Coco

Our love for each other will live on forever

What is it about: A tale about family and where one boys dream will make him seek the truth about his origins 

The Good: 

Pixar has outdone themselves with the animation. They even give a brief description on how hard is it to make the effects 

The story is simple and yet complicated 

There are at least a couple of twists in the movie

The songs are a nice addition. The only song that stuck in my head was the last song in the movie. 

It's a rollercoaster of emotions 

Reminds me of guacamelee and grim fandango.

The Frozen movie was also a good edition 

The Bad 

Nothing... 

The Ugly

Nothing as well

After credits: No. Pixar rarely have after credits 

Verdict: You should watch this in the cinema. Just to support Pixar, plus is a great movie that warrants multiple viewings.

Justice League

It's not hitting all the right notes 

What is it about: Batman and Wonder Woman must recruit heroes to stop a threat that plan to destroy the world.

The Good: 

More of Wonder Woman and the Batman

The new heroes are a welcome addition

The breakout performer is Jason Mamoa who plans Aquaman. 

The effects are hit and a miss 

Action stands out 

Flash is funny and some of his jokes land. 

Superman is more light in character. Which is good since that's the Superman we love 

The music is a nod to 80's Batman and Superman soundtrack. 

The bad:

This movie is a bit disjointed. Scene move out from one to another. 

Batman is the Hawkeye of the group. He has been reduce to mere muscle and a suicide bomber rather than a brilliant technician. 

Their motivation for joining the team was so fast. I think that's the problem of no backstory. 

Steppenwolf is a CG mess. Makes him look less menacing.

A lot of scene were cut from the final film and it shows. 

The Ugly: 

The Flash runs like someone who doesn't know how to run properly. 

The only team members that are important is Superman and Cyborg 

It doesn't explain Superman new suit.

Henry Cavill very bad beard CG... Looks awful. 

After credits: Yup. 2 of them. Don't get the last part they show an obscure character. 

Verdict: Fun movie, but don't need to be a arch at the cinema. Wait for the BluRay release probably with extended footage 

Trevor Noah Born a Crime

A suprising read...

Trevor Noah is comedian who currently host the daily show. But how did his life started? How is his living growing in South Africa under the rule of Aparthied? 

How is it to be Born a Crime 

Title: Born a Crime Stories from a South African Childhood

Author: Trevor Noah (Daily Show host)

Pages: 304 (568 on iPhone) 

Chapters: 18 

What is this about:

It's about Trevor life growing up in South Africa with a black mother and a white father. The stories are not sequential but it moves from childhood, adolescent, teenager and adult. It touches on his love life, school, friends and most importantly his mom. This book is a love letter for her mom, the greatest women in her life. There are some chapters that are laugh out loud funny and there are some chapters that are sad and scary. It was a good read and i would definitely recommend it. 

Should you read it: yes, absolutely. Even you are not a fan of him also it's a good read 

Chiki Chiki Boys

A very pleasant game. It's been a while since I posted

Game no: 277

Genre: Action

Platform: Genesis

 

Difficulty: Moderate 

What is it about: No idea what's is it about but you play as a kid who likes playing dress up and needs to make his way on the tower 

What's great: 

Combat and platforming are spot on 

You have a power move that shoots balls

Stages varies from walking, flying and swimming 

Bosses provides a certain challenge 

You collect coins to buy upgrades

What's not so great: 

Nothing much... It's a solid action game 

Music: So-so

Status: Beat the game 

Should you play this game: yes, it's a feel good game that is fun to play

My wife had an operation

The past two weeks my wife keeps complaining of having stomach aches and nausea. Yesterday while at the specialist, he concluded that my wife's appendix is inflamed and needs to be operated. We were not expecting that. We checked in a room that had a dining area due to the fact that all other single rooms were not available. At 3pm today she went in surgery. She wouldn't return until close to 7pm. This is due to the fact that she was having a reaction to the general anesthetic. She is resting now... 

My cousin past away

Yesterday at 6.15am, my mom text me and said one of my close cousin (when I was young) past away. He suffered a brain tumor and he died due to water in the brain. I was not that close with him but I hope that Allah will bless his soul. al-fatihah

Blood, Sweat and Pixels

This is something new. My first and hopefully many book reviews.

Title: Blood, Sweat and Pixels - The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories behind how Video Games are made.
Author: Jason Schreier (Famously a reporter for kotaku.com)
Pages: 320 (620 on the iphone)
Chapters: 10



What is it about:
Video game development has always been a secretive process (why? I have no idea. Probably due to they don't want their tech being used by other parties. Maybe they just don't want to be scrutinize by everyone on why the game is taken so long). This book is here to tell what goes behind the scene of some most popular video games in the market now.

There are 10 chapters in the book:

1. Pillars of Eternity (8)
2. Uncharted 4 (2)
3. Stardew Valley (3)
4. Diablo III (10)
5. Halo Wars (9)
6. Dragon Age: Inquisition (6)
7. Shovel Knight (4)
8. Destiny (7)
9. The Witcher 3 (5)
10. Star Wars 1313 (1)

The only game I've played out of this 10 chapters is only Uncharted 4 which for me is a great read since you can relate where the game developers had issues designing the game.  I've rank the chapters from great to ok. By far the story of Star Wars 1313 is an amazing tale on which a game that everyone put their blood, sweat and tears just died at the 11th hour. This read felt like I was reading a story that go either way (well we do know what happen to this game in the end). To tell the truth I love a story about developers who are underdogs and don't have any funding from their main company to develop a game. It shows that the struggle is real. Games like Diablo III is already a great game that requires more polish so the story is good but not that great.

Don't get me wrong, each chapter there are great moments to be had and you will appreciate how hard is it to design something for us to enjoy for 10-20 hours and never touch it ever again (makes you wonder right... you take years to work on something only to have it either loved or hated by the community)

I have a feeling that there is going to be a sequel to this book and I hope that a couple of game will be covered

1. Any Metal Gear Solid game (Anything from Kojima)
2. Anything from a Japanese publisher
3. Nintendo (they are a very secretive bunch)

I would definitely recommend this book to be read by anybody who loves games. Non gamers will probably won't enjoy this book as much since there are lot of game development talk here.

Should you read this: Yes, great read. ended to soon

Biker Mice From Mars

Konami designs great games

Game no: 276 

Genre: Racing 

Platform: SNES

  

Difficulty: Easy (Since I played it on Easy) 

What's is it about:

The classic 90s cartoon about biker mice from Mars that is made into a racing game. 

What's great:

Isometric view of tracks. Each tracks comes with ramps and obstacles as well as power ups 

Choose for 6 different characters 

Upgrade your bike with 4 different upgrade points 

Use power ups such as missles and mines to fight your way to victory 

What's not so great:

The shoulder buttons is use to do a hard left and right. Some doesn't work that great. It will cause you to swerve the track 

You can't fully upgrade your bike since there are only 15 racers. Assuming you win every race, you still can't get full stats on all of your items. Which is a bummer since I was hoping to carry my upgrades to the easy level.

Music: Catchy. Lots of rock beats. The biker mice theme was not in the game but you can access it in the sound menu (wish most of the modern games have a sound test menu)

Status: Finish the game in easy
Should you play this: Yes and no, If you play it in normal or hard... you will probably lose badly. But you should try to play it with a friend. It is always fun playing a co-op racing game.

Lost my cat today 😞

During breakfast I wanted to go check on my cats. Came to their room and notice one of them were missing. We went all around the neighborhood looking for her but we can't find her. Duchess... Wherever you are I just want to say I'm sorry... 😭

Castlevania: Bloodlines

Super Mario Odyssey is an awesome game... Well while other are enjoying this great game I am playing another game that was also great during its time

Game no: 275
Genre: Action
Platform: Genesis

 

Difficulty: Hard

What is it about: Follow two different characters as they travel around the world to fight Dracula minions

What's great:
Is not a typical Castlevania game where you travel in different locations fighting bosses. There are 6 Stages in total
Choose from two characters, John Morris who uses the Vampire Killer and Eric Lecarde who use a lance
The sub weapons have two types of different


What's not so great: 
The game does not age well.
The physics of the game is very wonkey. When you fall from a ledge you will drop down splat on the ground.

Music: Masterpiece... There are a couple notable soundtracks. There even taken some sound form the SNES game
Status: Finish the game with John Morris
Should you play this game: No, there is no fun in dying multiple times