The Billionty-Oneth Geek: Older Than 8 Since 1991

Last night I was having some trouble sleeping and I started to think about time travelling. I was thinking that if it were possible in the future and if it were easily accessible (like it is in the movies), then how come I haven't met my future self yet? I came up with a few reasons: My future self chose to meet me when I was too young to recognize or comprehend who he was. My future self was too old to recognize. The intergalactic robotic war in the future had left my future self so disfigured, I was rendered unrecognizable to my current self. My future self used a memory clearing device on my current self thus removing the event from my memories (like in Men In Black). My future self dies before the technology is widely available to the public. The Space/Time Lords of the future demand that all time travellers wear either a cloaking device or a temporary full body transformation device when travelling to the past. I know, I'm a geek who has watched one too many movies. But ...

What a movie. What a MOVIE! Okay, this movie was in no way great. It was good for what it's worth, but compared to other slasher legends, this one is just another run of the mill horror flick. What it has going for it is it's gimmick. It's all about the gimmick! I have no doubt that were this not in glorious 3D, that this would go straight to DVD. This movie is boasting that it's the first rated R movie to be fully in 3D. I suppose all the ones in the 80's don't count because they weren't fully 3D. I have to admit, the use of 3D in this movie is fun, and in the end, is what saves this movie from complete disaster. Body parts, blood, and boobs are always flying at you off the screen, making for an enjoyable time at the cinemas. I'm not going to go through the plot because, well, slasher's are hardly ever about the plot. It's all about the kills. "A killer is on the prowl in a small town, killing off the townsfolk left and right...

After two years of waiting, I finally got my hands on Gears of War . I solely blame this game's ad campaign for initially triggering my desires for an Xbox 360. Do you remember those ads in late 2006? They mixed scenes within the game to the song by Gary Jules, "Mad World". It's poetic. The story is your standard sci-fi affair - an alien race is trying to take over the world, and you as the humans must foil their plans. The main character of the game is an overgrown, over-muscled, and chiseled ex-convict named Marcus Fenix. You and your team of grunts are charged with the mission of stopping an alien insurgence, a race dubbed The Locusts. If you're looking for a game with an in-depth and intriguing story, you might want to look elsewhere. But if you're looking for a game to shoot shit up with, then Gears of War is your best friend. The game plays like a first person shooter but is more of a hybrid between that and the third person perspective. Your c...

So as I mentioned in a previous post, I received an Xbox 360 for Christmas from my dad. A great present it was! I've had 3 weeks to enjoy it so I guess I can give you my impressions of it now. First the controller. In truth, I haven't felt a controller this comfortable in my gaming life before. As a child who grew up on the 8-bit generation, with just a directional pad and 2 buttons, there was quite a learning curve getting used to using two analog sticks at the same time. You might say, "Hey Lam, how bout the PS2? You have that machine, and that has analog sticks". True, but of the twenty or so games I have for that, all of them used either only 1 analog stick, or allowed the option to switch on to the directional pad. Using 2 sticks at the same time was at first just uncomfortable. This made for all sorts of trouble as I was playing Gears of War . Luckily for me, I had computer controlled teammates that watched my back. I love the Media Center capabilities...

I know lots of critics are saying that this year was a great year for films, but personally, I feel last year was much better. I remember when I was trying to compile last year's list of favourite movies, I had a really tough time... every day I'd be swapping around in the top five places. I've watched just about all of the so called highly acclaimed films this year (including 4 of the 5 best movies nominated by the Golden Globes) but didn't connect with many of them as others had. This year was a bit easier and I found that more than anything, I was scrambling to find movies to fill in the bottom of the list. Anyhow, here they are in reversed order: 10. Forgetting Sarah Marshall - One thing I love about the Apatow ring of movies is that although its crude and silly humour a lot of the times, his crew understands that to make the comedy work, you've got to give your characters a lot of heart. The characters are always flawed but we're still sympathetic toward...

Okay, so there' s nothing geeky about this post at all, but I just read this article and thought to share it with you. After I read it, I thought, "man, life can be pretty shitty sometimes, but life can also be pretty good". Case in point: On the day that Donald Peters died, he unknowingly provided financial security for his wife of 59 years and their family. Peters bought two Connecticut Lottery tickets at a local 7-Eleven store on Nov. 1 as part of a 20-year tradition he shared with his wife Charlotte. Later that day, the 79-year-old retired hat factory worker suffered a fatal heart attack while working in his yard in Danbury. On Friday, his widow cashed in one of the tickets: a $10 million winner which, in her grief over her husband's death, she had put aside and almost discarded before recently checking the numbers. "I'm numb," Charlotte Peters, 78, said at Connecticut Lott...

Let the Right One In is a Swedish drama/horror movie that leans more towards its dramatic base than its horror. In fact the only reason I would call it a horror movie is because there is a vampire in it, other than that, nothing really horrific happens in the movie. Don't get me wrong, there is a little blood and gore, but its not used as a cinematic device to scare the viewers in any way. The story is about a 12-year old boy named Oskar who is a bit of a loner without friends at school and without much of a relationship with his mom at home. He's constantly picked on by a bunch of bullies at school and doesn't have much of a backbone to stand up for himself. Cue in Eli. She is a new girl who moved in to the apartment next door, whom Oskar befriends and eventually falls for. Unlike anyone else in Oskar's life, she takes time to listen to him and be his friend, while teaching him a thing or two about confidence. Little does Oskar know that his new best friend is ...