Team Times

Unsung Heroes Of Gaming Past Part 2 - Jackson

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:27:00 -0400

Hey folks, I’m back again for the next part in my unsung gaming heroes series.

Silent Bomber:

Silent Bomber was an old Playstation title from Japan that made Bomber Man look like a child with a sparkler.

You play as Jutah, a soldier haunted by his past and now a “shell of a man, nothing more than a killing machine”. Part of a rag tag crack military team, he is sent on a covert mission to infiltrate and destroy an enormous space ship called the Dante that is on it’s way to destroy your home planet of Hornet. Not much of the background explained to be honest so a lot of the time you just have to nod and agree while you blow more stuff up.

Silent Bomber is a fast paced platformer where you are rewarded for destruction. Jutah’s main attack is to plant bombs on the spot or several metres in front of him using a targeting reticule. You can plant multiple bombs to chain them together or ‘stack’ them on top of each other to increase their damage and blast radius. You also pick up special bombs now and again that either use napalm, gravity or emp effects for greater destruction. For the most part you mainly fight robots, turrets, mechs, and other mechanical monstrosities as well as some infantry and ‘bio weapons’. The thing I remember most about the game though was how hard it was if you didn’t know what you were doing, especially with the boss battles. Until you worked out the strategy for defeating them they would be a source of great frustration. With that said, try as I might I never finished the game thanks to a infuriating boss on the ‘300 mile high elevator level’ that a number of games have. This huge flying mech suit commander’s attacks were very hard to avoid and he was equally hard to hit so suffice to say he angered me greatly. But I digress…

The game also had a small multiplayer function. By picking up data chips in the campaign levels, you unlocked bosses, allies and other high level enemies to play as in the versus mode, which is basically a 1v1 box arena fight.

Okay let me be honest, the story is kind of weak and never fully fleshed out, the voice acting isn’t great and the multiplayer isn’t much better either. So why, pray tell, is this game on the list? Well dear reader I call it ‘The Expendables Clause’ because like the film, sometimes you just want to watch stuff blow up for two hours. This is both a good and bad thing. It’s a great experience and very frantic and run. But to fully engross yourself in a game you have to strike a balance between story and gameplay. The best examples of this for me are Bioshock, Knights of the Old Republic and the Mass Effect series, but that’s a discussion for another time.

Silent Bomber was great fun for it’s rapid action and gratuitous explosions and hopefully one day I can get round to finishing it.

If you want to see the first entry of this series head over to the Team Times website.

That’s it for now but part 3 is on its way soon so I’ll catch you folks then.

Current song stuck in my head: Lionel Richie - All Night Long

Rick -- 'Geek & Sundry'

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 10:50:00 -0400

Geek & Sundry

Coming April 2^nd – All the geeky media you could ever need, all under one roof!

That’s right, I’m back once again this month! This time with a somewhat less moody blog for you all, and no – it’s still not the one I had intended to write this month. I will get to that though! Honest!

Anyway – as I’m sure a lot of you will remember, part of what I wanted to do with my blog here on Tonyo Teams was to introduce you guys to some cool stuff on the internet that you might not necessarily know about. Last time it was the awesomeness that is Loading Ready Run, and this month I want to fill you guys in on a new media channel coming to the internet next month called ‘Geek & Sundry’.

What the heck is this Geek & Sundry of which you speak? I hear you all asking. Well I’ll tell you (or at least explain as best I can). Geek & Sundry is a premium youtube channel coming April 2^nd with a lineup of six new original series showcasing the best in indie geek culture. And with Felicia Day and the producers of web series ‘The Guild’ at the helm, along with the likes of Wil Wheaton, Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt, and Dark Horse Comics involved in proceedings it’s sure to be one heck of an awesome shindig.

…And if you aren’t familiar with any of the previously mentioned names then I am VERY disappointed in each and every one of you.

What can we expect from this awesomeness then? I hear you all asking (and seriously, some of you need to stop shouting. It’s really hurting my ears…). For this, I’ll reference the website itself (www.geekandsundry.com) …

* The Flog (Premiering April 2nd, new episodes every Monday)

Join Geek Goddess Felicia Day in a whimsical vlog show, as she explores quirky new hobbies and shares experiences that connect her with her favorite people – her fans – in person as well as across the web.

Executive Producers: Felicia Day, Kim Evey, Sheri Bryant, Sean Becker

* Dark Horse Motion Comics (Premiering April 2nd, new episodes every Wednesday)

America’s largest indie comic-book publisher Dark Horse Comics brings some of their much-loved franchises such as Hellboy, The Goon and The Umbrella Academy onto the screen in a unique presentation for their web series. Combining never-before-seen motion graphic techniques and compelling storytelling, fans of these iconic characters will devour each episode.

Producer: Mike Richardson. Director: Eric Bruhwiler

Executive Producers: Felicia Day, Kim Evey, Sheri Bryant

* TableTop (Premiering April 2nd, new episodes every other Friday)

Think “Celebrity Poker” meets “Dinner for Five” and you’re ready to experience the quick-witted camaraderie that pairs notable celebs with must-play tabletop games. Hosted by actor, co-creator and fan favorite Wil Wheaton, this lively show brings together notable geek celebrities from Film, TV and YouTube to showcase the best in tabletop gaming from Settlers of Catan to card games like Fluxx and even RPGs like Dragon Age.

Executive Producers: Felicia Day, Kim Evey, Sheri Bryant, Wil Wheaton

* The Guild Season 5 (Airing April 10th, episodes every Tuesday)

The widely popular award-winning web series that’s topped 150 million views comes to YouTube! Chronicling the adventures of online gamers Cyd Sherman (Codex), Vincent Caso (Bladezz), Jeff Lewis (Vork), Amy Okuda (Tink), Sandeep Parikh (Zaboo) and Robin Thorsen (Clara), the fifth season follows the gang to a fan convention with new discoveries and celebrity encounters. Plus every Thursday check out never-before-seen behind the scenes content.

Executive Producers: Felicia Day, Kim Evey. Director: Sean Becker

* Sword & Laser (Premiering April 13th, new episodes every other Friday)

Popular book club podcast, Sword & Laser, comes to life with an irreverent show hosted by Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt. The show features interviews with top authors, reviews of the hottest science fiction and fantasy books, discussion of the essential news of the week, and lots of participation from the vibrant Sword & Laser community.

Created by Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt

Executive Producers: Felicia Day, Kim Evey, Sheri Bryant

* Written By A Kid (Premiering July 18th, new episodes every Wednesday)

Original sci-fi, fantasy and horror stories by real kids are transformed into stunning shorts by some of today’s coolest directors. These original live-action and animated pieces truly capture the madness and magic of the 4-to-9-year old mindset.

Directors include Dane Boedigheimer (Annoying Orange), Rhett & Link (IFC’s Commercial Kings) and Daniel Strange (Between Two Ferns with Zach Galfianakis)

Executive Producers: Felicia Day, Kim Evey, Sheri Bryant

* Learning Town (Coming Fall 2012)

In this smart, offbeat musical, nerd music duo Paul & Storm blend vocal harmonies with comedic scenarios as they are tasked with reviving the flagging educational show of their childhoods. In the face of adversity from villainous hipsters, cantankerous ghosts and flammable puppets, Learning Town is one show that has to been seen to be believed.

Created by Paul & Storm and Josh Cagan.

Executive Producers: Felicia Day, Kim Evey, Sheri Bryant

Is that enough awesomeness for you? Well is it? ….No? Well…tough….it’ll have to be!

There are a couple of shows that I’m personally looking forward to – TableTop, since I’m a huge Magic The Gathering and roleplaying nerd, and Sword & Laser, mostly due to my love for the Fantasy genre but partly because I find Veronica Belmont to be utterly hilarious.

I am slightly confused about one thing though. I’ve been something of a fan of The Guild for a while now and I was under the impression that Season 5 was already available online. And yet it’ll be airing on youtube from April 10^th. Have I missed something here? Am I being dense? (Wouldn’t be the first time…).

Anyway! For more information on Geek & Sundry make sure to check out their website – www.geekandsundry.com and subscribe to their youtube channel.

Need more incentive to check them out? Check out their trailer!

That’ll be all from me for this month. My birthday is coming up this week and despite not really being able to do much due to being broke til the day AFTER my birthday (sods law – don’t you just love it?) I’m determined to have something of a chilled week. Catch you all in April!

- Rick xo

The Question Of 'What Now?'

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 12:04:15 -0400

The Question Of ‘What Now?’

I sit here alone in my bedroom turn pseudo-office, staring idly out through my window at the grey world outside. It’s a typical March day – looks as though it could rain any second and yet likely won’t. As if some divine force is up there toying with the people of this particular part of the world. I find myself with some time to kill before I venture out to see some of the people who choose to be around me…and I feel inclined to write my blog for the month.

Yet it isn’t the blog I’d intended to write. That will likely come next month now. No, instead I have decided to write something a tad more personal. A piece in which I drop the bullshit façade I tend to put on for a moment and put the self I keep hidden away in my own private world out there for the world to see.

This blog has been inspired in part by the blog of one Ms. Allison Mack, known to many for her portrayal of Chloe Sullivan in Smallville. I’ll likely make reference to the blog post in question later but in the meantime I want to get this under way.

I had actually begun writing this last night as I lay in bed unable to sleep but after rambling on for nearly a page and a half I thought perhaps it would be best if I started from scratch. Even now my thoughts are a chaotic jumble but hopefully I’ll manage to put them into some kind of order.

You know, it’s actually kind of ironic that this blog should be inspired by the writings of Ms. Mack. During the twilight days of Smallville I found myself empathizing more and more with the character of Chloe. As a result I came to a particularly startling revelation regarding myself. I’ve spent so many years allowing myself to be defined by other people or influenced by their points of view that I find myself feeling as though I’ve lost my sense of self somewhere along the way. That essential part of myself that allowed me to face the world with a “You know what world? I can take you on!” attitude and that drew people to me. I’ve spent so many years wearing so many different “hats” – be it the student hat, the son/grandson hat, the supervisor hat – that now that I find myself at a point in my life where I’m able to just be me….I guess I’m not entirely sure as to how to be just me.

The same is true of my work situation. I’ve been working in the same job for so long now that I find it defines the choices that I make when searching for new employ. What’s more, it even defines how I’m viewed by the people I’m applying to. You’d be surprised by just how many people have commented on my list of entirely creative qualifications only to then ask me (essentially), “So…why exactly are you applying to work with us?”. They don’t seem to take notice of the fact that I’ve dedicated nearly seven years of my life to the same job or that I moved up the ranks from volunteer to my current position within the first twelve months of that. No no.

Today I find myself once again back at square one. No passing go, no collecting the shiny new job that could have solved a number of your problems. The universe is apparently not done with testing you yet! I have found myself back at this point far too often over the course of the last few years and yet each time I seem to end up posing the same question to myself, “What now?”.

I’m sure a lot of you who’re reading this (I hope someone is at least!) are in similar positions. You find yourself being cut off at every corner. You want to find employ (or in the case of those like myself, different employ) and yet everywhere you turn everyone seems to be looking for experienced professionals without having the foresight to think that they could perhaps benefit more from hiring the inexperienced and allowing them to gain experience. You feel disheartened, scared and alone. You wonder ‘What do I have to offer now? What am I doing wrong?’ and that ever persistent question of “What now?’.

I wish I had some definite answer or some winning formula that could give you all guaranteed results but I don’t.

As it turns out, I’m more insecure about this particular area of my life than I had thought. With no safety net to catch me if I fall and no one there to gently nudge me in the right direction I find myself wondering if I’ll ever be good enough. There’s no road map for life and I know that the path taken is half the journey but still I find myself lacking the strength of spirit to struggle on despite my own inhibitions. How does one latch onto hope when everything feels so hopeless?

And yet, despite my feelings of self-pity, the words of Ms. Macks blog did resonate with me as I read them. They made me stop and realize that, “You know what? Maybe it isn’t so hopeless after all!”.

While retail may be the path I need to walk down for the moment to get that green stuff coming in, my heart will always belong to the fields of creativity. I want more than anything to tell the story of me to the world, whatever that story may be, and be the change I wish to see. And while I wish I had something of an ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ figure in my life to guide me, I know that the greatest test of my strength of spirit will be to figure this all out for myself.

Yet perhaps the real question here isn’t ‘What now? ‘but rather ‘What do I do with this?’. Despite my gilded cage, I have some level of freedom. I’m also not exactly short on time either. I’m a creative individual who’s at his happiest weaving words or wandering the path less travelled with camera in hand. Perhaps the cosmos is simply trying to beat me over the head with the realization that I have the time to explore and rebuild my sense of self.

I know that sooner or later this jumbled mess of thoughts and possibilities will transform themselves into something tangible. I also know that it will require me to work my ass off but I know that I am not alone. And I hope all of you reading this know the same.

For those who might be curious, the blog in question can be found here — http://www.allisonmack.com/2012/03/15/what-now and should Ms. Mack ever read this, all I can say is this – Thank you. And hopefully you don’t mind my making reference to your blog like this!

- Rick xo

Tropical Butterfly House, Wildlife and Falconry Centre

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 12:07:10 -0500

Since I had two weeks off work recently, I wasn’t wanting to waste the time doing nothing or simply just doing cleaning, so I decided to take a big step and visit the Tropical Butterfly House, Wildlife and Falconry Centre that’s located in North Anston.
Why a big step?
Because it was my first time going on my own and also my first time having to work out a bus journey on my own. I’m fine with train journeys mostly, but because I never really travel on buses, they were a lot more daunting for me to get on because the bus routes weren’t familiar to me, even within my own home town.

That said, I bit the bullet, worked out the bus I needed to take and travelled out to North Anston. The Centre was only a short walk away from the bus stop, which was quite handy.

I arrived roughly when the Centre opened at around 11am. I actually thought I must of been the first person to arrive there, but there was already a family with a young child there when I got in.
The first place I visited was the brand new aviary for the Parrots, which they’d only just moved into days before. The enclosure has a glass front which makes it easier to see them and take photos of them. I hung around here for a while to see an event with the parrots, displayed within the enclosure itself. The display of the parrots was really nice an informative and really showed off their abilities and how clever they are. Very entertaining for children and adults alike.

After this, I had half an hour to kill before the next display I wanted to see, so I hung out around the barn that was nearby, which is where you’ll of course see the more farmyard animals, such as chickens, goats, pigs, a pony, a turkey and also there were a lot of Peacocks/Peahens wandering around. I swear when I last went about a year and a half ago, they only had one Peacock!
One of the Peacocks had his tail all fanned out and he seemed to be trying to scare the chickens with it, the chickens took absolutely no notice of him!

The next event I went to was the bird aerial display, which is where they show various birds to the crowd, talk a bit about them and let them fly about. They showed off their brother and sister Green-Winged Macaws, Bonnie and Alfie, their Kookaburra named Kookie, their Barn Owl named Wispa and to finish off they showed off one of their newest additions to the centre, which was Vernon the Rüppell’s Griffon Vulture, who was a very handsome looking fellow. He walked amongst the people watching and I got to see him up close, as he walked right up to me! So fantastic!
There was also another aerial display on in the afternoon that I went to, which was roughly the same birds, but the last bird displayed was different from in the morning, so instead of Vernon, it was Ché and Esteban who are Hahn’s Macaw brothers. They were very entertaining and were obviously quite mischievous little creatures. During the Parrot display earlier in the day, while their trainer was cleaning up, they wouldn’t leave her alone!

After the first display, I walked around for a bit, talking some photos and then wandered over to the where the Meerkats were. As soon as I arrived they ran over to me, thinking I had food for them (As visitors can feed them mealworms through the day I believe) once they realized I didn’t they soon lost interest! It was lovely to see them though and the family has certainly grown in number since I last saw them. I hung around that general area until the next event I wanted to see, which was the talk at the Meerkat pen. I got to feed them live mealworms during this!

After that, I wandered around to where they keep the Prairie Dogs, another new addition since I last visited. They were adorable to watch, especially when they greet each other with little kisses! They also share their enclosure with a Skunk, but he was hiding!
Also around this area they keep some chipmunks who wouldn’t stay still for photos unless you enticed them with food that was there to give them!

I walked around to the area where they keep their birds of prey, including Owls and Harris Hawks and then visited the small animal house where, of course, they keep things like Ferrets, Guinea Pigs ect. Though here they had a new events addition, which is to watch the feeding of two baby Meerkats, which are currently being hand-reared at the centre after their mother abandoned them. The two babies were only 3-weeks-old. I got to stroke one of the babies, his fur was so soft!

My last stop was the Butterfly House itself, which is always a lovely experience, being able to walk amongst so many beautiful butterflies. A guy showed off one of their snakes and when he asked it anyone wanted to hold the snake, I was the only one who originally wanted to hold it! It’s funny, I’m so terrified of spiders, but will happily hold a snake (I think snakes look adorable though!)

I feel bad that I didn’t really have the time to browse their gift shop on the way out, as I needed to catch my bus home, but now that I’ve travelled there on bus once, I can now go there any time I wish too!

The Tropical Butterfly House, Wildlife and Falconry Centre makes for a lovely day out. It’s both very informative and entertaining for anyone of any age and it’s great that you can interact with a number of the animals there. The staff are all very friendly. You can tell that they really enjoy the jobs they do and all love the animals they work with very dearly.
I’ve been a few times previously with my dad and it’s amazing how the place has expanded and keeps expanding. I remember the first time when I visited it when I was maybe about 12-14. Back then it was just the butterfly house and a small nature trail (I think they had a few birds of prey at that time too). When I visited a few years ago, the first time since my first visit, I was amazed at how big it had gotten and how many different animals they had now!

It really does make a great day out for any animal lover. If you’re not to fond of crowds, visiting the centre during the weekdays while children are at school is of course your best bet. When I went, it was amazingly comfortable to walk around and there were either just families with very young children there, or older people.

Their opening/closing times and prices can be found on their website: http://www.butterflyhouse.co.uk/

Now that I’m a lot more confidant with buses, I’m planning to also visit the Yorkshire Wildlife Park that’s near Doncaster, which I visited with my dad last year. I plan to maybe go sometime after Easter, as I believe they’re getting some Leopards around that time. I originally thought there was no easy way to get to the place, but I’ve since found a bus that stops within a 15 minute walking distance from the park.
Now that I’ve found the confidence and more independence to go on my own, I think I’ll be visiting both these places quite a bit now!

I took a number of photos while at The Butterfly House, which will eventually be found in the Photos section of my website, Chocolate Orange.

KpopKimi - Where have you been?

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:22:00 -0500

Its been a long time since i posted, i have been so busy with everything. Working with MCMBuzz.com and now working my way up to “Chief Editor, Admin & Journalist” on Koreancandy.com comes with it’s ups and downs…. Time flying away being one of them.

I have been finding myself interviewing some big names in the Kpop world, and watching the websites grow. Same with Tonyo and TeamTimes, every time i come on, its grown that little more and its good to see it getting recognised.

So, apart from working my butt off writing (who would have guessed i would be doing this line of work?) My costuming has also lifted and dropped. I’m still doing the “Twisted Disney Beauty And The Beast” with my dad being Beast and me being Belle, Progress is slow, as my dad just had a full knee replacement, but Hannah-Chan has made me my LED resin eyes (THANK YOU <3) and i have the head base done, the glove/paw/claws base done, as well as the under skirt for Belle done.

Usually i always say “one costume, that’s it, no changing!” well for this May expo, im actually doing two costumes.. Belle being one, but me being my Kpop self, i have finally decided to do a Kpop themed cosplay. I will be doing the B.A.P Bunny Mascot! i will explain more about B.A.P n my next post, but put it this way, its bad ass! And i will even have my band member “Zelo” being cosplayed by stce!

As most of you who follow my facebook will know, i recently went to the KBS Music Bank Kpop Festival in Paris, and went for 4 days. I had the company of Stce, Stephen, Brinny, Kat, and Michaela. First day was in london, had my purse stolen, luckily it only had £30 and my bank card in it, but stephen helped me so much after the initial shock! myself, stce, stephen and bri all shared a hotel room, and went to china town (my first time!) we had Korean food (i cant describe how yummy) in which we made some of the best memories! (SPICY BUTT!). We then went and did Puricura! (again my first time!) and we had a blast!

Next day we left early for Paris by Eurostar, booked in hotel, got food, then queued for the concert! It was fantastic! i wrote a report for it on Koreancandy, and hope tony doesn’t mind me linking it here, it would explain my thoughts and feelings a little more and saves me writing a 10 page essay!

After the concert and after spending a full night sleeping, we said good bye to Kat, Michaela and Bri (sad times) and myself, stephen and stce went into the Paris version of China town t visit 2 Kpop shops. It was like a holy place for me, i tried different types of bubble tea, we had Chinese food, we laughed nearly all day, i got LOTS of very cheap Kpop merchandise, and had some of the most fun I’d had in a long time. After sleeping that night it was time to wake up, have a mc’donalds breakfast <3 and catch our long ass train back to UK, followed by a long ass bus journey, followed by a long ass car journey!

In the end i had a great time… and now i am saving for the European tours for “Super Junior’s Super Show 4” and “Big Bangs Big Show 2012”. Not to mention im saving for the Expo’s in May and October!

So there we go.. my first blog in a while. When i have time, ill write about my costumes a bit more, and will possibly write about a article i couldn’t use but think will serve a good purpose here.

Keep supporting Team Times and i look forward to hearing from you all!

KpopKimi <3

Future Film releases! 'The Artist' review + 'The Hunger Games' and 'The Women in Black' expectations.

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:42:00 -0500

Hi i’m Rachel; I shall be doing an introduction video soon so watch out for that! I’m one of the new members here on Team Times and am looking forward to writing blogs and making video’s for you all.

This month’s topic is future movie releases, last week I went to see ‘The Artist’ with my College class (I do a course in Backstage Arts: Costume Hair and Make-up so this film was seen as relevant) and I loved it. Now I know this isn’t a future film release, I shall be getting onto those in a bit, however I would just like to recommend this movie to every one of you reading this. ‘The Artist’ is a silent film featuring Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo and John Goodman. Dujardin plays George Valentin; a big star in Silent Movies in Hollywood who after the introduction of talking movies starts to lose his fame and fortune while an aspiring dancer Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo) who was inspired by George after bumping into him in front of the press and getting her picture on the front page of the newspaper is becoming a big named actress in the industry. The movie shows the struggle George and Peppy have in both losing their fame and seeing someone who inspired you lose it, it is very touching, is also very clever in its storyline and also has comedic parts too. I reccomend this film for anyone that isn’t overly bothered by needing people to speak in films, obsessed by brilliant graphics or special effects and likes a good storyline. As ‘The Artist’ has that spark which a majority of films drowned in ‘pretty graphics’ have been missing for years.

Now for future film releases, I have two films which I’m looking forward to in the coming months; The Woman in Black and The Hunger Games. The Woman in Black is a movie based off the book by Susan Hill, it is directed by James Watkins and written by Jane Goldman and it also stars Daniel Radcliffe, Ciarán Hinds, Janet McTeer, Sophie Stuckey, and Liz White. I went to see a stage play of this at London’s West End last week and even though it was absolutely terrifying (I don’t do well with horror.) it was brilliant. However I shall not be going to see the movie unless accompanied by someone, though I would love to see how different the film is to the stage play I don’t have the nerves to see it on my own. I am also interested to see how Daniel Radcliffe fares in this movie, even though I am a huge fan of The Harry Potter series I didn’t really enjoy his acting in that well so It shall be nice to see if the brand new role of Arthur Kipps suits him much better.

The next film I am looking forward to is The Hunger Games which is to be released in the UK on March the 23rd (The day after my 18th birthday, I think of it as an extra treat), yet again it is based from a book but this time it is by Suzanne Collins, it is directed by Gary Ross and stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, and Woody Harrelson. I found out about The Hunger Games trilogy late last year and ended up getting them for Christmas, after spending a few days reading them all they became one of my favorite series’. Though I do not like the second and third books the first book which is what this film is going to be created from is my favorite. So I am very excited to see what the film looks like when released, so far I have seen a few character pictures and I love the actors that have been picked out for this film. The costumes, hair and make-up are also extremely accurate and so far I have not been disappointed. My only regret is not being able to get to work on the Make-up for this movie as I’m wanting to go onto that profession in a few years and the make-up for this film is brilliant (If you want an example just search Effie Trinket : The Hunger games film on Google images). The movie focuses on Katniss Everdeen, a girl from District 12 who volunteers to be a tribute of The Hunger Games; A show where 12 girls and 12 boys aged 12-18 fight to the death on live television until there is one left standing. The Hunger Games is a punishment for the rebellion of the now extinct District 13 seventy four years ago and happens every single year. The film is set in the distant future where America has collapsed and because of this there is now A Capitol city that rules each of the twelve districts and each district provide something for the Capitol and the lives of the Citizens are not that pleasant. For example when a citizen of District 12 comes of age they are sent to work in the dangerous coal mines to provide coal for the capitol. People are not allowed to leave the city and if they do they are killed or made servants for them. The original book has an amazing storyline and I hope that the film will not disappoint.

Kemono no Souja Erin (Beast Player Erin)

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:03:26 -0500

Last week, while feeling a little tired and not up to much, I decided to just chill out and watch something. I wanted to try something new that I hadn’t seen before, so I went to the list of anime on Crunchyroll, just to see if anything stood out to me. Eventually I came across a show simply called “Erin” on the site, which I’ve since learned it’s full title is “Kemono no Souja Erin” or “The Beast Player Erin”.

The anime is based upon a Japanese novel series called “Kemono no Souja”, by Nahoko Uehashi and tells the tale of Erin, a young girl who wishes to become a “Beast Healer” or “Beastinarian ” like her mother and eventually ends up finding herself drawn into a war due to the way she can communicate with and control beasts.

In the land the show takes place in, there is a constant war going on. The people of the Shin Oh region, under the control of the Shin Oh (Queen) dislike war and fighting so do not possess an army, therefore the people of the Tai-Koh region, under the control of the Grand Duke, fight any invasion in order to protect the Shin Oh. They do this by using Touda, large dragon/lizard-like creatures, in their fighting. Touda are raised and cared for in the small and quiet village of Ake. It’s here that 10-year-old Erin lives with her mother Soyon.
Soyon comes from the “People of the Mist”, a clan of people with green eyes and hair that are said to be able to control beasts, like Touda, with forbidden techniques, which seems to make others un-trusting of them, though Soyon left her heritage behind when she married into the Ake village.
Soyon works in the village as a Beast Healer for the Touda, to which Erin shows interest and curiosity about her mother’s work, claiming that she wishes to become a healer just like her mother. Erin has a keen eye and at times notices things others don’t, though she soon begins to sympathize with the creatures with the way they seem to be treated. They’re given a special water that apparently is supposed to make them stronger, but are also controlled through fear via a “silent whistle” that admits a sound that only beasts can hear, which makes them freeze upon hearing it.

When a very tragic event happens to Erin, the show follows her journey as she grows up, meets people and learns things about nature. As she does, she becomes very entranced by beautiful creatures named Ohju (A creature with a canine head, but bird-like body) when she witnesses them in the wild. When older, she goes to an Ohju shelter to join classes on how to become a Beast Healer.
Eventually, due to Erin witnessing Ohju’s in the wild, she’s put in-charge of a young Ohju named Lilan, who refuses to eat. Erin begins to work day and night in order to attempt to understand and connect to Lilan, even sleeping in the hut she’s being kept in. Erin decides that she isn’t going to give her the same water nor use the silent whistle that is used on the other Ohju (And the Touda before), as she wants to raise Lilan naturally as she would be in the wild. This actually goes against laws that are written, which are explained later in the series.
Erin soon figures out that she might be able to communicate with Lilan through a harp that she has, as it makes similar sounds to an Ohju’s natural call in the wild. After some modifications to the harp, the idea works and this begins a very strong bonding process between Erin and the Ohju, Lilan, as Lilan becomes trusting towards Erin, seeing her like her mother, something that was said would never happen, because the beasts are said to never get used to a human and they can only be controlled through use of the silent whistle.

As all this is going on, the storyline with the country begins getting tense, with some people realizing that the country is doomed if nothing is done to avert it. There is a lot of deceit, unrest and distrust between the Tai-Koh people and the Shin-Oh people. Once it’s found out that Erin can control Ohju’s without the silent whistle, she finds herself and Lilan being dragged into the war. Erin, who only thinks about the Ohju and their well-being, doesn’t want Lilan to become a tool of war and is determined to find a way to stop that from happening.

The story of this show is a very beautiful, touching and at times, quite a tragic tale which had me in tears numerous times while watching it, whether the scenes were happy or sad. I’ve missed out or not fully explained some of the things that happen in the show, because it really is best if you watch it for yourself without knowing too much of the major stuff that happens. Some parts, like the war and unrest of the country, is hard for me to explain, but it’s very interesting how things unravel and how Erin eventually ends up getting involved.

There are many characters in the show, which at times I found hard to follow the names of them all, but the major players in the plot do stand out a lot more as the story goes on. The most important character though is Erin, who I found I really grew fond of during the course of the show. She grows from a very bright-eyed, curious child, into a strong, caring and brave woman, who, despite any set backs that may occur, or what she may have to face, is always willing to do what she thinks is best. The bond that grows between her and Lilan, during both the happy and difficult times, is amazing and you really find yourself just wanting the best for both Erin and Lilan. Erin is a very pure and kind-hearted person, she’s also a person who will bravely accept what punishment she may receive, if she stands her ground against something, when she believes it’s the best thing to do. Her compassion and dedication towards Lilan is just simply astounding.

The animation of the show is great and in some scenes, mostly when showing the history of the land and some pretty intense scenes with the Touda and/or Ohju, it does get very arty and rather surreal in a way. I also liked how when certain scenes were playing out, it would switch back and forth between something happening with nature as well, relating the nature to the event happening, which really united the themes of the show.
The music that plays during the show is also very fitting and very beautiful. It conveys the feelings on-screen quite perfectly.

The show does tend to re-use flashbacks a lot, though I do feel most of the time they’re justified and help to show what the character is thinking of and especially what trauma they’ve received in the past that continuously haunts them. Though by the end of the show, I was getting a little tired of them, as it was starting to feel a bit hammered in, but mostly they are used effectively. There are two flashback episodes used to re-cap the series a certain points and help along time skips that happen during those episodes (there are two time skips that both jump ahead 4 years).

The subs on Crunchyroll were fine for the most part, but I did find it irritating that there were many different spellings of many character’s names that varied from episode to episode, since it was hard enough to remember which character was which at the beginning already. A few of the female characters, specifically Lilan who comes to mind, are referred to as male. Other than that, the subs are fine and watchable.

In short, I think if you like coming-of age stories with a very touching and tragic storyline, this maybe something for you. I would say at least watch until episode 7, if not until about episode 10 to really get the feel of what the show is like. At first the show starts with just the building of Erin’s life in the village with her mother, but episode 6 and 7 I believe is the first major turning point in the series that creates Erin’s path for the rest of the series. It’s definitely one to check out if you decide you want to try something new. There are 50 episodes to the series and I got so hooked that I managed to marathon the whole series in just three days, I was really dragged in by the story and the characters. I wanted to know what was going to happen to Erin in each episode.

If you’re curious, here are the opening and endings to the show that I found on Youtube. The videos are mirrored though so the real videos would be the opposite way around:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRyAVs1EMPc - First Opening
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddENS-0QNCc - Second Opening
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H09fhUCuTBw - First Ending
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iLoyA7hcmc - Second Ending

There is no dub of the series, but it is subbed and available to legally watch on Crunchyroll: http://www.crunchyroll.com/erin

Some Assembly Required

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 07:12:00 -0500

Some Assembly Required

Rick talks Marvel’s The Avengers, Final Fantasy XII and Loading Ready Run!

It’s that time of the month once again. Yes, you guessed it – I’m back! I actually remembered to write a blog for this month. Please, hold the applause…cheeky fuckers. But yes, I am back once more to fill your February with more randomness than you can possibly handle.

The theme for this month is ‘future movie releases’ and while I tend to just write my own thing, I am going to touch on the theme briefly this month as there is one movie I’m really friggin’ looking forward to (and one that I’m sure several people will touch on at some point too). Don’t fret though as I will be covering some other topics this month too!

In the meantime – on with the show!

Marvel’s The Avengers

Anyone even remotely nerdy should be peeing themselves at the mere mention of this film right about now. All I can say is this – oh.my.freakin’.god. If the trailers for this film are any indicator (please god be an indicator!) then this film is going to be utterly immense and most definitely one to watch for 2012.

I can quite seriously find no fault with this film from what I’ve seen of the trailers thus far and I consider that to be something of a rarity. Joss Whedon (the creative genius behind the likes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the all too short lived Firefly) can do no wrong in my eyes as far as this film is concerned.

The basic premise of the film is as follows; When an unexpected enemy emerges who threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, the director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team of superheroes to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Seems straightforward enough, right?

The only thing I would recommend to anyone wanting to go watch this film when it’s released on May 4 is this – go back and watch the other Marvel films first – that’s both the Iron Man movies, Thor, Captain American – The First Avenger and The Hulk (the good one – not the crappy one. We don’t talk about the crappy one.). The movie will make way more sense to you that way, especially if you’re not familiar with the universe.

While I can’t say I’m familiar with the vast history of ‘The Avengers’, I have watched the animated series and one small detail about the movie does concern me a little – why include Hawkeye and Black Widow but not Ant Man and Wasp? Or Black Panther for that matter. It just seems like a slightly strange road to go down but given the former twos involvement in the other films I suppose it makes some sense.

Fans of the other Marvel films will also be happy to hear that the original leads from each are reprising their respective roles for the film. I absolutely adore Robert Downey, Jr. as Iron Man and from what I’ve seen of him in the trailers he certainly doesn’t disappoint in The Avengers!

So if you’re a fan of the franchise or just want a cool action movie to watch come May, make sure and check out The Avengers. I still believe in heroes. Do you?

Currently Playing …

Final Fantasy XII! I can hear the groaning and the shouts from diehard Final Fantasy fans now at the mere mention of that title. Yes, since last we spoke I have been playing through Final Fantasy XII (that’s 12 for those who can’t read roman numerals) and I have to say I’m actually enjoying it thus far.

At the minute I’ve gotten as far as leaving Eruyt Village for the second time and am presently staying in the area to grind up to level 30 before progressing further.

What made me want to play through it again? I hear you ask. To be honest I decided to give it another shot because I didn’t really give the game a fair chance to begin with and wanted to approach it with a more objective mind. And as it turns out, approaching it that way works! I pushed through the game and am at a point now where I’m genuinely emotionally invested in it and want to see it through to the end.

While I know a number of people who have essentially shunned this game, I really don’t believe Final Fantasy XII to be a bad game. It’s just a game with some questionable elements in it. The main point being that the player character, Vaan, should not have been pitched as being the lead of the game – because he has absolutely no bearing on the story at all beyond that fact that his brother was killed during the war and even that quickly gets pushed aside after what feels like a few seconds. Part of me can’t help but wonder if Balthier’s constant ‘leading man’ remarks are some kind of in-joke regarding that subject.

My other issue with the game involves the combat system – specifically the character menus. Let me just explain briefly – in order for characters to use specific techniques, spells, weapons etc. they need to acquire the corresponding license for them (which is fair enough) and then purchase the relevant spell or whatever from a merchant (also fair enough if not mildly annoying at times).

What I don’t get though is that regardless of whom you choose to teach certain spells to, each character ends up with the same combat menu but with the sub menus for spells they’ve not learned blacked out. (i.e. – my approach with Vaan was to make him my back up tank and so I taught him some base/mid level white magic but because I taught my main casters other spells, he still has the sub menu options for ‘Black’, ‘Green’, ‘Time’ etc. magic shown on his menu). It’s not really a major issue as such but it is a mild annoyance during combat.

Why do you stop to begin with? You ask. I blame myself really. Poor character customization on my part coupled with getting utterly fucked off with getting my butt handed to me constantly by one of the optional ‘hunt’ creatures resulted in my rage quitting and not picking up the game again til now. Something I’ve thankfully managed to avoid this time.

I’ll make sure to keep you guys posted on my progress so stay tuned next month!

Loading Ready Run

I wanted to finish off my blog this month by starting off a feature I’d promised to do a while back – an introduction to some things that you guys might not have checked out before but most definitely ought to. To kick things off I wanted to introduce you guys to the awesomeness that is Loading Ready Run.

What is this awesomeness of which you speak? I hear you ask. It is this – “Founded in 2003 by Graham Stark and Paul Saunders, LoadingReadyRun has grown from a sketch comedy site to a comedy destination, with our videos featured in film festivals such as the Comic Con International Film Festival in San Diego, and shown on major TV networks, including G4 TechTV, The CW, TruTV, NBC, and even CNN.

Since 2007, LRR has raised money for the Child’s Play charity with the “Desert Bus for Hope” fundraising telethon and gaming marathon. The event, which sees members of the crew play the worst video game ever made for days on end, has raised over $440,000 in its four years.

The LRR Crew fear actual work as they have no transferable skills, so expect the silliness to continue for a great while.”

At present the comedy troupe (and video production studio) current produce the following weekly videos – their namesake, LoadingReadyRun, CheckPoint and Unskippable – which ‘come out’ every Monday, and Feed Dump which comes out Wednesdays. All of which are most definitely worth checking out though if you have a few minutes to kill and need a few good laughs (though I shall warn you now that there is strong language involved on occasion. Be warned!).

As stated above though their work is not limited to simply producing awesome sketch comedy (and other equally random) videos. Since 2007 they have held a fundraising event called ‘Desert Bus for Hope’ to help raise funds for the charity Child’s Play. Last year alone they managed to raise some $383,075.10 over the course of 150 hours! As someone who watched the proceedings last year too I can honestly say it’s definitely worth a watch and most certainly worth donating to.

So if you have a few minutes to kill today or you’re looking for something to listen to in the background while you game, please go check these guys out and show them some love on their forum! It’ll be a worthwhile use of your time I can promise you that much.

For information on LoadingReadyRun and to check out their videos, please visit http://loadingreadyrun.com/ or check them out over on http://www.escapistmagazine.com/ (for CheckPoint please visit http://penny-arcade.com/patv/show/checkpoint).

For more information on Desert Bus for Hope, please check out their website at http://desertbus.org/ (and while you’re at it check out the Child’s Play charity site too at http://childsplaycharity.org/). You can also watch all of Desert Bus 5 right now by going to http://www.twitch.tv/db_high/b/300374896.

To Graham and everyone else at LoadingReadyRun – well dong and long may you all reign!

Well that’s about it from me for this month. I hope you’ve enjoy my blog and I’ll catch you again in March – also known as my birthday month! That’s right, I’ll be turning a quarter of a century old. Gods help me.

Until then – seeya!

- Rick

flakes have fallen - Ruth

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 11:02:00 -0500

Everyone seems to be talking about it on social networking sites so I thought I’d join in.

SNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWW! You are cold, white, bright, cold, wet, pretty, and soon you will turn to ice and then brown yukky sludge.

We had a rather loud wake up call at 8.30am this morning when my niece and noisy nephew knocked on the front door. They had been out on their sledge, said hi to Nanna at the door and went… That’s it, wake us up and don’t stop so we can throw snowballs at you to get my own back.

We didn’t get that much snow to be honest, an inch or so. I don’t think the chickens liked it much. They came out their house this morning to the treat cupboard, stepping in human footprints and not the snow. There was literally one chicken footprint in the whole snow. My mum had started a pathway back to their house for them, but when I came out they had stopped where she’d got to and were trying to get into their old house. So I let them in their while I dug the rest of the path. They stayed in there for a few hours and as the snow began to melt they ventured out.

It’s nice watching the wild birds in the snow. The usual robins look nice on the white fluffy background. Feels Christmasy. I started to take some photos of the garden, but all the birds flew away. Except for one starling who came closer and closer finding nuts that had dropped from the seed hangers. I went closer and it came closer still. Almost standing on my foot. I told it “Good job I’m not going to catch and eat you”. To that, it flew away.

Looking out the roads are filled of puddles and the pathways are sludge. It didn’t last very long, but I’m glad it has finally snowed, the sky was looking and feeling like it needed to for weeks.

atmosphericresonance: Blitz Magedda - 2012 by *RQL Second...

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:05:00 -0500

atmosphericresonance:

Blitz Magedda - 2012 by *RQL

Second Character in the VX Redesigns. Blitz Magedda.

Hey Team Times, Luke here with my latest piece. Hope it looks alright!

The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 - Jodie

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:05:00 -0500

So today marked the 15th episode into the second season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, “The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000”.

The episode focuses on the start of “Cider Season”, which is when the Apple Family make cider out of the apples they grow on their orchard and serve it out to the ponies of Ponyville. Though because the family concentrate on quality instead of quantity, they never have enough for the whole town, which angers the ponies that have waited in line and weren’t able to get any. The Apple family explain about the love and integrity they put into making the cider as great as it can be, but this doesn’t seem to convince the other ponies.
It’s here that two traveling sales ponies, named as the Flim Flam brothers, appear in their strange contraption, wielding a catchy song about their cider making machine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF03LwE87Og

The brothers offer the use of the machine to the Apple Family and although Apple Bloom, the youngest member of the family, is up for it at first, the others aren’t too sure. Though, after the Flim Flam brothers tell them that they’d be taking 75% of the profit, the Apple family decline, realizing that it would do them out of business. They rely on the money from Cider Season to keep their farm afloat through the winter. Since the family declined, the brothers decide they’ll just have to compete with the Apples and drive Sweet Apple Acres out of business.

The next day, when the Apple family run out of cider again, the Flim Flam brothers once again show up and this results in them and the Apple family being caught up in a contest. The group to make the most cider in one hour will win the exclusive right to sell cider in Ponyville.
With their farm on the line, the Apple family try their best against the Flim Flam brothers machine, but they find for every one barrel of Cider they are making, the brothers are making three.

Not wanting their friend Applejack and her family to lose their farm, Twilight and the others ask the Mayor if it’s okay for honorary family members to take part. The Mayor asks the Flim Flam brothers, who say it’s fine, they’re winning anyway and they don’t seem to think the extra help will help the Apples at all.

Twilight and the others chip in, with Fluttershy helping Applejack get the apples down from the trees, Pinkie Pie helping Apple Bloom catch the apples as they fall, Rarity helping Granny Smith pick the best apples for the cider and Rainbow Dash helping Big Machintosh run on the conveyor belt that gets the machine working. With this help, the Apples start to make more cider than the Flim Flam brothers.
The brothers, realizing they’re now being beat, up the power of their machine, but now instead of just sucking up the apples from the trees, it starts sucking up whole trees. With the apples mixed in with branches and leaves, the quality checking device on the machine starts to reject everything, so the brothers set their machine to not do the quality check, allowing the branches to be mixed into their cider.
Rainbow Dash, seeing that they’ve picked up the pace, insists they should do the same, but the Apple family stick to their guns and put quality first.

The competition ends and it turns out the Flim Flam brothers have made the most cider and have therefore won. The Apples, realizing they’ve lost their farm and livelihood, get ready to pack their things, that is, until some ponies try the Flim Flam brothers cider. They spit it out, horrified by the quality of it. The brothers realize they’ve been beat and they very quickly leave town.
Sweet Apple acres is safe and the Apple family find that because of the competition, they’ve made enough cider for the whole town to enjoy.

At the end, Applejack reports to Princess Celestia to share her thoughts, but actually admits in the letter that she actually did not learn a thing, because she was right all along! Taking the time to do things the right way makes your work speak for itself. She explains that she could write about how her friends are always there to help her and she can count on them for it, but the fact is, she knew that already too.

I really enjoyed this episode. This season the Apple family have really had some pretty good episodes, with this episode and the Family Appreciation Day episode. It’s been really great to see some episodes focusing on the family, seeing them interact and work together and the different sort of products they sell from their farm. Although the outcome of this episode was predictable (It’s a kids show, of course it’s predictable!) especially when the brothers started to look over quality, it was great to see the determination of the Apples to keep their farm, but still stick to their own rules of quality over quantity and honest work.

Also, as a final note, hearing the ponies talk about cider for an entire episode and seeing them so determined to drink it, was hilarious. I know what the Apples were selling was not alcoholic cider, but I know cider as more of an alcoholic drink, so it was still funny to hear these cute candy coloured ponies keep talking about it.

Master Grade PMX-003 The-O.This Gundam kit was by far one of the...

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 06:25:00 -0500

Master Grade PMX-003 The-O.

This Gundam kit was by far one of the most fun to build! The box was a giant one, even had a handle showing just how gargantuan it was! The kit itself is the second largest Gunpla kit I have built so far. I will likely do a video review of it in the near future but to give you an impression on how long it took to construct, I was able to watch all of Gundam 00 Second Season, then about an hour and a half afterwards, so about 26 eps with 23 mins each in length. I am bad with maths but it took a while over a three day period. There is still a bit more work to do adding some dry decals onto it but so far it is one of my favourite kits to date. So much character around it and it’s large build! Bigger is better in this case!

Hello guys! Some artwork... - Luke

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 06:14:00 -0500

Hello guys! Some artwork... - Luke:

Hey guys, thought I would say hello! I am Luke, otherwise known on the web as RQL. I shall mainly be posting here artwork progress, as well as little tibits about gaming that I may come across and interesting stories too.

I have been doing my art now for quite a few years properly, although within the last year the amount that I have done has lowered however I hope the quality has at least gone up.

The latest piece I did despite being a portrait redesign of one of my characters at least makes me feel it is getting there! I aim to really improve this year with my artwork, hopefully pushing beyond what I have been able to do so far this year and continue my F-Zero VX project which I have been doing over the last few years. Alot of my work is based around this project - A Fictional continuation of the F-Zero series by Nintendo. I decided to do this because Nintendo themselves have not released a new entry into this absolutely amazing series for far too long in my opinion and I have decided to just go for it and design my own ideas and stories for the series, just because I am a stubborn fan like that haha.

It has helped my artwork alot so far however, and I aim to really push forward with it this year. I also hope to achieve my first paid commission this year, I hope I can be successful with this. You can find my artwork in the link.

Until next time guys, take it easy!

Luke x

Expansion! - Tonyo

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:31:00 -0500

This is a blog originally written on www.TonyoTimes.com

Hey Peeps and Peepettes. If you head over to Tumblr, you can check out the new Team Times blogging page, an alternative way of reading our blogs. For me, I’ll being putting my blogs straight on to the Tonyo Times website, and then copy them to the Team Times Tumblr site, along with my Facebook.
Jodie is the General of our Tumblr page and will be making sure it all looks nice and things.

Go follow us at… teamtimes.tumblr.com/

We also have a Twitter thanks to Chris, you can follow us on there at twitter.com/TeamTimesFTW

I am looking at other options. One of them is for some current members of Team Times to expand their horizons and create new groups to be rivals of TT. We can endorse each other, plan games against each other online and at Expos. I also put across to other people who are not in Team Times to try and do this, it could be a lot of fun.

That’s it from my quickie blog. Thanks for reading.

Tags Page

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:35:00 -0500

This is an archive of the tags we use, so it’s easy for readers to look up posts either by member, or by subject!

Posts by Team Times Members
Jodie
Kimi
Luke
Rachel
Rick
Ruth
Tonyo

Posts by Subject
Animals
Anime
Artwork
Cosplay
DeviantArt
Disney
Final Fantasy
Gundam
Kpop
London
Marvel’s The Avengers
MCM Expo
Movies
My Little Pony / MLP:FiM
Paris
Snow
Team Times
Toys and Figurines