Unknown

Unknown

Title: Unknown

Year: 2011
Rating: PG-13 (brief sexual content)

Synopsis: Doctor Martin Harris is in Germany preparing to attend an important social function. Unfortunately, all plan are put on hold when he gets a fairly hard knock on the head. Once he wakes up from a four-day-long coma, he discovers his identity has been stolen and not even his beloved wife knows who he is. With nothing to prove his identity and dwindling resources, he struggles to prove who he is and shut down the thief.

Best Part/Best "Phrase": I can't I'll just ruin it.
Favorite Actor: Liam Neeson, of course.
Music Quality: I can't recall a bit of it, so not bad, but not special.
Language: Nada.

Pros: The movie is clever with great acting, while not being overly complex or hard to understand.

Cons: Where are the cops? How are they getting around without being identified as terrorists? Do we get more background? Where does Harris get his supplies? Plot holes are the problem here.

Rating: 7.3
Rewatch Value: Probably not, because after you see the end there's no point watching it again. But it is worth seeing once.

Movie Review: The Storm Warriors

The Storm Warriors(Fung Wan II)

Title: The Storm Warriors

Year: 2009
Rating: PG-13 for stylized martial arts

Synopsis: Wind and Cloud are 2 warriors set on defending China against the evil Japanese warlord Lord Godless. Both are gifted with powers that allow them to command the world around them, but even together they stand no chance. Running out of options, Wind is given the chance to increase his powers tenfold by taking the path of Darkness, while Cloud is denied this choice. But Wind's chosen road may have more consequences than suspected...

Best Part/Best "Phrase": A really Final Fantasy-esque sword throwing scene.
Favorite Actor: Cloud, real name Aaron Kwok.
Music Quality: The music fit, but not exceptional.
Language: There is absolutely no bad language.

Pros: This movie is a Chinese fantasy based right off of a comic book. It actually has a bit of a 300 feel to it, complete with lots of slow-motion fight scenes. And these fight scenes are incredible; it is, in fact, like watching a T1 fight with not as much prepping. But you can tell that badass move took at least 10.

The acting is okay as are the graphics. There are some really impressive martial arts scenes and camera work going on throughout the movie, with a really fast paced story that would probably work as a music video too.

Cons: The story is sort of hashed. Save China from Japan using magic Chi. The acting, while okay, does need some work especially with the women characters. That said, the women characters absolutely suck because they interfere with the movie itself due to their incredibly stupid actions. The CG is not bad at all, however you'll get the feeling you saw better.

Rating: 6.3
Rewatch Value: Yeah. I mean, it was one dollar, but it's one dollar I'd pay again.

Thank you, trolls and troglodytes!

Disclaimer: I did not write this. A friend of mine posted this on my Facebook wall and I found the message contain within of utmost importance. I wanted to share it with the world.

My friends, if you are reading this it is probably because Trolls and Troglodytes have somehow negatively affected your life. (A Troglodyte is someone who is being deliberately ignorant or old-fashioned with the intention to spite others). Through their callously immature whining and cajoling, they have merely pointed out an area in our psyche that needs refinement. For this, we must thank them. This area is the tendency to engage in pointless argument, and it is greatly harming our mental and physical health. Transcend it!

Whenever you engage a Troll and Troglodyte (hereafter, TnT) in argument, you lose, they win.

Know what is at the root of all TnT behavior: fear. They are afraid of being ignored, passed by, overlooked, rejected, and they desperately crave your attention. If they make you angry or upset in any way, they win. They will do anything to press your buttons and get a reaction, including lying, slander, name-calling, crafty video editing and photo-shopping, etc. etc. etc. And they will also occasionally pretend to be nice and agree with you, just to keep you interested.

Whenever you post and discuss their videos and/or pictures, you give them power and energy. This presents them with exactly the attention and acknowledgement they ache for. They win.

Especially if you take apart their arguments line by line and point out all their mistakes, flaws, lies, and so on. Doing this means that you are devoting your time and energy to careful consideration of their twisted thoughts.

You lose, they win.

Perhaps in your youth, like most of us, you were teased by children at school, and/or your sibling(s) at the dinner table, and/or your parent(s) at the sports field. You felt hurt, ashamed, alone, and you wanted to fight back. Sometimes you may have, or maybe you never did. Your ego took a beating, and the need for revenge still burns within you, yet to be soothed.

Conceivably, you may also feel an extra impetus to ‘fight back’ because you think you should defend some particular philosophical idea, method, system, or Movement. Maybe you think you need to defend some person, or some people, within said Movement.

You don’t.

Remember: It is TnTs character flaws that inspire their actions. Do you think you can somehow enhance their level of communication and understanding, or advance your Movement by taking a morally superior and logically correct position? Can you help spread the truth by engaging TnTs in lengthy explanations and the presentation of scientific evidence?

You can’t.

Maybe you are under the delusion that you can offer them some much needed counseling service, and heal their wounded soul. Maybe you think if you just give them one more try, accept their ‘friendship’ request just one more time, they may come around and see that you were right all along. Possibly you feel that you are doing them some good, by helping them see the errors of their ways.

You aren’t.

The only way you can win with TnTs, THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN WIN is to completely ignore them. Completely. Delete their posts on your Wall. Remove them from your Friend list. Refuse to watch and discuss their videos. Ignore their cries for attention and character defamations. Completely. They will wither and shiver alone and frustrated in their cold, dark bedrooms, clenching their angry fists and wondering why nobody is paying attention to them. And they will band together in clumps and clusters of squirming and slithering TnT hate groups, constantly re-infesting each other’s thoughtforms with cancerous memes. Let them.

TnTs are of no concern to psychologically healthy people. Our mental attitude is vitally important to our health and wellbeing, and our psychological state must remain positively in the light. Clean up and dust off the altar of your mind. Update your files and delete all programming that slows down your processing. Re-claim your power and re-focus your creativity. Thank the TnT’s for their reminder, and ignore them. Completely.

With love and respect,
Crispy

What is Valucre?

Valucre is a play-by-post roleplaying forum. What does this mean exactly? It means that one "plays a role", primarily but not solely through the perspective of a single character (some play a number of characters, such as armies and battalions, some play out the passage of setting).

The "game" of roleplaying here is that you play a character, having thought out their personal history, personality, attitudes/perspectives/biases, and the content of your writing will be that character's reaction to other characters, to settings, detailing their emotions and personal growth, making new relationships with the characters played by other people. One can have the character move through political office, acquire unique weaponry and armor, or maybe their life is already too full of mystery and intrigue and they open up a café.

These are the factors that make up our game. In all honesty, it's pretty fun. Some people consider the act of roleplaying to be pretty nerdy, and rightly so. The elements that run rampant on any roleplay message board can be found in media that, for a long time, appealed to a very small niche. From the elves and dragons of D&D and DragonLance to the spaceships and lightsabers of Star Wars and Starship Troopers and everywhere in-between.

These things, their parallels, and their constant reference by people like Urkel and the cast of Revenge of the Nerds has caused some roleplayers to consider roleplaying a dirty little secret. They're cool and not at all nerdy in their day to day life, so they don't want to fess up to the love of writing.

For the purposes of something easily defined, I'd like to use boxing as an example. Consider the gang of childhood friends that like to go to the local gym, put on the gloves every now and then and mess each other up for the hell of it. Fine and dandy. Now consider the boxer that trains at the gym every day and competes constantly in amateur circuits. Both are boxers but one engages in the act as a transient hobbyist while the other dedicates him or herself to honing the craft.

I'll refer to one as "rpers" and the other as "roleplayers", the first being your leisurely hobbyists and the other being the committed enthusiast.

RPers are welcome by the bus load. Valucre is the gym and the doors are open to any and all. But it is important to know that Valucre is here for the roleplayers, for the people that want to flourish, that want to sweat and flex their brain in connecting storylines, making plots, testing the limits of your characters, refining your writing skills, and taking part in the closest thing to immediate satisfaction that one can achieve in the literary realm.