Welcome to Gaia! ::

It doesn't matter, we are facebook friends *evil laugh*!

And yes, she is throughly driving me crazy. I don't know why I even bother.

I was... yeah... I had just gotten back from 'The Dark Knight' (FYI it is totally overrated), I was finishing up the episode of 'Robin Hood' I hadn't gotten to finish before work, and of course I was checking up on some things on here. Also, it was only 1:38 here. Actually, that was right before I was closing up my computer and calling it a night.

Anyway, I am ok. Almost done with work here where I currently live (moving back to KC on the 1st), and that is more than a little exciting seeing as I hate it here. Other than that I am getting ready for school to start up again. Huzzah for sophomore year, and crazy complicated film classes, and all while trying to pay for college with a part time job!

Oh yes, life is grand... Went over to play Halo 3 with my friends, and as soon as Matt left Katie and I were actually able to play with people at our skill level (which is low seeing as I have only played like six times [only get to play on Tuesdays])... That was hardly as fun as I thought it would be. As soon as the guys found out I was a chick they started hitting on me... and they were like 14... It was sick. Finally I (and by I, I mean Katie and myself) was able to play with someone my age (actually older) and that was more fun than playing with f***ing foul mouthed children.

Other than that life is grand.

The acting was shotty at best (Ledger was the only actor worth watching), the story jumped all over the place, and there were only three parts worth watching, and of those three I can only remember two of them and I saw it last night. If that doesn't speak volumes about the forgettability and overratedness of this film than I don't know what does.

And I'm not saying that it isn't better than a lot of movies hollywood makes these days, I don't condone more than half of what they put out, and thus why I usually stay away from them and stick to indie films, but that doesn't mean that I am going to go along with everyones thoughts on how "awesome" this film was, because it really doesn't deserve that praise.

The story was a bit jumpy, I'll give it that. But... all right you set off the ramble.
There is a constant undertone of "dark knight" and "white knight" and what it takes to be a hero. There was a sense of he hero question in the first movie as well, but that one was less jumpy and strictly followed the heroic cycle as written by Joseph Campbell. This one was more jumpy simply because Batman was not a hero, was not intended to be a hero, and was one of three main characters.
Those main characters being Christian Bale (the Bat), Heath Ledger (the Joke), and Aaron Eckert (Two-face). In this installment, The Bat is not a hero. Yes, he's incredibly bad-a** (and I'll admit the sequence of him taking down FBI agents as they invaded the building was over the top and mostly just fan service) and he's the title character, but he is not a hero. he's what's a called an antihero, someone who essentially is good but, again according to Joseph Campbell, never changes and never learns anything.
Even the Joker said it when Batman didn't kill him... again.
The jokers role is that of a mirror, and a moving mirror at that. For all the insanity and great acting by Heath Ledger, the joker is one of the only things that keep the movie coming together. If I explained the entire heroic cycle used by Joseph campbell, you'd be reading for forty-five minutes, but suffice to say that the strongest point of this cycle is the mirror point in which people encounter themselves and have to make a choice: own up to it or refuse and fail. the joker's entire role is to do this to people. He does it to the bat, to the cop in the interrogation room right before he blows them all to hell, to most of the criminals, and to Harvey Dent.
And poor Harvey dent is the only character who actually follows the heroic cycle. He's the one that suffers the trials, that attempts to become a hero. And the joker shows up and is a mirror to him, and Harvey dent fails. He becomes the psycho two-face.
And after considering what I know of Joseph Campbell, either the writers were really lucky or they were in some ways trying to follow it. I think it would have been more like it if hollywood hadn't found out how well received "Batman Begins" was and then gotten their hands on the sequels production.
But overall I have to say that the amount of effort that went into the movie from this particular angle of the heroic cycle shows intelligence in the writing.

reviews were even saying that the new Indiana Jones would be good. I took one look at the opening credits and saw George Lucas as one of the writers and knew it would suck.
And it did.
Lucas should just sit on his farm and let corporate take over. They at least know how to make video games. XD
....


And when you compare Batman to other "comic book movies" that come out of Hollywood, this one is way ahead of the pack. Yes, you're right that we shouldn't judge greatness by how far above par the movie is (especially when par is so low) but as a movie I could not help enjoying it. And enjoying its intelligence.


...Blah. Now someone hit me before I go ramble off on something else.

:smacks ninjablu with a frying pan:
WHO ELSE WANTS SOME?? ... Oh, sorry man...

But yeah, it's funny when people underestimate noobs. There's a difference between noobs and what we like to call, froobs. Noobs are people who lack experience and froobs would be those who have played a game for some time, but just lack skill. Commonly, a major lack in skill. Example:

This level 53 on CoD4 was cracking jokes about how badly his team was going to win because I was on the other team, and I was only level 7. After killing him several times with the M16 (no, I didn't use the noob-tube) and my team won, I said one thing: "Cuz I'm a level fifty-three, and I'm hard-@$$" and he got so angry, he left ^_^

Halo emphasizes teamwork more than skill, so as long as people are coordinated it can compensate for lack of skill. Unless you're like my friend Dylan who carries the weight of the team on his shoulders in Halo and CoD4 (he's pretty good at it and can compensate for others' bad scores).

Practice and training can make you unstoppable at that game. Offline, I would practice in the campaign trying to pull off aiming, jumping and driving.

/e can't find it in your posts...
Froobs are fun in PvP. Higher level, better stuff, still die just as easily under my blade pirate
In games, though, it's almost awarding to kill someone who has been playing longer, has access to more stuff and should have been watching their angles. cool