An aspiring video game developer

Monthly archives for February, 2009

Top Ten Films Of 2008

February 20, 2009 Leave a Comment Written by James Piper Goth

I have finished watching all of the movies that I consider contenders for the best movies of 2008. This list is more a reflection of my movie tastes. Thanks to the power of web 2.0 I now have pictures to correspond with my choices and if you click the image it will bring you to the imdb.com page for that movie where you can learn more about it.

MV5BMTI3NTI4MDgyNl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNjM5OTU5MQ@@__V1__SX89_SY140_ 10) Valkyrie – The major flaw of this movie is that we all know that the plan fails. Where this movie makes up for this is in all the little details.
images 9) Wanted – Like Shoot ‘Em Up, last years number 2, this movie is all about having a good time. It comes from the director of Night Watch and Day Watch. If you have seen those movies you will know that the director has a amazing eye for visual effects.
vicky_cristina_barcelona 8 ) Vicky Cristina Barcelona – I don’t watch a lot of films by Woody Alan but I think I should start. The problem I have with him is always plays the same irritating little man but in this movie he is only directing. It also helps that the movie stars Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall and Penelope Cruz. If you have any suggestions for Woody Alan films I should watch leave a comment.
MV5BNDE5NjQzMDkzOF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwODI3ODI3MQ@@__V1__SX100_SY140_ 7) Tropic Thunder – Funniest movie of the year. I am so glad that Ben Stiller is back in the directing chair and not acting in those stupid comedy’s he has been in for the last 5 years. If you don’t know Ben Stiller directed the super funny Zoolander. The movie also features the very talented Robert Downey Jr. portraying a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude.
sd_ 6) Slumdog Millionaire – This film has won many award for best picture and is the top contender for best picture at the Oscars on Sunday. This is a very good movie, the problem that keeps It from going higher on my list is that I did not feel the emotional connection to it like I did with other films below.
ltroiSY140_ 5) Let The Right One In – Instead of seeing that piece of shit Twilight go and see this film. It is similar to Twilight in that it is a story of love between a vampire and a mortal but it does not suck monkey balls.  In Let The Right One In vampires are actually vampires. The reason you have never heard of this film is that it was made in Sweden, but that should not stop you from trying to see it.
trg@@__V1__SX94_SY140_ 4) The Reader – This is the only movie of the last year that made me cry. This was a very hard movie for me to watch. Sometimes a movie connects with some people and not others. This movie deeply connected with me, to the point that I don’t think I can watch it again (But I still will).
ages 3) Iron Man – This is the perfect example of how a superhero movie should be done. Its fast funny and has some amazing effects. Not only that, it also includes some great acting.
tranBnXkFtZTcwNDc2MzQwMg@@__V1__SX94_SY140_ 2) The Wrestler – The movie has many of the same plot points as Rocky Balboa (my favorite film of 2006) but has a very different theme. I cant give much away with out spoiling the film. Simply put go see this film you will not be disappointed.
ages3 1) The Dark Knight – I have a very particular image of what batman should be. By the end of this film he became that image. I was not a fan of Batman Begins but this is something different. It is more then a superhero film, its a crime drama that happens to feature a superhero. And lets not forget Heath Ledgers amazing joker. I would tell you to go see this but chances are you already did, it did gross one billion dollars so far.

If you think I missed anything post it below and I will take a look or tell you why it sucked. As for the top ten games of the year there are still many games left un-played and I have been spending my free time programming.

Movies

Project Refusal Returns!

February 15, 2009 Leave a Comment Written by James Piper Goth

As I have stated I want to get back to working on project refusal, for the last 6 weeks I have done just that. I forgot how much I enjoy programming. I find it interesting coming back to the project after that much time has passed and seeing problems in a new way. Its like having a fresh set of eyes on it. I continued where I left off, doing a major rebuild of the graphics engine which included a new naming convention and a major reworking of how I load in resources form files. This was followed by several weeks of working out all the new bugs that a rebuild of this size brings. I can now return to adding new features, this is where the real fun is. My next task was to add real time shadowing, starting with the terrain. I had already done some work on this problem a year before to no success. But with my new set of eyes I new I would prevail. Below is screen shot of real time terrain shadowing, It still requires some aliasing but you get the idea. It will be a simple task now to add shadows to every object in the game.

 Terrain-with-Shadows-001

In other news I only have 3 movies left to watch before I can post my list of top 10 films of 2008, look for that in the coming week.

Project Refusal

Battlestar Galactica greatest show ever?

February 7, 2009 Leave a Comment Written by James Piper Goth

My last post I talked about the best shows of 2008 which showed Battlestar Galactica dropping to 2nd place. But I would like to announce that it is will be the best show of 2009 hands down. But lets not get too far ahead of myself.

The beginning of the mid season saw the return of 3 of my favorite shows, and not just returning back to the air but back to the top of their game as well. The 3 shows are of course Battlestar Galactica, 24 and Lost. Lets start with 24, this new season is the first to see the show leave LA and center on Washington DC. This takes the show to a hole different level, instead of it being about the fate of a major US city now it feels like the fate of America is at stake.  But as much as this show is great, maybe even as good as its first season, Lost has been better. Lost is starting to reach some sort of clarity. For so long there has been one crazy unexplainable thing happening after another with nothing really tying it all together. But like I said all of it is starting to fit together and all those questions are starting to be answered. After 4 seasons of build up the pay off is amassing.

Though the first couple of weeks in January I would have said Lost was the better show but then along comes episode 13 (15 if you count Razor) season six of Battlestar Galactica titled “The Oath”. This is one of the greatest episodes of TV to ever grace my eyes, as good as and maybe better then the first episode after the miniseries titled “33”. More suspenseful then 24 and more fulfilling then Lost could ever be. It ranks up there with my favorite episodes from LEXX “Brigadoom” and “Yo Way Yo”. Up there with my favorite episodes from Alias “Phase One” and my favorite episode from Rome “The Spoils”. If you are not watching Battlestar Galactica then you are truly missing out, with only a handful of episodes left it is becoming clear that it is greatest show of all time!

TV

Random Quote

So you think that money is the root of all evil? Have you ever asked what is the root of money?

— Francisco d’Anconia