[Rin on...] Mass Effect 3 Demo

I'm writing this after having given it a day to sink in and after reading various articles and reviews on the demo. The one I'll reference the most here was written by a friend of mine from the 'Scapist days, Remy van Ruiten, who has a blog of his own. I'll quote him throughout this post so you know what commentary I'm referring to, but if you want, just read his article here before reading mine.

Let me preface by saying I'm a super, super serious Mass Effect fan. I played both 1 and 2 multiple times, doing every single side-quest in both. So, needless to say, I have been frothing at the mouth impatiently for the release of ME3. I even pre-ordered the N7 Collector's Edition. [Hah! I say even like it's a surprise.]

[Rin on...] Anime Voice Actors

     This is a journey concerning two specific voice actors, and how much fun it is to trace one voice actor through all those animes you've watched, full of "Oh shit! That was him?!" moments. Moreover, this is about how much of a weeaboo I really am, if you ever doubted it before. I follow my mind and wikipedia biographies through J. Michael Tatum and Christopher Patton's work. Step in, enjoy the ride, and remember, keep your arms and feet inside at all times. Otherwise they'll be ripped off due to the G-force of my nerdy awesomeness.

[Rin on...] I Saw the Devil

     I'll admit, I'm kind of in love with cinema from Asian countries. Japan of course, China, and more recently, Korea. I find that their dedication to the story-line, to the music, to the acting itself just seems so much more intense than our Hollywood counterparts. It's dedication on film. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule, good films we've made and bad films they've made... But, well, you'd have to share my love to understand. And yes, I know I'm biased.
     I Saw the Devil is a Korean horror/thriller by director Kim Ji-Woon, with brilliant screenplay by Hoon-jung Park. The film stars Oldboy's Min-Sik Choi and The Good, The Bad and The Weird's beautiful Byung-hun Lee. In short: Byung-hun's character, Soo-hyeon, goes after his fiancé's deranged killer. Soo-hyeon is a special agent, so you'll see a bit of fancy footwork, all very, very impressive. As an article I read stated perfectly, "He’s also an imposing physical presence, maneuvering through a series of fights and cat-and-mouse chase scenes with authentic stunt-work, which explains why Hollywood tried to utilize, but ultimately wasted, his talents to play Storm Shadow in 2009’s poorly executed G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra." ...But we're not going to talk about that one.

[Rin on...] Visioneers

     Let me first start by saying I was completely and utterly blindsided by this movie. I went into it, seeing Zach Galifianakis casted as the main character in a real movie, and thought, "This should be funny." I wasn't expecting anything heavy.
     It was a black comedy set in a slightly futuristic time period, where Zach plays George Washington Winsterhammerman, an employee at "Jeffers Corporation"--the friendliest and most profitable organization in the country. It has taken over society, more or less, and anyone that wants any kind of productive future should probably just work there. There was a dry, black humor that set the tone within the first five minutes. Though this tone would never be lost, it would evolve.
     I laughed, don't get me wrong. Even during the parts that struck home at long last, there were bits of absurdity you couldn't but help laugh at. The storyline itself is absurd, focusing on a "pandemic" of people literally exploding. Of course, no one can distinctly tell why this is happening to people, only that having dreams and being tired are some of the symptoms. Imagine that.

[Rin on...] L.A. Noire

     I'll admit, I was skeptical when I first heard about this game--and for purely aesthetic reasons. Call it fickle, but don't expect me to be anything but unapologetic about it. I'd heard about the plethora of actors they hired for the faces and was impressed by this new, unprecedented dedication. Nonetheless, when I first saw the trailer I was unimpressed by the graphics--especially considering this game had been in the works for almost four years. After playing it, my opinion changed. The graphics matched the faces, blended together so well one could hardly tell that they'd been rendered from real people. And yet, when one watched the miniscule facial movements, you could see the dedication put into it. It especially became clear when you recognized an actor, recognized the little quirks of their facial expressions. For me, I was blown away when I saw Greg Grunberg. Greg played a fellow named Hugo Moller, one of your P.O.I.'s in "The Golden Butterfly" case. I knew him better as Matt Parkman from Heroes. Recognizing the actor brought to my attention exactly how well they had done this game and how effectively they had captured facial expressions.