Movie Time: Divergent

A dystopian future ravaged by an unexplained war that happened long ago. A society ruled by an almost Fascist class system where no one is supposed to be an individual, break the rules, or think for themselves. Welcome to the world of Divergent. This years first entry into the "Movie Based on a Book" genre. While book movies are usually never as good as the books themselves, I get the idea that this one may be the better of the two. It both looks and feels a lot like the hunger games with it's setting, plot, and cast of characters. There are even little nods to it throughout, with things like a bird tatoo on the heroin, and the odd love/hate story between the primary male and female characters. It's not necessarily bad, but it makes you sit there and think, "This has already been done before".

Plot:
Really my opening covered most of the plot itself. There isn't much more to be said about it without giving away to many spoilers. I will say that it was totally predictable, which isn't a bad thing in this case. The story, characters, and events are all clearly headed in a particular direction from the beginning, and the film capitalizes on that. Rather than trying to surprise you, it simply invites you to follow it from odd beginning, to interesting end.

Action:
Since this is an action movie, it needs a mention for action. It's oddly lacking until the third act. You get the sense from the trailer that this is going to have a lot more of it, but the pacing is extremely slow. As the end nears I was beginning to wonder if they were setting this whole story up for a 3 part deal. However, just as the final act seems to be drawing to close, you get the idea that it isn't over yet, and you continue on to the climactic ending.

Acting:
The acting in the movie is surprisingly good. The character roles don't seem forced, and they all mesh together well. You really can feel some of the dilemmas  that Tobias and Beatrice go through as the story progress. Shailene Woody (Beatrice) really carries the movie well. Which is surprising as well, as she doesn't have and major productions under her belt before now. I'm actually looking forward to the other movies in the series, and going in I wasn't even sure I'd like this.

Cinematography:
The style for this film is amazing. You definitely get the idea that the world fell apart. Buildings are in disarray, old parts of the city are grown up with vegetation, and yet you can still tell that life has moved on. New construction has taken place, and the society as a whole has shifted. The special effects are very good, but not over the top. Shots feel like they have enough cuts to satisfy an action movie, without making you feel like the director had no idea what kind of movie he was trying to make.

Major Themes:
There is an overwhelming theme of conformity is bad. Everything that happens is to show that individualism is better than conformity for both a society and the person themselves. It blatantly makes conformists mindless drones, and the "divergents" almost into super heroes. These beings who are so scary ,because they can think for themselves, that they must be eradicated at all costs.

Kid Friendliness: 
While kids probably wouldn't understand this movie, they could absolutely go see it. There is no language, violence is portrayed as wrong, there is no language in this movie, and almost no blood.

Conclusion:
This movie was surprisingly good. It had a lot more good qualities than bad, and I fee l like it was worth the money. If you like action movies, are a fan of the book, or really can't decide what to watch, then Divergent might just be the movie for you.

Music Time: Bonecage Fish Food

Bonecage’s new Album Fish Food , releases on April 1^st, and I got to get my ears in on an early access treat. He writes songs that fall into the Nerd Rock/Comedy category. If you are unfamiliar with these genres in more recent times, go look up something by Weird Al. It’s the same type of music. Since a music album is a bit different from a game review, we’ll be doing this a bit differently today. Rather than pros and cons we’ll be doing an album overview, a most and least favorite song, and then of course my own personal thoughts on the whole thing in the form of my conclusion.

Album Overview: If I could sum up this album in one word, I’d say complete. There is everything from Predator to Fake Vaginas in this album, with a touch of tacos and insanity. It’s wonderfully silly, and captures all the essence of being a nerd. You go from one song to making references about an 80’s action movie, to another song about belly buttons being nature’s best pockets. This variety is fun, comes across very uniquely, and adds an interesting flair to a genre that’s fairly saturated with mostly pop culture references. The music styles vary as well. It is mostly different styles of Rock, but there is a hint of country and hip hop in a few songs, and no two really ever feel the same.  On top of that Jeff (the man behind Bonecage) is a great singer/songwriter/musician. Who has a variety of singing styles to further add to the complete off the wall experience you are going to get when listening to this album. In total you’ll be getting a total of 14 wonderful songs:

1. Grandma’s House
2. Bear Attack!
3. Olive Garden Butthole
4. Oh What a Day
5. Keep Going (STOP!)
6. Nathan the Predator
7.  Belly Button (Nature’s Pocket)
8. No Mas Mermaids
9. Charlie Loves You
10. Makeshift Vagina
11. Benny’s Song (Five Kids to Feed)
12. Love Song (Huge Erection)
13. Soup Beans and Cornbread
14. I Can’t Be Your Friend Anymore

Favorite Song - Oh What a Day

What can I say about this song? It reminds me a lot of Weird Al’s Albuquerque (which is my favorite Weird Al song). It isn’t as long, but it is just a random which adds to its charm. Plus the music style for it feels very epic in nature, which is a stark contrast to the song. Without giving to much away, it’s about the adventures of a drug addict, and all the crazy stuff he does in one day.  It made me laugh harder than any other song on the album, and I think that unless you like the more coherent songs, you’ll love it too.

Least Favorite Song – Charlie Loves You

In my mind this is the least out of place on the album. While not terrible, it doesn’t have the best beat or lyrics. The song itself is about a guy who is way to clingy, calling a girl over and over again without getting a response. What’s there fits the song, but in comparison to the other songs on the album this one just doesn’t seem to fit in well with the others. It’s to slow, not all that funny, and really just comes across as more sad than anything. I suppose that could be the point, but when I can just switch songs and go back to laughing again, I’m not sure why I’d keep listening to this one.

Conclusion:

I don’t think I’ve laughed this hard at music in forever. There’s something that Fish Food as a whole strikes in my insides. I don’t know if it’s my repressed silliness that has gotten locked away a bit as I’ve grown older, or just my funny bone finding its way back out. No matter the case, I laughed and laughed while I listened to this album. Even after the 3^rd or 4^th consecutive listen I was still laughing. For that simple fact Alone I’d recommend this to anyone who calls themselves a nerd and likes rock music. The only real overall concern I have for the album is it isn’t kid friendly. It obviously isn’t supposed to be, and shouldn’t be made kid friendly, but if you do have kids you shouldn’t let them anywhere near it until there a bit older. Otherwise I’d say you should give this album a shot.

It releases on April 1^st (that’s this Tuesday) on Itunes, Amazon, Spotify, and a few other major music distributors. You can also go to Bandcamp to buy his album, and if you really like it I’d encourage you to support him on Patreon. Finally, as one last treat, enjoy his music video for Benny’s Song below to get a taste of what Bonecage: Fish Food has to offer.

So called "PC Master Race" Vs So called "Console Peasant Race"

Controllers Suck, Consoles are just overpriced underpowered Computers, PC gaming is the only real form of gaming, The PC Master Race is so superior to the Console Peasant Race. As a Gamer I've been hearing stuff like this for about as long as I can remember. The popularity of consoles has lessened it somewhat in the real world, but online this sort of talk is still very prevalent. It goes the other way too, but in my experience its a lot less. The truth is that PC's and Consoles are not the same devices. They are not designed to do the same things, and they are generally marketed to different audiences. So while it may have been done before, it's my turn to compare and contrast PC gaming with console gaming.

We'll be looking at several critical areas that come up a lot when talking about this sort of thing. These areas are Price, Power, Peripherals, and Problems (you like the 4 P's, don't lie). I'll be comparing and contrasting both PC's and Consoles at each of these key areas, as well as dispelling some myths created about them by both mainstream and gaming culture. So, without further adieu, here we go!

Price:

Historically consoles were much cheaper to buy than PC's. In the 80's and even up into the 90's in order to buy a PC with enough power to play games much better than DOS programs you had to drop a few thousand dollars at least. That made console game look incredibly cheap at the 200-800 dollar price points of the consoles of the day. Now however, as technology and manufacturing capabilities have increased, the price of gaming on a PC is a lot less than it used to be. So much so that gaming on a PC actually will cost you less in the long run than gaming on a console, although the initial purchase price of gaming PC is still higher. The cost of the new Xbox One is 500$ and the PS4 is 400$. If you want to just buy an out of the box PC that is a pretty good gaming PC you will spend around 800-1000$. However, if you build the PC yourself, you can cut that to around 600$. Maybe less if you skip out on some non gaming options that make the PC less functional as anything but a gaming machine. As you can see the difference is not that much, and if you look at the versatility of a PC versus a gaming console, the value for your money is better. 

Games are Cheaper on PC as well. On average a new console game is 60$ full retail. PC games are on average 45$ full retail. You can buy used games for consoles which is impossible for PC, but if you've ever seen a Steam Sale, then you know that you can buy brand new AAA titles for less than 5 bucks. If you only buy games on Steam Sales (and don't go crazy with it), then you can save hundreds of dollars a year on new games. 

Power:

When I say power I mean processing power. PC's come in all shapes and sizes, but when it comes to raw power even the most basic of Gaming PC's has lots more of it than consoles. PC's can push out much higher resolutions, pixel densities, shader qualities, and polygon counts than a console could ever dream of. Although, that happens to be a double edged sword. Better graphics are nice and all, but the large disparity of PC qualities leads to no consistency or continuity with game developers. Meaning you could have issues not being able to run your game on any setting, let alone the highest one. On a console you always know your game will work, and lets be honest. Consoles graphics have been beautiful for years. Even before the release of the most recent generation they were producing beautiful games like Skyrim, Forza, and GTA V. Now games like Titanfall and the newest Killzone have stepped up the graphical fidelity even more, and these are just the opening acts for this generation of console. So while you can squeeze every extra ounce of power out of a PC and the can look amazingly real, do you need to? 

Peripherals:

This is mostly known as the Keyboard and Mouse Vs Controller Debate. Almost everyone will say that K&M is way better, but this isn't true across the board. Actually it's only true for 2 specific genres. Real Time Strategy games and First Person Shooters are much better with a K&M hands down. The precision and large amount of functionality that comes with it outmatches a controller 9 out of 10 times, and that 1 time is only because the guy using the K&M sucks at the game. However, there are genres that a controller dominates every time. Racing games and flight games are infinitely better with a controller. The easy to use nature of a controller and range of motion offered in thumbsticks is much better than the twitchiness of a mouse and the on or off state of a keyboard key. I even prefer a controller to a race wheel or a flight stick for these kinds of games due to how comfy they are in your hands.

Everything else is a toss up and completely preferential. RPG's, puzzle games, platformers, hack and slash, beat em up, arcade, adventure, and the rest don't do better with one control type or the other. It simply comes down to preference on this. I personally prefer a controller, and that's why I have one for my PC as well as my Xbox. Yes, in case you didn't know, you can buy controllers  for PC's as well. 

Problems:
Consoles and PC's both have problems unique to each platform that are big enough to keep people away from using them. On the Console side of it the severe lack of performance and versatility compared to a PC is usually enough to keep PC gamers away. Consoles also suffer from a lack of customization options since you can only buy 1 or 2 different models of it. These things combined with the various differences and issues mentioned above all add up to a lot of very big problems for hardcore PC gamers.

On the flip side though, PC gaming is not at all standardized. With so many different models of graphics cards, processors, and the ever changing nature of technology it can become quite difficult to keep up. Especially if you don't have the time, skills, or money to put into upgrades and maintenance. The improvements you do see in performance may not be enough to justify the extra cost, and these things combined with the rest of the previous differences and issues could be big problems for console gamers.

Conclusion:
As you can see both sides have some good and bad parts to them. Most people know which side they line up more with, but in case you really aren't sure this is a pretty good way to tell.

You're probably a console gamer if you don't care as much about super high end graphics. You don't posses the knowledge, skills, drive, money, and/or desire to constantly upgrade and tweak your gaming platform. You dislike a keyboard for anything other than typing, and you prefer the feel of a nice controller.

You're probably a PC gamer is you really care about maximum graphic performance. You do posses the knowledge, skills, drive, money, and/or desire to consistently upgrade and tweak your gaming platform. You love a keyboard more than life itself, and you prefer the feel of a smooth rounded mouse.

If you happen to line up with both of them, then congratulations! You're a hybrid gamer like me. If you line up more with one or the other, then congratulations! You're a PC or Console gamer. We are all gamers in the end. It doesn't matter what platform we play on, or what we play it with. Sure, there are some pretty significant differences between consoles and PC's. That doesn't make one better than the other one. It all comes down to the type of gamer you are, and in the end we all win because we're all gamers. Now go play something!

Bonus: What kind of gamer am I?
I'm pretty close to the middle, but I do lean more towards PC gaming. I do it partly for the savings on games, and partly because I play mostly stratagy games in my free time. Which, as I said, are better on PC. I do love console gaming though, and prefer to play my racing games and RPG's on a console. I like sitting on my big comfy couch to do so. I do have a bit of a Halo fetish, and except for a couple of older Halo titles they are all on console (Xbox Specifically). So those things keep me firmly the console world pretty consistently.

Evolution of the Blog Part II

Whats up Internet!? 

As I write more posts and get feedback I want to improve the quantity, quality, and relevancy of what I post. Based on what I'm seeing from my view numbers and the tiny amount of comments I've received everyone seems to like the top 10 and myth posts the best. So, in an endeavor to be faithful to my audience you will start seeing some more of those. For those of you who like my rants and teaching sessions, don't worry. Those aren't going anywhere. They will just be a little less prominent my queue. I'm also going to be permanently alternating between serious and fun posts, because people do seem to like that cycle. It's also good for me because it gives me more to research serious topics. 

My post schedule has failed miserably and I'm trying to revamp it to something that works. I apologize for making a schedule and then not keeping with it. Fridays, Sundays, and Tuesdays are much better days for me to actually post content, and so with a renewed fervor I will endeavor to post on at least one of those days every week. I'm working on moving to two posts per week, but I still haven't quite got the details worked out for how to alternate between serious and fun posts. I am working on it though, and hope to continue to draw more views and subscribers. Please, if you like me content feel free to repost it anywhere you see fit. Facebook and Twitter are my favorites, but reddit, pinterest, Tublr, or any manner of other places are all fine with me. Heck, if you like it enough feel free to re-blog it, just please give me credit. 

I don't know how much you like reviews of games, music, and movies, but I'm about to start posting them here on my blog. As many of you may know I write video game reviews for Left Stick Down  and occasionally other stuff as well. What you don't know is that we literally have way to much new content for our site, so I'm bringing some of the overflow here. Any extra games, content that misses deadlines, and most of our non gaming related content is now going to start showing up here. These will not follow any regular release schedule or deadlines. They will just be the extras. So just be on the look out for them. 

As you may have noticed I'm working on add integration into the blog. I understand if you hate it, because I don't really like it myself much. I do however like money, and with my baby boy almost here I figured every little bit could help. I solomely promise to not make my site a cesspool of ad content, and will only have a limited number of them on the blog. Once I qualify for google adsense I will be replacing all of my ad content with them, as they are the most targeted, streamlined, and pretty looking ads out there right now. However I still am to new of a site to have adsense yet, so I'm working with other services. I would appreciate free clicks if you support the site, but I will still keep making great content whether or not I get paid. 

As always feel free to leave comments, message me on Facebook, post to my twitter account, or add me to your google+ circle. The more I can spread the word about my blog, the bigger community I can help build.

Finally, here is a look at the next few blog posts I have coming. Non of these are done currently, so this is not their release order. Note: All titles are subject to change or to be scrapped. Although most don't get scrapped. 

1.  The Truth about the U.S National Debt
2. Top 10 Dieting Myths
3. My top 10 Favorite Video Games of all Time
4. So called "PC Master Race" Vs the So called "Console Peasant Race" 
5. The "Used" economy in a digital world.
6. My top 10 Cars of All Time
7. Should you ever pre-order anything?

That's it for this Evolution post. As always, thanks for reading!

P.S this does not count as a regular blog post. More content is coming to you on Sunday. I already have it finished!

Are We Alone?

For thousands of years man has looked up into the stars with wonder. We have wondered many things throughout the ages, but perhaps the most important question when looking at the stars is, "Are we alone?" That is a question I have asked many times myself, and want to take some time share what I've come up with for an answer. This goes a bit deeper than do aliens exist or not. This also deal with what their existence would mean.

Do I believe in Aliens?
I believe that the possibility of aliens is existing is greater than the possibility of them not existing. However, I do not adamantly believe they exist. I also admit that while unlikely it is possible for aliens to have visited earth and/or for world governments to be covering up their existence. I'll explain all of this in more detail later of course.

Do Aliens Exist?
This is an obvious one. Honestly we don't know. While there are a good number of people who believe that they have seen UFO's or that the government is housing secret aliens at Area 51, until we have physical proof of them we can't know for sure. What we do know is a bit about our galaxy and the ones we can see in the night sky. This knowledge leads to two separate theories on the existence of extra Terrestrials.

The Drake Equation:
The Drake Equation is an argument based on mathematics for the existence of Alien life. While quite complicated itself, it simplifies down to a few key ideas.

1. In the known universe, science conservatively estimates that there are 6 septillion or 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 planets. That is if each star we can see has only 1 planet around it. There are also rogue planets with no stars, and most stars have more than one planet around them. 
2. Out of all these planets, if life needs a conservative 1 in 1,000,000 chance to succeed (we have proven life exists in a variety of forms in our solar system already, such as bacteria or other very simple organisms), then that means that there should be 6,000,000,000,000,000 planets with life on them. 
3. If on those planets, life developing to a state where the species is space faring (while in our infancy, we still are a space faring race) was 1 in 1,000,000,000 (considered a very conservative estimate based on how many other species on earth have reached a level of evolution that is only a step away from sentience) then that means 6,000,000 planets have sentient space faring life on them. 
4. Once space faring, it can be assumed that colonization efforts would become a high priority, leading to more planets becoming inhabited.  

Now, you might have a hard time wrapping your head around that many numbers, but think of it this way. If you play the lottery and buy a single ticket you have about a 1 in 120,000,000 chance of winning. The chance of alien life existing is  1 in 1,000,000. The chance of that life being sentient is 1 in 1,000,000,000. That means the chances of alien life existing that is on our level is only about 8 times worse than your chances of winning the lottery. 

The Fermi Paradox:

This is much easier to understand and explain than the Drake Equation. The Fermi Paradox states that: given the high probability of life existing, the fact that we haven't seen any must mean one of two things.

1. Humans are a fluke of nature, and exist alone in the universe.
2. Alien life may have existed, or may exist in the future, but the lifespan of a species is so short that they will never interact with each other. 

That's pretty much it. This came about after a couple of decades of actively searching for alien life and coming up empty. 

Effects of Alien Life in Modern Culture: If aliens did and exist and we were aware of their existence what would that mean for us? It would effect every facet of our culture, from our views of ourselves to our views in the belief in God.

Personal Level: Despite the fact that we have the technology to go to space, and have been actively discussing colonizing the Moon and/or Mars, many people just cannot admit that there is even a possibility of alien life. It's discovery would come at the very least as a shock, and at worst turn most of our lives upside down. Many people would feel depressed or confused, and as if their god had betrayed or lied to them. Others would be happy they they were right all along, and a few (like me) wouldn't be surprised at all. There would also be a lot of fear and panic in individuals because we naturally fear the unknown. The word alien implies the greatest unknown, and so most people would be afraid, no matter what the alien's intent was.

Global Level: While the response is largely dependent on how the aliens come (peace, war, ect) there will still be at least massive initial panic. World governments would squabble over who should talk to them, what to do, and how to go about doing it. The world economy would take a dip because all things this large and culturally shocking do that to the economy.  World transportation will grind to a halt, at least temporarily, and there is a chance that our communication networks would be overwhelmed. Not by the aliens, but by us. In panic trying to talk to everyone and find out information all at the same time.

To Humanity: This is solely dependent on the intentions of the aliens. If peaceful it would simply change life as we know it and what it means to be a human. If they are not peaceful then humanity could come to an end. Not simply as we know it, but perhaps all together.

I'm sure there would be many more ramifications as well, but delving so deep into the hypothetical is hard to do, and becomes nothing more than my speculations and imagination.

So, Aliens? Are they real, I think so. Have they been here before? Perhaps, perhaps not. No matter what though, the existence of Aliens would change everything for us. Their non existance could change everything as well, but that is for another time. Thanks for reading. See you next time. 

What is Kickstarter?

Kickstarter is several years old at this point, but a lot of people still don't know what it is, what it's done for various industries, and how to best utilize it. Today we're going to take a look at it and go through all of those questions so that hopefully you will understand how to best utilize it to help you reach your goals. Whether that is as a backer, or as a presenter.

What is Kickstarter? - Kickstarter is simply a website designed to allow potential business ideas to be posted online easily where potential backers can give them money. While business deals have been arranged off of this model, it typically functions through individual consumers donating money to the project. Then in return the individuals receive a product or service for their money. They have all kinds of projects with everything from local business start ups, to photography, to art, to games (video and board), and pretty much anything else you can think of. They have "raised" over a billion dollars since they were created in 2009, and currently have no plans of stopping.

How does Kickstarter Work? - Someone with an idea posts it on kickstarter  as a fundraising campaign with a description of their idea. They are required to meet certain minimum standards such as images, videos, and amount of text present, but other than that it's up to the individual content producer to decide what to include. Then they have a list of various backing levels that go anywhere from 1$ to 100,000$ and sometimes more, which a backer can choose to pledge funds at. These funds are collected and held by Kickstarter until the fundraising campaign is over. Then the funds are released to the initial producer where they do with them what they wish. Kickstarter charges fees to post an idea, and they are taken at the end of the fundraising campaign. After Kickstarter hands the money over to the initial producer they are done with it. It is no longer their responsibility, and it is now up to the backer to communicate with the producer if they want a refund or to make changes. So, in a nutshell they present potential products and ideas to backers and consumers, handle getting money from the backers to the producers, and then moving on to the next project.

Pros and Cons to this model:

On the pro side this gives an extremely free environment for both producers and consumers. Producers are able to present ideas that in larger corporate world may get rejected because of how "outside the box" they are. They also have the freedom to adjust a project on the fly based on consumer input and feedback. For Consumers this means that we can choose to support the products we want, and ignore the ones we don't. Leading to a marketplace that has more of the items we desire, rather than panacea substitutes designed to fill a gap in a corporate spreadsheet. We also can choose how much to support said products, by donating however much we wish to see this happen. The inherit creativity of this system is also good for everyone, as it pushes for more creative and diverse markets that lead to greater choice and innovation.

On the con side, producers are taking big risks. If their products don't get funded, they may often lose a lot more than their project. Since these are typically individuals (or small teams) they don't have other larger funding sources, like most companies do. Producers are also subject to the same issues that plague other businesses, and can fail because of legal issues, theft, or environmental factors that are out their control. For consumers there is no accountability after a product ends on Kickstarter. If a producer is actually running a scam, once they have the money then you can never get it back. Plus, if a project fails for any reason, you also will not get your money back.

Overall is it good or bad?- Certainly there are negative aspects and risks on both sides. Lack of accountability, and the fragility of start up companies are probably the biggest concerns I can think of. Overall though this business model is a good thing. The diversity it brings to the expanding global marketplace is good for economies worldwide. The freedom it allows producers is good for everyone. The projects they create are diverse, promote new ideas and ways of doing things, and are often times better quality products because they have the heart and soul of their creator in them. The greater say that consumers have in the market allows goods and services be directed to what the market wants, not just what it can get that's close enough.

So, if after reading all of this you think to yourself "I'm really not all that interested in this model because of X". That's perfectly ok. This model isn't for everyone, and I myself sometimes question it's validity when a big scam or project failure makes the news. However, if you have decided you are interested, your next question is most likely, " How can I best utilize this marketplace?"

For Producers:

• Have  LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of information. - This may seem obvious, but you'd be amazed how often times projects are posted that lack key details. At the very least you need time frames for stages of production, a detailed budget sheet for where the money goes, a list of team members and qualifications, and a detailed description of your project with content, goals, and descriptions. It also helps to have demo's of your product if possible, technical specifications if applicable, and lots of photos and videos. Any additional information you can think of can never hurt you. If people are genuinely interested in your product, then they will go through all of it to make sure you know what you are doing. 

• Update your project. - A lot times a product will be put up on kickstarter and then never touched again until after it ends. This may or may not be ok depending on the product, but generally it's better to keep your backers informed. Let them know of any changes that you are making, funding goal updates, and how much you appreciate the support. These things build loyalty and trust for the product you are selling, and will net you more backers than just leaving your project alone. 

• Have good backer rewards. - Unless you are setting out to use this to find some serious business partners, you need to offer extra incentives to convince ordinary consumers to back your product. Usually, good rewards are early product testing, discounted or free future products, additional "bonus" materials (think movie or game bonuses), or direct input  from the backers. 

• Follow through. - Even after your Kickstarter project has ended, be sure to stay in contact with your backers. Keeping them in the loop can give you valuable feedback for how to improve your project, future Kickstarter efforts, and build loyalty with your customer base. 

For Backers:

• Know the market.- As a backer it is important that you know the market for products you want to back. For example, video games take more than 100,000 dollars to make from start to finish. If a project is asking for that much to start a game design project, then either this is very long term or the producer doesn't understand their development process very well. However, that same amount of money is perfect for final development stages, or producers looking to add a bit of polish to an already completed game. Knowing your market can help you not waste money, or wait for years to get the product you backed. 

• Don't just SPEND SPEND SPEND. - Throwing money at a project usually will not get it here any faster, or fix a product that is heading down a horrible design path. Carefully choose what you want to support, and back it with an appropriate amount of money based on your interest and available spending money. I know this seems obvious, but people have often got excited over a "dream project" and spent way to much money. Once you give them money to Kickstarter, it's almost impossible to get back. Once the money gets to the producer it is impossible to get back. 

• Stay in Communications with the producers. - After a kickstarter campaign ends, there is still much to be done on their end. No matter how much the exceeded or didn't meet their goals. You have invested something in their product, and it's important that you stay up to date. Now, this isn't the same as being a shareholder. You don't need to know everything that goes on, or make demands. It is important however that you stay up to date with basic overall project progress, and perhaps even help contribute a bit. Depending on how particular producers feel, you may be able to do testing, offer a different perspective, or even come on board the official team. It has happened before, and will probably happen again. 

So there you have it. I hope you find this little guide informative and helpful. Thanks for reading! Now go check something out on Kickstarter

My Top 10 Movies (and why)

While we may not always agree on which movie to watch, we do always agree that movies are awesome. I watch them all the time, and try to go see as many new ones as I can afford. I also like to watch all different types of movies, from the funniest comedy to the most serious drama. The only genre I'm really not a big fan of is Romance, but sometimes even those movies can be really good. I thoroughly enjoyed writing my top 10 games list, and decided to do a movie addition as well. I suspect that I'll also do one for TV shows, books, and music as well in the future, and there is always room to come back and do genre specific movies.

As before with the game post, this list is based on my experience and opinion. I try to pick movies for more than just "I like it", and really look for a combination of factors. My movie criteria are similar to my game criteria with a combination of like, impact and innovation. Also like games, a movie series can be included for a single spot. So, here we go again!

Pre list Note: Let me say that this was even harder than the games top 10. There are way more movies than there are games, and some movies stay relevant for longer than games do. Plus, I'm relatively young so my movie history is not as strong as my games history. So, other than the criteria below I made a rule that no movie before 1977 can make the list. "Why 1977" you may ask. Star Wars came out in 1977, and it obviously will make the list. While this rule may seem unfair or arbitrary, think about it. How many movies from before then do people still watch? Sure there are a handful, but not many. Plus, how many of those that still get watched are relevant in any way? I've seen Gone With the Wind, and I can tell you it isn't relevant to modern film or culture in any way other than as a historical landmark. I know you may disagree, especially if you are older, but to most people my age or younger these really old movies don't matter. 

Number 10

Primer: Bet you've never heard of this movie. It was written, directed, and produced by two guys with a few friends and budget of less than 5,000$. It is a bit technical and dry at times, but that was the point. It's a deep look into the human psyche, and it's writing and cinematography are incredible. You will be extremely shocked to find out whats really going on, and even if you figure it out early you still won't understand the scope of it. You really do have to watch it twice to understand the depth and brilliant storytelling that went into the production of the short film. These key factors, plus the fact that such a high quality movie can be made on such a short budget, is what squeaks Primer into the number 10 spot. 

Number 9
The Matrix: The Matrix is perhaps the most well known of the Wachowski's films. It's most notable for how it's action sequences are shot, and it's extensive use of Bullet Time. While not new to cinema, the Matrix perfected the technique and made it widespread. So much so, that it's influence can be see in many movies, video games, and tv shows today. On top of that it is also credited as being one of the movies that helped sell DVD players in the late 90's early 2000's. These two things combined with the fact that the first in the trilogy is the best, slide the Matrix into a comfy 9th place. 

Number 8
Alien: The original Alien is by far the best in the series, and set the bar for an entire genre. It had amazing special effects which still hold up fairly well today, and received several awards for them. It had the perfect pacing and atmosphere for any horror film, and has been imitated and copied ever since. On these merits it has received the title culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant, and is included in the top movies list of all time by the National Film Preservation. These awards plus its significance to horror movies earn Alien the 8th spot on my list. 

Number 7
The Day After: Perhaps no movie on this list is as disturbing as the Day After. The Cold War was is probably the scariest time so far in human history with the United States, Russia, and any one else with nuclear missiles pointing them at each other. The day after was a movie made to show what might happen if the whole world went to hell in a nuclear apocalypse. This was a TV movie that was designed to be a simple interpretation of what would happen in the aftermath of a nuclear war. It instead became both a propagandist scare tactics and outcry against nuclear weapons. It appears to be genuinely unbiased, with the movie making no attempts to make Soviet Russia the bad guy, but rather focus on the individuals surviving the disaster. While it was never a major blockbuster hit, it did raise some very important questions at a time when raising these questions was hard to do. It still holds true to this day, but instead of the Russians we only need to replace the opposition with any number of terrorist groups. These facts, plus the growing relevance of the nuclear discussion in a post Cold War era, put this movie at number 7.  

Number 6

The Vow: As far as chick flicks go, most don't belong on anyone's list. They are usually a cheap pander to the female sex like a generic action flick (RED, The Expendables) is to the male sex. Every once in awhile though, someone tries to make a genuinely grand movie from a simple romance story. Based on a true story, the Vow's wonderful acting, deep story, and brilliant writing made this a movie that gripped at my heart strings and dragged a few tears from my eyes. It presented a situation that is honestly a deep fear to anyone whose ever been a real commuted relationship, and is perhaps the worst thing that could ever happen to your loved one. Even if you hate romance movies, this one is worth a watch for the sheer depth of the story and characters alone.

Number 5
Harry Potter series: Making movies over long periods of time is hard. Your actors change, your audience changes, and the culture generally movies on. Harry Potter however is one exception to the rule. While it started as a popular book franchise, it quickly moved on to being a popular and successful movie franchise. It capitalized on all the things that make long term movie problematic by making them part of its story. That and the fact that it stayed overall true to its source material make the Potter movie series almost one of a kind. It is let down by the fact that once you see something done in the movies, it never really carries the same kind of awe. Quidditch, spell duels, the awesomeness of Hogwarts, and other interesting amazing concepts from the books/movies only ever awe you the first time. Whether or not that's because of the material or the way they are presenting themselves is a question I'm not qualified to answer. I can say that movies like the Avengers, Star Wars, or Lord of the Rings are able to awe you time and time again, and that is why Harry Potter is relegated to number 5.

Number 4
Pulp Fiction: This is overall my personal favorite movie of all time, and in my opinion is Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece. This movie combines non linear storytelling with the best dialogue I've ever seen in any move to create one the most well renowned, awarded, and acclaimed films in movie history. It has been called the best example of a postmodern movie that has ever been created, and is also one of the most loved modern Noir style movies. It is full of symbolism, is incredibly realistic, and emulates real culture so perfectly that it is still relevant 20 years later. Other than these things its genuinely a good movie with good acting, writing, effects, and cinematography. There are two reasons however that it isn't number 1. The first is that what is in first place truly deserves it, because it is the masterpiece of this era of movies. The second reason is that this movie can be extremely hard to watch if you don't like long dialogue sequences or much foul language. Overall it's amazing, but the fact that it has a limited audience due to it's grit leaves it at number 4.  

Number 3

The Tolkien Verse: The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies are wonderful pieces of cinematography that border on art. Created almost a decade apart, they share the same universe and director, and so I felt they went together. These movies are the kind of epic tales that are going to stand up to film scrutiny for decades as being amazing adaptations of the original work, while maintaining their own originality. Readers of the books know that in all the movies they deviate from the original works to make them both more streamlined for film and more relevant to the modern audience. They never detract from the original work though, and often enhance with the smart addition of new characters and altered sequences of events. That, plus some of the best usage of conventional special effects (not computer generated) in any movie ever make these movies unique in the world of super powered computer graphics. Those qualities put the Tolkien Movie Series firmly in the number 3 spot.

Number 2
The Star Wars Series: The Star Wars Franchise is a juggernaut in the industry. Sporting movies, tv shows, books, video games, comics, toys, and board games this series is perhaps the most Iconic in the world. Let alone this list. Many fans don't consider the more recent trilogy in the same ball park as the original, but they all are lumped together in the same series. The new movies weren't bad either. They excelled both as movies themselves and as loyal representations to the original. The problems that stemmed from that came from the older generation watching them, and not have their insanely high expectations met because of how much both themselves and the world had changed. However, that may be a topic for another post all together. The sheer weight of this franchise, combined with the state of the art techniques used to shoot these movies (both sets of trilogies), added to the real world lore and myth that became a part of their creation makes this series legendary to both fans and critics alike. All of these factors combined would have made it number 1 on the list, except for the fact that the top spot is going to a modern series that is doing all of this and more. So, sadly for many fans, Star Wars Stays at number 2. 

Number 1

Marvel's The Avengers Series: The Avengers itself, along with most movies from the whole series, have received extremely positive reviews from critics and regular movie goers alike. Why? Well two reasons. The first and most obvious reason is that it's awesome. They are all good movies with good actors, directors, scripts, and producers that all have given a damn about the material they are working with. As such the product they make is good.

The second and less obvious reason to most people is the scope of what they are doing. Comics, books, and television shows have been doing this sort of thing for years, but movies have never tried. Telling one story across just three movies is hard enough, but doing it over dozens? That's even harder. To date there are 12 Movies we know about for sure in the lineup that have either been made already or announced. They all tell the same overall story, and are/have taken years to produce. They have intermingling story plots, and while there is usually just one headline character per movie, really they have about a dozen main characters so far. That level of commitment, complexity, and excellence has never been seen before in film, and, even if it is successful from start to finish, may never be seen again. Why? Because this is hard to do once, let alone two or more times. I know DC comics is trying make the Justice League movies now with the Superman Reboot, Batman Reboot, and announcements about the Wonderwoman movie, but if the rest of them turn out like superman I'm not sure they'll pull it off. (Superman was not a bad movie, but it was not the caliber of the Avengers movies.)

No matter what happens though, the Avengers series has written a big new chapter in the movie making rule book, and that fact is what makes them number one on my list.

Conclusion:
There it is, my top ten movie's list of all time. I hope you enjoyed the show, and feel free to comment below on any movies you think should have been included.

Just like last time I'm answering what I feel are the most common questions I'll get.

Why didn't you put in X movie? - Well there could be a few reasons, but my two most common answers will be either I didn't see it, or it doesn't have any merit outside of being a pretty fun movie to watch. I tried to pick movies with other qualities that distinguish them from the other "good" movies out there.

Why did you put in X movie? - The answer is similar to the above. I thought it was a good movie that had merit in other categories other than just fun to watch. However, this list is tailored to my taste. So sometimes it may just be as simple as I liked the movie that I listed more than another. I'll happily answer any questions more in depth if you really are curious.