So, December is here, at last! Time to leave the horribleness of November behind. As I mentioned in my last post, bad stuff happened during this month, and the title of this post will probably give you a clue what happened.

So, on Friday the 13th in November 2009 (how fitting…), my 22-year old brother was diagnosed with bone cancer. I had my first day back at school (some stupid subject that should prepare me for writing my Master’s thesis) and I was driving home when my Mum called and gave me the news. I was, of course shocked, as I did not see this coming.

My brother has had a lot of pain in his right knee for at least a year now, and he went from doctor to doctor, none of them knew what was going on. Eventually, he went to another doctor who made a bone scan, and had to come back on the Friday the 13th I mentioned.

So, during the way back home, all kinds of stuff went through my mind, and naturally, I cried as well. Due to traffic jams, I arrived home about 1.5 hours after the call, to find everyone in shock in our living room. It was just awful, as was the rest of the weekend.

I did manage to buy the paint for my apartment that Friday night (the appointment was already made and leaving the house was a bit of a relief). So, during the weekend, I found out painting was a good relief. Not that it went any good, but that isn’t the point.

The following Tuesday, my brother went to the hospital in the city of Leiden, which has the best doctor in the area of the country. I went to work the day before, but after a conversation with one of the partners of our office that Tuesday morning, I went to the hospital as well. We were with five (myself, my parents, my brother and his girlfriend), and there was a lot of waiting. My Dad couldn’t handle the wait anymore, so I went to the restaurant with him. We waited a long time, and my Dad became concerned that it was even worse than expected.

But then, he appeared, smile on his face. The doctors were convinced the tumor was benign, contrary to the Friday doctor who thought it was malignant. This was such an incredible relief. During the previous days, all types of scenarios went through our head. From the best (a surgery to remove the tumor and chemo therapy), to the bad (amputation), to the worse (death), it all crossed my mind, and probably my brother’s as well.

The news was a huge consolation, but of course, it wasn’t over. There was still a tumor in my brother’s knee, which had to be removed. The surgery took place more than a week ago (on Monday the 23rd), and we were there in Leiden (which is at least an hour’s drive away, longer during rush hour) once again, this time accompanied by the mother of my brother’s girlfriend (her husband / her father died less than a month earlier from cancer, to make it even worse).

The surgery was a success and the tumor was removed, so that was the good news. However, my brother didn’t respond well to the anesthetics, and had to stay at the hospital for the night. But, the next day, he was allowed to go home, and within a few days, he was able to do everything he did before.

We won’t know exactly were the tumor came from until they’re finished researching it, but the doctors were convinced it was benign and he’s fine now. We’ll hear the results later this week, but we’re all very hopeful.

So, you can perhaps imagine why November 2009 wasn’t a good month. In fact, I think the year 2009 in general sucked. I’ve decided to move out of the house after Christmas. That way I’ll be able to make a fresh start in 2010. This whole experience proved to me again what’s really important in life. My apartment and my career were suddenly extremely unimportant.

It’s still weird that it all seems to be over already, as I had prepared myself for a long horrible period after first hearing the news. Of course, it’s better this way than the other way around, but still, it’s extremely weird to realize how easy it is to turn once life up and down, because that’s certainly what happened. Let’s just hope it’s all over and we can all move on.

I saw the second Twilight film, ‘New Moon’ yesterday, so I thought I’d review it ASAP. As I’m currently sitting in my empty apartment (I’m waiting for the men who are delivering my kitchen to be finished), this is a good time to do so.

First off, as you might remember, I awarded the first movie, ‘Twilight’ 4.75 out of 5 stars in 2008, and actually named it my favorite movie of that year. I was really surprised how much I liked it, but I really did. So, I was really looking forward to seeing this sequel. I have not yet read the book, so I had only a vague idea what was gonna happen (I have friends who read the book and told me stuff about it).

The plot once again revolves around Bella and Edward. She’s a normal human being, he’s a vampire. Now, for some noble reason, Edward and his family (the Cullens) decide to leave Forks (the town in Washington State where everyone lives). This leaves Bella utterly depressed, and this is where Indian (as in Native-American) friend Jacob Black comes in. And, guess what, he has a secret as big as Edward’s.

So, spoilers ahead, most people now this secret (we’ve all seen the trailer, probably), Jake’s a werewolf. That is, like a werewolf. Just as the vampires in this movie are unlike any vampires in other movies, the werewolves are different as well. For instance, the whole full moon stuff has nothing to do with it (the title isn’t a play on Jacob’s ‘condition’). Apparently, all the men in the tribe have the ability to transform into wolves, and they have some sort of control over it, except when they get angry, and they just become enraged (you should see the girlfriend / fiancé / wife) of one of the werewolves and you know what I mean).

Right, so Forks is home to humans, wolfmen and vampires. What a coincidence… But let’s not make fun of the plot. After all, it’s fantasy, so this is all part of the deal. There are some objections I have with the plot though. First off, why on Earth did the Cullens leave? I really have no idea and couldn’t understand the explanation given in the movie.

Secondly, what is up with the weird Bella sees Edward’s ghost stuff that happens throughout the movie. Are they telepathically linked or something? No explanation is given for this. And finally, I had a problem with the screaming nightmares Bella has. Somehow, I really got annoyed with it and wouldn’t have been surprised if Bella’s father Charlie had just kicked her out for her exaggeration. But perhaps that’s just because I’m a guy and don’t understand all this emotional crap. Because, unfortunately, there is more emotional stuff in this movie than there was in the first.

Let me get to other aspects of the film. Contrary to the first, the special effects in this movie are very nice. I especially thought the wolf transformations looked very slick (which was a nice surprise, as I thought it looked fake in the trailer). Furthermore, the movie once again uses the typical landscapes / scenery from Washington State as a perfect setting, with all the creepy woods and the cliffs and all.

There were some negative aspects as well. I thought the music used from time to time was rather inappropriate and even annoying. And further to that, I felt a bit disgusted when leaving the theatre due to the faith of a tour group with kids, adults and seniors. The only consolation I had with that is that, apparently, it could have been worse, as the scene in the book is much worse.

So, coming to a rating here. I thought this movie wasn’t as good as the first, but it wasn’t a bad movie. So, my rating is as follows: 3.5 out of 5 stars. The only thing that improved is the action, for the rest it’s more of the same, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Review time! I went to ‘2012’ yesterday. Ever since I saw the first trailer for this movie, I knew I had to see it. When the second trailer was released, I was even more convinced! As it doesn’t open in Holland until today, me and some friends crossed the border and went to the huge Antwerp cinema complex yesterday, as in Belgium, it was released yesterday.

For those of you who don’t know, ‘2012’ focuses on an ‘end of the world’ event that takes place in the year 2012. Several ancient civilizations, like the Maya’s, had calendars that all mysteriously ended in 2012. This basically means the whole population of the planet is screwed…

We follow the events that take place in the year 2012 through the eyes of several individuals (as usual in a disaster movie). There are basically two main leads. Geologist Adrian Helmsley (that is, I think he’s a geologist, not sure though) and author Jackson Curtis (who isn’t very successful as an author, so he’s also a chauffeur).

Of course, in a movie like this, the story is one of the least important aspects. I mean, it only has one purpose: to keep the audience’s attention in between the action. And it does a good job at that, albeit the fact that it can be a bit of a cliché from time to time and that the ending is perhaps a bit too much and too long.

But let’s not forget what this movie really is about, and why so many people will probably buy tickets to see it: the destruction of the world as we know it. In the past, we have had disaster movies focusing on one catastrophic event. Say, volcanic eruptions in ‘Volcanoes’ and ‘Dante’s Peak’, rocks from space hitting the Earth in ‘Deep Impact’ and ‘Armageddon’, and of course an alien invasion in ‘Independence Day’. All these movies are somehow comparable with ‘2012’, but this movie just does everything better and combines all the good aspects of the movies I mentioned. It even reminded me of ‘Titanic’ from time to time, although I’m not sure that’s appropriate for a movie like this.

The good news is: the destruction of parts of Earth has never looked more formidable! Whether the earth is being torn open by shifting Earth crusts or tidal waves are swallowing major cities, it all looks extremely realistic. And that’s saying something, as visual effects improve so quickly these days that it’s hard to be impressed.

Another thing I liked about this movie is that this time around, it isn’t our fault that the world is coming to an end. So, no ‘hidden’ message concerning climate change and how we have got to act to prevent it. I hate it when movies become preaching, so I’m glad this movie isn’t in that category.

Regarding the acting, I thought it was rather well, especially as I imagine most of the actors had to imagine all the chaos happening around them. It seems actors these days are trained well to blue screens and acting against nothing. The only performance I thought was weird was that of the American President. I guess Morgan Freeman’s schedule was already filled, or that he didn’t want to do a movie like this after ‘Deep Impact’. The guy who plays the President this time around is a bit of a miscast, and he lisped a bit.

Time for the conclusion! Despite the obvious clichés and the ending that is a bit too much and too long, I really, really liked this movie. So my rating is easy: 4.5 out of 5 stars for ‘2012’.
 

So, I finished the latest Dan Brown novel about Robert Langdon yesterday. The Dutch translation was published last Friday, and as I was downtown for some shopping Saturday morning, I remembered that it was out and bought it. I didn’t really have the change to read a lot of the book on the day I bought it. I eventually settled with reading the prologue and the first chapter before I went out that night.

Anyway, Sunday, I really started with the book (with a slight hangover) and read more than half of it. I came pretty far Monday evening (I read till after midnight) and finished it, as I said, last night. Once again, this was a real page-turner and while at work yesterday, I couldn’t wait to read what was coming.

As usual with these novels, the plot is a combination of a mystery and a thriller. Robert Langdon is summoned to Washington DC by his good friend and mentor Peter Solomon. At least, that’s what he thinks. In reality, a mystery awaits him when the severed right hand of his mentor turns up in one of the larger rooms of the Capitol. The result is a race to find him alive and solve an ancient mystery regarding the freemasons.

As usual, the plot is slightly absurd-ish, as was the case with the DaVinci Code and Angels & Demons. It does, however, provide for a thrilling story that leaves you wanting to know more after each chapter ends. Unfortunately, the story isn’t as good as DaVinci, or my favorite of the Langdon novels, Angels & Demons. I realized what the identity of the bad guy was before I finished reading the first half and I have to admit that the consequences of his actions (which are labeled as a ‘threat to national security’), aren’t as big as any of the previous books. Furthermore, the climax was a bit of an anti-climax.

On the other hand, this book focused more on science and religion, something that I loved about ‘Angels & Demons’, and that I hated about the movie of that novel (it was taken out of the movie). There’s a lot of focus on scientific research that tries to prove spirituality and the physical power of the human soul, and I find that extremely interesting.

So, despite that this book is not as good as its predecessors, I still found it a very interesting and good read, and I will definitely read it again. Of course, it is not nearly as good as Harry Potter (well duh), but at least it was exciting to read something new for a change.

Another month, another healthy update… But before I go to the statistics, let me first explain my experience Saturday morning. I have been feeling really good lately and notice my body gets more and more in shape and loses fat. Saturday morning, I went shopping, among other things, in Breda’s city centre. There is a new H&M in Breda, with men clothes only (there was a women and kids H&M already, but we definitely needed one for men’s as well), and I was keen to go and shop there.

I ended up buying two items of clothing, but the best part was the size of those items. Both were M (for medium). It had been years since I last fitted into M-clothes (I usually have L for large). So I felt pretty good about it and realized that my hard work was, perhaps, finally giving results.

So, when I measured myself yesterday evening before my regular Body Pump class, I was very keen to see the results. And those were as follows.

I’ve realized that my basic weight isn’t that interesting anymore. It keeps fluctuating, but doesn’t give any details why it is rising or declining. My fat percentage, however, does. It dropped, and, in combination with the increase in weight, this means that I lost a lot of fat. I gained 1.3 kg., my fat mass decreased with 1.75 kg., so this means that an increase of 3.05 kg. can be attributed to other stuff. Most of this has to be muscles, as I don’t know what else it could be, except perhaps a bit of undigested dinner that was still in my stomach.

So, this is encouraging news, though I have to admit I’ll probably fail to get to my target of 90 kg. before the end of the year. Perhaps I will be able to lower my fat percentage to 20%. I’ll try to accomplish that. But, on the other hand, as long as I keep my size in clothing down and will be able to see more improvement in my shape, I won’t complain, because, after all, that’s the most important indication of all.

So, it’s Halloween tonight! Over here in Holland, we don’t really celebrate Halloween (at least not in the traditional American way with costumes and trick-or-treating), but there is some sort of link between something that happens in Holland (mainly the Catholic parts).

November 1st is All Saints’ Day according to Catholic tradition. In the Southern parts of the Netherlands, this usually means people go to the graveyard and ‘decorate’ the graves of their loved ones with plants and flowers.

As you may perhaps know if you read this blog, my experiences with death were very limited during the early years of my life. In fact, the first funeral I actually visited was that of my Grandmother, who died October 30th 2005. This was the first time I experienced the loss of a loved one, and it was a tough period for me.

Then, last year, my Godmother died and, of course, last May, my Grandfather. Earlier this week, I had another funeral, and it was another sad occasion. Two Fridays ago, the father of my brother’s girlfriend died of cancer. My brother and his girlfriend have been going steady for more than 2 years now. I met her father once or twice, and knew about his illness. Yet the news of his death was a bit of a shock.

His cremation service was last Thursday, and it was a sad occasion. My brother’s girlfriend is an only child, so she’s all alone with her mother now. And my brother of course. The two of them have a very serious relationship, and I realized Thursday that if they had children, my nieces or nephews would grow up with only one grandfather, my father. I really feel for my brother’s girlfriend (who’s only 21 years old) and her mother and hope they’ll be able to accept what has happened soon so that they can move on.

Anyway, death played a bigger part the usual in my life for the last couple of days. I went shopping this morning (there is a new H&M in Breda that entirely sells clothes for man), but stopped at the small chapel that is located in the shopping streets and is surrounded by shops. I lit two candles there, for both grandparents that I’ve lost. Afterwards, I went to the graveyard were my Grandmother’s urn is buried. As yesterday marked the 4th ‘anniversary’ of her death, I placed a white rose there and lit the candles that stand on the small tombstone.

I try to visit that place, as well as the graveyard were my Grandfather’s urn is buried (they’re on different graveyards) a couple of times a year. I’ll definitely try to go every All Saints’ Day, as it’s certainly a good moment in the year in which I can remember those who have gone on and who gave me great joy in my life. And of course, apparently, the border between our world and the ‘next world’ is very thin this weekend…

Yesterday was a bad day, but as I want to keep this reviewing on track, I’ll talk about that tomorrow or later this weekend. Right now, let’s focus on ‘Surrogates’, the subject of this review. After this one, I’ve reviewed all movies I’ve seen so far, and I can focus on the end of year movie releases.

Anyway, ‘Surrogates’ is a sci-fi movie which takes place about 10 years from now. By then, most humans don’t walk around anymore. Instead, the streets are filled with surrogates, robots that are controlled by their owners from the home of the owners. So, as a human, you experience everything, but you can do so from the comfort of your own home, with no risk of traffic accidents, diseases or other stuff like that. But then, something strange happens. Several humans get killed because their surrogates get attacked by a mysterious weapon. The lifestyle of the surrogate owners is at stake.

Sounds interesting, eh? I thought this premise was definitely interesting. As a viewer you witness this strange future society through the eyes of an FBI agent played by Bruce Willis, who investigates the murder. The investigation takes him to the ‘Dreads’, humans who live in reservations were no surrogate is allowed. Could the weapon be hidden there? Could it be used by the dreads against the surrogates?

As exciting as this sounds, the second half of the movie (when the plot ‘thickens’) is the weaker part of it. I really enjoyed the first part, which explored the way society works in the world of surrogates. But the movie slips in the second part and the solution to the mystery isn’t really as good as it could have been.

There are positive aspects though. First of all, the realistic look of it all. There is a clear distinction between the actors when they play the humans or when they play the surrogates. Bruce Willis looks sort of fake / plastic when he plays his surrogate, which is, of course, the intention. This, including the acting / how the actors deal with it, adds to the realism of it all, and that’s definitely a good thing.

So, on the one hand, the movie has a great premise and it really looks realistic, but on the other hand, the plot weakens during the second half of the movie and one leaves the cinema with the feeling that more could have been done with the premise. This is basically how I feel about this movie. And that feeling results in the following rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars.

I really feel mixed about the movie, but I was glad to have seen it. It did remind me in some way of Gamer, which I saw a couple of movies before this one. And there is another movie coming up later this year about persons controlling other persons (the long awaited ‘Avatar’). It sure is a trend this year… Wonder which one will be the best.

After all the busy stuff happening in my life right now, let’s keep this movie reviewing moving! After yesterday’s review of ‘The Final Destination’, this review is about a totally different movie. By the way, I’m well under way to get a new personal record in the number of different movies I see in cinema in a year. Perhaps I’ll break my old record (18 in ‘08) and reach the goal of 20?

Anyway, this movie review reviews the latest Disney Pixar movie, simply called ‘Up’. The movie is about an older man, Carl Fredrickson, and a younger boy, Russell, who end up on a fascinating journey together to an uncharted (get it?) part of South America. Oh, and did I mention they undertake the journey by tying loads of balloons to Carl’s house? And did I mention they find new animal friends during the journey? Oh yeah, it’s Disney, and that’s a good thing!

All right, don’t let this, seemingly childish, story scare you. As far as I remember, there were no kids present during my viewing of ‘Up’ (though it was an 8 PM show), and the movie was sold out. This movie definitely appeals to adults as well as kids. You realize this after seeing the first 10 minutes, in which the background of Carl is explained through an at times very funny and at times very sad prologue. You’re hooked immediately!

The visuals in this movie are awesome! Pixar has come a long way since the first Toy Story. Especially the tropical landscapes of Paradise Falls (the destination in South American) look great, as do the balloon effects. The bright colors used give the movie a typical look and are a true joy for the eye. Animation has come really far.

At the heart of the story are, of course, the two main characters. At the beginning, Carl is a grumpy old man, but due to his background explained in the prologue, you really feel for him. Then Russell comes in, as a rather overactive kid. When Carl escapes with his house, he has no idea Russell is coming along as well. So, their friendship isn’t really a friendship at the start of the story, but their bond grows, of course, during the different adventures they undertake.

There’s a lot of humor in the movie as well, which is mostly provided by the animals both human characters encounter in Paradise Falls. The jokes appeal to all ages, thankfully, and cause much laughter throughout the film. The good thing is, somehow, the filmmakers can make the shift between the more touching sequences and the humorous ones very easily, and they get away with it.

Is there anything negative to say? Yes, but it’s very minor. Towards the end, with the introduction of a bad guy, it gets a bit over the top. I won’t spoil too much, so I’m not saying much more. The point is, it never becomes annoying, and I easily forgive the movie for this.

All right, time for my verdict! I don’t make a habit of seeing animation movies in the cinema. The only reviews on this blog of animation films are from Beowulf, the second Ice Age movie and Madagascar. None of those movies were as enjoyable as this one was. I’m not entirely sure how high my rating should be. I really think the prologue alone should get full marks. However, as the dog-fight at the end is a bit too much, I take some off for that. The end result is still good, and I think this will likely become the second Disney movie I own on DVD (after ‘Finding Nemo’). It’s 4.75 stars out of 5 for ‘Up’.

I went to see the movie in the title of this post with one of my best friends as we had to catch up and were looking for some ‘light’ entertainment. I have seen the first two movies (I actually own them on DVD) of the franchise and thought the first was interesting and original, but the second was a weaker rip-off. I never saw the third, because the movies had been reduced to simply portraying weird ways to die.

Final Destination 4 is no exception and follows a similar pattern like the first two (and probably the third one too). A group of people is at a certain place at a certain time when one of them gets a ‘vision’ that something terrible is about to happen. In the first movie this happened on a plane, on the second on the highway, and on the third I don’t know. This time, however, it happens on a race track.

Of course, a lot of people are ‘saved’ form dying at the race track because of the vision of one of them. But of course, death takes his revenge and one by one, they all get killed. Again, similar pattern here, there is nothing new on the horizon. So, plot-wise, this isn’t a refreshing story, but of course, it isn’t about that.

What this movie is about, and what makes it sort of ‘enjoyable’, is the bizarre ways in which the characters die. The writers must have had a headache thinking up new ways to show this, as the previous movies have all shown a lot of bizarre things already. But, somehow, they did it again! I won’t say much more, as that would really spoil the surprise, but watching it all is somehow very entertaining. I have laughed quite a lot during the movie, which isn’t perhaps the intention of the filmmakers, but I was definitely not the only one. In fact, I think I’ll label this movie more as a comedy than anything else. There certainly isn’t any tension.

That being said, there were a lot of, mostly women, who weren’t laughing that much. I remember seeing the first or second movie with a group of friends during high school, and one of the girls later admitted that she slept really bad because of the idea behind the movie (that death has a certain order in which people die and that no one can stop it or something like that). I never really looked at it that way, but I can somehow see how some people can get freaked out about it. I’m not affected by that at all though, so it’s definitely not something I find annoying about this movie.

Let’s see, is there more that I can say? The acting in this movie is as good as it gets in these type of films (meaning its average), the effects look good, and there are some rather interesting characters that are rather funny in the way they behave and deal with the situation.

The actual movie title is ‘The Final Destination’. Perhaps this finally means the series has come to an end. One can’t continue doing this over and over again. The formula never changes. Find a group of attractive girls and boys, think up clever, original and bizarre ways for them to die and bam, it’s a blockbuster! At some point, people will have seen enough. Then again, I still enjoyed this movie. It’s brainless entertainment, that’s all it is. Therefore, I still give this movie a favorable rating: 3 out of 5 stars.

Quick post! I received the key to my apartment today. As of this day, I own my own home!

It’s been awesome so far, even though I haven’t yet moved there. I was expected to pick up the key this morning at 8 AM, and I brought my parents as well. We spent an hour with this guy from the construction showing us the apartment and the improvements they made since my last visit, two weeks ago. It really looked awesome, so I gladly signed for the key, with some minor issues that will easily be resolved in the coming weeks.

To celebrate, I invited some of my friends to join me this evening for the ‘pre-housewarming party’. None of them had ever seen the place, so after a quick tour of the apartment, we sat down in the garden chairs I brought and had some drinks (the guys had beer, the two girls that were there had Coke). We spent the next hour or so chatting about the apartment and other stuff, and then I realized that I’ve finally got my own place to invite and receive friends in. Even though we were sitting in the middle of an empty apartment, it was already fun and I felt really proud to have it.

Thankfully, we could leave the apartment building via elevator around 9 PM. When I arrived, the power to the elevator and corridors was cut because of some tests for the fire department (or something like that). This meant I had to take the chairs and the beer to the 6th floor using the chairs, with very little light, and that my friends had to use the stairs as well. Thankfully, the electricity in my apartment worked.

I really look forward to actually moving to and living in my new place. Unfortunately, it will take a couple of weeks before that happens, as a lot of other stuff needs to happen before I deem it ‘livable’. For instance, the floor needs to be put in, as well as the kitchen. The only rooms that are sort of finished are the toilet (not unimportantly) and the bathroom. So, the coming weeks will be a bit stressful with a lot of arranging / planning to be done, but I’m sure the end result will be awesome. I can’t wait till that’s done and I can move in to my new place!

So, here’s my ‘review’ of the game. As you may know when you’re following this blog, I review movies quite often here. I have never before reviewed a game. However, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves feels so much like a movie, that I’ll make an exception here.

The plot of Uncharted 2 revolves around Nathan Drake. Nate is approached by Chloe Frazer and Harry Flynn to assist them in retrieving an artifact from a museum in Istanbul. This artifact holds a clue to the destiny of Marco Polo’s lost fleet. This is just the beginning of a quest for an ancient object named the Cintamani Stone, hidden in the kingdom of Shambhala.

But Nate’s not the only one who’s after the stone. A war criminal called Lazarevic is also in league. Nate competes with him and gets aided along the way by his old pals Victor Sullivan and Elena Fisher (both are known from the first Uncharted game).

The story is filled with twists, surprises and character development. As a gamer, one really gets sucked into it all and that partly explains why you just can’t put your controller down. You constantly want to know what happens next and what secrets and developments are in store for Nate. Like the first game, the story keeps you yearning for more.

The superb storytelling and script make the characters become very human. But there’s something else that also makes them so: the motion capturing. All cut scenes and moves by the characters in the game have been motion captured from actual human beings playing out the scenes and sequences. This adds such a reality to it all, that the difference between cut scene and actual gameplay is very hard to tell. The transition between cut scene and actual gameplay goes incredibly smooth, as was the case with the first Uncharted game.

Another reason for gamers to get pulled into this game is the amazing environments in which you play. The locations look extremely realistic and add even more to the experience (you just want to explore). Whether you’re running through a Nepalese city torn up by civil war, or you’re stumbling on a mountain through a snow blizzard, it all looks very real and extremely detailed. It’s a true joy for the eye and an invitation to explore every inch of the environments.

Another aspect that shows the cinematic approach to this game is the soundtrack. At certain moments in the game, the music starts to play. The music is epic and adds a lot to the mood of the game. Also, the sound effects (from the voices of the characters to the blasts of the weapons) are very realistic and have a quality to them comparable to most action movies.

So basically, Uncharted is not just a joy for the eye, but also for the ear! But that wouldn’t really matter if the gameplay of Uncharted 2 would suck. Thankfully, it doesn’t. The best gameplay of the first game is still in place, with some improvements. I’m particularly glad that the whole Sixaxis involvement is cut. In the first game, throwing a grenade and walking / balancing on objects like fallen logs involved the Sixaxis technology in the controller of the PS3 (it’s motion sensitive, so it involved some ‘shaking’ with the controller). This has been omitted in the second game, and I like that a lot! Furthermore, the cover system improved, but I already thought it was good in the first game.

Is there anything in this game that I didn’t like? Well, like the first game, there’s a bit of a supernatural twist in the plot towards the end. I’m not a big fan of those, but as both games have revolved around mythological treasures, it sort of makes sense. In the first game, it were zombies, and there was an entire level focused on walking through dimly-lit corridors fighting these zombies, and that chapter (levels are called chapters) scared the hell out of me! This time though, there are no dimly lit corridors, so that makes it much better.

As you might have noticed, I’ve replaced my Harry Potter userpic with one of Nathan Drake. I’ve become a real big fan of the franchise (though not as big as I’m a HP fan) and I really hope there’ll be an Uncharted 3. I can’t see how Naughty Dog (the developer of the game) can improve it, but they’ll probably find a way. If I should rate this game it’ll get full marks. I’m absolutely hooked and can’t wait to finish my second play-through. I’m going to continue with that after posting…

I finished the single player game Sunday afternoon, in less than 12 hours. And boy was I impressed!

As I mentioned earlier, I pre-ordered my copy of the second Uncharted game online. I bought some DVD’s with that order as well, and perhaps that is why I found a surprise when I got home Thursday afternoon. The DVD’s and the game had already been delivered! So, I got the game a day before the official Dutch release!

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to play a lot, as I had a meeting that night (with other residents of the apartment complex in which I’ll be living), though I did manage to complete most of the Museum-level. I played some more when I came home after the meeting (and ended up in Nepal). And then I realized it was 1:30 AM… And I had to go to work the other day! The game is that addicting, with once again a very compelling story, filled with plot twists.

The next day, I had to go to work, though I have to admit, Uncharted was on my mind a lot. I really wanted to know what would happen next. I played a bit Friday evening, but then I had to go to meet up with a friend. I went to see ‘Up’ with her in the cinema, and afterwards we had some drinks. But after I got home I went gaming again! And I played till 2 AM this time, leaving the violent Nepal city by train. Thankfully, it was weekend and I could spent most of Saturday gaming.

And so I did. I came pretty far Saturday afternoon, but then my Dad wanted to see stupid cycling. I refused to continue the game in my own room on my own TV, as that TV’s resolution isn’t very good. So, I couldn’t continue, even though I had reached the Monastery, nearing the final levels. I met up with some friends Saturday night, and when I got home I turned my PlayStation on immediately. I gamed till 3 AM, and this time I came close to the conclusion of the story, reaching the final couple of chapters.

But then I went to bed. My eyes had turned rather red (almost as red as they were when I read the seventh Harry Potter book for the first time), and I was pretty tired. So, I went to bed.

On Sunday, I woke up rather late and after breakfast went to the gym. But after I got home from the gym (around 4 PM), I went gaming again. And this was when I finished it. It took a while before I realized how to finish the final ‘boss’ off, but in the end I got it and was rather pleased with myself. I really enjoyed the final cut scene (which was nicely long!), and just felt very impressed with the game and a bit proud of myself for finishing it.

I will probably spend another post getting into more detail about why I loved this game so much (it’ll be more of a review). This post just explains the experience I’ve had so far. And I’ve only played it once! And that was on easy level. Countless more hours await me to relive the story, explore all the environments, find all treasures and get all medals / trophies. Oh, and there’s the multiplayer too! Awesome! I’ll be starting the single player on normal mode after posting this…

Yesterday I placed my pre-order for a new PS3 game that comes out this Friday. I have been following the news regarding that particular game closely for the past months, and thought I’d share it via my blog. I then realized, however, that I never really talked about my PS3 on here before, so I’m gonna do that first.

Halfway through December 2007, after passing my first oral exam for my Master Degree, I bought my PlayStation 3 as a present for myself. The first weekend I got it, however, it broke down, so it took like 3 to 4 weeks for me to get another one. I played happily with that one for almost a year, but then that one broke down as well. Another 3 – 4 weeks later, I received my current PS3. That one still works, but has some major noise issues. The fan is extremely loud, something that doesn’t bother me when I’m gaming, but it does bother me a lot when watching DVD’s. So, I’ll soon have this one replaced again too.

Anyway, reading that, you must think I hate the machine. That’s definitely not true. I really love it and I have some awesome games to play on the PS3. The first one I ever bought was ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’. I was playing that game when the PS3 broke down the first time. On the PS3, the Hogwarts castle and grounds come to life. It had huge environments, and for the first time I, as a gamer, could wonder through the castle and grounds without much loading time and with a lot of freedom.

The second game I bought was ‘Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune’. This game is absolutely, fantastically, awesome! And it was the first game to truly show the PS3’s superiority over the other consoles. The game revolves around Nathan Drake, who goes on the trail of the lost treasure of his ancestor, Sir Francis Drake. The game combines platforming / puzzle solving with a lot of combat, as Nate’s not the only one who’s after the treasure. I actually was more determined to buy a PS3 after seeing a TV commercial of this game, and I was never disappointed. Uncharted remains my favorite PS3 game to date.

After Uncharted, I bought ‘The Simpsons Game’, ‘Grand Theft Auto 4’, ‘Civilization Revolution’ and ‘Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction’. The only game that I do not frequently play is GTA 4. Somehow, that really isn’t my type of game, and I have to admit that I’m still not very far in the game, despite that fact that I think it’s really cool how this game has recreated the city of New York.

Anyway, back to Uncharted. This game was so popular (I’m not the only one who keeps on raving about it), that a sequel was made. The pictures and trailers released so far are very promising, as are the awesome reviews that have appeared online. That sequel was released in the US yesterday, and will be released in the Netherlands this Friday. I pre-ordered it yesterday evening, so I will receive it in my mail this Friday. And I can’t wait to play it.

I spent a lot of my free time the past weeks catching up with the first Uncharted. The game has a medal system which is linked to the PS3’s trophy system. I only need two medals / trophies, before I have them all and get the Platinum trophy (the prize for getting all bronze, silver and gold trophies). I’ve finished the game in easy, normal and hard mode, and am currently trying to finish it in crushing mode, but it’s very difficult so far. I doubt I’ll finish it before Friday, but that doesn’t really matter, as Friday will give me a new challenge: ‘Uncharted 2: Among Thieves’. Can’t wait!

Something I completely forgot to mention in my recent ‘random life update’ post concerns the way I spent the past couple of weekends. Don’t know how I forget that, as I have undertaken a lot of nice activities just before that post.

Let’s start with ‘De Efteling’. The Efteling is Holland’s biggest theme park. Ever since I was a kid I loved it, so I was very keen to go to the park again when the opportunity would come. And that opportunity came with work. Within PwC, there’s an organization called ‘Young PwC’, focused on the ‘new’ PwC employees below the age of 30. Annually, they organize multiple activities that are both fun and educational, so members of PwC Young can get to know each other and more of the firm.

A couple of weeks ago, the event for the Southern offices took place. It started at the golf course of the Efteling, and featured presentations by the CFO of the theme park and one from PwC about Corporate Responsibility within the Dutch firm. Especially the CFO had a great presentation, in which he focused on how the Efteling as a theme park, which is famous for the amount of nature in the park, deals with the environment. Very interesting!

But, of course, what we really came for was the opportunity to visit the theme park itself, which we were allowed to do in the afternoon. It turned out to be a very busy day (there were traffic jams from every direction leading to the park), and the main parking lot was actually full. So, we had to enter through an entrance in the back of the park. The good thing about this was that it was near the roller coasters, so we went on those rides first. There are three roller coasters in the Efteling, the biggest of them outside (the ‘Python’, with 4 loopings), one on the inside (‘Vogel Rock’, which is very fast) and one half inside, half outside (the ‘Flying Dutchman’, the newest ride of the park).

Besides roller coasters, the Efteling is famous for its ‘fairy tale’ approach. There are multiple rides where you just sit in a boat or cart and follow a track through various rooms / sets filled with thematic characters and sceneries. Unfortunately, those are for all ages, which meant the waiting times for those rides were over 1.5 hours. So, we didn’t do those, but focussed on the more action based rides. The last ride I want to mention is another old time favourite of mine called Villa Volta, a so-called ‘madhouse’ in which you lose your ability to distinguish between up and down.

After the Efteling, me and AE went to eat at the new Japanese restaurant in Breda, with lot’s of sushi and other delicious Japanese food. It was really nice and it’s very good we have a place like that in Breda now, because we had to go to Rotterdam before to get this type of restaurant.

A week later, we had another activity with work. We had free tickets to ‘Dutch Water Dreams’. DWD organizes / provides all sorts of water activities for groups. We started with rafting in an outdoor course (which has the same lay-out as the one used during the Beijing Olympics). I had never really done that before, but we made it to two rounds with everyone still in the boat. Unfortunately, we capsized in the third round, which was rather intensive in the fast-flowing water.

After the rafting, we went body boarding. This turned out to be more fun! This was an indoor activity with a machine that generated an artificial wave on which we could body board. At first, we were just lying down on the body board, but eventually I managed to get on my knees and actually steer the board with my knees as well. If you’re very practised, one could actually stand on the thing with your foot, but no one really managed that in our timeframe.

After the intense exercising (because believe me, you get pretty tired of it), we ate at the restaurant there (I had spare-ribs, because I really needed meat to recover). We all had a really good time. At our office, most people get along really well, and that really shows during activities like this. Plus, it’s a chance to get to know each other better, off-work. Both events were really successful, mostly due to the fact that people got along really well and respect each other. I’m really glad to work at an office with so many nice co-workers. Of course, I already knew this from the various office ski trips, but it’s nice to get this reaffirmed again.

On the bright sight, my weight decreased, on the down side, my fat percentage rose. And, honestly, I have no idea why. I have been able to fit three gym sessions in every week, I noticed an increase of muscles in my body and people have told me that it looks like I lost weight (including my Grandmother, who usually only says I look heavier). So, I’m a bit confused regarding the fat percentage.

Then again, if you start to calculate, my fat weight has decreased slightly as well, but I had expected a more rapid decline. I don’t know what has happened, all I know is that I will continue doing what I’m doing, though perhaps I should put more emphasis on my eating pattern. From time to time, that could be a bit unhealthy, perhaps that has something to do with it.

So, despite the fact that I didn’t improve much, I’m still motivated to continue with what I’m doing at the gym. I really notice improvement in my body, and that’s motivation enough for me!

One of the biggest decisions I usually have to make before going on holiday is which books I need to take with me. While being on holiday I usually spent a lot of time lying in the sun (either on the beach, or, as was the case this year, at the pool), and I always read a lot during those incredibly relaxing hours.

Last year, I had several Harry Potter books, as well as Dan Brown novels with me on holiday. This year, Harry was once again with me (a US paperback edition of HP 6 and a UK hardcover edition of book 7), but I also decided to bring the Tolkien books I own (The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy).

While on Crete, I finished HP 6 within a couple of days (I was already more than halfway through the book), and started with ‘The Hobbit’ after that. I finished that book just before me and my mates went to the Samaria Gorge (I mentioned this in my Chersonissos 2009 (2) post). After that, I started on the trilogy, and read most of the first part (‘The Fellowship of the Ring’) while on Crete. Once I got back in Holland, I continued and read the remaining of the first book, as well as the other two books.

I was a bit hesitant to start reading these books. As far as I remember, I’ve only read the trilogy books once before, and remember having a lot of trouble with them as I found them very hard to get through. I didn’t have this problem this time, even though I still find them harder to read than Harry Potter. To be honest, I think the Dutch LotR-books (that I read) are harder to read than any HP book in English.

I have to admit that I really enjoyed the re-read. In fact, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would enjoy it, if that makes sense. After the big re-read, I watched the three movies again (I own the extended DVD’s of all three). Those films are great as well, but I did notice more differences between books and movies than I did before. But then again, I was amazed at how much they were able to keep in, but I think those book details are more frequently found on the Extended DVD’s than in the regular movies.

What I did realize, more than I used to, is the sadness of the story. The ending, which I did think was rather fitting, is really sad, as are the themes in the story. One example of this is the Elves, and how they leave Middle-Earth forever. The overall ‘good versus evil’ theme is central to the book, but I think LotR does a great job in showing how much pain the good has to endure, and how it affects them, in order for evil to be defeated.

In the end, I still prefer Harry Potter to Lord of the Rings though. I like the fact that J.K. Rowling was able to create a world of its own within the world in which we currently live. This is of course contrary to Tolkien’s world. The world he created involves a huge geography, inhabited by different races with different languages, cultures, histories and mythologies. The creation of that world was probably far more complicated than the world Rowling created. But her story-telling prevails over Tolkien’s. The Harry Potter books have more humour and the characters that are at the heart of the story have more heart than Tolkien’s character. That is, of course, my opinion, and I bet many people will argue against me.

But in the end, as I said, I enjoyed reading the trilogy. I don’t consider myself to be an avid reader (I basically re-read a lot of the same stuff), but there is one book coming up that I really look forward too: the new Dan Brown novel. The Dutch translation (I read all of his novels in Dutch) comes out at the end of October, and I wonder what sort of ancient conspiracy theory is at the heart this time…

I think the movie that I’m reviewing in this post is a rather unknown one. First of all, it’s a Scandinavian film, not a wide-released Hollywood blockbuster. Secondly, it’s based on a book that was published in English under a different title as this movie title (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). And thirdly, it would probably get a very strict rating if it was shown in the US.

The fact that this movie isn’t in Dutch or English would usually mean I wouldn’t see this movie at all. One of my mates, however, read the book while we were on holiday on Crete (more on books for vacations soon), and he wanted to see the movie. And as Holland’s biggest supermarket currently has their annual ‘movie weeks’ (your second movie ticket is free), it was cheap to go and see this film.

As usual, I’ll start with a recap of the story. The movie revolves around two main characters: a discredited journalist called Mikael Blomkvist and a punk and isolated hacker named Lisbeth Salander. Mikael is hired by an incredibly wealthy man, Henrik Vanger, who owns a huge multinational company. Forty years ago, the favourite niece of Vanger disappeared, and Vanger suspects she was murdered by a family member. Mikael moves to the island were almost all the remaining relatives live and from there, he starts to investigate the murder. He is helped by Lisbeth, though she doesn’t reveal her identity to him, via the internet, while she is dealing with a lot of personal issues on her own.

There are two great aspects of this story. Both lead characters are very interesting and go through a lot of stuff. Furthermore, the central mystery is very gripping and ensures that viewers keep their attention, even though the movie is about 2.5 hours long. This mix works perfectly.

The acting is very good. The main actors are very convincing and really make you care about the characters they portray. Especially the female hacker goes through a lot of hard stuff. Some of the scenes involving her (I won’t say too much about this) are extremely hard to watch, not due to the acting, but due to the events that take place. I was rather disturbed about some of that stuff.

The setting of the movie is great as well. The island where the Vanger family lives is very sparsely populated, with lots of trees making sure there is a creepy setting whenever the movie needs it. It really gives a Scandinavian feel to it all, very authentic.

One thing I really had to get used to in this movie was the fact that all the dialogue is neither English nor Dutch (it’s some Scandinavian language). This meant I had to really rely on subtitles in order to keep track of what was happening, something that usually doesn’t happen when I watch a movie in Dutch or English (with DVD’s, I usually disable subtitles).

Rating time! I award this movie 4 out of 5 stars, for great acting and a very interesting plot, which sometimes is quite disturbing though. I loved the ending of the movie, by the way, and am curious for the sequel (there have, so far, been three published books in the Millennium series).

This is just a random update, which I should do more I guess.

It’s almost the middle of another week. Life is back on track after a long period of four weeks in which I simply couldn’t get back into the rhythm of going to work and such after the summer holiday. But now that period is over. It’s getting busier at work, which is definitely a good thing, as that keeps me more motivated and increases my productivity (which was rather low the weeks after the summer). I’m back visiting clients, and there are new challenges to face, work-wise.

Sporting-wise, I’m going rather well. I’ve managed to fit two to three training sessions at the gym in my schedule for the past weeks, which resulted in an increase in the weights I use during Body Pump sessions and during my typically Sunday afternoon gym exercises. I feel my muscles grow, which is definitely a good thing! Can’t wait to see the results later this week, as September comes to an end and October begins.

But the training in the title of this post doesn’t refer to my training sessions in the gym. It actually refers to an actual train. Last week, the first Employee Board meeting of the new season took place and, as usual, those are in Amsterdam. This session started rather earlier than usual, at 9 AM. As I was not looking forward to huge traffic jams and me sitting in a car in them at 5.30 AM, I decided to do something new: take the train.

There is a new high-speed train driving from Rotterdam to Amsterdam, which only takes like 25 minutes (20 minutes faster than the conventional train). I own a company car, but I also own a business card for the Dutch railway, which means I can book my tickets in advance on the internet and the bill is automatically send to my employer. Even better, I’m picked up at the train station with a cab that takes me where I have to go.

So, last week, I left home in my car, parked it near the Breda train station (which was also free due to the business card), took a regular train to Rotterdam (Breda gets connected to the high speed network later), got into the high speed train (which was less crowded and is, of course, fast), arrived at Schiphol airport, entered the taxi that was already waiting for me, and arrived at the office about a quarter of an hour later. I never was a big fan of public transportation, but this journey was very nice and saved me a lot of time. When Breda gets connected, I’m bound to save even more time, and will perhaps be able to get to Schiphol in about an hour (by car, it’s 2 to 3 hours during rush hour).

So, that was a nice experience. Unfortunately, I forgot to book a cab for the return journey, which meant some delays in getting back. Thankfully, that led to me being able to have a stop at the Schiphol Starbucks, which is one of the very few Starbucks stores in Holland.

In other news, my electric shaver died a couple of weeks ago. That was rather annoying, as I had only shaved the area between my nose and mouth, and hadn’t started on my chin. It happened on a Sunday, and I had to go to a client that is 1.5 hours away from where I live on Monday and Tuesday. So, I had to wait till Wednesday to buy a new one, which meant I looked a bit stupid that Monday and Tuesday. My new shaver, which I bought Wednesday just after 5 PM, is awesome though! It’s from Philips and it’s a triple-head shaver. Having only had one shaver before (form Braun, which I have had since puberty), it was weird to get used to the triple-head shaver, but the results are great, so that’s good for sure!

OK, so, that being said, I think I’ll leave it at this. I’ll post two movie reviews soon, those have been in the pipeline for a while now.
 

So, I went to the movie theatre yesterday (hence the almost empty bag of M&M’s sitting on my desk next to my laptop at the moment). And the day before yesterday, I went as well (which is unusual behaviour for me except when there’s a Harry Potter movie). So, I’ve got to review those two movies, but, I also went to the theatre last week, so that review is first.

This review is for a movie called ‘Gamer’, which I saw last week with my brother and his girlfriend. The reason for us seeing this movie was basically because my brother and his girlfriend had seen almost all other interesting movies in the theatre so far (they’re found in a movie theatre even more frequently than yours truly).

This movie features a pretty interesting concept. In the future, there is technology available that allows gamers at home to control actual human beings. This basically means SecondLife, but this time with real human beings. But it doesn’t stop there. The latest hype on this front is a game called ‘Slayers’, a multiplayer, first-person shooter. In this game, gamers control convicts on death row, who obtain freedom if they stay alive for 30 matches. One of the cons involved is Kable, who has won 27 matches so far, and who is the first to reach this number of wins. He is played by 17-year old gamer Simon.

At first, this whole situation is a bit confusing, but after the first 30 minutes, as a viewer, you understand the bizarre context and pretext. The story itself forms the basis for numerous action sequences (the different matches in Slayers), as well as several interesting moral issues. The plot thickens when it becomes clear that Kable is wrongly put on death row, and that there might be more than just other gamers trying to kill him.

The matches really feel and look like a video game, complete with the multiple players, different weaponry and the weird locations filled with obstacles to use during the game or to hide behind. I’m not an avid gamer, but I enjoy my PlayStation 3 from time to time, and I liked those sets and recognized the typical gamish-ness of it all.

This movie scores well in terms of the action and the interesting concept. On other aspects, it’s rather average. Take the acting for example. The performances aren’t bad, but their not particularly memorable either. Not that a movie like this really needs that.

There are things that didn’t particularly work for me. At some point, Kable’s wife gets dragged in to the plot. She works as an actress in the SecondLife like society. We see all sorts of weird sexual fetishes ranging from man picks up woman and have sex to all sorts of nasty and creepy SM sort of stuff in this society. The idea that a fat guy (the wife is controlled by a incredibly nasty fat guy) can pay to control a woman and that that woman can then be fucked by other ‘actors’ controlled by other people is just sick and something that really freaked me out.

But that last example is perhaps something the film makers thought would be the message of this movie. How far are we as human beings willing to go? As far as I know, SecondLife is over its top in popularity. I never cared for it, and I think it’s the limit. But what if it isn’t? That’s something this movie is trying to point out. And it does a good job with that.

So, to come to a conclusion here. I enjoyed the film. I thought the concept was interesting and the matches looked really cool. But this isn’t a great film. I therefore give it 3 out of 5 stars.