The Three Musketeers

I love everything to do with The Three Musketeers.

I went and saw the new Three Musketeers.  but before i talk about that movie a little history. I have seen two newer versions of the movie and read the book by Dumas.  I saw the movie with Charlie Sheen first,  then i read the book, and finally i saw the movie "the Musketeer".  All these things were fun. but since I have read the book I really enjoyed this new movie.  This newest movie holds to the book better then any of the other movies I have seen.

The new movie follows D'artagnan and the three most famous Musketeers, Porthos, Athos, and Aramis.  Whats great about this movie, in the book, the characters all end up living together, and they only accept D'artagnan because he has cash. there are many things from the book that make apperances in the movie, such as the musketeers servant, and D'artagnan's bravado. the movie has some fun special effects.  the movie is not supposed to be historically accurate and because of that, there are a lot of cool things that the movie does with guns and such.

instead of giving the move a grade like most people would, I will say either i liked it or i didn't like it.


This movie, i liked










Musketeer logo from here
Like button from here

working out alone

I dont work out with friends.

    I do this for two reasons.  One, I like to be able to focus on what I am doing and not have to worry about anyone else.  And Two,  my friends have memberships to other gyms, so i cant workout with anyone that I like. 

     lets put aside the fact that i have to work out alone, and look at how one can turn this to there advantage.  Working out alone allows you to focus on exactly what YOU need.  With a friend, you have to always compromise, but by yourself, you dont.  another great thing about working alone is that you cut your time lifting weights, but still get the same amount of stuff done.  This may actually be really good, if you dont take very long breaks between sets, you keep your heart rate up and this means your constantly working, which is good.  

     The real reason that i wanted to write about working out alone, not just to tell you that you should abandon your friends, but to talk about how to get stronger with out having a spotter.  you dont need to pump so much weight that you can barely handle it to get stronger.  Most high school kids and young adults just go for more weight when they want to get stronger, but this is not what you should do. You should gradually increase that weight you can do.  for me, if i cant do 8 reps of what ever i am doing, I lower the weight.    As soon as i can do 14 reps no problem, i move up in weight.  This may even be to late, you could move up before that.

lion kitty by Codex

picking up Akham Asylum.... again

I just picked up Batman: Arkham Asylum.

      I love to watch playthroughs  on youtube. These playthroughs are typically done with the new games that come out.  When i first started watching these playthroughs, it was of games that I had bought, or had played.  But now that I am all caught up with those games, I want to listen and watch the comedy that comes out when people play a fun game.  the most recent game that looks like a blast is, Batman: Arkam City.  I havent bought the game, or even beat the first game.  so i thought that i would go back and play though Arkam Asylum.

     I want to go through the Arkham Asylum before I bought the new game, or even watch people playing it.

But now i want to give an impression of what i remembered about the first game.  The story is based on the idea that the joker breaks every one out of there cells and gives them fear reign of the facilities.  The game was fun, and the combat was fluid.  There was a ton of stuff to do, there are little "side quests" to deal with riddler puzzles.  This is a really cool deviation from the main story.  I remember that i liked the game, but it was really long and couldnt get through all of it in a few weeks. 

    so after i play the game for a little bit, i will come back and give a more in depth review.

Batman image from Desmm

Advertising video games

      There has been a trend to over hype games as of recently.  If one were to look at all the commercials that have appeared on TV or the internet, you will notice that some really bad games have used a lot of ad space.  I would like to talk about "Call of Duty: Black Ops", as one of the culprits of over hype.  I played through the game once, i didn't touch the multiplayer, but I knew from how the game felt during the single player, that i was not going to like it.  The single play felt, forced. the story didn't flow well, it felt like a group of guys got together over a couple of beers and came up with scenarios, then figured out a story that would tie them all together.  The game was marketed as a great story that takes you on a journey.  for me, it was a simple shooter with a crappy story.

            Another game that suffers from over hype is "Rise of Nightmares"  I recently read Game Informer's review of this game.  They didnt like the game at all.  the great thing that was advertised,  was the amazing controls that you would have with the Kinect.  needless to say, the controls need a bit of work.  

I was seeing advertising for both of these games every where.  I just hate to see bad games get a huge marketing budget, when they could have devoted funds to developing the game. 

I was thinking about this because "Saints Row the Third" is coming out, and the commercials look great.  I really hope that they didnt fuck it up.  

advertising image by Flaneur

Jazz band and music

In high school i used to play the trombone.

           those where some of the best days of my life. Sitting in band and playing along with these great musicians.  The kids where great at what they played, we had  trio of trumpets that were fucking amazing.  our sax section was super young and yet so talented.  our rhythm section was so in sync with each other, they kept time like no other.  It was a blast to play music with these people.  With these kids you felt the music and it just flowed.

My favorite jazz music was fast paced songs that were really lyrical.  Fables of Faubus, is a great example of this, it has a very set chorus that you always come back to.  The Buddy Rich version of love for sale by Cole Porter was another favorite of mine.  You cant play that song fast enough.

Now my music tastes of expanded, and i am remebering these days because I am doing one of those 30 day challenges.  i am on day 8.  its so much fun to go back and find these awesome songs that i had almost forgotten.



image by Rustymcgrady

old games. (ish)

I really do love almost every game that has come out for the Xbox.

    All of the really good quality games that have come out, have been great.  Some people would disagree with this statement, but those people are idiots.  My idea for a great game is one that you can play for a long time, and not get bored.  I recently got my hands on Call of duty 4: modern warfare.  That game, although frustrating of the hardest difficulty, is really fun.  And like most games that have come out that had some semblance of a budget, it looks really good.  

      Another example of a really good older game,  Splinter cell: conviction.  that game was a blast!!!!  that game had really good graphics, and a story to go along with it.  There were many games that were like this.  Need for Speed: most wanted, which might actually be the best need for speed game ever, was also a great game. All the Halo games (i havent played halo wars) are tons of fun.  I could go on about all the great games that have come out

if you havent really noticed, i am a total Xbox fan boy.  I cant really get into the PS3, just not my thing.


video game love at here
360 logo here

motivation and a 30 day challange

My GF said something to me today that really made me smile, but then it got me thinking, what motivates us to do better.  My better half made a comment that she ran on the treadmill all for me.  Now I have used this motivation a lot, to be better for some one else.  I have found a distinct problem with this doing for someone else,  and that is that your motivation can go away really fast.  As soon as you get some sort of gratification, you loose your motivation. so what i am saying is that, it is great for the short term, but if you want motivation in the long term you need something else.
cute kitty by inurearms

The motivation that you need to for long term things, is more personal. It has to make you happy, cause, who doesnt like to be happy.  and this type of motivation, is the hardest to find. I still havent really found that motivation myself, but i think im getting closer.



OH and i am doing a 30 day challenge, its based on songs. so i will be posting for each day starting tomorrow.

swimming

I went swimming for the first time in a long time.
     I was raised in The Netherlands, and over there you must learn to swim.  they take you out of school so that you can learn.  so i learned to love the water at a very young age. when my family and I came back to they united states, during the summer we would go to the pool every day.  and every summer, I would also join the summer swim team at the local pool.  This is just a little back story to illustrate how much i loved the water.  Now the summer going into freshman year i had to have surgery on my hand, this stopped my from playing football and swimming.   I basicly have swam since, this is only in comparison to swimming all the time.

      So back to present day.  I have been trying to get back into shape.  back when i was swimming alot, i was in really good shape.  This could have something to do with the fact that i was doing a ton of other physical stuff.  however swimming is a great physical thing.  I swam for 10 mins straight and was exhausted.  Aside from being a great cardio thing, you work lots of muscles that you dont work normally work when you are lifting weights.  basicly what i am saying is... GO SWIMMING, ITS REALLY GOOD.








image by Northexpedition

horrific ideas

the worst idea ever....
      the worst idea ever is to do part of a paper that is due the next day, and then crawl into bed and say you will do it in 15 mins.  I did this last night at around 8, cause i normally go to bed at 12 or so.  I promptly fell asleep.  The only good thing about this was that i then awoke at 3. this gave me enough time to finish the paper.

    but sleep is a major part of the bodies immune system.  Sleep also helps recover from hard work outs. so you need sleep.

i really like to sleep.  so tonight,  I will go to bed at around 9.  but the best part of it, i wont have a paper due the next day.





cute picture by northexpedition

Achievements

I really like getting achievements.

        I think they are a really fun thing to do when you have already beaten a game.  to just go back and play for the gamer score.  The problem that i have with achievements is that there are some that you cant get unless you play multiplayer.  I dont have alot of friends on Xbox live and thus don't play multiplayer as often as others.  This makes it inherently difficult to get some achievements.   To get the multiplayer achievements, unless you have friends, you have to play the game in the first week. Other wise, the people who are playing the game go back to playing either call of duty, or halo. 

    The second problem that i have with multiplayer achievements is that with an old game, you cant go back and get all the achievements, no one is playing them.  Currently i am playing saints row, and i would expect that people are playing the saints row 2 multiplayer, that is if they liked the first one.  this makes it IMPOSSIBLE to get saints row 1 achievements. which is really irritating.

image by Gillonator

Music

I listen to music just like any normal person.

   the way that i listen to music is on an ipod touch.  but what i am currently liking a lot, is techno music.  the awesome person day[9] has recently introduced me to Blue Sky Black Death.  They are a very ambient and sound nice.  what i mean by this is that the sound of there music is very harmonic (no dissident chords).  day[9] has also shown a couple of other bands that are really fun: Purity Ring, and Ludique.  these bands just like BSBD have nice harmonies.



    Another person that I find fun is Deadmau5.  Although, I am very selective with his music that I like.  the majority of his stuff is very dissident, and thus unpleasing to my ears.  I come from a background music,  my mothers plays the piano and sings, both my sister and brother played instruments.  And in high school i played the trombone, in both jazz band an the orchestra.  So what is pleasing to me, is some jazz, classical, and most of Classic rock.  I can understand how some people like the dissident stuff that deadmau5 likes, but for me... it just doesnt do it.




image by Vegeta

a little change of style

I don't feel like my style of blogging is that effective.  Yeah it may be good if i am writing articles ever once and a while for a magazine, but this is just for me.  If along the way I am able to give some knowledge to some people, that's great. 

So now instead of just talking exclusively about video games and fitness and things that relate to either of those things, I will expand to what I like.  Dont worry, there will still be a lot of stuff dealing with dealing with gaming and working out... mainly because that is what is going to be on my mind.  But i think that occassionly i will talk about music, food, and how bad my fashion is.

Puppy photo by iNGonit