Shmee.Me

January 29, 2014January 29, 2014

Get In On The Raid!

I was told I needed to watch The Raid: Redemption, a 2011 movie released by Sony Pictures Classics, because it was so similar to Dredd, and since The Raid technically came out first in 2011, Dredd ripped it off. The big difference is that The Raid is actually an Indonesian martial arts movie, and Dredd is more of a standard action move. The Raid is good, but Dredd did not rip it off.

The story follows a SWAT team as they invade a building of criminals in a Jakarta slum to pull out an drug lord named Tama Riyadi. The SWAT team seems to have the upper hand at first, but soon things spiral out of control, and they are trapped in a building full of criminals that want to kill them.

You would think that with such a straight forward plot that this movie would make sense, but the characters are always doing things that defy logic. “Hey I could pick up that assault rifle since I am out of ammo, but no I am fine just punching people.” “Or hey I have a gun and that guy has a machete, but he looks mean so I am going to hide.” Then there are some plot twists that are not really completely explained. You get the gist, but it feels like they left something out.

That being typed, the story doesn’t matter. This is a martial arts movie, so you are watching this movie for the crazy fight scenes, and the cool choreography. The Raid has them in spades. The fights were visceral and tense, and the stunt men knew their craft. This may not have been the most well acted movie ever, but these men were selected because they knew how to throw some fancy punches.

While this movie is a little incoherent, it is a blast to watch. The action never stops. The Raid is a perfect fit if you are in the mood for a straight up dumb action movie, or if you want to appear classy because you watch foreign films.

January 28, 2014January 28, 2014

Figuring Out Sherlock Season 3!

PBS struck gold when Downton Abbey came out, and they have repeated that success with Sherlock. You would think that BBC America would keep all the good British shows to itself, but since I don’t have expanded cable I am glad that they didn’t. Sherlock is a modern retelling of the classic Sir Arthur Conan Doyle character, and it is back for its third season.

This season picks up two years after the second, and Sherlock has to come back to London to stop a terrorist threat. Though since quite a few people think he is dead, coming back will not be as easy as he thought.

This show is all about its two leads, and Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman play Holmes and Watson perfectly. They make this show a ton of fun to watch. Freeman plays Watson as almost a drug addict, who doesn’t want to endanger his life with Holmes, but in the end he needs to feel the thrill of the chase. Cumberbatch plays the incredibly smart, yet completely self absorbed genius with just enough charm, so that he comes off loveably socially awkward and not just a total jerk.

The first two seasons were great, and it looks like the third season is going to be just as good. If you have not watched Sherlock yet, you really should, and since a “season” is only three episodes long it doesn’t take long to catch up.

January 27, 2014January 27, 2014

Feel The Rush With Forza Motorsport 5!

I always like to have at least one racing game in my library for any system I own, so when the Xbox One came out I picked up Forza Motorsport 5 by Turn 10 Games and published by Microsoft Studios. It is a great showcase for the power of the Xbox One, and it is a blast to play.

Much like any racing sim, the game starts you off with normal every day cool cars like a Mazda RX8, but if you stick with it for a few hours then you will be racing around in Ferraris and McLarens. Play a little longer and you can race in just about any car of your dreams on famous tracks all over the world.

The great thing about Forza 5 is how different every car feels when you drive it. An AMC Javelin is powerful on straightaways, but you have to slow to a crawl around turns, but get in the driver’s seat of an Indy Car and it feels like you are trying to wrangle a crazed cat on hard wood floors while you are in your socks. It is exhilarating. It is a credit to Turn 10 that they were able change the handling on every car while having it still feel like the same game.

That being said if you don’t like the way a car handles you can always upgrade it so it feels a little different. Give it some more power, change the gearing, or take a little air out of the tires. You can tweak just about everything under the hood. Not a gearhead, but love to play with paint? You can spend hours custom detailing the looks of every car in Forza 5, and then share your paint jobs online for more in game credits.

The biggest change in this game from previous ones is the new Drivatar system. This was introduced in earlier games to race for you in long tedious races, but now your Drivatar races for you all over the world in people’s single player games. If he does well you earn a little extra cash, but the best part about the Drivatar system is that you never just race against the computer AI. You are always racing against someone’s Drivatar. This make the races way more unpredictable because you could be racing against someone like me who takes out everyone on the road, or against that guy who loves to take the perfect lines around the track. If you race against me, I apologize in advance since my Drivatar will probably be trying to constantly force you off the road.

The graphics in the game are wonderful. Every car and track is lovingly recreated and rendered in 1080P 60FPS perfection. The game looks so good that you forget that you should even care about the visuals. It just looks like you are driving around in real cars in mostly real places. There are a couple of exceptions though, crowds still look odd, and they need better anti-aliasing because there a few jagged edges.

Since they seem to refuse to make a new Project Gotham racing game, Forza 5 is a good substitute. It makes me a believer in the new generation of video games, and the fact they will get better then this is very exciting. If you need a racing game for your Xbox One, I recommend Forza 5 whole heartedly. If you see a driver named Shmee in one of your races, he will hit you.

January 24, 2014January 24, 2014

1 Year and 300 Posts!

On January 24th 2013 Shmee.me went live. I had friends with blogs, so it seemed like it would be something fun to try. I had no idea that I would make it a full year, or that I would produce over 300 posts, but here we are. I would like to thank you all for reading my blog, and making it at huge (at least huge for me) success.

It has been a pretty productive year for me. Besides the 300 posts, I also wrote a book, and I lost a ton of weight, but this year looks to be even better since a Shmee Jr. is on the way. Exciting times for Mr. and Mrs. Shmee for sure.

When I first started this blog I was happy to get twenty unique views a day, but now I am upset if I don’t get twenty unique views by breakfast. I also now get more of my traffic from outside my home country the good ol’ USA. I have a surprisingly large European following, so thank you to all my followers from around the world.

My most popular pages are: My thoughts on who should play Wonder Woman, though Warner Bros didn’t take my advice and cast a different Princess Diana of Themyscira; Why I like Community more than The Big Bang Theory; And my review of the last Breaking Bad episode. It still bums me out that it is over. Conversely no one reads my book reviews, but I am still going to write them because this my blog and you all should read more.

Once again I would like to thank the over four thousand of you that have come and checked out my site. I hope that number grows even more next year. If there is ever anything that you would like me to write about please leave a comment somewhere, I promise I read them all.

January 23, 2014

Top Five Cartoon Shows!

To the readers of my blog, it should come as no surprise that I love cartoon shows! There is just something so fun about animation. That being the case, I thought I would list my top five cartoons, but it has been much harder then I thought because I like so many of them. This probably would have been an easier top fifteen, but I am pretty sure that these are my top five cartoon shows in reverse order.

5: Dexter’s Laboratory

Genndy Tartakovsky turned Cartoon Network in to a power house. Before he came along all Cartoon Network had was the Flintstones, but with awesome shows like Dexter’s Lab, Cartoon Network is now a power house. Dexter is a little supper genius that gets in fights with his sister, and he is always endangering or saving the world. That may not sound funny, but it totally is, and it is all thanks to Genndy Tartakovsky.

4: Darkwing Duck

There was time in the late 80’s and early 90’s that Disney owned Saturday morning cartoons, and for my money the Duck Tails spinoff Darkwing Duck was the best. He was equipped with cool gadgets and bad catchphrases, and he seemed to have more luck than talent, but he always kept St. Canard safe.

3: Adventure Time

This show manages to be random, exciting, funny, and sweet all at the same time. Pendleton Ward has created probably the best cartoon of this generation. I know some people say that it is too crazy for them, but if you give the show a chance, it is one of the best cartoons ever made.

2: Futurama

This show went from being a bad Simpson’s knockoff to a class by itself. Fry’s adventure to the future kept me happy and smiling throughout its entire run, and it has more quotable lines than just about any show on the planet. It finally ended its run last year, and it will be missed.

1: Venture Bros

This show is a spoof on the old 60’s and 70’s adventure cartoons, but much like Futurama it has become so much more. This show is as close to perfect as possible. There are only five seasons so far, but those seasons are some of the best television ever made, and if Walter White had never existed it would be my favorite show of all time.

That is my list! I would love to hear yours!