not in the sense of that day. My oldest daughter Marissa is high functioning autistic and he wanted to know if I thought she would be ok in life and if I realized that if Kaitlin had a bit more confidence she would go further than any of us. He mentioned how cute Penny was and how he thought her and Aria (my niece) would probably be inseparable and he was right. Most importantly tho I remember going to leave that day and knowing he would say what he always does, “Be good Matt, see you later” as he had since I was a little kid. This time it never came tho. It was the moment I realized he truly was saying good bye in his own way. It hasn’t always been easy, nor have I always succeeded. In fact i am pretty sure I have failed more than I succeeded. But the last words I ever heard him say were “Have fun Matt, do good” So with that in mind old man Semper Fidelis, dad.

Memorial Day (United States)

As Memorial Day comes winding down in the United States (I am being specific because I know many of you in other countries have your own Memorial Day, or version of it) I just wanted to take a minute to tell you all to be careful on your way home tonight as always, but also to remember the lives that were lost not for what they were, but for the plans they had. Entire lives planned out suddenly lost, so with that in mind don’t wait on the things you want, because next year may not come. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory, and those that came before us peace.

Game Of Thrones Ending (Spoilers)

As the title says, this is about the ending of Game of Thrones and contains spoilers so please, stop reading now if you haven’t watched. This will contain spoilers, in fact, this contains the ultimate spoilers.

Everyone here that wants to be here? Cool. There have been a lot of complaints about the last season of G.O.T. and the end is no exception, and let us be honest, this was always going to happen. Everyone had their idea of who would take the Iron Throne and how and why and what Jon and Sansa would end up doing? Well, we finally have an answer after 8 years.

To give you a quick rundown, After realizing what Dany turned into, Tyrion begs Jon to do the right thing, and he does. He gives her one last chance to do the right thing and when he sees she is clearly not going to, he stabs her with a knife and kills her. Drogon in his rage won’t hurt Jon, which there are already many theories on why melts the Iron Throne and takes the body of Daenerys Targaryen and flys away, presumably back to Valyria. This results in Jon being arrested by Grey Worm.

This is where Tyrion explains it doesn’t matter what anyone wants to do, it all is the choice of the new king or queen and since the most powerful people in Westeros are gathered they should just pick one. Samwell Tarly votes to let everyone have a vote, but he gets laughed at. Tyrion has a better idea, to give it to someone with a story because stories unite people and never die. And nobody has a better story than Bran the Broken who fell from a tower and lived, cross the wall despite having no use of his legs and became the one eyes raven. The fact that he can’t have kids is sold as a good thing, because as they have all seen the son of kings and queens can be cruel and kings should be chosen at that spot from now on by the houses of Westeros.

Grey Worm is fine with this but demands Jon still be punished, and he is banished back to the wall and the Night Watch. Meanwhile, Tyrion is once again Hand of The King which he refuses because he doesn’t want it. Bran points out he doesn’t want to be king, but there they are.

The issue is most people are upset and don’t realize pretty much everyone got exactly what they wanted. Jon didn’t want to be king, in fact, he liked the north to the point when Tormund invited him to go he basically says he wishes he could. The show literally ends with him walking out of the wall into the north with Tormund and the Wildlings.

Arya points out nobody knows what is west of Westeros because all the maps end at Westeros and she decides to go there, and interestingly enough the last thing you see of her is her on a ship and the ships sale is of a wolf, the implication being she is the captain of the ship. This is of course what she always wanted, she wanted to go on adventures and do her own thing.

Last is Sansa, and if you think back to season 1 all she wanted was to be queen. Her end is she is the Queen of The North as she told Bran that the North would remain a free realm despite the fact that she loved him.

That is what people are missing, all the main characters in the end that are alive got what they wanted plus they got a king that wasn’t a tyrant or power hungry. While the ending isn’t perfect, it is still a pretty happy ending for the characters we grew to love over the years and the world is a better place. The wheel is broken and most importantly,  Tyrion lived. Tell me what you guys think, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

Lucifer Season 4 Ending Thoughts (Spoilers)

Once again if you missed it, this will contain spoilers for the end of Season 4 of Lucifer. So please, stop reading now if you want it the surprise reserved.

So the end of this season finally got us a few things many fans have been wanting for years. For starters, Chloe finally tells Lucifer she loves him, we get the first real kiss between the 2 of them and we get to see Lucifer in all his devil glory as he commands an army of demons back to hell.

On the flip side, we get a very emotional goodbye when Lucifer realizes as long as he stays on Earth they will disobey him and more will come, and Chloe and his friends will be at risk. So despite Chloe being upset and crying and begging he returns to hell to rule, and that is where the season ends.

I am actually quite happy with this ending. See as of now when I wrote this there is no word on a season five of the show. This ending is truly the end, it closes it all up. We got to see a goodbye between the 2, Lucifer is in hell ruling, Chloe is still a cop, Linda and Amenadiel have baby Charlie and are raising him on Earth. For the most part, it is all wrapped up nice and neat. So for me, this was a great end to a season they knew could very well be their last. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Lucifer Season 4 Thoughts So Far (Spoilers)

As with my Game of Thrones stuff, there are spoilers here, if you haven’t watched yet and want to keep the surprise, stop reading now. This only covers the first 6 episodes.

As we all know, I am a pretty big fan of Lucifer 1-3 Impressions and I honestly was a bit nervous for Netflix to be taking over. I wasn’t sure it would maintain the charm I loved about the whole thing, and when I found out one of the first things they were doing is adding a new character in Eve to the show I was even more skeptical. I have to admit tho I am rather fond of her, and the fact that my girlfriend hates her makes me like her a bit more. The show has become a bit odd in the sense that it’s basically one step away from being a porn movie. Granted it has always been that, but now they are pushing that to new limits. For example, if you want to see Lucifer (Tom Ellis) or Aimee Garcia (Ella Lopez) walk around a nudist colony with their bare butts showing, you finally can.

I also rather enjoy that Ella has a new and improved role in the show. No not walking around naked or kissing Eve. I mean those things happen, but even tho she is still the perky lovable self she is having a crisis of faith and even professes to no longer believe in God which is ironic since she routinely hangs out with an angel and the actual devil. Chloe also has gone through quite the change after seeing Lucifer is really who he said he was. She now is walking a fine line between loving her friend and being absolutely terrified, which is fair since the Devil is historically kind of a dick in literature. The only sad part is the season is only 10 episodes. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Game Of Thrones Thoughts (Spoilers)

Before we go any further, in case you didn’t catch it in the title there are spoilers here. If you haven’t seen the latest episode and want to keep the surprises, stop reading now.

A lot of people are upset with this weeks episode and honestly, to a point, I get it, but not the part many people are complaining about. Many are upset about Dany burning the city with a dragon after they surrendered. The problem is this was always going to happen and has been hinted at for years. She burned a witch alive in season one and in season 2 she literally said if she was turned away when her dragons grew up she would burn their city first and in that same season also said she would take what was hers with fire and blood. Then multiple times in the last season she outright says she wanted to just take her dragons and burn the city. This isn’t even counting the times she just had her dragons burn random people she could have killed in any number of ways. No, if you thought this wasn’t what she was always going to logically do yo simply were not paying attention.

My issue comes in at the death of Jamie and Cersei. First, let me get it out of the way, yes it is poetic and makes sense. I just feel robbed that after watching Jaime be a complete dick for all these years and toss a kid out a window and ditch Brienne of Tarth after destroying Tormunds chances with her, the couple we all wanted to have, this incestuous bastard and his crazy sister get crushed by a rock. Close to a decade and over 70 episodes waiting to see these two get what they deserve, and she gets crushed with a building. Yea, I feel robbed. That being said, I don’t have an issue with her breakdown, it made sense. What mother wouldn’t have one knowing she was about to die and her unborn child, the last one she would have after the death of her others was going to die with her, and freedom was just on the other side of a tunnel. It is enough to destroy anyone, and for s that wanted to see her go, that will have to be enough. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Happy Mothers Day

The title on this one really says it all. Today is mothers day, and I know more than a couple of my readers are just that, mothers. I also have kids of my own and a mom, so this short post is dedicated specifically to them. We may complain about you and your constant whining and nagging, but we appreciate and love you anyway, mostly because if you didn’t nag us we really would forget most of what you keep telling us needs to be done. Enjoy your day, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The 13th Friday (2017)

I have never put something like this, but today I will. If your name is Justin Price, the man who wrote and directed this, stop reading now. You will not appreciate this review. I am sure you are a nice guy who loves films, and I don’t doubt you know your craft well, and I will happily watch your next movie. You do however owe the actors and audience of this movie an apology.

To the actors within the movie, you did the best you could with what you were handed, and I am sorry you were treated this way. I hope you were well compensated tho, and not just with experience. I am not the only one that feels this way either, Film Threat was also not very kind to this movie, and nobody should be. The plot pretty much makes a mockery of every part of horror movies and is so convoluted and ridiculous as to serve no real narrative purpose. It was so busy seeing if something could be done it was never asked if it was even worth doing. It then had an ending that existed for the same of having an ending, not because it was an ending anyone wants or more importantly needed. It is almost like having a twist ending for the sake of having a twist ending, but there was no twist. The movie just ends, almost randomly and tossed together real quick before the budget runs out.

All I can say is, do not watch this movie. It isn’t even a fun train wreck, it is simply an example of how to not make a movie. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

More Thoughts on Imperator Rome

So I have decided to do this less as a review and more as a series of post on my thoughts as I play. You can find my first one Imperator Rome First Impressions.

I have bounced around a bit, played a few countries, got killed, started over and finally settled as playing Carthage because I wanted to create New Carthage and destroy Rome. It is probably a pretty standard goal I admit, next I will use Boi to take over a bunch of stuff cuz reasons.

Anyway, I am still having a ton of fun with the game but there are a few things bothering me that others have also brought up. This is mainly the games mana system. You get certain powers such as religion and military and others which let you perform certain actions, and I spend a lot of my time simply waiting for these things to build up. This is by no means a deal breaker, and I get they needed a way to balance things, but maybe they could boost it a bit so I spend less time sitting around waiting.

Aside from that, I really enjoy spending time planning wars, who I want to attack and when, forging new alliances and deciding what I need to trade the most. Changing history is always a good time for me and I can see myself playing this long into the future even tho I know paradox will probably screw us with DLC. A lot of other people have complained that many of the aspects of the game just don’t go deep enough, for example, you can interact with characters like Crusader Kingdoms 2, but not as in depth and by combining so many aspects of games but to a lesser degree you take away from the total experience. For me tho I simply don’t see it. While I can agree where they are coming from the enjoyment is still there and none of it seems overly watered down.

The game is still having bugs fixed tho, and it seems like this will be a bigger process than many expected so it seems like there will be more of these updates. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Game of Thrones Season 8 opinion so Far

I don’t normally talk about Game of Thrones, not for any particular reason, I just don’t really do it. I love the show tho and have for a while. I have to be honest tho, the first two episodes were a bit disappointing and I really don’t get why people were so upset by the  Arya Stark sex scene considering all the incest and hookers they were ok with. She was just a soldier that wanted to get laid the night before the biggest battle of her life and chose a friend she has known for years.

In contrast episode 3 of season 8 truly was one of the best episodes of the series. I won’t give away any spoilers because I want to give people more time to see it, but you never really knew how many of the dead they were fighting or exactly where the Night King and his dragon were. We knew SOMEONE was going to die, but who was always u in the air pretty much right up until the end which for anyone paying attention was hinted at throughout the series but was done very well. The action was great and while many are upset at how dark the episode was, it needed to be. It was a battle at night against the undead in winter. The idea that the people fighting can’t see exactly who was doing what and where is normal and would be pretty accurate. The final season for me was off to a slow start, but episode 3 has more than made up for it. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.