I’ve been on posting hiatus because work is gearing up for the end of the quarter.  It’s been slightly crazy at the office, and free time is at a minimum at home too.

But just a quick update, I did pick up the iPhone 3GS on launch day.  Or rather, it was delivered to my house in an unmarked brown box by FedEx.  AT&T did not have their shit together regarding communication, which is strange because they’re a telecommuncations company.  I was told the phone would ship Wednesday and arrive Friday, but I hadn’t received notification of shipment until Thursday.  Even then, I didn’t get a tracking number until Friday, so imagine how insane I was clicking the refresh button for nearly 18 straight hours.  The phone was only a hardware upgrade for me, since I had the 1st Gen iPhone, but I was very eager to put hands on it.

So far it’s been great.  Obviously the OS is nothing new to me, but the speed they talked about at WWDC really does work.  Pages load faster (obviously because I’m now on 3G too), apps load up WAY faster (Peggle took 15 seconds with the 2G iPhone and right at 5 seconds on the 3GS), and all the new bells and whistles are great.  It was a $200 upgrade for me since I grabbed the 16GB phone.  No need for 32 GB here, since I use my iPod in my car and don’t listen to music anywhere else.  I unlocked my 2G phone and now my wife is “testing” it to see if she wants to use it on her T-Mobile network.  She needs to buy a data plan to take advantage of the major features, but right now it’s her new toy.

On a gaming note, I’ve been tearing through my unplayed games list, and I’m now down to 2 or 3 out of the 8 or 9 I had a couple of months ago.  Viking is very repetitive, but entertaining in chunks.  Tomb Raider: Underworld was actually really fun, if not slightly frustrating at times.  Far Cry 2 was terrible — the difficulty is so impossible on Normal, and I couldn’t finish the first real mission outside of the training section.  Prey was interesting, but not stellar.  Condemned 2 gave me quite a few scares, and was definitely worth the $10. 

I started PGR4 last night, and I was a little rattled at first because I was constantly using the handbrake to turn.  I thought it was all about the Kudos, but it looks like there’s a little more skill involved in this game and actually requires using the footbrake to win.  I’m no racing games connoisseur, but in my experience the handbrake is how you win.  Or maybe I just need to stick to action/adventure games.  I’m having fun with it anyway.

So now on my “need to play” list is Crackdown and The Club.  I also have a few unfinished games that I’ve had for nearly a year — Dead Rising, Assassin’s Creed (way way repetitive), Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Prince of Persia.  I know I have a couple others, some of which I may never play again (Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom).

My list hasn’t grown though, since I haven’t bought a game in a long time.  I always keep my eye out for bargains and discounts, because $60 a game adds up very quickly — like on the second game.

Anyway there’s a quick update.  I’m working on a couple of other things too, I may be freelancing for a startup game blog in the near future, so definitely looking forward to that!

Back in my recent-grad days I worked as a manager for Hollister, Co., a sister store to the infamous Abercrombie & Fitch. My time there made me loathe the retail industry (you can read about real life occurrences here, here and here), and I still get frightening flashbacks when I walk into those stores.

Well A&F is back on the infamous radar today, with some not-so-surprising news that they have forced an employee to work in the stockroom because of her prosthetic arm.  Not a joke, as the entire story, told from the girl’s point of view, sings with all the bigotry, sexism, racism, hottism, whatever other -ism you can think of.

The bulk of the story states that the girl was on the floor (the sales floor) during a visit from the visual team.  The visual team is a team of former managers who travel to stores around the country/world fixing their mannequins (called “forms”) and other various visual aspects of the store, such as the way in which the stacks of clothes are folded.  This is a big deal in AF-Land, and usually happens if your store is a disaster OR if you’re being visited by “corporate,” or even Mike Fucking Jeffries himself.

So Riam, who has a prosthetic arm, should’ve quit after they made her wear a cardigan to cover up her arm.  The luring attractiveness of being one of the “elite” who are hired at AF must have kept her there (sarcasm).  During the visual team’s visit, she was approached about the cardigan and asked to remove it.  This was because each season, the employees are given a specific list of things that they are allowed to wear while at work.  It usually revolves around jeans and the colors navy/white, and since it’s summer I would assume it included layered tank tops placed ever-so-strategically to show off the moose/seagull logo.

Riam refuses to remove the cardigan (why, I have no idea, let your prosthetic arm fly) and since she’s not wearing one of the pre-approved outfits, she’s sent to the stockroom, which is where all the ugly people work.  You rarely see the trolls of AF, because they’re kept under the harsh, flourecent lighting of this stockroom.

After she calls home office (customer service, sorta), they ask her if she can stay in the stock room until the season change.  Insane!  And that sounds exactly like the company’s weird ass rules, so they haven’t changed a bit.

I can attest that things like this, though not to this insane degree, happened often when I was at the company.  If you’re still looking for reasons to hate this company, there you have it.

Our city’s kickball tournament was this weekend, and we started out as one of 16 teams battling for the Friedman Cup.

We won our first 3 games over some tough competition and made it to the final four. Sadly though, the ref (who had been drinking and admitted he would be “making some bad calls today”) totally fucked us on a terrible call. Even the opposing team was saying the call was bad, but it still cost us 3 runs. We couldn’t jump back from that, even with amazing defense. We scored one, and they scored one more before we ended the season 11-1.

So let this be a lesson to all aspiring kickball referees out there — DON’T DRINK WHEN YOU WORK. Some of our teammates were ready to pull his head off, no doubt.

But speaking of defense, I had a few great catches including one diving-roll that should’ve been on ESPN’s top 10. Some great over-the-shoulder catches by our outfielders, and the girls did pretty well too.

We’ll be taking the summer off, it’s just too damn hot in Atlanta for kickball in the summer. In the fall we’ll be back as RED DEATH, and we plan to take it all the way to the end as champions of kickball!

In what should’ve been a surprise to no one, Apple announced a new generation of hardware for their famed iPhone.  The 3GS, where “S” stands for “Speed,” has twice as much RAM and a faster processor, which makes applications, Safari and pretty much anything else you can do on the phone blazing fast.  According to their tests, it’s 3 times faster than last year’s 3G in Safari alone.

Also getting upgraded is the camera, which will now sit at 3 megapixels.  The 3GS camera also records video, and you can edit it ON THE PHONE, which is amazing in itself, then send the video via email, text (MMS) or upload it to YouTube.  The still camera is now much improved and features a “tap to focus” feature that is amazing.  Simply tap the object on the phone screen that you want to focus, and it automatically focuses on it!

The 3GS also touts a few things that the older 3G will not have, including the video recording capability, the built in magnetometer that integrates into maps and adds a whole level of GPS functionality, and voice command capability for both voice dialing and music navigation.

And the 3.0 firmware update, which brings all of these software changes to current 3G and Gen 1 owners, will be free and releases June 17.  Gen 1 owners will not have MMS capability.

Now for the “controversey.”  Current 3G owners, who were able to purchase the 3G phone at a subsidised price with a 2 year contract from AT&T, are not eligible for the discounted 3GS until their contract is up.  I have heard that the discounts begin at 18 months past the contract, though they get deeper as you get closer to clearing the whole 24 months.

I say “controversey” because the forums and comments are full of people bashing both AT&T and Apple because of this process that has been around for YEARS.  Name a major carrier that doesn’t require a 2 year contract with a subsidised phone.  Can’t do it?  Ok, how about naming a major carrier that gives you a discount on a *new* phone after a single year of a 2 year contract?  I still can’t think of one.  This practice is nothing new, and I don’t understand why 3G iPhone users are bringing out the bad words for this.  It’s a CONTRACT, and you bought the 3G at a DISCOUNT.  The discount is given to you and ties you to the company for 2 years. 

Ok so yes, the process does suck.  I don’t like being stuck in contracts when my carrier sucks or has bad customer service or charges way too much.  But there isn’t a whole lot you can do to get around that and still use an iPhone.  Yes you can jailbreak it or unlock it, but that’s only if you know what that is.  I’m aware of what it is, but have never taken the plunge on my Gen 1 iPhone because I really don’t feel like I’m missing out on much.  My bill is right at $75 a month and will now go up $10.  I’m not too happy about that, but having the iPhone 3GS outweighs that small stipulation, in my opinion.

So the internets are blowing up with people bashing Apple and saying “it’s a pathetic update.”  Bla bla bla, these people are just pissed because they will have to pay through the nose to upgrade their very capable 3G phones.  The only thing they’re missing out on is voice, video and the compass.  Also the new hardware.  And FYI, the price for the 32 GB phone at no discount is around $699!  Insane!  But hell, my Gen 1 was $599 when I got it last March.

If you love the technology like I do, you’ll take the steps to get your hands on it.  I think the iPhone is a great value.  I use mine every day for 5 tasks completely unrelated to talking on a cell phone.  I love how it has destroyed the line between computer and personal device.  They really have completely changed the landscape of what is considered a “mobile phone.”  It’s bigger than the color screen, bigger than the Razr, bigger than email on your phone.  It brought us the app store, which is an amazing way for small developers to get their ideas out to the public.

So on day one, I will be walking out of my local Apple store with my brand new 3GS with a huge smile on my face.  For me, this is more than just another phone; it’s a piece of technology that has changed the way I think about technology.

I feel like Sony has been the carrier of some of the best games during its PS1 and PS2 lifecycle.  When Xbox dropped in with Microsoft’s billions behind it, Sony was competing with an equal, so things have leveled out.  That has only made things better for the consumer, as they are constantly trying to one up eachother. 

Last year Microsoft stole Sony’s thunder by announcing Final Fantasy XIII would be coming to the Xbox 360.  That was a huge jab for Sony, because even though Sony has the superior Blu Ray technology for the discs, Square Enix was willing to totally overhaul the game to fit on a handful of DVD discs for Microsoft.  And the reason?  Sales, of course.  The Playstation 3’s install base, which has grown significantly, is still lagging behind Microsoft.  Square Enix wants to make as much money as they can with their product, so they make it available on multiple consoles to draw in more revenue.  Simple, really, yet I don’t understand why some developers still do console exclusives.  That’s neither here nor there.

This year Sony brought a few surprises out.  Most notably were the PSP Go! and their new motion controller technology.  They also delivered a shit-ton of video game montages to drive home the fact that they do have stuff worth playing on their system.  There weren’t any big game announcements other than a few exclusives on their PSP Go! and the trailer for FFXIV, the next MMO in the series.

The PSP Go! (with !, without !, who knows?) is not a PSP2.  It will be sold simultaneously with the current PSP 3000.  However, the Go has some major cosmetic differences.  Most notably is the slide screen, which makes this thing slighly larger than my iPhone when closed.  Very cool, IMO.  It slides up to reveal the controller buttons, with shoulder buttons on each side of the device behind the screen.  It also ditches the UMD slot and replaces it with a 16 GB hard drive.  This means the games will be digital download only from here on out, which is awesome to me, because I love the idea of carrying all of my games with me wherever I go.

The downside to the new Go is the price.  It’s $250.  That’s the cost of a Wii, and more than the cost of a 360 Arcade.  I’m having a hard time justifying this as a possible purchase, because I think of the portable genre as a bridge between events.  Travelling, waiting, having a shite, power’s out, on a plane, on a boat (motherfucker), etc.  These are the only times I would use a portable gaming system.  If I’m at home from work, I will be playing on the big screen, because those are my priorities.  So to spend that much on a bridge system just doesn’t make sense to me.  I’ll be watching it to see what it does, but I don’t see myself picking one up in the immediate future.

Sony’s motion controller interface looked pretty good, even though it’s only in the beginning stages of development.  It’s very accurate and looked like 1:1 motion recognition.  I don’t blame Sony for jumping on the motion controller bandwagon.  However, it looks to me like it’s a more functional and accurate version of the Wii remote.  I guess time will tell what innovations they can come up with that are more than just “waggle this” and point-and-shoot.  I think that a combination of Sony’s and Microsoft’s Natal would make for some fun gameplay.  Natal took a big leap by putting you as the controller, but you still need some buttons in there.  Even if you could make a little glove with a couple of buttons, I think that would open up the floodgates for all kinds of games — FPS, racing, fighting, you name it.

Other than the announcement of an MGS direct sequel for the PSP and a few other PSP exclusives, the only standout game announcement was that of FFXIV Online.  This will be coming in 2010, and they had a nice CG trailer to show off.  I’m done with MMO games, however, so this doesn’t really appeal to me, but I’ll go out on a limb and say Final Fantasy has the most consecutive numbered games in all of gaming history.  Sony did tout that the game was exclusive to PS3, which is probably a statement to try and take the sting off of the now multiplat FFXIII.  And then Square went and ruined this the next day by saying that they are open to all possibilities of distribution of this game.  Burn again Sony!

Sony did not announce one major leak, which was the PS3 Slim.  Snapshots of this showed up a few weeks ago and were immediately hit with the Cease & Desist letters by Taiwanese lawyers.  This may have validated their existence, but Sony didn’t bring it up at E3. 

They also didn’t speak word one about a price drop.  If the Slim is real, I want to see it side-by-side with the PS3 so I can decide which to buy.  However, Dell.com always has great discounts on PS3 bundles, so I may just pick up the fat box when I can.

In 2008, Nintendo completely ignored the “hardcore” gamers by announcing a bunch of crap, which then went on to sell a shitload to casual gamers (i.e. old folks).  Mini games and fitness peripherals were Nintendo’s big thing in 2008, which seemed to pigeonhole them into a specific market of low production “shovelware” and a handful of titles that made you waggle til you sweat. 

So this would be the perfect year to redeem themselves, right?  Now is the time to announce new games from their huge IPs that the hardcore gamer in us all would absolutely die for.  And they didn’t exactly hit the nail on the head, but at least it’s a step in the right direction.  The two big announcements (IMO) were Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid: Other M. 

SMG2 (or U R MR GAY) is the first direct sequel to a 3D Mario game on a single console in Nintendo’s history, so they say.  And it looks like a lot more of the same; in fact, it’s 90% of the same, with 10% of the levels being copied from the first game.  Yeah, it doesn’t make sense to me either.  There are a couple of new additions to this one, the first of which is Yoshi.  They showed him off a good bit in the trailer, and he uses his tongue as a sort of grapple to pull the player from platform to platform, and he can also fly with Mario when shooting yourself from the launch stars.  The other new thing is a drill you can use to maneuver through levels, and even entire mini planets for certain boss fights.  It looks identical to the first from the trailer, with new planets and puzzles to work through.  Maybe they’re going for a 10 year life cycle on the Wii?

Metroid: Other M, which is oddly named, is being developed by Team Ninja of Ninja Gaiden fame.  That tells me it should have some style as well as very bouncy boobs on Samus.  It looks to have both third person and first person aspects to it, which doesn’t seem too bad.  I enjoyed the Metroid Prime trilogy, and I think Metroid is my favorite IP from Nintendo, mostly due to the sci-fi angle.

Nintendo later released a few tiny pieces of info, most notably the absense of a Wii-specific Zelda title, but it was admitted that it’s being worked on for next year’s E3.  They also dropped some photos of a slick, black Wii that will be available in Japan this summer. 

And in the “WTF is this?!” news category, Nintendo also unveiled the Wii Vitality Sensor, which monitors things like heart rate and . . . well, heart rate I guess.  Not many details have been spilled about it, but supposedly it can be used to help stress levels while playing games, and if your heart rate goes up too much the game will change difficulty and dispatch a nurse to your couch immediately.  Supposedly Suda 51, developing No More Heroes 2, plans on tapping into the Vitality Sensor somehow in the game.  Since that game is awesome and has practically demolished the 4th wall, I can only imagine the kick ass stuff they could dream up with it.  Nontheless, the livebloggers at Kotaku were as confused as I was when the new peripheral was announced, which made me chuckle.

So Nintendo did get somewhat on track with the core audience.  I mean, Mario games are fun and all that, but his yippee yelling gets old pretty quick.  Galaxy was a good time even though I never finished it.  I’m psyched about Team Ninja helming the new Metroid game, because Ninja Gaiden was both fun and challenging.  I can’t wait to see what they have in store for Samus’s blaster. 

Some things that Nintendo got wrong, however, were the complete lack of online play in their New Super Mario Bros for Wii and the huge focus on fitness games.  New SMB Wii is a 4-player co-op game, local only.  It’s like NES days, back when I was playing Contra at my neighbor’s house — we had no idea online play would ever exist.  But to release a co-op game in 2009 with no online play?  That’s like giving me a cell phone that only works in my own house.  Makes no sense, and their excuse is even worse; they said the game uses almost all of the Wii’s processing power, which sounds like a complete crock.  Whatever.  And fitness games?  Please give it a rest.  I’m sure there’s a sliver of the gaming population that still uses Wii Fit — they use the balance board as a cutting board at the least — but I’d be willing to bet that most gamers who actually “game” aren’t wanting to sweat while doing it.  I play games to relax and be lazy and not pay attention to anything else.  It’s escape, pure and simple.  Throwing physical motion in for exercise purposes does not jive with me.  Motion controlling a game?  That’s different, if we’re talking about slicing someone up or shooting a weapon, using your hands to zoom in on a battlefield and order troops, etc.  This makes sense to me, but using a game console to lose weight is a gimmick that I hope dies soon.

The rest of the big announcements were all game-related.  I’ll mention my favorites here, and feel free to talk about the ones that you are most excited about in the comments!

My number one new announcement from yesterday will have to be Metal Gear Solid Rising.  I remember playing MGS2 with my buddy Josh way back during summers off in high school and later when I bought a Wii I played MGS: Twin Snakes.  I really enjoy the MGS story, as it’s pretty complex and a lot deeper than most video game stories.  I really like the quirky, sometimes subtle humor that Hideo Kojima injects into his characters, and the stealth action was unprecedented at the time (in my memory at least).  While MGS:Rising is not a 360-exclusive game, I’m very excited about getting hands-on with it on the 360, since I haven’t taken the plunge on a PS3 yet.  It’s in my future, I’m sure, just not right now.

Number two is going to have to be Left 4 Dead 2.  I was as blown away by this as most, whether for good or bad.  I’m a little shocked that the sequel is coming so soon, since the first L4D hasn’t even been out a full year yet.  I had expected more DLC and maps to be added, but Valve is a top-notch company, so I expect they have a good reason for doing so.  The introduction of melee weapons will be interesting, because I don’t see them being very effective if the gameplay/enemies stay the same as the first.  Getting rushed by a mob of zombies always called for projectile weapons in my experience, although the limited melee abilities always were more effective than I expected them to be.  This new release will have 4 new survivors, new special infected, new campaigns/maps/multiplayer, new weapons and the same great 4 player co-op.  I’m psyched!

Next would be one that was already announced last year — Final Fantasy XIII.  I played a few of the NES FF games (1-3), and of course I played 7 and 8, but that’s where my RPG days stopped.  I didn’t own a Playstation, so I had to borrow a friend’s and rent the game, and after 8 I didn’t play console games until this generation.  So I’m finally getting back into RPG games, and I’m really excited about this one.  It’s not being released until around this time next year, but hopefully they get it perfect during that time.

Those are my top 3 from Day 1, but there are several others worth mentioning.  Alan Wake, where light is harnessed as a weapon.  Modern Warfare 2, the sequel to the huge Call of Duty reboot — not too excited about this unless it’s way different than the first.  Splinter Cell: Conviction looks promising — I haven’t played a Sam Fisher game since the 2nd one, but I really enjoyed them!  Crackdown 2 is another sequel to a hugely popular open-world game – I have the first, but haven’t had the chance to dive into it yet.  Assassin’s Creed 2 looks like more of the first, but with swimming added!  Mass Effect 2, where we finally discover Shepherd is not dead, and your save games carry over to the sequel so play the original wisely!  And two new Halo games announced, one for this year and one for next; this year’s Halo: ODST will feature stealth elements and 4 player co-op.

Such an exciting year coming up for the Xbox, and my wallet is already whining.  I can’t wait to hear what Nintendo and Sony have to say!

Since my nerd roots are bursting out of my pores this week because of E3, I wanted to post some of my favorite moments from Day 1 of the expo.  There were lots of amazing announcements from Microsoft, and a couple of nice trailers from EA and Ubisoft.

First and foremost, Microsoft completely knocked it out of the park on the first at-bat.  They were obviously pouring the MS dollars into this new technology, and it looks like a big breakthrough, or at least a step in the right direction for the future of gaming.  This new project is called Project Natal, which is a full body motion controller — only there’s no controller.  YOU act as the controller, similar to Minority Report’s interface, and interact with a sensor bar with a built in microphone and camera.  Here’s a YouTube video of the demo.

So yeah a lot of this technology is similar to stuff that exists already, but the integration of all of this into a single gaming console and the amazing interactivity is what sets it apart.  Natal does facial and voice recognition, and Fable creator Peter Molyneux has started work on a game where a boy actually interacts with you based on body language, facial poses and audio cues.  There was one segment where a woman drew a picture on a piece of paper, then “handed” it to the boy, and he was holding the same picture in the TV!  It’s really amazing stuff, and with the right execution I think it will really change the next generation of gaming.  Hopefully it doesn’t go the way of the EyeToy, which was far too gimmicky.  We are one step closer to gaming a la Matrix!

Another big idea is the ability to stream full 1080p HD through the Xbox into your TV.  I’m not sure how wide the selection is, or how far into TV shows (like Hulu) it will go.  But if it goes far enough, this might mean saying good bye to cable subscriptions!  I know that if I could have a selection of TV “channels” to watch/browse through on my Xbox as well as a generous selection of movies through Netflix, I would be dropping that extra $80 a month.

Also announced was the Xbox integration with Facebook and Twitter.  I only got a basic gist of this, but it seems like you can update your status, submit screenshots directly through the 360 that will show up on Facebook, and interact with friends who have both services (both being an Xbox Live account and Facebook/Twitter).  I saw this one coming, and have always wondered how they would execute it seemlessly.  It’s something I’ve wanted (sort of), but my only issue is a lack of Facebook friends who are on Xbox Live.

Looks like Microsoft is branching out as the leader here, of course we have yet to see Nintendo or Sony on the stage, but they would need to come up with something amazing to top Project Natal, in my opinion.  Nintendo is on in less than an hour!

Okay, so not only was the biggest twist in the film ruined for me, but the story, editing and pacing of the film just ruined it.  I’ve gone back and forth on this since seeing it on Monday, and I think I’ve finally settled on a rating of “average.”  What’s the star-related equivalent, three stars?  Two and a half on a scale of five?  Whatever the rating, that’s all it gets.

Here’s my reasoning for that: first and foremost, there are some ridiculous mechanics/plot holes in this story.  Let’s name a few, shall we?   Okay, there’s the first one I noticed, which is during the first action scene in the film — Connor and his crew raid a Skynet facility run by robots, for robots, and what do they use to hack into the terminal?  A keyboard.  Seriously guys?  Advanced robots who can think for themselves and use insane wireless technology use keyboards to access their consoles?  This could be explained away, of course, by saying it was left there by humans who used to run the facility.  I’ll give them that.

Next was the Harvester robot.  It’s giant, it makes angry robot noises, yet it can sneak up on a shack full of resistance fighters in the middle of the day?  Does it have a stealth mode?  I guess it’s possible, except NO! 

And the Harvester deploys two motorcycle terminators from its legs, which is cool.  I liked the synergy these robots had with eachother.  Like the HK that deployed from the bottom of the transporter, that was cool.  But motorcycle terminators have USB ports built into them?  Stupid.  Just dumb, lazy writing.  Who thought this was a good idea?  Because a machine built by a machine would not have a USB access port, because as Sony and Nintendo can tell you, HUMANS WILL HACK YOUR SHIT!  Do they have SD card slots too, so I can upload my pictures to them and watch a slideshow while I drive?  Fucking stupid, this was the worst one, end of story.

Time travel is a difficult concept to write around.  There’s always room for big plot holes, and it’s tough to keep it neat and tidy.  So John Connor must save Kyle Reese, who is captured by Skynet, so he can send Kyle back in time to impregnate his mother?  Obviously we’re on an alternate timeline here, because John Connor is not leading the resistance.  What the hell is the point of saving Kyle Reese?  If we’re using the same logic here, then John can’t blow up Skynet until they invent the ability to travel through time, otherwise he can’t send Kyle back.  Stupid!

They use Kyle to lure John to Skynet to kill him.  Why didn’t they just kill Kyle when they saw him?  They’re using the Back to the Future time travel theory, so doing so would have stopped John from being conceived and ended the whole thing!  And while we’re on the subject of killing John Connor, why would you send a single T-800 after him?  Why not send, I don’t know, a fucking assembly line full of terminators after him?  Make sure the deal is done correctly.  These are some damn inefficient robots if you ask me.

So plot holes killed it for me, that’s enough to fill an entire post.  I won’t reiterate that the marketing ruined the biggest twist in the film (except for a neat cameo near the end), and the pacing made the movie feel almost boring.  The action scenes are pointless — the HK is going to blow up Marcus and Kyle on the bridge, but later captures Kyle and Marcus turns out to be extremely important to them?  Yeah you could explain it by saying they were trying to capture Kyle and were just very good at scaring the shit out of them, but it just makes the charade pointless for us watching the film.  I will also refrain from mentioning the biggest “no shit” trap ever conceived in the “magic signal” that renders terminators powerless.  I NEVER saw that one coming, I promise.

Initially, I left the theater not liking the movie.  Then I thought about it and decided it was just different than what I expected.  This film is not about the terminators, it’s about the humans surviving.  So I liked it for about 12 hours until I was chatting with a friend about the movie, and returned to my initial conclusion — the movie just is not executed well at all.  McG does action, and that’s it.  Leave the story telling to someone else. 

Obviously I’ve had lots of thought on this, but what do you think?  Was it worth your $9?

I used to be a trailer addict.  My wife and I are big movie goers, and back when we  dated I would always know which trailer was coming up by the production companies listed and the music.  She would even ask me “what trailer is this?”  and I would have the answer 98% of the time. 

I would scour apple.com/trailers at least once a week and spend an hour or so catching up on the new ones.  I liked watching trailers on movies I hadn’t heard of because it put some of them on my radar.  And for the movies that I was eager to see, I would sometimes click frame by frame to catch little details that you usually don’t see in those few minutes.

Well I think I’m done with trailers.  I’m trashing the idea.  Trailer Trash.  And what put me in this foul mood?  It was the trailer for Terminator Salvation.

Let me explain.  I love the Terminator franchise.  I love robots in general.  It’s most likely a geek thing, but what kid doesn’t love robots/transformers/androids?  They’re very interesting in film, and the philosophical questions they bring regarding human vs machine has always been one of my favorite themes (think The Matrix, 2001, I-Robot, etc).

This movie was so heavily marketed on television, it was impossible not to catch this trailer anyway.  Yeah I watched the first couple of teasers online, and they were really good at getting me pumped for the movie.  But then there was one trailer that simply ruined it for me. 

Spoiler ahead, if you haven’t seen the trailers or the movie.  One trailer that grabbed my interest was one in which Catherine’s character shows shock and awe at something, and we’re looking at her from a point-of-view perspective, and at this point we don’t know what the shock is, or whose eyes we’re looking through.  This was great, and I could take guesses at what it was, but it was still mostly shrouded to me.  Of course it’s probably a robot in human tissue, but we don’t know who and we don’t know why (exactly).  The shock on her face is perfect, and I was psyched about watching the puzzle unfold.

The next trailer I see absolutely ruins the anticipation for the film.  It takes the entire mystery out of this subplot.  It shows the back-and-forth between Bale and Worthington (I’m pretty sure this is the one that sparked the Bale Rant), and then it gives away the secret — Worthington thinks he is human, but he’s actually a robot.  It even shows his response, which is devastation, anger, fear, confusion — all rolled into one.  My words were “wtf” when viewing this, and it still bugs the hell out of me.

And obviously, the movie doesn’t make this a huge secret, and I’m intuitive enough to where I would’ve figured it out pretty quickly, but the “oh shit” moment I would’ve had 15 minutes into the film was ruined, and instead I had a “fucking hell” moment sitting in my computer chair at home.

So this movie trailer ruined all movie trailers for me.  I’ve always wondered just how jaded I am going into the film, and I’ve considered boycotting them before, but this seals it.  Movies that don’t require thinking or mystery, fine, but movies that I’m seriously looking forward to, they are off the radar from here on out. 

You know you’ll be seeing me closing my eyes and saying “la la la” with my fingers in my ears when a trailer comes on TV when I’m out in public.  What movie have you had ruined by a movie trailer?