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Street Fighter: Legacy

Big thanks to Lord Manly who showed me this video of Street Fighter: Legacy. This is a fan video of Street Fighter 2 and it totally rules. It is focused on Ryu and Ken, but there is a cameo of Akuma in the beginning. The move has great special effects and the fighting is very nice. One thing that I love about the movie is that Ryu and Ken’s fighting stances are pretty much exactly what they look like in the game. So you are totally thrown back to Street Fighter days when you see it. The picture on the left is of Ryu tossing a fire ball. The digital effects used to make this fire ball was amazing. Too bad the Street Fighter live action movie from the 90’s wasn’t this cool. I was amazed that this was a fan movie and not some big budget production. I’d really like to see more films like this in the future. Well, without any futher ado, here is the movie below. Enjoy!

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I love the Orange County – Science Fiction and Fantasy Weekly Writer’s Group. We have been meeting since August 2009 and it is really a lot of fun and the gem of my week. The people in the group are great and four of us have been coming since the beginning of the group. We meet every Monday we discuss and critique our recent writing works of Science Fiction and/or Fantasy. It all started when I joined the Meetup.com group called, The Orange County Writers Critique Group. I attended one of their Free-For-All meetups where I met with eight other writers and the Head Organizer, Russel Traughber. We each read a small portion of our work. And Russel told us to tell the group a little about ourselves and what our goals were. So when I read my piece I said that I recently wrote a 250 handwritten page Fantasy-Adventure novel and I wanted to connect with other Fantasy or Sci-Fi writers. Well, after the Meetup, Russel told me that if I wanted to, I could start my own specialized Meetup-Group that was about Science Fiction and Fantasy. So I gladly accepted his offer and was lucky to meet someone at the Free-For-All who wanted to start the group up with me.

So I created the group after Russel made me an Assistant Organizer for The Orange County Writers Critique Group. I then got into e-mail and telephone contact with the person I met from the Free-For-All and she was the first to RSVP for the group. It was really exciting having the first meeting because several people RSVP’d for my Orange County – Sci Fi and Fantasy Writers Group within hours of its posting. That was really encouraging and so I made a flyer to give to everyone that described the group’s objectives and requirements. The flyer was a good idea because it gave me something to read from in order to break the ice with everyone. After I read the flyer we talked about ourselves and shared some of our writing goals and experiences and what we wrote about. We met outside and talked for hours and had a great time.

Our group originally met outside of a Peet’s Coffee, but we eventually moved to an indoor setting because it got cold and dark. Unfortunately we weren’t able to meet inside Peet’s because it was just too busy in there and we could rarely find enough seats. So we eventually moved to a 24 hour Jack in the Box. At first I wasn’t sure if meeting at a Jack in the Box would be cool, but it was really convenient and they served drinks and food and never bothered us for having our meetings.

Having a weekly Meetup was a good decision because of several reasons. First of all, meeting every week is good for writing discipline. If you can write every week and share it with others and get good feedback, your craft will probably improve. I always left the meetings feeling energized even though we would usually meet for 2 to 3 hours. I know it sounds kind of long for a writer’s group meeting but actually the time really flies. We have fun talking about writing and there isn’t a single meeting where we don’t have a good laugh about something. Meeting weekly is great because it makes you create. It you come all the way to a meeting and don’t bring something, that’s fine, you brainstorm or critique other people’s stuff. But if you come without bringing something a couple meetings in a row, you start to feel like you are missing the entire point of coming to the writer’s group. And if people don’t bring something for 2 weeks in a row or more, I usually directly ask the person what’s up. As writers, we need to support each other and make sure that we are doing what we really want to do, and in the case of a writer, that’s either creating works or else getting our creations published. There isn’t a whole lot else.

I can easily say that my writing skills have improved tremendously because of our weekly writer’s group. The feedback that I get from my friends at the group is priceless. And what’s great is that our wrtier’s group is completely free. I don’t charge for it because Jack in the Box doesn’t charge me for holding the meeting so it’s chill times for everyone. Being able to discuss writing and bring in new work on a consistent weekly basis has been excellent for me, and has given me the confidence to work harder on my writing for overidon.com.

If you are a writer in Orange County and are looking to join a writer’s group, I recommend you check out The Orange County Writers Critique Group. Russel is a great organizer and if you talk to him at one of the Free-For-All meetups, he will point you in the right direction on other meetups that might work for you. If you live outside the Orange County area and you are looking for a writer’s group, then you should try looking around on Meetup.com for a group in your area. But PLEASE, whenever you join a group of people make sure to be safe and use your brain when meeting with people you don’t know. Be careful and make sure that you meet in a safe, public place and do a little research into the group before you join it. It is good to join a group that is larger and well established because you can contact the Organizer and get information on the group.

Click the Picture to learn more about Total Recall

I love the movie, Total Recall. It is quite simply one of the most violent, pulse-pounding, intriguing and mind-tripping action movies that I have ever seen. If you haven’t seen this movie before, and you like action movies, then you need to get this on NetFlix or just buy it. Total Recall is about a construction worker named Quaid, who wants to travel to Mars. But his wife doesn’t want to go to Mars because there is unrest there and she would rather visit the rings of Saturn. This is a science fiction movie. Well what happens is that Quaid decides to compromise with himself. And he ends up going to a clinic where he is able to “Rekall” a trip to Mars without really going there. The clinic attempts to implant memories into Quaid’s mind and that’s when the story really starts to get interesting. You see, the whole movie plays with the notion of what is reality. You don’t really know throughout the movie if Quaid is really experiencing life, or is he just remembering some implanted memories.

The action in Total Recall is top notch. There is hand-to-hand combat, shooting, people getting exploded due to pressure from a change in atmosphere, people getting drilled until they squirt blood everywhere and die, people getting used as human shields (always a plus), and arms getting chopped off by fast moving elevators. This movie has got it all. It is rated “R” and it originally was given an “X” rating due to its intense violence (thanks to Wikipedia for that tidbit of information). The reason why I like the action in this movie so much is because the attacks really seem to connect. It doesn’t matter if you are watching someone get hit by a punch or a gunshot. It really looks like someone got hit. I bet we can thank the director, Paul Verhoeven for the tightness of the action. He directed awesome movies like, Robocop and Starship Troopers. There is one scene where Quaid gets attacked near a concrete wall and it is awesome. At this point in the movie you have no idea that Quaid knows how to fight and he totally destroys a bunch of goons. The action is so well timed that it really feels like you are in the middle of a fight-or-die situation, where any false move could mean your demise. There is another scene where Quaid is being shot at in an airport and Quaid takes an innocent bystander that was accidentally shot by a bad guy, and uses that bystander as a human shield. It is my favorite human shield scene in an action movie of all time.

Memory Implant Machine

The settings in Total Recall are excellent. The clinic where he is about to get a memory implant is amazing looking. It looks like a futuristic clinic on the outside, but in the back room there is this huge machine that you back your head into. It is really colorful and it definitely looks like something from the future. Mars is very cool looking. There are domes everywhere and it looks dingy and there are convincing rock formations and tunnels. It never feels like the characters are on a set. They always feel like they are in the moment, and you believe what is going on. The interior of the mine at the end of the movie is amazing. There are huge pieces of technology that are supposed to heat the ice and they look like giant ancient Lego blocks. Also there are large TV Monitors in Quaid’s house back on Earth that take up the whole wall. It is cool because that is the flat-screen technology that TV’s have been moving toward for the past few years. The cars in the movie are angular and look like they’re from the future. And there is a tracking device that the bad guys use that totally looks like a modern GPS tracker – iPhone sized. It’s cool seeing how science fiction from 1990 translate into modern technology.

Even though the action and the settings in Total Recall are tremendously stupendous, the real thing that you need to see this movie for, is the trippy plot and mind-bending story. I am not going to go into detail on what the story arch is because you be mad at me for ruining it for you. But what I will do is tell you that there are plenty of twists and abrupt turns in the story that make you feel like you are on a fast-paced ride. If you are the kind of person who likes to be surprised by movies then you will probably love Total Recall. There is double-crosses, back-stabbings, girls with three breasts (no joke), and dwarfs with real attitude. At times it will get fuzzy on who Quaid really is. This is done really well so it is exciting and interesting instead of confusing. The story keeps you guessing, but it doesn’t really feel like a mystery. It is more of an action thrill-ride.

Arnold does a perfect acting job for his portrayal of Quaid. He is very believable and his physical strength makes you accept the high-power moves that he uses against his enemies. There are some classic one-liners in the film, and I personally liked them more than the one-liners in other Schwarzenegger movies like Predator. The actor who plays the main Villain Boss (Ronny Cox), is funny and detestable. Ronny Cox acts with supreme skill and really satisfies the viewer.

Total Recall is a good addition to any action movie collection because it is so good, watching it multiple times is expected. There are so many parts that stick out as awesome that you will probably watch the movie for a certain part and then end up sitting through the entire thing, even though you have most likely already watched the movie multiple times.

-Tyler

Click the picture to learn about Vampier Hunter D the Anime

Vampire Hunter D is a movie that has a special place in my heart. I first saw it on the Sci-Fi channel in the early 90’s. The movie surprised me with how detailed the animation was. Also the voice acting was excellent and the story was very cool. This film is a staple for Anime lovers. The main character, D, has such a cool demeanor that sets the tone for a intense movie. The film takes place in the future, after the world has been devastated by a nuclear holocaust. It is so far in the future that mutants and other creatures roam around on the Earth. There are villages of humanity that still exist, and their technology is advanced and yet the villages look old as if they were built in 18th century. The buildings are generally made of stone. They kind of have a Gothic look to them. A cool thing about the movie are the weapons. There is a main female character in the movie called Doris. And she has an awesome electrified whip that probably inspired the Iron-Man character Whiplash. Her whip split into a hydra-like shape and then electrified and did energy damage to her enemies. Vampire Hunter D has a really cool crescent-moon shaped sword. It is razor sharp and can cut most enemies in half with a single slash. He also has special items. He has an item that he only uses once in the movie that is a small blue-ish light on his chest. When he switches it on, it scares away and damages enemy mutants. Doris’ little brother, Dan, has a large laser rifle that fires in concentrated bursts. It can hurt both people and non-corporeal creatures, list mist-monsters. Mist-monsters float in the air and they like to eat people and cattle.

One major reason why you should watch Vampire Hunter D, is that it is extremely immersive and you will feel like you are part of the dark futuristic universe. There is this one scene that takes place before Vampire Hunter D and Doris enter the town. It basically shows the setting and landscape of the village and outlying natural views. This scene is very intimate and I remember how I felt when I first watched it. There were children singing and a church-bell was ringing in the distance. I felt the cool dead wind brush past my cheeks. I felt the somber despair that the people endured in order to survive so long. Whenever Vampire Hunter D enters a new area the art is simply amazing. There are scenes when D is riding his horse through the wastelands and it is breathtaking.

This movie is violent. There are scenes where Vampire Hunter D slices this one monster dude in half and you can see all of his internal organs in a cross-section and then they all spill out. It is nasty. There is another part where D stabs a giant in the tongue and cuts his head and shoulder off. The amount of blood that sprays out is immense. Before the final battle between D and the villain of the movie, Count Magnus Lee, there is a short part where another character tries to attack the count. This character has white hair and uses these cool flying blades as weapons. Anyway, he tries to use this enchanted incense candle to stun the Count but the Count uses his telekinetic powers to put out the candle. Then the Count picks this dude up in the air with his mind like Darth Vader or something and then smashes the guy against the metal pillars in the castle. Finally the Count smashes the guy and then concentrates and then makes the dude’s head explode. Head parts fly all over the place and it is a real mess. And the count says something like, “I haven’t had fun like this in ages.” Yeah, so basically this movie is not for young kids.

There are many lines of wisdom in Vampire Hunter D. The hero talks to Dan about what it is to be grown up. And this demon entity that is trapped in D’s hand often reflects on D’s humanity. He challenges D by questioning his motivations with Doris. Also D’s hand brings up part of D’s struggle between his vampiric ways and his humanity. The voice acting is superb in this movie. I love the voices of all the characters in both the English, and Japanese versions. There is a super famous voice actor who does the voice of D. His name is Michael McConnohie, he has done the voice of Shin in the awesome Anime, “Fist of the North Star.” This voice actor is amazing and he really captures the essence of D.

If you are looking for a violent and semi-romantic vampire Anime, then Vampire Hunter D is great. This movie is definitely worth adding to your Queue on Netflix.

-Tyler