The Internet, destruction of our culture? ...

…Or just revealing what lay beneath.

This is something I have pondered on many a time. Mostly after seeing egregious comments on internet message boards.

The level of disrespect and pent up anger than one can detect online at times is frightening. Why? I ask because, what if it is not the internet that brings this out of people. What if most people really are that way inside but do not exhibit it because of the correcting nature of the public eye. (and of course the knowledge that some people in society don’t hesitate to bust people in the mouth, unlike the Internet Warrior)

So what, you say. Does not this point to an enormous conflagration of negative energies building up in society, I return.

I make my home on the internet. Xbox Live, Message Boards, Forums, Articles, Comments. And let me tell you there are some bad things afoot. Youtube comments for example can make a person just lose all hope for humanity.

I have been in Xbox lobbies where it was known that a Woman was also playing. The level of just chauvinist, or creepy behavior is astounding. And then it seemed like some of the teens had an agenda to just rage against her. Why? Why so much pent up aggression.

And well internet racism is just…. Well you know what they say “ An N word a day keeps the doctor away”

These things are perpetrated in the great cloak of internet anonymity sure but that they exist at all is distressing.

ON THE OTHER HAND.

Perhaps my worries are baseless. My opposite theory is that perhaps the cloak of anonymity has an amplifying effect.

Yes.

Perhaps the trend of outrageous behavior is nothing more than the “Shock Jock” syndrome. A subconscious need to relieve the pressures of always having to conform. To always be locked within the bounds of polite society.

All the times you had to hold your tongue, or perhaps even though, I wish I could say this but I cant I am a coward.

The cloak of anonymity gives a way to mindlessly rage and act a fool. A desperate cry to say, “ I am a person, please acknowledge me!”

And yet, if you have ever seen lets say….. Comments on an Article about President Obama…. You see a whole other phenomena. I plan to go into this in a latter blog post. Willful Habitation of Deceptive Realities.

The TL Awards 2010 Annoucements

Almost Time for the TL Awards 2010!!

Last year around December - January I held a little even called the TL Awards on Twitter.

It was nothing much, just me passing out little Kudos for stuff I like that year like the Oscars. But a bit more strange. The time is rapidly approaching where I can do so again. See last year I did it all from scratch mostly the day or 2 before the even. In the end it took me all day to post the damn awards. This time its going to be different!!!

First off I am starting the compiling in advance. Over the next few months. Still its going to be weird. I didnt follow as many people on twitter as I do now. And I want some of them to even send in ideas for awards. Also about the awards..... lost the file for last years so now I have to do em from scratch. All the more reason to get input!

My concerns arent really that high, I hope people realize its all in jest. So I keep the awards light. I want to do awards for like best podcasts and stuff but how to do so when you follow alot of them, like them all, and dont want to hurt feelings. *Punches drywall* Well I might find a solution.

SO FAR the Categories I have are.

Music
Favorite Local Band:
Favorite Band 2010:
Favorite Song 2010:
Favorite Band 2010:
Favorite of All Time:
Best In Show 2010
You Suck Award, Music

Movies
Best Movie 2010
Best Performance 2010
Best Character 2010
Best Scene 2010
Heart warmer of 2010
Best Remake 2010
Worst Remake 2010
Obscure Indie Movie
Best movie Event

Book
Best Book Read 2010
Favorite Book 2010
TL recommend of the year
The Leto II Award 2010

Television and Short Programs
Bests TV series 2010
The Firefly Award of Appreciation
The TL's Surprise it Survived Award
TL sleeper hit
Show you didnt see but should see
Best Character TV
Best Actor/Actress
The Hammer To the Head Award

Audiobook
Best Book Read 2010
Favorite Book 2010
TL recommend of the year
Best Voice work of the year.

Manga and Anime
Best Anime 2010
Best Manga 2010
BEst Fight 2010
Best plot event 2010
Best New character
Best Character in Show 2010
Hottest Character 2010 (Male, Female, Trap, (~_^))
Best Special Move 2010

Games
Game 2010
Best RPG
Best FPS
Best Strategy
Best Game Sequence
Best Game Soundtrack
FireFlower Award
The Deus Ex achievement Award
Monetary value of the year award
TL's "Countdown" Map of the Year Award
TL's "Bloc" Map of the Year Award
Greatest Rage Inducer 2010

Random Media
Best Fake Twitter Account
You Suck Award
Hit team ALpha
TL Hero Dedication 2010
TL Nikolai Tesla Award Of the year
Best Media Deluge
The It Stinks awards
Best Website
Website of Most Use
The Wikipedia Award 2010


Food
Best Restuarant
Best Meal
Favorite Bad Snack 2010
Favorite Good Snack 2010
Best Beer 2010
Best PP 2010
Favorite Lunchery 2010
Favorite Food Experiment 2010
Ghost reporting

Hawtness
Secret Crushes 2010
Secret Dude Crushes 2010
History Tweet of the year
Cutest Geek Queen
Legit Geek King 2010
Nullentropy tube 2010
Hwi Noree Award of 2010
Greatest turn around 2010

Random Awards
Greatest FAIL 2010? (BP, Sarah Palin, and John Legends hairline are already in a good close race this year)
Worst Loser
Best Loser
Political Winner 2010? Demos or Converses?
Best Sporting Event
Genius 2010
The Sarah Palin award 2010
TL's Better off Dead 2010

Twitter Awards
Best Tweet 2010
Best Tweets 2010 (Damn this one is going to cause me pain)
Best line 2010
Best obscure reference 2010
Best Curse 2010
Best "I cant, I just cant" 2010
Comedy Winner 2010
Best Agitator
Best Political Activist
Best Provider of Rants 2010
Best RANT 2010
Best Dad 2010
Best Mom 2010
Best Shank
Best 180 in tweet profile
Most famous person I follow 2010
Fresh Baked Cinnamon Rolls 2010
Who I should meet more
Person I want to meet but am Secretly intimidated by
Apprentice Candidates 2010
Person I love but really want to hate 2010
Greatest Rival 2010
Hipster 2010
Best Fallout 2010
Lame 2010
Best FAIL by person I follow
Best Come-up 2010
Interesting Progress
Best Surprise Follow
The "I'm Right Here Rynn" Award 2010
The Phat Baby Award
TL's Small Penis Award 2010
Favella 2010 award
AssHat 2010
Best Troll 2010
Astonishing work in Trolling 2010

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Any ideas???????

Please sent to terror.and.love@gmail.com. See you in December. You might be winning one.

My Writing Method

Well a few people have got me into discussions about writing lately, and someone also asked me about your basic tips in writing. This has gotten me thinking about writing in general and my writing method in particular. So in this blog post I will be going to discuss what goes on inside the Terror and Love when I write a story.

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“The Writing Method” by Terror and Love.

One can’t just sit down and write, well let me rephrase that, some of us can not sit down and write. There must be a type of order first when we are talking about my writing. Even if it is just funneled chaos at times. But first.

Disclaimer: yes a disclaimer first. What I will lay down in this is my method of writing. There are of course so many different ways to write. Everyone has their own way of wading into battle. Some of us are influenced by hugely divergent forces and acquire our methods by hugely disperse means. Look at the influence on style and technique alone.

Some are the self taught, some are the amateur just getting his hand wet. Some are the avid readers with a background of reading experience to draw upon, some of us even have formal training and schooling. Then there is the disparate way all our minds work and give birth to idea.

That all said, if your method differs from mine that is perfectly fine, and you should definitely do what works for you. This is an art, not an assembly line that one can just put people into as if they were interchangeable parts.

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Conception

There is no writing without a topic or story. So one must create first. “No duh TL, we all know that.” Procedurals my dear, procedurals, anyway there is no right way to come up with a story in my opinion. The story itself can take shape from something as fragmentary as a cool concept, or a short conversation between two characters. A particular scene of action. A name.

At this form of conception the idea is just a few little cells barely holding onto life in the womb. But the idea is powerful and romantic and can fill you with great joy, longing and pride.

(ASIDE: I find homage, and inspiration from other works to be a fine source of a story Idea. There is a large difference between plagiarism and being influenced by others works after all. But others paint with too broad a brush in their criticisms and generalizations. I see it all the time and it disturbs me greatly. For example “Inception is a copy of the Dreamscape!” or “Ah someone already did this story”, or “This is a poor mans Isaac Asimov “ or “Simpsons-Did-It” Don’t listen to that BS, as long as you can take a concept and make it into your own unique work I will support you. )

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Laying the Framework

One of the first steps in writing is to lay out a good story and define what you seek to accomplish. Aye it is good to come up with a concept sure. But a concept alone is not going help TL turn it into a full novel or even a short story. One of the first things though is to ask yourself a few questions. These are just an example

• “What do I want to accomplish with this story?”
• “What goals do I want to reach, what is the overlaying message of the story?”
• “Do I want to do a disperse perspective approach, with multiple characters?
• “Will this be from the perspective of one character only?”
• “Is this thing even worth developing into a real story?”

(NOTE: Not all stories need a specific message. Indeed some are just fun. But I still try to ask myself such things. Sometimes a story might have multiple ideals it is trying to reach even)

After that, you try to build the shape of the new story. Its skeletal structure so to speak. Using an outline is a good way to brain storm and gather ideas. Though it differs between writers. I know some that can sit and just write it all out from scratch.

My story ideas begin with the concept, but then I brain storm as I said, and gather together a group other ideas, ideals, goals, scenes, events I want to happen. Then I string these together to form a more cohesive plot, after I have asked myself what my goals are. This is my Overplot.

Along with plot I try to develop the architecture of the world. Its rules, and known’s and unknowns. And also sometimes a bit of research is in order.

(NOTE: Doing research. (Hey I’m not that anal as to be bothered by a loose difference in specifications of some gun built in 1904. Or why certain political parties didn’t know about gassing out a colony in side 4. I just find that research helps you flesh things out a bit more and can give you ideas. Though more research is important in certain aspects of fiction. If you are writing historical fiction, for example, it might help to for the characters to not sound like the are culturally from ‘99. True, knowing how a machine or science works on a fundamental level is always helpful, but it should never make the writer feel confined. It should only enhance your story. It’s your world darn it!)

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Ploting and Scheming

It’s a bit different with short stories, or micro one-off projects. But in a longer story I try to follow the 5 part dramatic structure. The Introduction or exposition, the period of increasing danger, the climax, period of decreasing danger (though decrease is not literal), and the conclusion or resolution.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dramatic_structure

So we have our Overplot. In addition we have assembled a general outline of how the story is going to develop and its stages. The story out line as you will. The milestones and goals also.

NOTE: It is not unusual for a story outline to only be half fleshed out or half finished before you begin writing. It will grow of itself as you progress. I try not to be too rigid for just this reason. The lil baby ideals are always amorphous until they are well down the line of being written.

At this point I am holding the idea of the Overplot and story outline, in my head, now to the actual body of the work. Let’s get down to the actual writing!

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Writing: TL’s Layered Style of Writing

My actual writing style is a mixture freeform and structured. I call it the layered approach. A chapter will have a rough, like super rough outline itself. The frame upon which I will build the rest of the chapter itself, The Order. Afterwards I will add layer upon layer of the different components until it is a sea-worthy cohesive whole. This is art as much as construction. The Free Style.

Step 1) I will go “scene” by “scene” and build the story from there. With little notes here and there as to what is going to happen.

Step 2) Laying down of the dialog is usually my first of real concrete action that forms the bulk of the chapter.

Step 3) These too steps are actually rather interchangable. That is, the fleshing out of action or dialog. (And by fleshing out the actions sometimes I mean literal ACTION action, but also mundane transitions.)

Step 4) Next layer I go back through the main body of the work and add detail, such as describing the environments and further “painting the scene”

Step 5) Read it, Notate and Adjust. During this part of the process, I look at the chapter to see how it flows along. And if I want to or need to change something.

Step 6) The Inevitable Rewrite.

(NOTE: It is not unusual for a story to change as it is being written. That happens to me all the time. So the outline is not set in stone. Its just there to give milestones to reach and a structure. But that structure is not immune to being manipulated if you change your mind.)

Step 7) Reread it.

Step 8) Rewrite / Edit again, this time mostly for errors. I usually don’t worry about grammatical errors during the first run through of the writing of a chapter. THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO GET THE IDEAS DOWN ON PAPER. Some of us are grammar fans though so we cant help but be do this up, me I don’t like to get bogged down when I am freestyling.

(ASIDE: When you are in “The Flow” there is nothing like it on earth. Your brain fires, and your hands move, and the ideas seem to congeal out of the air of their own accord. I have found it is not unlike possession. Its just your full creative side is engaged I guess. I wouldn’t doubt if we sort of become in touch with UnCon and SubCon minds when we do this. Half here and half in the land of creation. But it is a beautiful thing to experience when you tap into it.)

Step 9) After that is all done time to Reread it again!

Step 10.) That’s right! After step 9, you Reread again! Edit errors once more. (I know, it seems redundant but each time I’ll catch errors lol)

(ASIDE: The Beta Writer: Even I miss a lot of stuff, minor errors I mean. So sometimes it is good to have a Beta Writer. One who with read your early baby work and see if you have any grammatical errors or even if what you wrote is confusing to the outside mind. That is, if you can handle someone commenting on your baby. I find constructive criticism quite a necessary thing though. A good Beta writer is thus a fantastic thing to have. Especially one that knows how to help compliment your style into something better with the right criticism and by asking the right questions.)

Afterwards your new chapter is done! Doesn't it feel so good! Cant you just feel the story fertile and growing.

Ah but now it is time to move on to the next one, and so on and so on, until your work is completed and you give birth to it! ( i.e. some form of publishing or sharing with the outside world.) Either that or you are like me and toil and toil until you get distracted by the next big idea and you start the whole process again. Which is why most of my projects never get completed sadly.

:/

Too many ideas, so many distractions, so little time.

But in any case, this is the basic process involved in my methodology for writing. Seems complicated and tedious maybe, but I assure you it is quite the opposite flows quite easily for me. When I can be bothered to write that is. Well I hope you have enjoyed this little look inside the Terror and Love's head. I hope it helps, or entertains, or even sets up a spark within as well. Good luck in your own Endeavors! READ and WRITE world! DO IT!

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Discussions? Opinions? Tips? All are welcome. terror.and.love@gmail.com.

This Twitter Tip will stop you from Unfollowing Someone RE: The Obnoxious Retweeting Phenomena

Twitter Tips 101: Solution to Obnoxious Retweeting Phenomena

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Ever thought to yourself, “Damn I might as well be following this SOB since he shows up in my Twitter Timeline so much.”

Or

“All this person does is retweet stuff, or retweet Famous People”

And Then

Then you think to yourself one day, “Damn I have had enough, this person is my friend but the retweeting is getting so out of hand I might have to unfollow them.”

TL feels your pain!

I mean I like Reverend Run too, but not like that! And just F-U Diddy!

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BUT WAIT THERE IS HOPE!!!!

(You can stop the deluge of RT clogging up your Twitter Timeline and here is how.)

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STEP1: One go to the offenders Profile page

STEP2: Look for the little Ouroborous-like symbol

STEP3: Click that symbol to stop their Retweets from showing up in your timeline.

(See Picture below)


STEP4: Smile

NOTE: This is possible from the Internet browser, Different Twitter Apps might have the function as well.

Disclamer: Super_Zach is a cool person, Just needed an example Picture. Forgiveness @Super_Zach

Warning!! - There is no way to stop Manual Retweets that I know of so far. So you might still have to unfollow some of these annoying Fethers.

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BONUS TIP!!!! FOR FREEEE!!!!!

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If you type near:(Insert City of Choice) in the search bar, it will show you a list of people that tweet in that city. (See picture below)

For Example: near:Orlando

Not sure if it works, in every city but give it a try.

Cinemagical – Inception Review - No Spoilers

This time on Cinemagical we are to review Inception. (Yes that is the royal we)

Qualifications
First my qualifications. I am a true fan of the cinema, a big difference from a film snob mind you. I love the medium in all its glory and and in all of its shame. I believe there is inherent value in even the worst movies. Even if it is to say, “this is not how you do a movie.” My immersion factor is probably one of the highest known to man. I didn’t lose immersion even in Carnosaur 2. Beat that! Well any way lets get this thing started.

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Inception



If you follow me on twitter you may have seen my overly annoying reaction to this movie Screaming it from the mountain tops as it were. Well some of that was in jest. But after the giddy glow of the post orgasm has faded, I still find myself thinking fondly of what I experienced in this movie. A good sign.

Is Inception Nolan’s Masterpiece? Is it going to sweep the Oscars? Is it the greatest of the great things invented by man, so you have to decide to not see it because so many people like it and you hate that?

Nyet.

What we do have here though is an incredibly competent, well made movie, that manages to hit the viewer on multiple taste buds at once. It has a multi-layered plot, drama, a charming caste, mystery, good action, beautiful imagery, and it makes you use a lil bit of your brain too.

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Synopsis
I’m not going into the plot to much. Since that defeats the purpose of going to see the movie.

What we have here is a world were people can go into your dreams. And by doing so they are able to steal information from your mind. Enter our Mr. Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) a man that specializes in going into others dreams and extracting sad information.

From there the plot expands on multiple fronts. From delving into Cobbs back story, to explaining the world of Dream Extracting, to Laying out Dream rules. And some nice but minor “The implications of it all” philosophy. And then running up to the main plot.

That of the “Big Job” if you are familiar with television tropes.

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Substance
I must say. It was a joy to experience this world. It was a film were the more the movie went on the more it engaged you, just in pure entertainment alone. It was quite nicely crafted and had many layers to it.

The pacing was one thing I can say was perfect. Disorienting at first (like waking up from a dream), then languid as introspection and the build-up to the run occurs. And then this Pressure as the plot delves deeper and deeper the closer we get to the breakthrough. If I am using my metaphor correctly. Good use of tension.

The music nicely compliments the movie in many places. And is probably one of my favorite soundtracks this summer. Good job Hans Zimmer. In fact I am listening to it as I write this review. It helps pull you into the movie at times, and others helps ramp up the action. Also setting the pace for the more calm or confrontational scenes.

I have to say also, this is probably one of the best caste movies I have seen in a long time. All of the actors in this movie gave rather great performances. Not anything Oscar worthy, despite me being a Major DiCaprio fan. But The film is just just highly competent. Perhaps it is just the nature of the summer movie, were we are used to such mediocrity that a fairly decent performance wows us. The last movie I saw was Iron Man 2 and well, while it was good, it had summer movie over the top outlandishness in it.



The Dynamic Trio! Aurthur <3, Cobb <3, and Eames <3 <3

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Congrats to

Leonardo DiCaprio (I am a DiCaprio-Fanboy)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Really was a treat, he played straight man to Leo’s gruff edgy)
Marion Cotillard (A great femme-fatale)
Ken Watanabe (my Boy!)
Tom Hardy (Tom Hardy’s performance as Eames was, well, I may be in mancrushlove with him now)
Ellen Page
Cillian Murphy (No one ever gives Cillian much notice but the dude is actually pretty good)

Special shout-out to some of the bit actors as well. All great.

Dileep Rao
Tom Berenger (Havent seen Tom in years was great to see him)
Michael Caine
Lukas Haas
Pete Postlethwaite

Indeed I had to coin a term for this caste. Called the Ouroboros of Awesome, as they kept stealing the scene from each other, while not diminishing the others.



Mmm mmm. Ms. Cotillard

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Negatives
About the only thing that detracts from the movie, might be the music. Which is weird as I just got through praising it earlier. But even if good and used well through out, at some places in the movie, (Few thankfully) it can be oppressive. And can seem to go on too long where it might not have been needed. Just my opinion.

Confusion Factor
Whenever a movie comes out with a semi-complicated plot, there is chance for you to run into the “I didn’t understand it, so I am pissed” factor people. Let me tell you though the movie is layered, and multi-plotted it is in no way hard to follow. Even though some have said there are plot holes, I haven’t seen anything that you couldn’t piece together yourself.

There is some subtlety to some of the rules of the world of course. And definitely some ambiguity to happenings in the film. I know some people cant handle ambiguity, but it spells things out fairly well I thought. It does require you to make your own judgement at a few points though which is healthy for you.

If you have any theories or things you want to talk about send me a comment.

A Clone? (Dont be facetious)
Some have tried to dismiss this as some sort of clone of existing movies. Usually done by dismissing it before even considering to give it a chance. For those who want to know. It shares little with Matrix, or Paprika, or Perfect Blue. About the only thing they share is that they deal with altered reality/dreams and are pretty damn awesome. Story wise and execution-wise its highly laughable to even think they could be similar.

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Verdict – 9/10
Finally a movie that satisfies on many levels. And doesn’t insult your intelligence either. Well made, well caste, well scored. Probably the must see of the summer, truthfully. I know I will be seeing it multiple times. Hope to see you there.

Opinions? let me know.

Games of Christmas’ Past – Metal Marines

Games, of Christmas’ Past

Been planning on doing this type of blog for while. Gonna go into my past and swim in some sweet sweet nostalgia. In which sometimes things ripen with age like wine, but sometimes spoil with age, like milk.

This time I am going to focus on a classic old game for SNES. One near and dear to my heart.

Metal Marines
This is a weird little monster actually. It is a primarily Real Time Strategy game. It was one of my first introductions to the genre and it SO enraptured my attention.





The Find.
I originally found this game in Movie Gallery, in the SNES video game rental isle. Now Movie Gallery was of sufficient awesome that it warrants its own “Of Christmas Past” article. But anyway Video gaming rental was quite the innovation, especially for us money strapped kids. We (The Familial Unit) would make our weekly pilgrimage to MG and stock up on movies and games. By chance they had this little one on the shelf. Lets just say I ended up not playing any of the other games that time, so engrossed was I on this little gem

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Story
As I recall this game takes places around 2400 AD. We humans had a pretty advanced society. And even space Colonies of the O’neil cylinder type.

But with advanced technologies comes advanced weaponry. And in a chilling opening sequence we see the Earth breakout into War, not nuclear war, but something that appears to be even worse. Anti-matter perhaps. Because the blast radius doest just scour the land it disentigrates it. In the opening scene you can see that continents are shattered like swiss cheese, turned into inslands by the weapons.

The colonials watch in horror as the Earth nukes itself. But then later, a force lifts from the earth and tries to invade the Colonies. This attack is repulsed and you see the Earth forces, burning up in earth atmosphere.

Some time passes and the Colonials decide to descend to earth with a liberaton force to Free the Earth from the despotic regime. The primary weapon of war used on the battle field is the Metal Marine. Giant Robots from with the games derives its name.

Nice eh? Pretty badass story for a lil kid. I loved the idea so much.

Goal
The goal of the game was built around the basic idea of trying to liberate the rest of the remaining islands back from the enemy.

Each area of the planet had a two enemy base areas to take. I think there was about 18 stages. After each initial stage you are present with a cool little scene/pict. After the main base you get to see your ship moving to the next continent.



Remnants of North America :(



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Operations

Your Base
The first thing you do when starting a new level is deciding where to put your 3 headquarters. This is where you are presented with your island map, this is what you will be seeing most of the time. The 3 HQs are what you must protect. If they are destroyed its game over. And you can place them any where you want on your island.

The maps are in a ¾ Isometric style divided into grids. Buildings, like the HQs are placed, on these squares. Though only HQs don’t require construction time, ever other building or unit will though. Some buildings and units can be upgraded that makes them into better versions.



Speaking of buildings and units….

There are multiple types of buildings that help you in many ways. Your defensive buildings are arguably the most important of them all.

AA missiles. These protect you from enemy missile attacks, which are quite frequent and damn deadly. That’s why the cornerstone of any defense is going to be AA. They are fragile though, easily wiped out by a missile that breaks through your defenses. That’s why yo layer your defense. (Oddly a line of AA doesn’t work as well as a checkered array. Its odd.) Your AA can also be chopped to pieces by a Metal Marine strike force. They cost $15 to build and upgrade to delicious Double AA for $50. So you can have twice the punch in the same area. With enough AA you can stop incoming MM strikeforces as well.



Now that's a well established Anti-Air defense line (~_^).

Bunkers. Bunkers are primary defense against Metal Marines. They can survive a hit from one missile but not two. A common site is your AA taking out one or two missiles only for a last salvo to finally get through and strike. Leaving the Bunkers to defend against a MM strike. Bunkers cost $10 and you will use them a lot. Strategic placement of Bunkers will save your ass.

Mines. Mines are cheap like bunkers. And when you construct them they are camo’d from the enemy. They damage attacking metal marines by HALF!

Radar. Radar Array is kind of expensive early on costing $50 bucks. But they help upgrade your AA’s effectiveness by a certain percentage. You want to strike at these on the enemies base so you can get your own AA through their defenses.

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Now for the Offensive!

Missiles. The standard missile. Your basic offensive punch. You and the enemy will be trading back shots with these trying to soften up defenses to storm in Metal Marines. On can destroy a 9 square area of a map per missile. Costs $10. To upgrade to dreaded double missiles. $40. Protect them with AA though. Very fragile. They make good scouts too to check out the enemy island.

Metal Marines. The stars of the show. They cost $20. Metal Marines are so versatile in defense or attack. They can attack a wide area of a map grid when they land. So useful especially upgraded. They have variable equipment, an All-purpose laser, An anti-bunker Cannon (Strong vs Bunkers and weak vs. MM), and an Anti-MM gatling gun (the reverse. Make sure to pick and choose them wisely. Upclose they use their cool melee attack which differs depending on the equipped load out. Upgraded with $45 they become the even tougher gold armored version. It takes like 3 or 4 missles to soft kill a gold MM.



Ah yes nothing more pretty than upgraded Metal Marines.

ICBM. The ICBM is a missile once fired that is unstoppable, and wipes out an entire area of map. But I rarely use them. 1st they are fragile as hell, 2nd they cost A LOT, 3rd if one tile on that fether is destroyed the entire launcher is useless. Much better use for your money if you are in a tough match. But they are fun to build for the wow factor.

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Economy.
There are there main factors to your economy at the start of a level. Money, Energy, Build Times. Normally you aquire money at a rate of $1 per second. And 1 energy per second. Money is used to buy stuff, and energy is used to attack. You modify this based off

Supply Plant. Building a these will increase the rate of income. I usually build one or two. Saving up the required money to build one can be excruciating. Especially when you are recovering from an Enemy attack. I could build 5 AA for the cost of one. But one you get that income coming in you NOTICE.

Energy Plants. Energy plants give you one extra energy. Useful if you need to make a lot of MM attacks. But most times by the time you build up your preliminary base defenses you have a nice energy nest egg to launch a few MM missions or missiles.

Factory. Factories while expensive, $100, are phenomenal. They increase build times for all units/buildings, and increase your missiles replish rates so you can load more missiles to fire. Also effects repair rate.

Bulldozer. Its not really a unit you build but a tool you use to clear map areas decimated by missiles or MM. You cant build on destroyed ground unless you Bulldoze it. Costs $5

Time to Attack.
Once you have a defense starting you get ready to launch and attack. This takes you to the attack screen from which you will decide where to send your units in an attack. At first the enemy map is obscured. Once you send over Missiles or Marines you can see their placement. You can fire 4 missiles (Single or Double) per launch, and one Metal Marine raid, which can send up to 3 marines.



The attack preplanning screen. Anything could be out there waiting be careful.

Missiles are auto they ether hit or they don’t. They can damage a 9 square area. Double missiles pack more punch per launch. They fire staggered, then the MM carrier will head in. Hopefully the enemy AA isnt enough to shoot you down. Once Metal Marines land you decide where to drop them and they will auto-target and take out the nearest buildings. BUT you can control individual Marines and guide them to targets you want. THIS is a very important tactical trick, since you can steer a MM away from a row of Bunkers. And get the AA or missiles first.



Metal Marines storm an enemies headquarters. Shouldnt. be too much of a problem.

That’s the basics of the strategy. The terrain differs depending on the Map. Some are hilly or mountainous and some are flat and hard to defend. Uphill offers a bonus to damage. So storming MM up his is trouble. Some times the enemy map will make for some diabolical defense set ups. Gotta storm a Marine assault or get a good missile attack in to soften things up. You will lose units.

Man I have had some great battles, quite memorable where a last ditch assault managed to bring me back from total defeat. Yeah I have been pushed back to one base and only a few bunkers to my name before…. An enemy double missile can really ruin your day. I’ve had lucky missiles decimate my AA defenses and wreck everything I spend minutes building up. With the only way to survive is to launch a suicide MM attack and find those Enemy launchers! But most times with a good build plan and attack strategy the enemy will not be too much of a problem. Some times I would play with the enemy and let him actually rebuild his bases up some….

The final mission is a tough old broad though. The graphics were quite pleasant if basic. With little details on the maps like old buildings or roads. Usually decimated by missiles though. I remember one match we had trashed each others island so much it was all brown except for our facilities. Also I really liked the inbetween art scenes and the communications you get from the enemy commander of that level during the match.





Uh oh she's gonna gloat....





Not so happy now huh lil buddy? Nothing like a successful assault.

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Verdict - 9/10
A grand game for its time. Just on time spent playing, it so pays for itself in entertainment.

Does it hold up? – 7/10
I think it is quite cool still. Played it on emulator, but it’s not the same as I am tempted to cheat with the Save State function. No saves on the SNES. That really would get your blood pumping. Graphics aren’t what we are used too now but oddly old SNES/ Genesis games have a way of retaining their cuteness unlike old PSone games. Its those polygons…

If you get a chance try to find this one, especially if you are a Strategy game fetishist. I eventually ended up buying it after I rented it that time. Got it for like $10.

The Party List! – A lil bit of everything

Okay time for a little Kei Katan download. Ah! But focused on what? What I am entertaining myself with of course. What I like to call my party list.

Jakarutu hit me rather hard so I have faltered in my duties to this blog. But I hope I can turn it around. Went through a particularly bad patch but I might be fine now. Its turning.

So let’s start off Party List with….

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Food and Mead

Garibaldi’s – Restaurant of purest Sex

Cucumbers - Favorite snack food of month

9” Cheese Steak Deluxe – Most Satisfying meal of the week

LTD – “Best start to weekend” beverage/liquor

WildBlue – Surprisingly tasty desert-like beer that can secretly mess you the F up!



Guava Nectar, Generic Brand - Nectar of the Magical Healing

Cake Donot Holes, cinnamon – Unhealthy Treat most addicted to currently

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Media

With the Magic Defeated…..and that Adulterer having another ring…. I am finally done with Basket Ball.

Ah but then….. World Cup began. And thanks to Univision’s streaming I can watch it. Sadly I may have to take off days of work to enjoy it. (They watch bandwidth and other stats here). – update. Enjoyed World Cup this year. Missed a lot of games cause of work. I may do a world cup centric post. I will be downloading some of the matches to re-watch on those rainy afternoons.

Lost Done…. And Flash Forward cancelled. My movie/television/video entertainment front was looking really grim. (On some levels)

Almost done with my rewatching of Babylon 5 (all seasons, doubt I will do the movies though). Sometimes I watch an episode a day. Other times I will mini marathon and knock out a whole disk. Always forget the quality of the show, until I watch it again. Great plotting in the story arcs, and fantastic one shot stories in between. I have a super crush on Lyta Alexander. (I wonder how old she is now)



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Movies

Last movie I saw in theatres is uh…

Iron Man 2.
Overall a good movie. Suffers from stage II, sequalitius tho. Namely too many plots, too much going on. So you get the feel of sensory overload. But in this case all of the stuff is actually good and entertaining. Loved Whiplash, pretty good villain, really loved the Monaco scene. So, Gwyn Paltro is cool, (Her mom is hotter than her though) and then we have TL slayer Scarlett Johansson, she’s almost to potent….though I might also be in love with Robert Downey Junior too, now that I think about. The scene with his father really stood out for me, in contrast to the scene with whiplashes dang. Good stuff.

Now I usually don’t have too many movies I am anticipating or that I even see. (Nope even with free dowloads available I am not tempted to see most movies) But there are some coming out I would like to see.

Inception is that movie. Bit Leonardo DiCaprio minion too, always does a good job in his movies and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in it too, hope the kid does good.

Next month is Scott Pilgrim vs the World. Not really a fan of Cena casting (though I will always like him cause of Arrested Development, though he gets tiresome sometimes), but because I like the source material I will be watching it. Knives Chau!!! :P

Expendables is coming out too but I fear it might just suck….. Sometimes multi-superstar movies don’t do well. Ocean’s Eleven did but hmmm this movie is giving me that “EEEEEEN” feeling

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Anime & Manga

Been real slack on this front. Haven’t even read Naruto or One Piece in a week or so.

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Writing

Writing has been hammer slammed for a long time now. I have very much fallen into chicanery. When work is heavy it wears on my brain and it shuts down. Oddly when I am emotionally distress (IE hammer slammed by a women) I write better. But work has the opposite effect. It gums up the pipes, the more tedious the work, the worse it is. Twitter is fine. But it’s terrible for concerted writing efforts. During my bout with Jakarutu I couldn’t even write in my blog. And what’s more I have to get done with the damn job first, which can take weeks. It’s like a mental barrier I cant get past. But I am trying.

I have started on my Nexus story. Got a good flow going. Also created a new story universe the Heroes Return universe. Details to come. Got a lot of stories planned for it.

Will I ever reach the point of completing a story and trying to self publish it? Not sure. I seem to be able to come up with

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Internet

I actually been on internet an internet hiatus since the July 4th holiday. Felt good to take a twitter break especially. Hmm stumbled upon some cool little sites. Here are a few

http://www.cracked.com/article_18476_5-ancient-acts-war-that-changed-face-earth.html

-Of particular note is about the sacking of Baghdad by the Mongols and how it has forever changed the nature and face of the middle east. They have not recovered TO THIS DAY. The Mongols reign is incredibly interesting and I recommend you look into their history.

http://community.discovery.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9741919888/m/4041982359

- Super weapon geek article debuncting myths about the Barret .50 Cal sniper rifle...

http://screenrant.com/female-expendables-movie-pauly-67099

- If the expendables movie starred only women. Pretty good list.

http://www.details.com/culture-trends/news-and-politics/201008/interview-boxing-mike-tyson?currentPage=3


- An interest Mike Tyson interview

http://www.heartlessdoll.com/2010/03/top_ten_worst_online_dating_archetypes.php

- Top Ten Worst Online Dating Archetypes. A good article. I HAVE met some of them and I am a few of them. (Can you guess which ones….)

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Arts

For an experiment during all personal e-mails I decided I would only send picture responses. It was quite fun. So I ended up doing that and motivationals….







My favorite creation this week


Kei Katan?


Okay that’s it so far these last few weeks. I will check in again. I am gonna get this thing rolling a