All posts in Life

Revenge of the Sith

By On Fri, May 27th, 2005 In Life With 7 Comments Permanent Link to Revenge of the SithPermalink

The beginning of the movie was very frightening. The scenes are flat, dialogs amazingly dumb – I can imagine McGregor vomiting after every 3rd cut. Very frightening, felt I. Then Grievous…a robot general that coughs…coughs..? A robot?!
The chit-chat between Anakin and Obi-Van when they return Palpatin safely home was unbearable. Man, I started to feel sorry my ticket money.

But then finally something started to happen. Hayden surprised me and played much more impressive Anakin than he did in the AotC. Step by step he built the tension of Anakin going deeper and deeper into the darkness. The scenes between Anakin and Palpatin (while he was still that) are the absolute highlight of the movie. Ian McDiarmid with his amazingly deep voice (is that his real voice?) really nails it home and while the devastation of the Jedis began, I was sure the film is back on the right track.
Sort of a low point is Anakin’s final surrender to the dark side. I don’t know what I expected…or how it should be…but this somehow did not touch me. It’s sure interesting to note that even so wise Jedi Master as Mace Windu fell under the power of rage and anger…wasn’t that the dark side path?

The double duel is amazing, really amazing. Again, Hayden gives good performance of arrogant, guilty-driven, self-doubting and utterly bitter Vader. In the end, it is a good movie, worth seeing. Just ignore first few dozens of minutes.

And – Natalie Portman…so breath-taking. With that long hair, that is.

Age of Empires III

By On Wed, May 25th, 2005 In Life With 19 Comments Permanent Link to Age of Empires IIIPermalink

Few months ago, first screenshots emerged. Fans old and new called it “a visual orgasm”. Indeed, the first screenshots were so amazingly detailed that it looked impossible that they were from the game itself. After E3, things are shaping up. Screens still look amazing, there are videos as well and a brand new official web site.

amazing screenshot

Now, I know there are other games. I know there is that KillZone awesome-looking demo for PS3. That’s all fine and jolly. But Age of Empires is the only game I played for more than one year. I played Rise of Rome, than Age of Kings than Conquerors for something like five years. I simply don’t have time to play anymore, but if I find time, I would always go to Zone and play AoC. It is the best 2D real-time strategy ever made and believe me I tried them many.

When AoM came, it did not really struck me that hard. Actually far from it. They took away the best thing from AoE – reincarnation. I was bitten down to the only 50 (or sometimes 10) vils so many times in team games, and with help from team mates reincarnated in several minutes with new army, new economy and joined the fray again. In AoM, with limited number of places I could rebuilt, this was not possible and huge slice of fun is cut off.

I’m a firm believer that 3D strategies will never be as good as 2D. 3D greatly diminishes the playability. I don’t know how to explain it, but I always had much more fun playing 2D than 3D.
The mere mention of AoE name ignites the sparks in head and fingers. I don’t know whether it will be as good as AoC, but damn sure I’m gonna buy it and try. I can’t bloody wait. If only they allow me to build wherever I want, whatever I want. Man, that would be awesome.

Dream is complete

By On Wed, Dec 29th, 2004 In Life With Comments Off Permanent Link to Dream is completePermalink

It is hard to find the right words. There is nothing new to see, nothin’ else to expect, to eagerly await. The dream is over, I’m awake.

For the previous two extended installments, I could not wait and kept buggin’ the local distributor for weeks, hoping to pick it up the same day it’s out.

Because of the personal tragedy, enthusiasm for the last part was missing. I did not bought it the first day it was in the store. The whole week passed, as I decided to wait for the collector’s gift set edition to appear.

The urge to watch as soon as I got home was also gone. With Two Towers, I first got it into the DVD player, hit Play and then took my shoes off and changed clothes (while the intro was running). With Return of the King, I got home, talked to my girlfriend, called my mom and sister in Pirot, had dinner…there was no rush at all.

Ring, with faded image of Arwen Undomiel

I finished the first watching now, and despite the dark thoughts that clouds my mind in the last few weeks, Return of the King managed to transcend me into this beautiful, enchanted world – for those few hours I was…calm. Words fail me and are slow to come by. It will need more viewings. I might never get to do the actual writing of the whole trilogy. It would not matter really. These will be the movies I will replay for life.

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Drawings as desktops

By On Mon, Oct 4th, 2004 In Life, Personal With 2 Comments Permanent Link to Drawings as desktopsPermalink

I wanted to place one of the drawings as desktop background, but to make it seamlessly integrate (not to look so ugly as in the post). Looking for solution, I stumbled into one very effective filter in Photoshop CS (not sure is this included in earlier versions).

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Batman. (Maybe) a good one.

By On Fri, Aug 6th, 2004 In Life With 1 Comment Permanent Link to Batman. (Maybe) a good one.Permalink

Batman!
It seems that the next Batman movie will finally be the good one. The crew is very, very promising, I only hope that the script do them justice. Michael Kane, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman. Add Ken Watanabe as villain and it sure looks very good. What else to say…

Ah yes…Christian Bale. If you have seen Equilibrium, then you already know that this must be good. Equilibrium is fantastic movie, with great story and some of the best action scenes I have seen in years. It can clearly be compared to The Matrix, especially because of the lobby scenes. I have a hard time choosing between the two. But there is one particular move by Bale at the end that has already been copied, most notably in Underworld. I won’t tell what it is. Watch the movie, it’s great.

I can only hope that Batman Begins will be that good.

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