Wednesday Night Ramblings - December 30 2015 - New Year's Resolutions

           Given that this is the last WNR of the year, it`s time to look forward to next year. The idea of a resolution is a great thing, but the problem is that they don`t stick. For 2016, there are just a few simple things I want to do, and do well. First, health. 2015 has been an up and down in fitness. Let`s keep next year consistent, which means eating better and exercising much more. Second, school. I need to take it more seriously. It`s starting to kick my butt now and it`s only going to get worse. Third, blog. I`ve had some rough patches so the schedule for reviews and WNR has been all over the place. Next year, I hope to get it all back in order. No promises, but I will try. So with that I will keep this entry short so that I can enjoy the last few days of the year and then get cracking on work. Happy New Year to everyone and see you all in 2016.

WWE 2K16

Now That's Hardcore - 15G - Hit an opponent with a foreign object or put them through a table

Destined for greatness - 30G - WWE Universe - Stack both Momentum and Hot Streak statuses to 10 through gameplay or simulation

Phenom vs. Scorpion - 30G - WWE Universe - Win a Wrestlemania match between Undertaker and Sting

Suplex City - 30G - With Lesnar, execute German Suplex 4 or Back Suplex 2 10 times in a single match

Oh My! - 15G - Put your opponent through the announce table via OMG momment

Tap! Tap! Tap! - 15G - Make an opponent tap out with a submission that is not a finisher or a signature move

Feed me more - 15G - Use the quick edit function in a moveset

A creator is born - 15G - Upload any kind of user created content once

Enter like a champ - 15G - View an entrance scene that uses a custom championship

This is my yard - 15G - Create a show that uses a custom arena and an imported logo for its show logo

Tragic Commentators - 15G - Destroy 2 announce tables within a single match

Face of the WWE - 15G - WWE Universe - Create major shows for Mon-Sat and assign the same superstar to each show

Lego Jurassic World

The human piece of toast - 10G - Gave Timmy a shock

WWE Reviews #4 - The World's Greatest Wrestling Managers (2006)

           This one is a bit of an older collection, dating all the way back to 2006. The style of the documentary definitely follows the style of a decade ago. Nevertheless, the focus of this collection is on wrestling managers. The collection thankfully does not completely ignore the past of these managers before they came to WWE. It also has a good variety of managing types. There is no real ranking of the manager here. There are short biographies of a select few managers and then some general explanations on what managers do. It`s a decent collection but much like True Giants, it does not give much new information on the individuals and is worth watching if you can catch it on the WWE Network but not worth buying.

Score: 6.5/10

TV Reviews #12 - X-Files Season 7 (1999-2000)

Review: After getting some answers in season 6, hopes were high that season 7 would continue doing the same. Thankfully they did by answering the biggest question of all; what happened to Mulder’s sister. Although the answer is bizarre, even for the X-Files, at least there is a conclusion to this storyline.

This season featured a lot of good one-shot episodes but not that many dealing with the main storyline. We especially got to see more of Scully’s character as she had several episodes separated from Mulder and all to herself. These episodes gave us a better understanding of her character and how she felt after all these years working on the X-Files.

There were a lot of gimmick episodes in season 7. It seemed liked the showrunners needed to pull out some weird new ideas to keep the show fresh. There was an episode filmed like the show “COPS”, one where Mulder and Scully ended up in a videogame, another where they became characters in a movie played by Gary Shandling and Tea Leoni and one episode even had a genie. They generally worked for a laugh or two but more often than not felt out of place.

This season was still good but you could feel that they were starting to run out of ideas. This may be the last quality season, we’ll see how seasons 8 and 9 fare.

Score: 7.5/10

Wednesday Night Ramblings - December 23 2015 - "That Guy" actors we've lost in 2015

           The saddest part of the Oscars ceremony every year is the in memoriam segment. Seeing actors and filmmakers who died in the past year. These are reminders of the movies and tv shows we loved and the memories they brought us. This year it seems like there were a lot of “That Guy” actors who died. These are the people who generally play smaller characters but ones that are recognizable. In many ways they are my favorite actors. They make the most of their limited screen time and give us lasting memories. Everyone will remember Leonard Nimoy and Christopher Lee, but not necessarily these character actors. So let’s take a moment to look back at some “That Guys” we lost.

Fred Thompson

                Best known as Trudeau, the head of the airport in Die Hard 2: Die Harder, he also played an admiral in Hunt for Red October and the Sherif in Sinister. He had a look that conveyed authority. In addition to being an actor, he was also a politician. He was a senator for Tennessee and ran for the Republican Party nomination in 2008.

Daniel von Bargen

                One of the colorful characters from Seinfeld, he played George’s boss Kruger in the later seasons. He had a knack for playing both comedic as well as serious roles. He was in Super Troopers and Malcolm in the Middle on the comedic side but was also in Shaft and The X-files in more serious parts.

Ellen Albertini Dow

                Not a name many will recognize, she was the rapping grandmother in The Wedding Singer. She did a lot of TV roles over the years. In a interesting coincidence, perhaps her other biggest movie role was in Wedding Crashers. She was the cool grandmother a lot of people wish they had.

Mary Ellen Trainor

                Trainor has the distinction of having been a part of the Die Hard and Lethal Weapon franchises. She was a news anchor in Die Hard and was Riggs’s constantly suffering psychiatrist. She was a staple of 80s TV and movies and can be seen in many other projects such as Goonies and Cheers.

Robert Loggia

                One of the greatest “That Guy” actors of all time, Loggia had a face that was immediately recognizable. Probably best known as Frank Lopez in Scarface, he played the General in Independence Day, the guy who danced with Tom Hanks on the piano in Big, the asshole grandfather in Over the Top, the list goes on and on. He has over 200 acting credits to his name. The man was an institution and he will be greatly missed.

Lego Jurassic World

Just Follow the Screams - 20G - Completed San Diego

Not on InGen's list - 20G - Completed Landing Site

Nobody Move a Muscle - 20G - Completed The Spinosaurus

The Park is Open - 20G - Completed Welcome to Jurassic World

Full Jurassic World Experience - 20G - Completed Gyrosphere Valley

Reason to Fear Man - 10G - Defeated 50 Compy Goons

Are You Following the Dinosaur - 20G - Completed Out of Bounds

A New Alpha - 20G - Completed Under Attack

WWE 2K15

Ringmaster - 15G - Strike or wrench an opponent in 5 different chain hold positions (Single Play)

Mid-Carder - 40G - Reach mid-carder rank playing ranked matches

WWE 2K16

Prospect - 15G - Earn the online rank "Prospect"

Book Review #8 - The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

                This is the third book in the Robert Langdon series I’ve read so far. They are all fun and entertaining books but there is a noticeable pattern of how the book goes. There’s a murder/kidnapping that only Robert Langdon can solve because he must follow the clues of an ancient historical puzzle. It’s not that it’s a bad story format, but it is beginning to become a little repetitive at this point.

                Despite this, The Lost Symbol is still a fun read. In this book, we get to explore Washington DC and the secret of the Masons. These books always make me want to visit the places where they take place. Author Dan Brown always manage to find historical stories that make these places far more interesting than I originally thought. The books pacing starts off a little slow but near the middle picks up and becomes fairly suspenseful. The last part of the book though is a little anticlimactic, it feels like it should have wrapped up a little more quickly. Needless to say, if you liked the other Robert Langdon books, this one fall in the same vein and is just as fun to read.

Score : 7.5 / 10

Movie Reviews #43 - Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

Plot: Freddy Kruger haunts the last of the Elm Street kids while also trying to terrorize a new city through his daughter.

Review: The Nightmare on Elm Street series has been a rough ride for me so far, but I never thought it could get this bad. Freddy’s Dead takes hammy acting to a whole new level of terrible. In the movie, a group of teenagers travel to Springwood to help one of them, who has amnesia, to remember what happened. For some reason, everyone in the town has become insane! The teacher is giving a class to no one, people are talking to empty rooms constantly spouting exposition and we are even “blessed” with cameos by Roseanne and Tom Arnold. These scenes are barely watchable. It’s like a bad dinner theater performance, although I’ve never seen any this bad.

            There are only 3 kills in this movie and they are all extremely stupid. The one where Breckin Meyer gets killed in a videogame, oh my god is it dumb. It was clearly written by someone who has never played a real videogame in their lives. The character is bouncing up in down all around the house while idiotic sounds effects go on. So very bad.

            There are only 2 good things in this movie. The first is we get an origin for Freddy Kruger. We see that he once had a wife a daughter and seemed like a fairly normal person. It could have been interesting if they explored it more. However, they explain where his power to haunt dreams comes from and that ruins everything. Turns out as he was about to be burned, these 3 demons that look like flying sperm granted him these powers. For what reason, who knows. This movie doesn’t even explaining how Freddy got resurrected after dying last movie, so I don’t expect them to explain this. The second good thing about this movie is Yaphet Kotto. He brings a veteran actor experience to everything. He’s also seemingly the only one with any intelligence. He figures very quickly what to do to kill and Freddy and you feel like he could have finished this whole thing off single handedly, who needs those stupid teens.

            If it hasn’t been obvious by now, I did not like this movie. If this was supposed to be the end of the series, then good bye. If this is the kind of stuff the filmmakers can come up with, then just put it to rest and let’s be done with it. But of course not, anyone who knows that a horror movie that claims to be the last never is.

Score: 3/10