Armstrong 1st MRB

I'm Ben Armstrong, I'm 18 going on 19 years old within the next month and I'm currently attending McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. I live in Burlington right next to Hamilton, so I commute, and in terms of studies I am enrolled in the Humanities Faculty, and plan to go into a program with an Honors Major in History. I am also taking courses in Classics, Anthropology, Philosophy, and Political Science and plan to minor in two of them. I don't know what I want to be yet, but getting more education cannot hurt my chances, and I haven't stopped worked at my job as a Prepared Foods Clerk at the nearby Grocery Store Chain, Longos. I read a lot of books, watch a lot of movies, and play a lot of games. I've written a couple incomplete stories just for the heck of it, and I hope to learn Gaelic and become a Pagan at some point in time. Two of the places I want to see most are Scotland and Ireland since both places are where my ancestry hails from. I like most music except for certain popular brands, screamo, and almost all rap. My favourite literary genres are Fantasy, Dystopia, Science Fiction, and History. I was somewhat of a loner in public school and high school, not having more than a handful of close friends. I found that I didn't need the company of others to enjoy myself, partially thanks to my mild ADD which just lets me drift off thinking about things. Not that I have no friends, I just didn't feel interested in gaining a large group of friends in public school. As for DoD, I've had it for several years now, but it wasn't until the last couple of years when I stumbled upon the 1stMRB server and used it as my primary gaming server. Then less than a year ago I decided to apply and now I'm a Corporal within the unit. I like this realism unit for its fusion of professionalism while still being a fun unit to be in, and I've always enjoyed how the realisms are run.

I played the first Metro on PC and it was kick ass. I'm pumped that this one is coming out for PS3. Should hold me over until The Last of Us arrives. Anyone else grabbing this when it comes out?

Absolutely kick-ass, great gameplay mechanics and a great story. I liked how the ending left me thinking about how everything fit in. Though I was a little bummed that the few choices we made don't make a huge difference, I liked that aspect of the first two Bioshocks, but the way they made this one fit. I'm replaying it on 1999 mode right now, and holy shit its tough, but satisfying.

Me and my family are diehard leaf fans, my uncle even came up with the Unhappy Fan Bags that people wore over their heads several years ago, and I'm glad that the Leafs are finally in the playoffs now after so many years. Do I think they'll win the Stanley cup? I'm not betting on it yet. The team isn't anything particularly spectacular, and I don't think they'll shake the curse that the Leafs have had over their shoulders ever since they won the last cup. Still, its nice to see some hope.

That's actually the reasoning exactly. They knew the viewership would have difficultly separating the names. It's similar to how they are showing Theon's story so he doesn't just show up again in 2 books worth of seasons. A lot of people wouldn't remember who he is, so they are showing his path to becoming Reek. That makes sense then, and it was the only logical explanation I could come up with. In any case, her character is not changed so it technically doesn't matter what she is called. Another thing I have to give this series is that the casting is absolutely fantastic. Everyone fits their roles prefectly IMO, whoever they have as a casting director is a master.

Oh yeah, Coldhands should be cool, but one thing has been bugging me though since I've started watching Season 2. Why did they change Asha's name to Yara? Thats one change that irks me as unnecessary. Did they think it sounded too much like Osha in the accents they are using? lol.

I'm sorry Giovannoli, I just happen to be hundreds of miles from the event, and have no personal connection to it other than the fact that I walked on that very street where it occurred just two years previous and that there were other members of my species involved. You and all of the family members and people suffering from this event have my dearest sympathies, hopes, and prayers for their recovery and solidarity in the wake of this event. However you'll have to forgive me if my brain wants to try and figure out why this happenned and who or what might be behind it, not that I want to go out and hunt the people down, just so that I might be able to understand the event better with the wider understanding.

This case is lightning fresh right now, so what are the initial impressions you guys are getting from this? For those who don't have access to any form of media that isn't talking about this, basically a couple of bombs went off at the ground level of a Hotel near the finish line of the Boston Marathon and has left at least 2 people dead and over a 100 injured at least. An incendiary bomb at the JFK Library also went off, but it hasn't been linked to the other bombing yet. I personally don't think its your conventional Terrorist attack, since I don't see what effect could be gained from it other than Terror, but then there could have been more effective ways of doing it and much better places to blow up that would make a bigger reaction, cause more casualties and cause even more terror than where the bombs were placed. Its also been said that the bombs were set up via a cellphone meaning that this wasn't a suicide bombing either, somebody inflitrated the city and placed this bomb before putting as much shoe leather between themselves and it before casually detonating it somewhere else in the city. That's my thoughts on it right now. What about you guys?

I'm unable to watch the 3rd Season until it comes out for sale, but I have the suspicion that this where we start to see it diverge from the books a little bit due to the TV audience. Realistically, HBO cannot just drop a bunch of these characters that the audience has been following and then bring them back because thats how it was in the books because then everyone is going to say: "Where the hell is Jon Snow?" Or "What happenned to Theon, Tyrion, Daenerys, and Davos?". So they'll probably fuse Storm of Swords, Feast for Crows, and Dance with Dragons all togather in order to avoid that, and perhaps delve into a few areas that are more inferred in the books. I'm a big fan of the TV Series though, its hands down the best book-to-film transition I've ever seen, and although I can pick out every area that they changed, omitted(which surprised me since its HBO), or added, I understand why they made those changes and they aren't useless. Best show on Television IMO, and one of the best Fantasy series out there.

Its a sad reality that there are more than a few people in this world who are racists and still believe all of the Social-Darwinism crap that was spewed in the early 20th century and perpetuated. The even greater shame is that its these people who are foolish enough to support the radical and malicious politicians who want to perpetuate these ideas, and are willing to do anything to see it done. A lot of this, I believe stems from a lack of real education, but even more so from a lack of a good upbringing which emphasized tolerance of other people and their cultures. We are all the same shade of red on the inside, and we are all from the same origins in the end but these people just can't believe that. This is what I believe holds our species back, the fact that we cannot get along and call ourselves humans and not 'Americans', 'Irish', 'Indians', 'Chinese', 'Whites', 'Blacks', or however we define ourselves. I'm not saying that we get rid of these distinctions if people are happy to be them, but why can we not think of ourselves as members of a wider species called Humanity rather than belonging to a country, 'race', or religion. Personally I think we'll only reach that point if we come into contact with an Alien species on a global scale, but that's just me.

I'd be down, I love both versions of the song they played in An Unexpected Journey. Personally I never pictured the song like either of them, but thinking back that is supposed to be one almost of mourning it made perfect sense.

CNN, Fox News, HLN, ABC, CBS. Does it matter? They all report news from different view points. True, but CNN and Fox News seem to put the emphasis on keeping that constant fear climate (from my Canadian point of view at least). My Favorite point of view comes from ONN. XD Yeah, that's why I hate most news networks, I just watch em to see what is happenning and make up my own mind about it. CNN may want to keep us in a climate of fear, but at least most of it isn't bullshit like FOX is. I don't even know how the fuck that channel can even call itself a news station its Torie, Conservative, and Republican propoganda using world events to forward it, the whole lot of it. Of course, those guys are the extreme, CNN has a liberal lean no matter how much they try to claim they're imparital. So, I just take everything with a grain of salt and discern what I think is true based off what I know. Hopefully you all do the same. As for KWII, I think it'll happen and we'll see both Koreas unified in our lifetime. This time it wouldn't be anywhere near as serious though now that the Soviets are gone and North Korea has successfully chased off its only flimsy ally China. As soon as North Korea strikes that match, I wager we'll see Chinese, American, and who knows how many other nation's soldiers charge in and destroy NK's illusion of grandeur. Or the U.S. can just send a sub with one MIRV and level all of their major cities at once. Not even that, they just have to eliminate any AA defences they might have and just bomb them conventionally.

Holy shit, this guy was fucking funny. His observational comedy is such that he makes up half of the shit in his act based on the audience and the first few rows. Saw him after the show too, had him sign a DVD and he hugged me after I told him I didn't have a camera to take a photo with him. Anyone else seen him on Comedy Central or Just For Laughs? If not, look him up. He is an excellent comedian.

I don't feel anything regarding his death, I do know that he was a bit of a handful for the U.S., and I don't really care about whether he was socialist, communist, democratic or whatever, the fact is he is dead and history will remember him as a minor player on the world stage while being a recognizable name for us here in North America at least.

News on the current situation! China and the U.S.A just agreed to sanction new U.N. Sanctions against North Korea after it threatened to nullify the ceasefire. Now North Korea is screwed, they just lost their most powerful potential ally now that China has made its intentions clear that it will stand by the U.N., South Korea and the U.S. in regards to them now, at least by the looks of this. China's ambassador in the U.N. Security council said although Bejing is very displeased with North Korea over its third nuclear test and supports action against them, they are not urging harsh actions yet. I think its a big development though, since now North Korea is pissing off its only real friend. North Korea Developments from Yahoo

I like how the media has swerved away from North Korea again...I'll bet you we'll hear from them or Iran again in five months, tops. Thats the way our news agencies have been turning and they'll keep turning like that until these people finally sit down and write up a goddamn conclusion to this cycle of fear that only Nuclear deterence is holding back.

Pfc. Ben Armstrong Oddworld Stranger's Wrath + Oddworld Munch's Oddysee (I put both since they are pretty dirt cheap, but if had to choose I'd take Munch over Stranger)

About the previous games, gameplay has actually morphed significantly from the 1st to the 2nd, especially in combat and interface. The first game's combat is very mechanical, you have two three types of attacks that are each effective in certain situations, and you can use potions and better weapons to make your attacks more effective and you have to time your clicks in order to chain combos. You can also use a couple of different spells called signs to help you fight, though I personally only used two of them, one that is basically a blast of energy and another that shoots fire. Bombs can also be used, but I never did. That's basically combat for #1, #2 is more fluid and you only have one stance so you don't have to constantly switch. As for story, The Witcher has to be one of the best RPGs I've ever played, the first game has a long main questline with lots of opportunities to pick and choose how you want events to play out based on what you think is right or wrong, and sometimes there is not definate line between good and evil and you have to pick what you consider to be the lesser of two evils. That, and in the first one you see the effects of your actions realtively quickly later on, so you're always mindful that even the small things you do may effect things later. The second game's story is shorter, but I think its very good as well. The one drawback I have for both of them is that the results are almost the same in the end for the most part, except for a few variations you end up in the same place at the end. (which allows them to make a standard continuation point) That being said, I don't think its like ME3's endings were, they are just being realistic of the situation, sort of like real life. But don't take my word for it, you can go look up the Prologue mission of The Witcher and The Witcher 2 if you want to see it for yourself what its like before you buy it. Seeing the prologue missions won't really spoil anything of the games for you either which is why I suggest them.

I'm so pumped for the latest addition to The Witcher series, they are overhauling a lot of the features from the second game. Here's a list of confirmed features: -The Main Questline will take about 50 hours to complete, with Side Quests that could push to close to 100 Hours -Save Imports from the previous two games will be allowed and will affect relationships with characters, but will have no effect on the main storyline of the game -All areas of the world that they are using for the game will be open to explore immediately from the start and travel by Foot, Horse (which Geralt can buy or tame), Boat (borrow or buy), and Fast travel options will be available. The archipelago of Skellige, the Pontar river delta(which is where we were in Chapter 2 of Witcher 2), the Port city of Novigrad, and a region called No-man's land have been confirmed. CDPR has said it'll be taking a lot of lessons from the makers of Skyrim in terms of Open world construction. -No QTEs!, No gaining exp from anything outside of quests (main or side) so if you kill monsters or people outside of questlines you will just gain materials and ingredients and such. -There are 36 different states in which the game world can end up in depending on your choices, and 3 different epilogues confirmed. -Levels for monsters and humans are set in stone, they will not go up and down depending on your level, therefore you will have to avoid running into any big monsters until you are strong enough to face em. Likewise, if you are facing really low level bandits and you are a high level, they will likely surrender to you without much of a fight. -Geralt can hunt wild animals for potion and crafting materials or money, and has the ability to track their footprints visually. -How much money that Geralt can make off of a particular looted or crafted items varies due to the dynamic local economies of each settlement -Geralt can now jump and climb rather than just walk, run and dodge. -The combat system has been changed to supposedly work similar to VATS in Fallout, wherein you can target specific areas of the target's body and specific vulnerabilities. -Geralt will have a level cap of 60, with hundreds of customizations possible -The new minigames of axe-throwing and cards have been added to the ones already available in previous games - Finally, the Withcer 3 has been confirmed to be relased on PC, PS4, and probably Xbox in 2014. The console and PC versions will both have different UI. I'm just debating whether or not I should stick to my roots and buy it for PC when it comes out. Only problem is then it won't look anywhere near as good as it will on the new PS4, but then I won't get my particular saves probably. What do you guys think?

Yeah, I think CBC was blowing it out of proportion, and they seemed to be leaning against Gun owners by the sounds of some of the remarks; at least that's what I inferred from it. I mean the reporter (whom had never fired a gun before) was interviewing this man who owned a fairly sizeable collection of around 15 guns, mostly pistols but a few rifles and shotguns as well, and the guy picked the man's AR-14 to talk about. He (The interviewer) and the owner's conversation went like this, and I'll quote as best as I can: "So, that's an AR-14? Yes it is. That's the same model of rifle that Adam Lambda used to commit that shooting in Conneticut? Correct. Do you feel anything in in connection to that shooting when you use that? No, why should I? Since one AR-14 committed a mass shooting doesn't mean that you feel anything different about it. If a drunk driver gets into a car crash in a Honda Civic do all Honda Civic Drivers feel guilty or any sort of emotion towards a Honda Civic? No. This gun is one of fond memories for me, I've used it in competitions, and I've got another one where I intend to use it this Fall already arranged, and I look forward to using it multiple times after that for fun." I think that was a dumb question on the reporters' part, that could be said about any gun in existence including ones that cops use. Nobody should feel guilty about any of their possessions just because versions of them were used to commit crimes. As for the RCMP background checks, the guy said he gets checked by their online engine almost, if not daily, so I don't know. As for his daughter's problems with people shying away from her because she owns guns, I think that depends on the University and the area which were not stated. I wouldn't think it would be a huge problem. Hell, in my High school I knew a friend who had licensing for pistols and shotguns and went out hunting with his folks regularly and I was never nervous of him, and I took an interest in it. Then on another occassion as I was walking through the halls I overheard a less than scrupulous character saying to another guy whether or not he shoulder bring his revolver to school. I noted it, but I never got freaked out over it. Nor have many other people I've talked about it, but I think if you have areas that experience a lot of gun violence, maybe people would get freaked out, but I don't know.

Supposedly Canada's 'Gun Culture', or gun enthusiasts are being discriminated by the wider population of Canada just for owning guns. I saw a story in the news about this one enthusiast whom is trying to educate other Canadians that Gunowners are not all Gangbangers and Murderers, but they can be some of the best people in Canada. His daughter, whom is in University and is also a gun enthusiast, said that she cannot even tell people in her University openly that she owns a gun, or else people don't want anything to do with her. I feel that's very shallow and fucking stupid of people to judge a person based on their possessions alone, and I expected more of fellow University students (perhaps I'm expecting too much?). Even social stigma aside, a Gunowner in Canada is background checked by the RCMP's website every single day to ensure that they have a clean record. What do you guys think? I think that's a little extreme, despite the shootings in the States and the numerous deaths to gun violence here in Canada; and they most certainly shouldn't have to carry a stigma towards them.

I've watched the first two episodes of Season 2 so far since I don't have HBO, and I'm a huge fan of the books so I've been able to pick out most of the places they've strayed from the plot already. I think its amazing so far, and although I have minor gripes with it (Such as why the heck they changed Asha Greyjoy's name to Yara Greyjoy [Perhaps to prevent confusion with Osha?]), but otherwise, I believe its the best show on Television right now, hands down. Can't wait til Season 3 is available to buy.

This is gonna be kick ass, I will wager that a couple more emmies will be earned if they make seasons 3 and 4 (since they have to split Storm of Swords in half) as good as the last few seasons. I would whether we are seeing Tormond or Mance in the trailer with the Wilding though, because if that is Mance, I expected him to be a little less gruff. Can't wait to see this first half, and then to see how they will handle the gamechangers in season 4.

I understand, but it just seems crazy to me that you have people even attempt to start up these series without as much passion or skill as the makers of other movies. Why would anyone even attempt to take on Phillip Pullman's work without intending to alienate people? They should understand from the start that this is a series of films that is going to offend a lot of people just from the subject matter involved, and if they are not capable of handling it then they shouldn't insult the authour's work, or the fanbase by trying to morph it into something else because they aren't willing to accept the responsibility. Moreover, why shouldn't they be bold? Going against the grain is more likely to get attention and recognition that just doing what everyone else is doing. I just think that if these teams of film makers are not willing to do the books justice and produce a film worthy of what fans of the books hold them up to be, then they shouldn't bother touching them. As for the success of Twilight and Harry Potter, I think that the first movies were so 'magical' in a sense that they hooked the film fanbase to sit through the rest of the series regardless of any changes they made. Maybe its just me and because I'm older now, but a lot of these fantasy films just aren't putting their best foot forward in order to hook people to new series, and its a shame. Not just for fantasy, but all genres which have similar situations. I just hate seeing all of these remakes, prequels or sequels of older movies or stories because its basically telling to me this: "Okay, we are incapable of making new stories or series out of stuff that people haven't tried or beaten to death, we have to stick to what we know in order to make anything good." Not that some of these can't be good, I mean Prometheus was an excellent 'sort of prequel' to Alien in my opinion, and people have been saying that some of these recent modern adaptations of fairy tales have been good, but that still doesn't mean that I don't like the poor effort that has been put forward to make series off of more recent stories. I pray for the day the film-makers whom are desiring to make films off of books series take a page from Game of Throne's playbook, since that has to be the best Book-to-Film adaptation I've ever seen, and its a television show, but who knows.

Well, lets see; Eragon was probably the best example of this, then there is The Golden Compass, and then there is Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. All three of those movies should have been excellent starts to great fantasy film series, yet they weren't (Though they are supposedly making the second Percy Jackson I'm surprised they are trying). I say Eragon is the best example because the Inheritence book series which it is from is probably one of the best recent fantasy series that has been made in the genre (and if not, it is certainly a popular series), and I believe it could have made an excellent set of movies. Yet the guys who made the movie fucked it up so badly and changed so many elements of the story that they can't even make the second one even if they wanted to. They turned it into a one-trick donkey when they could have had an excellent cash cow that would have kept going for at least three more films. Were both the Director and Production Crew so off in their judgement of what the audience could stand in terms of changes that they didn't realise they screwed up? I mean judging by the ending its almost as if they didn't even expect to continue on with the second book the way that Christopher Paolini(the writer of the books) had intended. Why? Why would they do a crappy job and waste the opportunity they had? I don't know, but I don't think it helped that Paolini was too young at the time to secure the copyrights to his work. The Golden Compass is also a good example because here we have intentional changes to the story, quite blatant ones that basically changed the story's meaning. For this one, I think it helps to know the book's reputation. The Golden Compass, being the first of Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials Triliogy was banned along with the following books in Catholic schools for promoting Witchcraft and being Blasphemous towards God. The book itself has plenty of allusions towards the Catholic Church that cast it in a bad light and it brings up interesting perspectives on the nature of Souls, God, and how such questions are viewed by both Scientists and Theolgians. Therefore, its a very controversial book for its subject matter, and I would say any film that intends to do the book justice has to include these elements, otherwise you destroy the message Pullman was trying to send when he wrote the series. They don't do this in the film though, although the Magisterium in the film is still alluded to be the Catholic Church in the Film, they don't delve into the ideas of God, Originial Sin, and the nature of the Soul that are brought up at the end of the book. Its important because the introduction of those ideas marks a change in the story, this is no longer just a story about a girl trying to find her Uncle so that she can give a device that will tell the truth to him, now she is thrown into a struggle that is far bigger and far more important than we originally thought. They completely change the ending, and do not make this shift, despite evidence in the trailer and in the video game that they shot the scenes. I don't get it? Did they lose their nerve in making a controversial movie part way through its production? As for Percy Jackson, its more the same story with Eragon, but to a lesser extent. The end result of the film was basically the same as the ending of the book, so that is somewhat different from Eragon; but even so, like The Golden Compass, the larger conflict has not yet been introduced in the film when it was in the books by the time the ending came around. Dozens of scenes and characters were altered and/or cut for the purposes of film, which I hate because some of the scenes don't serve much purpose, or the original scenes were just as good and did not need to be changed. To be honest, I thought that the film was the decent when I first saw it before reading the book, but after reading it I don't understand why they changed so much. Was it to appeal to popular culture or the mass audience who probably haven't read the book? Possibly, but many of the scenes that were originally intended could have done that just as well. Too small a budget? Well they had enough to throw in a whole scene with a Hydra that never existed in the book, and have a big fight scene at the end that never occurred either, so I don't think that's a good excuse. I will say that this is the only one of the three mentioned that is confirmed to be attempting to make a second movie, Golden Compass may try, but this one is for sure trying; and I can see that they got enough success to try, but I have a feeling that people are going to think that this is too similar to Harry Potter, and it doesn't help that a large part of the original Harry Potter crew are working on it (anyone who has seen The Lightning Thief, recognize the flying shoe's movement when he first opened them up as similar to The Snitch's movements when Harry first opens it up?) I don't know, I'll just have to wait and see.