Halo Music

One other thing about Halo, the music. It's totally awesome, seriously someone should give those guys an award. When I make my first hollywood feature, I want them doing the score. They set the mood so perfectly and it's just beautiful.

Foo Fighters

I'd have to say that Dave Grohl and his band of Fighters of Foo are my all time favourite band. I love their music, Even the early stuff, which was just Dave on his own in a shed milling about playing everything like some wonderfully good one man band.

The band's progression is wonderful to behold, just by listening to a couple of tracks from each album it is possible to see a sound so individual and unique developing. I await each new album with baited breath. Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace was, for me, a masterpiece, and analysing when their past albums came out told me that one should have come out this year already so where is it.

And then they released a Greatest Hits album. My rage is unspeakable, I wanted an new album and a new chapter in the story of this band's progression. Not some list of songs I already own, with a couple of new ones chucked in to keep people like me happy. That kind of thing doesn't keep people like me happy.

Of course if this puts them on tour doing a greatest hits show, I would definitely go to see them but that doesn't change the fact that I don't have anything new to listen to from them and say how wonderful it is, and that's all I want.

Halo: Reach

What is Halo: Reach? I'm so confused about it. At first I tried to ignore it, it was gonna be released in 2010, that was like ages away but now 2010 is looming and I still know basically nothing. I thought for a while it might be Bungie's foray into the world of MMORPG, but that doesn't seem to be the case, it is definitely an FPS but as to what it's about I cannot attest.

In fact people in the Media who have been visiting Bungie recently, have been speaking about some secret room they have, where they are working on their project to come after Reach, and they all seem to be pretty impressed and wowed, so perhaps that's the MMO I think most Halo fans are expecting.

Thoughts and Comments please.

Halo 3: ODST

My previous game posts seemed to imply that I would reviewing each of the aforementioned games as they were released. So here is Halo 3: ODST.

I said that what got me excited about this was that it had a much darker look than the previous games. It fulfilled its promise there, the stunning scenery that you would usually expect from a Halo game was there with a whole new look, it was dark, it was cold it was windy and rainy.

My favourite thing though was the elite actors in this game. We've got half the cast of Firefly, spouting out lines from that wonderful show every few minutes and if that isn't enough we have the hot Cylon from Battlestar Galactica playing the role of Dare, an ONI agent.

The story was a lot of fun, the stealth elements worked well, without the Bungie folk having to employ any new and fancy stealth game mechanics. The map alone brings a whole new dimension to Halo, giving you the ability to plan your attacks and even avoid fighting in some cases.

I'm coming to the end of my second run through, it's even more fun this time round. The story is wonderful, fantastic voice acting, epic scenery, a great new feel, fun gameplay, everything you want from a Halo game and more.

In other game news, I won't be reviewing Forza 3 for the forseeable future, as I'm not crazy keen on splurging my money at the moment. The same goes for Modern Warfare 2, I really want to play it but that price tag is insane, don't think I'll be buying that for a while. Still not decided if I'm going to pre-order Assassins Creed 2, my most anticipated game of the year, but probably won't get it until Christmas.

Unemployed

This image, for me, is a perfect commentary on our current economic climate. This is at least how it has affected me the most. I've just graduated from university, I should be eligible for work, but there is nothing. I can't get a decent job and it's driving me insane. At the moment my favourite option is to return to Preston, the city of my university, and return to my university job, working at the local cinema.

It's nothing for a graduate but I'll be earning money, I'll be with friends, and I'll have somewhere to live. I'll also be living in a city, something I love.

Thoughts and comments please.

Filthy Teenagers

I read this article today on Slashfilm. For those who don't want to read it let me give you the gist of it. A new film has been announced which is a teen, reversed, skew on Nancy Meyers' 2000 film What Women Want.

The original film is great, it's pre-mega-crazy Mel Gibson at his best, in a wonderful Nancy Meyers film, in which a man gets a chance by a paranormal gift, to change who he is. Awesome premise, great film.

But isn't a reversed teen version of that film an oxymoron? The title is What Boys Want. I was, not too long ago, a teenage boy, so I know exactly what they want and I can tell you that it is not suitable to be heard in public at all, let alone by teenagers. So either this film will stay true to what teenage boys really think and get an 18 classification, preventing most teenagers from watching it, or it won't be a true representation of what teenage boys think at all, get a 12 rating and fall flat on its arse.

Thoughts and Comments please.

The Wire

I'm a latecomer to The Wire, as I type I'm watching the last episode of season 2. The Wire has been critically acclaimed as one of the greatest things since sliced bread. It's very good there's not doubt there. Some of the scenes are just pure genius, like the scene in season 1 where Bunk and McNulty are looking around a crime scene and using only one word repeatedly to draw conclusions and discuss their ideas. Or in season two when Greggs and Daniels are at dinner with their respective disgruntled partners and the camera rotates and switches between the two scenes.

These little moments of beauty are interspersed throughout a complex police investigation, conducted by talented but none-the-less flawed individuals, making them very relatable characters. Our protagonist, McNulty, is the antithesis of a classic hero, he sleeps around, he objectifies women, he's an alcoholic, but he's the best damn police Baltimore has ever seen, and more so than characters like House, his failings make him even more endearing.

The police investigation is wonderful to behold, these guys have a fraction of the resources of most police shows around, and yet they achieve remarkable things. We see every detail of the investigation, and the struggle to gather evidence when you know exactly what crimes the people you investigate are committing but can't take them down because of the lack of said evidence.

My criticisms of this show are few and small in magnitude. First of all is the character Prezbyluski. I think that's spelt correctly, when he first appeared he was violent, naive, abusive of his power and a bit of a little shit. However just a few episodes later he is this reformed, productive, resourceful and polite officer who everyone loves. Don't get me wrong I think his character is great, he and Lester are awesome but people don't just change like that. People barely change at all throughout there entire lives, and any major changes that do occur are usually things that the individuals have known to be true about themselves before the change. For massive change to come about, like that which occurred with Prez, it takes a long time and not one single event. In this the show falls down.

My next criticism is quite minor, the opening credits. They are so damned long, with that annoying song about Jesus or something. Opening credits can only serve to bore and frustrate viewers, they should be short and snappy, you throw up the titles and you go into the show.

Finally - and this isn't a criticism as such - I find myself only able to watch one episode at a time, which is strange because I'm the type that enjoys marathons. So my conclusion is that the show is not dramatic enough to draw me in to a sense of not being able to put this book down-ness.