Wednesday, December 5, 2012
GSpark Reviews: Ethics
Okay, so I've posted about certain controversial topics now, and I want to bring that to a head somewhat. It boils down to this: what is our dogma, if you will, when it comes to making ethical decisions? Each person is different and may or may not choose one path that is similar to the next. For example, I avoid saying certain offensive words because there is no point in doing so, and saying those words only makes me look bad. A guy from England wouldn't bat an eye saying them ... which is fine and dandy since those words mean different things in his culture! Basically, everyone is different and has different standards and values they believe in. As long as they live by their creed (and explain it to me if I don't know why they might be doing something I consider odd), I'm willing to understand, "but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24: 15)
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
GSpark Reviews: Reality
I have previously read David A. Bednar's famous CES Fireside talk and an article a... ahem, certain professor of mine helped write. Having reread them, a study Elder Bednar referenced struck me as odd: it said 40% of guys and 53% of the ladies who are online said they considered their online friends to be better than their friends in real life. But... but that's saying the females have a higher percentage, you say! I realize that, I would've guessed the other way around too, given the stereotypes. It makes sense, however, when considering most females are more sensitive to the "ideal image". Ah, perhaps those that feel they aren't up to snuff are looking elsewhere to fit the "image", men and women! Yet the Lord values our real bodies, not our fake ones, and what anyone else thinks shouldn't matter as much.
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My second post on Pokemon should be coming up this next weekend, if everything goes well... if everything goes well. *rolls eyes*
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My second post on Pokemon should be coming up this next weekend, if everything goes well... if everything goes well. *rolls eyes*
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
GSpark Reviews: Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow
FINALLY! =D We have a review for Pokemon! *triggers noisemakers* I'll start with the 1st generation of Pokemon games for now, then 2nd gen will be in the next post. So let's get into it!
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Whew, well... where do I start? I guess I just say that... well, Red/Blue was my childhood. I chose to play Blue first because everyone else looked like they were doing Red. Also, I started off with Bulbasaur because it would help me against Brock, Misty, AND Giovanni, though I'd always struggle against the Gyms in the middle. My first playthrough, I had no idea what I was doing and just used my starter all the way, but I eventually got smart... and used the Missingno Glitch. Then I was able to beat the Elite Four and my Rival easily!
Then I played Yellow. I think they took the Missingno. Glitch out of Yellow, but I liked playing it for an entirely different reason: not only could I get a game that closely resembled the first season of the anime, but I could even get a Pikachu that stayed with me all the time! Aw... Better yet, I could get myself ALL THREE STARTER POKEMON, and almost all three were freebies! (I remember you had to beat Team Rocket out of Cerulean City to get Bulbasaur) Those, plus catching the Legendary Birds, I had an awesome team that could beat pretty much anything! I also liked being able to battle Jessie and James, though I now wish they had double battles back then because that would've made the experience even better.
All of that was really cool, but what are my favorite Pokemon out of those games, you ask? I didn't really think about any favorites when I was playing the games at the time, but the Bulbasaur line has been and always will be a favorite of mine, though I've grown a liking to Charmander too since then. Vulpix and Ninetales were always the under-valued Fire-type Pokemon--at least until 5th gen showed up, but I'll get to that later--and I've always had sympathy for the underdog... or fox, in this case. I also have a soft spot for Clefairy, just because I like how cute they are, and I'd certainly have picked Clefairy to be the mascot over Pikachu. Recently, I've come to like Ekans a lot since I've developed a love for snakes in general, even though I don't have any, and by that token I like Onix too, and not just because it was the longest Pokemon at the time, though it certainly helped. Other Pokemon I like, along with their evolutions, include Eevee, Scyther, Lapras, and Dratini.
GSpark Light Says: As I said before, Pokemon was my childhood and is still a huge part of my life. Why? Because it's an RPG that made things simple. Every attack has a hard limit on the number of uses instead of having everything run on mana or MP, and typing was also very simple, the choices of type for each Pokemon being realistic to resemble either an actual animal or a myth or legend in Japanese culture. Also, it's just plain fun to catch 'em all!
GSpark Dark Says: There were some issues I wish were handled differently. First, Poison-type attacks could hit Bug-types for double damage when the typecharts would always say Poison hit Bug neutrally. Second, I did NOT like how dual-types were dealt with sometimes. For example, Gyarados, a Water/Flying type was resistant against Grass-type attacks in Red/Blue when, according to the typecharts, Gyarados should be hit neutrally because Grass is good against Water but bad against Flying. Another inconsistency with the typing was that Ghost attacks couldn't hit Psychic Pokemon at all when they should have been good against Psychics. The other issue I had was that two of the same Pokemon were very hard to distinguish between if you didn't have nicknames for them other than stats, and even then, they sometimes had the same stats too!
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Wow, so there's Gen 1! Gen 2 will come up in another post, and there I'll go over what problems Gold/Silver fixed from Red/Blue. Until then, waving out!
--Gemini $park
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Whew, well... where do I start? I guess I just say that... well, Red/Blue was my childhood. I chose to play Blue first because everyone else looked like they were doing Red. Also, I started off with Bulbasaur because it would help me against Brock, Misty, AND Giovanni, though I'd always struggle against the Gyms in the middle. My first playthrough, I had no idea what I was doing and just used my starter all the way, but I eventually got smart... and used the Missingno Glitch. Then I was able to beat the Elite Four and my Rival easily!
Then I played Yellow. I think they took the Missingno. Glitch out of Yellow, but I liked playing it for an entirely different reason: not only could I get a game that closely resembled the first season of the anime, but I could even get a Pikachu that stayed with me all the time! Aw... Better yet, I could get myself ALL THREE STARTER POKEMON, and almost all three were freebies! (I remember you had to beat Team Rocket out of Cerulean City to get Bulbasaur) Those, plus catching the Legendary Birds, I had an awesome team that could beat pretty much anything! I also liked being able to battle Jessie and James, though I now wish they had double battles back then because that would've made the experience even better.
All of that was really cool, but what are my favorite Pokemon out of those games, you ask? I didn't really think about any favorites when I was playing the games at the time, but the Bulbasaur line has been and always will be a favorite of mine, though I've grown a liking to Charmander too since then. Vulpix and Ninetales were always the under-valued Fire-type Pokemon--at least until 5th gen showed up, but I'll get to that later--and I've always had sympathy for the underdog... or fox, in this case. I also have a soft spot for Clefairy, just because I like how cute they are, and I'd certainly have picked Clefairy to be the mascot over Pikachu. Recently, I've come to like Ekans a lot since I've developed a love for snakes in general, even though I don't have any, and by that token I like Onix too, and not just because it was the longest Pokemon at the time, though it certainly helped. Other Pokemon I like, along with their evolutions, include Eevee, Scyther, Lapras, and Dratini.
GSpark Light Says: As I said before, Pokemon was my childhood and is still a huge part of my life. Why? Because it's an RPG that made things simple. Every attack has a hard limit on the number of uses instead of having everything run on mana or MP, and typing was also very simple, the choices of type for each Pokemon being realistic to resemble either an actual animal or a myth or legend in Japanese culture. Also, it's just plain fun to catch 'em all!
GSpark Dark Says: There were some issues I wish were handled differently. First, Poison-type attacks could hit Bug-types for double damage when the typecharts would always say Poison hit Bug neutrally. Second, I did NOT like how dual-types were dealt with sometimes. For example, Gyarados, a Water/Flying type was resistant against Grass-type attacks in Red/Blue when, according to the typecharts, Gyarados should be hit neutrally because Grass is good against Water but bad against Flying. Another inconsistency with the typing was that Ghost attacks couldn't hit Psychic Pokemon at all when they should have been good against Psychics. The other issue I had was that two of the same Pokemon were very hard to distinguish between if you didn't have nicknames for them other than stats, and even then, they sometimes had the same stats too!
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Wow, so there's Gen 1! Gen 2 will come up in another post, and there I'll go over what problems Gold/Silver fixed from Red/Blue. Until then, waving out!
--Gemini $park
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
GSpark Reviews: FamilySearch.org
Sigh... I'm just going to say that my review on Pokemon comes when it comes, though I should have some time over the weekend to get on that. Fortunately, I've got another review related to family history to show everyone!
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Remember when I talked about the Family Search Indexing website? Oh yeah, that was last post! Anyway, FamilySearch.org went through a nice change about a year ago: instead of people being forced to navigate to an indexing service, a forum, a blog, a wiki, and other sites aside from the main ancestry-searching tool created about a decade ago, they can now access all of those features on one streamlined Family Search website. Now people can find related Family Search sites much easier because they are now simply features to FamilySearch.org. Maintainers of FamilySearch.org also benefit because they only have to manage one site on one server. Their server's bandwidth can breathe again! Of course, with Family Search being more streamlined, family history work, as a result, has become much easier, so now there's even less of an excuse to not do it!
Thursday, November 1, 2012
GSpark Reviews: Technology for the Gospel
I admit that one concept I currently struggle with is using my computer time to further the work of the Church. However, once I start poking around and see what I can do, I see so many options! Mormon.org is definitely a good site I can get myself into; it means I can do missionary work from home a lot easier since people come asking questions about the church, and I can answer the questions much faster than I would if I were e-mailing someone. Family Search Indexing is another cool tool to use because I can put names from old papers into a database where they can be easily accessed for temple work. And those are just two ideas of things I could do on the computer! All I need now is the willingness to give them a try.
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Gaaaah, once again, Pokemon has to wait until the weekend! But it's coming! Ohhh, it's so coming! =)
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Gaaaah, once again, Pokemon has to wait until the weekend! But it's coming! Ohhh, it's so coming! =)
Thursday, October 25, 2012
GSpark Reviews: Copyrights
Heh, what can I say? When you get delayed, you get delayed. Partially that's due to me going to Anime Banzai this past weekend (I was cosplaying Sanji from One Piece), but also I've been busy playing Pokemon so much, I crowd out the time to review it! Ahem, anyway, another short blog post before Pokemon shows up!
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Oh, copyrights. They do so much to help individuals protect their works of art... when big name companies aren't taking advantage of them. But now we have YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and other websites, big and small, on the internet letting people share movies, TV, and music for free, those same companies are throwing tantrums about losing money due to everyone sharing everything and not paying them to do so. I have little, if any, sympathy towards such companies that don't realize they're sitting on a gold mine of publicity and aren't profiting on concerts, CDs/MP3s, posters, and other memorabilia they wouldn't normally sell without free sharing. Instead, they pushed for the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which was a terrible law that would've only protected their interests, not the interests of the original owners who weren't getting the copyrights to begin with.
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Oh, copyrights. They do so much to help individuals protect their works of art... when big name companies aren't taking advantage of them. But now we have YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and other websites, big and small, on the internet letting people share movies, TV, and music for free, those same companies are throwing tantrums about losing money due to everyone sharing everything and not paying them to do so. I have little, if any, sympathy towards such companies that don't realize they're sitting on a gold mine of publicity and aren't profiting on concerts, CDs/MP3s, posters, and other memorabilia they wouldn't normally sell without free sharing. Instead, they pushed for the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which was a terrible law that would've only protected their interests, not the interests of the original owners who weren't getting the copyrights to begin with.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
GSpark Reviews: Open Sourcing
I knew that Linux was a good OS for open source development, but I didn't know that it started out as open source software. This means that, as a user, I can give advice on a feature it'd be nice to have, point out a bug in the system, or suggest a way to make it more efficient. Best of all... the developers might even listen to me and try to implement my suggestion. Of course, someone else can come in and complain about that idea, if it gets implemented, and ask them to take it out, but that's the beauty of open sourcing! No one knows more about good software than the customer (remember, the customer is always right!), so if the users are the testers, there will inevitably be one person that brings his/her own solution to a certain problem, and it might be exactly what is needed to improve the software. Listen to the user, and you may end up with the best software in history.
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My review for Pokemon should be coming very soon. Stay tuned! Waving out!
--Gemini $park
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My review for Pokemon should be coming very soon. Stay tuned! Waving out!
--Gemini $park
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
GSpark Reviews: CS... for the ladies?
Okay, so my review of Pokemon is coming, so you know; it'll just be over the weekend again, during which time I'll have done this short review and another one.
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I like women who are willing to study Computer Science along with a huge group of men; I'm even good friends with one such lady. But what happened to the higher percentages of CS women colleges got in the past? Apparently, some women think computer science is "nerdy" or "geeky" and don't want to be perceived as such themselves. I have to applaud the women who embrace such ideals; most women nerds I know go into either art or writing, and, while those are still really good majors to go into, I admire those willing to study a major that runs heavier on math and logic than even math does! The whole reason I'm a total geek myself is because my mom was a huge Star Trek fan AND a math teacher, so my transformation was just natural. The same goes for women; if they're raised by goodly parents versed in a programming language or two, then they'll be more likely to study computer science.
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I like women who are willing to study Computer Science along with a huge group of men; I'm even good friends with one such lady. But what happened to the higher percentages of CS women colleges got in the past? Apparently, some women think computer science is "nerdy" or "geeky" and don't want to be perceived as such themselves. I have to applaud the women who embrace such ideals; most women nerds I know go into either art or writing, and, while those are still really good majors to go into, I admire those willing to study a major that runs heavier on math and logic than even math does! The whole reason I'm a total geek myself is because my mom was a huge Star Trek fan AND a math teacher, so my transformation was just natural. The same goes for women; if they're raised by goodly parents versed in a programming language or two, then they'll be more likely to study computer science.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
GSpark Reviews: The Cuckoo's Egg
Well, Pokemon (at least my review of it) will be going on the back burner for a little bit, but only because I have just recently become partial to an AMAZING book (yes, a book) called The Cuckoo's Egg. Written by Cliff Stoll, it's a true story, but it shows that all you need to play spy games is a computer. I like to call it a "science nonfiction" book because it has all the intrigue of crime drama paired up with... well, computers! NCIS's Timothy McGee would likely geek out about this book, it's that cool. Onward!
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There are quite a few recurring themes that come up within The Cuckoo's Egg; there's no way I will cover all of them here, so I'll look into the theme that stands out to me most. First off, I like the idea of thinking about networks as communities. Why? Because they essentially are communities. Take any given message board/forum on the Internet, for example. A message board has a given number of people--members with online accounts--it has administrators, moderators, and other staff to make and enforce certain rules that allow the vast majority to enjoy their time on it, and it most likely revolves around a given topic, like how Bulbagarden's forum talks mainly about Pokemon. Many members become great friends online (I should know, I'm friends with most of the active members on Quark), and those friendships allow for a real community to form. Your "neighbors" may be in other countries or states, but you have a tie to those people through a network.
Stoll takes this concept further and says those who hack into computer networks violate the trust inevitably formed in a community. Saying that it's no better than breaking in and robbing someone's house? "Wow, that's harsh," you say. Let's go back to the message board analogy. Perhaps a message board has a private forum for the staff. Okay, now say that a hacker knows about this forum and wants to access it. If the hacker is similar to the one Stoll brought down, then he'll try accessing a guest account. If successful, he can then utilize any hole in the security system for this message board. Eventually, he finds some obscure hole that not even the staff know about and gains admin privileges soon after. He would then reset the login information for an admin's account, preferably an inactive account so no one's the wiser, and then he would have access not only to this private forum but to the other privileges of an admin as well.
And what could he possibly do as an admin, or, Heaven forbid, a super-admin? Access to a private forum is the least of the community's worries! First, the members think a good member of the staff who had gone inactive is back when in reality this admin had just become their worst nightmare. Second, he could ban whoever he wanted to ban, including other admins, close down whatever thread he wanted to, or he could alter data somewhere. Worst of all, however, he'd have access to every member's private information which he could then exploit in a mass identity theft, if he wanted to. Any of these misused powers destroys trust within the forums, and, if he got his hands on webmaster privileges, no one except the real webmaster would be able to stop him (and even then the staff might have been booted off already), and the board would eventually get shut down by request of the staff. All because one person got privileges he shouldn't have and tarnished a well-known person's reputation.
Now, to be fair, this is the worst-case scenario; fortunately, in today's world, many security measures are in place that make it highly difficult for hackers to invade accounts like this, but what I portrayed above illustrates the idea Stoll was trying to get at. He lived in an age that didn't have nearly as many security measures anywhere, so anyone with decent hacking skills was able to reach almost anywhere, look at unclassified, but sensitive data, and steal accounts, whether old or new. Such a misuse of information really did violate the trust and privacy of a community, and he found himself a cause worthy of fighting for: freedom of computer use and peace of mind for everyone who this hacker had hurt.
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GSpark Light Says: I like the way Stoll vividly portrays his mission to take down the hacker that cost him $0.75, and I also like how he was able to express his opinions and the moralities behind what drove him to go to the lengths he did. I'm sure many of us, especially the NSA, are grateful for what he did and the standards he helped set in today's society. Because he was as persistent as the hacker was in his efforts, the world learned from its mistakes and started to take computer security seriously.
GSpark Dark Says: Unfortunately, there is a major language problem at the very beginning of the book, followed by other instances of medium to low profanity. Also, those who are offended by shower scenes should be cautious near the middle of the book. It also portrays alcohol usage, though not too heavily.
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Well, that was fun! I like deviation once in a while, and The Cuckoo's Egg was a definite deviation from what I normally look into, but once I started reading the book it was very difficult for me to put it down until it was finished. Anyway, I *should* have Pokemon for my next topic soon... if I can remember to put such games down long enough for me to write them up! ^_^' So, waving out for now!
--Gemini Spark
---------------
There are quite a few recurring themes that come up within The Cuckoo's Egg; there's no way I will cover all of them here, so I'll look into the theme that stands out to me most. First off, I like the idea of thinking about networks as communities. Why? Because they essentially are communities. Take any given message board/forum on the Internet, for example. A message board has a given number of people--members with online accounts--it has administrators, moderators, and other staff to make and enforce certain rules that allow the vast majority to enjoy their time on it, and it most likely revolves around a given topic, like how Bulbagarden's forum talks mainly about Pokemon. Many members become great friends online (I should know, I'm friends with most of the active members on Quark), and those friendships allow for a real community to form. Your "neighbors" may be in other countries or states, but you have a tie to those people through a network.
Stoll takes this concept further and says those who hack into computer networks violate the trust inevitably formed in a community. Saying that it's no better than breaking in and robbing someone's house? "Wow, that's harsh," you say. Let's go back to the message board analogy. Perhaps a message board has a private forum for the staff. Okay, now say that a hacker knows about this forum and wants to access it. If the hacker is similar to the one Stoll brought down, then he'll try accessing a guest account. If successful, he can then utilize any hole in the security system for this message board. Eventually, he finds some obscure hole that not even the staff know about and gains admin privileges soon after. He would then reset the login information for an admin's account, preferably an inactive account so no one's the wiser, and then he would have access not only to this private forum but to the other privileges of an admin as well.
And what could he possibly do as an admin, or, Heaven forbid, a super-admin? Access to a private forum is the least of the community's worries! First, the members think a good member of the staff who had gone inactive is back when in reality this admin had just become their worst nightmare. Second, he could ban whoever he wanted to ban, including other admins, close down whatever thread he wanted to, or he could alter data somewhere. Worst of all, however, he'd have access to every member's private information which he could then exploit in a mass identity theft, if he wanted to. Any of these misused powers destroys trust within the forums, and, if he got his hands on webmaster privileges, no one except the real webmaster would be able to stop him (and even then the staff might have been booted off already), and the board would eventually get shut down by request of the staff. All because one person got privileges he shouldn't have and tarnished a well-known person's reputation.
Now, to be fair, this is the worst-case scenario; fortunately, in today's world, many security measures are in place that make it highly difficult for hackers to invade accounts like this, but what I portrayed above illustrates the idea Stoll was trying to get at. He lived in an age that didn't have nearly as many security measures anywhere, so anyone with decent hacking skills was able to reach almost anywhere, look at unclassified, but sensitive data, and steal accounts, whether old or new. Such a misuse of information really did violate the trust and privacy of a community, and he found himself a cause worthy of fighting for: freedom of computer use and peace of mind for everyone who this hacker had hurt.
---------------
GSpark Light Says: I like the way Stoll vividly portrays his mission to take down the hacker that cost him $0.75, and I also like how he was able to express his opinions and the moralities behind what drove him to go to the lengths he did. I'm sure many of us, especially the NSA, are grateful for what he did and the standards he helped set in today's society. Because he was as persistent as the hacker was in his efforts, the world learned from its mistakes and started to take computer security seriously.
GSpark Dark Says: Unfortunately, there is a major language problem at the very beginning of the book, followed by other instances of medium to low profanity. Also, those who are offended by shower scenes should be cautious near the middle of the book. It also portrays alcohol usage, though not too heavily.
---------------
Well, that was fun! I like deviation once in a while, and The Cuckoo's Egg was a definite deviation from what I normally look into, but once I started reading the book it was very difficult for me to put it down until it was finished. Anyway, I *should* have Pokemon for my next topic soon... if I can remember to put such games down long enough for me to write them up! ^_^' So, waving out for now!
--Gemini Spark
Thursday, September 13, 2012
GSpark Reviews: Star Wars
Yay! About time I covered this series. I probably won't do it justice, but that's for you, the reader, to tell me. But before that, I hereby implement the first gimmick for this blog, and I like to call it... the GSpark Preview!!! Heh, original name, right? Anyway, GSpark Previews are simply just me reviewing something in addition to my normal post, just shorter. So today, I'll go over... this topic!
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GSpark Previews: iPhone 5
Wow, seriously, the fifth version of iPhone is out? Now that iPhone 4 which I totally don't have is obsolete! Must... buy... newness! Or... not. Okay, I get the craze behind the smartphone revolution; it's a phone that lets you go through whatever you want on the Internet easier than boring, old cell phones do. And I'll admit that the idea of the iPad intrigues me. But come on, Apple! Let the iPhone 4 customers get a decent amount of time to use them! At least the video game companies give us 4-5 years to enjoy our current consoles before they thrust the next great thing at us in E3! Whoever has an iPhone 4 will need to work fast to resell their "outdated" technology. Or they could... hold on to #4 for a little while longer? It's not the end of the world if you don't have the latest, greatest technology out there. If you still have iPhone4s, keep using them! ...At least until the iPhone 6 is unveiled in a couple of months or so.
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Okay, now Star Wars!
Sigh, where to begin? Well, before Pokemon, which I'll cover in my next big review, I was introduced to the videocassette. You know, the four-inch pieces of plastic with rolls of film inside? I then mostly lived off of watching these cheesy Disney cartoon videos that kids love and Kingdom Hearts references. Then my mom showed me Star Trek: The Next Generation. I mostly enjoyed that, but it was mostly on TV, not video. But then... I saw this tape with the cover, and saw that it was titled Star Wars. Well, Star Trek, Star Wars, my four year old brain didn't see much difference between the two. So I popped the video in and sat down on this ugly-patterned couch that was all the rage in the 90s. 20th Century came up, then Lucasfilms (I had no idea what those could've possibly been at the time). Then the phrase: "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."
I was enthralled by it the moment the first two notes of the overture sounded and the title jumped out at me, zoning out until the text started scrolling up. Episode IV: A New Hope. I then tried to watch The Empire Strikes Back, but as a kid, I remember being very scared by it, and I refused to watch it until I grew up enough, so I skipped it and watched Return of the Jedi (which could've been titled Revenge of the Jedi, but I'm pretty thankful Lucas decided against it). I loved that too, and I would love rewatching IV and VI time and time again. Then Episodes I-III came out, and while I loved watching the cooler, edgier graphics and nice backstory into Anakin at the time, I now share similar feelings with the rest of the nerds out there in saying the older trilogy was better.
GSpark Light Says: It was the older trilogy that opened the floodgates for me and cultivated in me the mustard seed of nerdiness that has grown into a flourishing plant today. I also like the graphics in both the old and new movies. That it has a huge plot also helps; I always love a good story. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is also a really cool set of videogames, plus it really captures the idea of Star Wars Episode 3.5. My brother would chime in right about now and say C3PO and R2D2 have the best parts of every movie, and I'm somewhat inclined to agree with him. Who doesn't like the comic relief these two provide?
GSpark Dark Says: Yeah, you shouldn't come into the new trilogy with too much expectations. Jar Jar? NO. And Hayden Christensen's acting? Totally flat. It just grates on me after a while. Also, Holiday Special. That is all. No, seriously, if you come across anything that remotely resembles the Star Wars Holiday Special, you are under strict orders to avoid it. It is worse than pornography. And pornography is pretty "bombad"- Oh, I'm so sorry, I lapsed into Jar Jar speak for a second there, I totally apologize.
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So there you have it, Star Wars! Later on down the road, I plan on going through the episodes into a little bigger detail, but if you've watched Star Wars as much as I have, you know the story. Anyway, like I said, Pokemon is next! And I may actually break that up into five separate posts for each generation of Pokemon that has happened. We'll see, but until then... waving out!
--G$park
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GSpark Previews: iPhone 5
Wow, seriously, the fifth version of iPhone is out? Now that iPhone 4 which I totally don't have is obsolete! Must... buy... newness! Or... not. Okay, I get the craze behind the smartphone revolution; it's a phone that lets you go through whatever you want on the Internet easier than boring, old cell phones do. And I'll admit that the idea of the iPad intrigues me. But come on, Apple! Let the iPhone 4 customers get a decent amount of time to use them! At least the video game companies give us 4-5 years to enjoy our current consoles before they thrust the next great thing at us in E3! Whoever has an iPhone 4 will need to work fast to resell their "outdated" technology. Or they could... hold on to #4 for a little while longer? It's not the end of the world if you don't have the latest, greatest technology out there. If you still have iPhone4s, keep using them! ...At least until the iPhone 6 is unveiled in a couple of months or so.
--------------------
Okay, now Star Wars!
Sigh, where to begin? Well, before Pokemon, which I'll cover in my next big review, I was introduced to the videocassette. You know, the four-inch pieces of plastic with rolls of film inside? I then mostly lived off of watching these cheesy Disney cartoon videos that kids love and Kingdom Hearts references. Then my mom showed me Star Trek: The Next Generation. I mostly enjoyed that, but it was mostly on TV, not video. But then... I saw this tape with the cover, and saw that it was titled Star Wars. Well, Star Trek, Star Wars, my four year old brain didn't see much difference between the two. So I popped the video in and sat down on this ugly-patterned couch that was all the rage in the 90s. 20th Century came up, then Lucasfilms (I had no idea what those could've possibly been at the time). Then the phrase: "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."
I was enthralled by it the moment the first two notes of the overture sounded and the title jumped out at me, zoning out until the text started scrolling up. Episode IV: A New Hope. I then tried to watch The Empire Strikes Back, but as a kid, I remember being very scared by it, and I refused to watch it until I grew up enough, so I skipped it and watched Return of the Jedi (which could've been titled Revenge of the Jedi, but I'm pretty thankful Lucas decided against it). I loved that too, and I would love rewatching IV and VI time and time again. Then Episodes I-III came out, and while I loved watching the cooler, edgier graphics and nice backstory into Anakin at the time, I now share similar feelings with the rest of the nerds out there in saying the older trilogy was better.
GSpark Light Says: It was the older trilogy that opened the floodgates for me and cultivated in me the mustard seed of nerdiness that has grown into a flourishing plant today. I also like the graphics in both the old and new movies. That it has a huge plot also helps; I always love a good story. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is also a really cool set of videogames, plus it really captures the idea of Star Wars Episode 3.5. My brother would chime in right about now and say C3PO and R2D2 have the best parts of every movie, and I'm somewhat inclined to agree with him. Who doesn't like the comic relief these two provide?
GSpark Dark Says: Yeah, you shouldn't come into the new trilogy with too much expectations. Jar Jar? NO. And Hayden Christensen's acting? Totally flat. It just grates on me after a while. Also, Holiday Special. That is all. No, seriously, if you come across anything that remotely resembles the Star Wars Holiday Special, you are under strict orders to avoid it. It is worse than pornography. And pornography is pretty "bombad"- Oh, I'm so sorry, I lapsed into Jar Jar speak for a second there, I totally apologize.
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So there you have it, Star Wars! Later on down the road, I plan on going through the episodes into a little bigger detail, but if you've watched Star Wars as much as I have, you know the story. Anyway, like I said, Pokemon is next! And I may actually break that up into five separate posts for each generation of Pokemon that has happened. We'll see, but until then... waving out!
--G$park
Thursday, September 6, 2012
GSpark Lives! ...And Reviews: Technology
Okay, so 10000 gp and one proverbial cleric later, and I have now successfully revived this blog to its former glory! Which didn't have much glory to begin with, but anyway... I am hereby branching out in this blog to include a few reflections I have while I am in another writing class, this one inspiring me to give up the aforementioned 10000 gp to a cleric of the cyberworld. I'll still have some talk about videogames, anime, etc., in the foreseeable future (how about that Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, huh?), but don't be surprised if I suddenly go off on a different route than normal. Like I'm doing right now!
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Today, we look at two discussions, one put forth by an author named Neil Postman and Elder Dallin H. Oaks, an Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Both refer to the pros and cons of technology--and as I post here it's worth noting that today's world is so full of tech we might as well be Cybermen. Postman's overarching theme was that technology changes culture, and, if we're not careful, we may lose it. Elder Oaks talked about using focus and priorities to develop a technological discipline so technology doesn't get in the way of what matters more. Put them together, and we ultimately need to ask ourselves: what are we doing with our tech? Are we gettingsmarter wiser by using it, or are we just wasting bandwidth on Reddit or [insert social media website here]? Maybe if we had a purpose in mind when using "teh interwebz"... we'd get more out of it than we think.
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Coming Soon: I promise I'll post about Star Wars soon! It's likelier to happen over the weekend; I just hope I have enough time to fit this AND homework AND social life AND Pokemon... yeah, one of those may end up getting crowded out. >_< Okay, waving out again!
--G$park
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Today, we look at two discussions, one put forth by an author named Neil Postman and Elder Dallin H. Oaks, an Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Both refer to the pros and cons of technology--and as I post here it's worth noting that today's world is so full of tech we might as well be Cybermen. Postman's overarching theme was that technology changes culture, and, if we're not careful, we may lose it. Elder Oaks talked about using focus and priorities to develop a technological discipline so technology doesn't get in the way of what matters more. Put them together, and we ultimately need to ask ourselves: what are we doing with our tech? Are we getting
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Coming Soon: I promise I'll post about Star Wars soon! It's likelier to happen over the weekend; I just hope I have enough time to fit this AND homework AND social life AND Pokemon... yeah, one of those may end up getting crowded out. >_< Okay, waving out again!
--G$park
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