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Let's Try This Again...

2011-02-02T23:07:00.002-05:00

G-Damn it has been a while. Once again, I need to keep up with this more. Haha, instead of saying it this time, I actually need to do it. No big lofty goals of writing in here, just try to get to it a couple of times a week.

Next Monday Tiffany and I will be starting P90X together. The two of us doing it at the same time should, in theory, help us maintain the program and actually see some results. I have full confidence that if I keep it up then I should have no problem losing weight and actually getting fit for a change.

Just a nice quick update this time, nothing too big.

New Plans

2010-09-22T22:41:00.002-04:00

Well now, it’s been a while since I updated this bad boy. Might as well try to get back into the rhythm. The last time that I was doing weekly updates the major purpose was to keep myself motivated and seeing as how I want to write more/lose weight again, this should be perfect.

I recently bought a program called P90X, which I’m sure most people have heard of. Starting Monday, I’m going to be using it in hopes of losing weight/gaining some muscle. I plan on writing short daily updates on what I did that day and keeping track of my progress.

Another thing that I want to try to do more of is writing reviews. This is mostly for my own enjoyment so I’m not going to try to be very professional with them. Hopefully I will be able to bang out two a week, one on a current thing, and the other on a past thing. These reviews will be ranging from movies, to games, to TV shows, to comic books.

Finally, I also want to start doing writing challenges. Something along the lines of “you have 10-15 minutes, write a short story-ish.” I think it will be a nice way for me to get my creative juices flowing and maybe I will come up with a decent idea that I can use for a future project.

Other then that, not a whole lot has been happening. Stay tuned for Monday when all of this kicks off.

-Dwight

Sunday Update 4

2010-02-21T22:46:00.002-05:00

Weekly update go!

Let's make this quick. Writing is going decent. I came up with another script idea and I'm going to start shooting it this week. I feel that I need to be doing something creative right now. My Sebago script is also taking shape and I'm very happy with the results so far.

Speaking of results, I've lost a total of six pounds as of the last time I weighed myself. That was around Sunday last week, but after my update. Next week I'm going to try changing up my workout to a more well rounded, work till failure type. I'm trying to avoid injury by doing the same thing over and over. I think I pulled my shoulder on Friday and have been unable to move it well since. It's getting better and hopefully will be alright by tomorrow.

Done!

Dwight

Pokémon Retrospective: Introduction

2010-02-16T14:22:00.000-05:00

Pokémon is arguably the greatest game series of all time. With the upcoming release of Heart Gold and Soul Silver, I figured I would take a trip down memory lane and recount some of my experiences with each entry in the Pokémon saga. NOTE: I will be mainly discussing the main series, not the extras like Snap or Coliseum.

First, what is Pokémon? Pokémon is a RPG that tasks the player with collecting and battling “Pocket Monsters,” more commonly called Pokémon. The goal is to become the greatest trainer in the land. To do this, the player must collect Gym Badges by defeating Gym Leaders in order to advance to the Elite 4, the overall boss of the game. Along the way the player encounters an organization (which changes from game to game) who want to use the Pokémon for their own evil deeds. Naturally, the player must stop them as well.

The Pokémon themselves are a colorful bunch. Currently, there are 493 Pokémon (not including the newly announced two) and these are further divided into 17 types. Certain types are more effective against one another, like water vs. fire, and some are less effective against one another, like water vs. grass. This adds a layer of depth to the game play. Each Pokémon can learn numerous moves, but are limited to knowing four at a time. A player is permitted to carry up to six Pokémon on a team at a time. There are other factors that play into the game as well, but I will get into that more later.

What makes the Pokémon games so alluring is, in my opinion, twofold. The first, and more straightforward of the two, is the collecting of Pokémon. As the motto of the series states, you “Gotta Catch ‘Em All.” The genius of this is that no one game has access to all of the individual types. In order to catch ‘em all, you need to trade with friends who have different versions then you. Each generation is released in pairs to encourage this trend. This aspect of the game is aimed at the casual player. A nice lofty goal, that with a little bit of work is surely obtainable.

The second aspect, and the one that is attractive to the hardcore player, is the battle system. As stated before it is incredibly deep. There are so many combinations of Pokémon and move sets, that it is rare to encounter the same exact team twice. Players must be able to predict what the other player will do, be it attack, switch Pokémon, use a stalling move, etc. The amount of depth and strategy that is involved is astounding. I truly believe that Pokémon is the best competitive strategy game out there.

Now I realize that I’ve left out a lot of information, but over the next few weeks I will be adding my opinions on the different generations. I’ll be talking about what made them great and not so great. Look forward to it.

Dwight

Sunday Update 3

2010-02-14T14:18:00.003-05:00

Update 3, week 2.

This was a good week for working out, not so much for writing.

While I have come up with plenty of ideas for my scripts, I'm having a difficult time translating the vision in my head onto paper. This is something that will come to me in time, so for now it's best if I just plug away at it. I think that this has something to do with my work ethic that I had while in school. I would always put off projects and papers until the last minute. This was when I felt I did my best work. However, not having a definite due date for me is a little hindering. I'm officially calling my write a script in a month project a failure because of this. I need to set a more concrete goal and stick with it. However, my summer script is coming along pretty nicely and I should be able to finish that in the next week. So right here, right now. Official goal. By next Sunday, have finished my short script that I will shoot this summer.

Working out has been going great. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and today all had some form of physical activity. I'm still sore from the work I did on Thursday and Friday; my back and chest respectively. Like what usually happens when I start working out, I'm already starting to see results, which is a great help. Speaking of goals, I now have one to shoot for with working out. More on that later.

I have a few blog related projects that you should look for in the next week as well.

Dwight

Sunday Update 2

2010-02-08T00:02:00.004-05:00

Well, since I'm starting this on Sunday, it counts in my mind.

First, the working out portion, seeing as how this is the part that I'm doing better on. I was able to keep on track, working out six out of seven days this week. Here's hoping that next week goes just as well.

My writing went relatively well, but slowed down by then end of the week. It was Tiffany's birthday this weekend and spending time with her was totally worth falling behind a bit. However, I am having a hard time with this one. I think I'm going to spend more time working on the overall idea before moving forward. I am going to continue working on another project based on a Point Sebago trip/movie.

Lame update, but whatcha gonna do? I'm also going to start working on the Pokemon project I talked about a while ago.

-Dwight

Sunday Update

2010-01-31T19:27:00.002-05:00

Here it goes, my first Sunday update (it will be quick). Since I haven't "officially" started working on my goals, this week was pretty relaxed. I did a total of three days of working out. Two of those were relatively hard workouts and I'm still mildly sore from them. Tomorrow I'm going to start my script writing. I've decided to go with the comedic idea, mainly because this is the project that I am more attached to.

Recently I got a chance to play Tatsunoko vs Capcom for the first time. I've been getting into fighting games a lot recently, and I must say that I really enjoyed this one. I didn't get a whole lot of time with it, but it is probably my second favorite in the VS. series, behind Marvel vs Capcom 1. I should probably do some game and movie reviews to help fill out my week.

-Dwight

February Scriptwriting/Changes

2010-01-29T00:07:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been a while.

It's about time I get serious about a lot of things. I've recently graduated College and so far the job search has been going slowly. The few places that I have heard back from have been rejections. They were very nice about it, but rejections none the less. Seeing as how I truly have little control over this aspect of things right now (all I can do is apply and hope for the best), I've decided to focus on the few things I can control.

The first, and probably most important, thing that I'm going to focus on is getting healthy. It's no secret that I'm overweight and I am sincerely sick of looking at my flabby body in the mirror. I've been rather sporadic lately when it comes to working out, but that is going to change. Every Sunday I'm going to be posting an update on my weekly progress. That should keep me on track well enough.

As the title of this post suggests, I also want to be writing more. This February I plan on writing and completing a script. I have two options, a comedy about lifeguards or a horror about kids in the woods. I'm leaning towards the comedy. If I give myself a deadline then I will finish it. That is one thing that I miss from school, the deadlines. By February 2nd I will be finished my outline. By February 15th I will be finished my first draft and will send it out to a few people to hopefully get some feedback. By February 28th I will have a revised version ready. If this formula proves successful, I will do it again.

-Dwight

Pokemon Retrospective

2009-11-24T02:39:00.000-05:00

So, I've been playing a lot of Poke'mon while riding the bus to and from my internship lately. This has reminded me of an article that I wanted to write about the games and their impact a while ago but never had the time/drive to do it. Since I've been playing lately, it's gotten inspired to actually go through with writing. Look for them in the up coming weeks.

Saw VI Premier

2009-10-23T16:51:00.000-04:00

So last night was the big "Saw VI" premier at Grauman's Chinese Theater. I was lucky enough to be offered free tickets to the screening and after party due to my currently interning at Evolution/Twisted Pictures. Here is the rundown of the evening.

Aaron (intern), Josh (intern), and myself were going to drive over to the theater in one car just to save time. The invitation said that the film was going to start at 7, so we were planning on being there for 6:45 However, Aaron was working an assistants desk for the day and at 6:10 he got an urgent call from the talent representative that he was working for. He needed to get a script out to a talent before the day was over, so Aaron spent a good half hour getting the files sorted out. A big thank you goes to Tiffany for helping him with a phone number that was not located on the computer. We finally made it to the theater at around 7:05, but it doesn't matter because the film started at 7:45 anyways.

Grauman's is the most beautiful theater that I have ever been in. Inside, it was decked out for the movie with massive "Saw VI" posters and photographers were taking pictures of the stars. There was no official red carped because the event was happening inside, but it was a treat to see none the less. There was another premier going on right across from the one I was at; something about a "Screamfest," I dunno, I wasn't paying attention. I went to the people handing out tickets, said my last name, and got a blue envelope containing the ticket for the movie, the ticket for the after party, and a coupon for a free popcorn and soda. I immediately used the free popcorn and soda voucher and then proceeded up the stairs and into theater 2.

As I said the film didn't start on time, but it didn't really matter. Oren Koules, one of the producers and founders of Evolution said a few words before the film started. Overall I enjoyed the film. I still haven't fully thought it out, but it is probably my third favorite of the "Saw" franchise. It was less graphic then the previous films with a bit more focus on plot then traps. After the film we milled around in the lobby for a bit before heading over to the after party which took place at a bar called "Wonderland."

When we arrived, there was a little bit of a line filled with people waiting to get in. However, we simply walked up, showed them our passes, and were immediately let in. The place was packed at first; I could barely move around with out having to wait a few minutes for the traffic to die down. I saw/met a bunch of people including Oren from before, and a couple other people interested in making films. It was a great time and I had a lot of fun. My only complaints about places like that are the low lighting (I couldn't see a thing), and the loud music that makes it so you need to scream in each others ear. But, hey, as Justin (lit. assistant) said last night, I was at the biggest party in Hollywood last night.

I had to leave relatively early, 12:15, in order to catch my bus. I was there with plenty of time to spare and made it home at around 1:30ish. Tiffany waited up for me so that was nice. As I was leaving I saw many people waiting for valets to bring around their cars, and Aaron said that the party thinned out quickly after I left. Looks like I was the life of the party and with me gone it wasn't worth being there!

TL;DR: I had an awesome time and can't wait to do it again.

Writing: Part 1

2009-10-06T23:02:00.002-04:00

It's come to my attention that I need to start writing more. I have 5+ ideas kicking around in my head right now and if I actually want to go somewhere in life I'm going to need to translate them to a physical medium at some point, and there is no time like the present.

Starting tonight, I'm going to set aside 10-11 every night as my writing hour (save for Wednesdays). I remember from "Script Writing" that it's a good idea to keep the time consistent, and that is really the only time during that day that I have free, so writing time it becomes.

I'll keep you updated on my progress as it happens. I'm shooting for 5 pages a night on my current project. It's a horror script that is based around theme parks. Oooo, spooky!

Dwight

*Update* I got 3 pages done tonight. I'm pretty happy with that especially seeing as how I really struggled to find it.

360 Achievements

2009-10-05T17:23:00.003-04:00

I don't have any real structure to these thoughts, so this might be a little disorganized.

Lately I've been playing Xbox 360 quite a bit. More so then my other current-gen systems: the Wii and DS. While two years ago I would have been shocked at this development, I finally come to view myself as a fan of games in general, not simply one platform. In a way I miss the innocence that 6-10 year old me had regarding console loyalty. Nintendo was great, but so was my Sega Genesis.

Anyways...

When playing the 360, I often find myself more concerned with obtaining the achievements then the actual game itself. Case in point. Recently I played through "Batman: Arkham Asylum" which is by all means a great game. It is easily the best crafted and polished game that I have played in a long time. However, throughout my time spent with it, I was frequently pressing the guide button to check what achievements I had unlocked, despite already knowing what they are and their requirements.

It is this mindset that bothers me. It feels like I am no longer playing the game for enjoyment, but rather to strive for these trivial goals that have no impact on game-play or story at all. Now, there are certainly places where achievements are welcome, for example you receive one for defeating all the challenges.

It has been a long time since I've written a personal piece like this. My rusty writing and short length attest to this fact. Look for more from me later.

Dwight

First Post

2009-07-23T18:15:00.003-04:00

This is just a first/test post in order to judge what things look like. Look for more posts on the topics of movies and video games mostly. There will be some rants mixed in as well.