The Afflicted Review

What is the Afflicted?

The Afflicted is one of those films again which I regret watching. I was searching for Law and Order to watch and came across on the home page for the films a film being recommended called, 'The Afflicted' which had film festival awards and a picture of a closeup of someone's mouth screaming. Reading the plot, it intrigued me thinking it would cover topics that would be interesting to view from a psychological point of view. But after finishing the film it proved to be a bleak and depressing film that served to only make you sick. If you've read my blog before, I did a review on 'Megan Is Missing'. I honestly do not know which is worse. 'Megan Is Missing' or this atrocity. I searched for reviews after watching and getting shocked but only found about two mediocre ones via blogs and wikipedia doesn't even have an entry on this film, so decided to do a review to warn people about this piece of cinema.

This stupid picture is what caught my attention, had I not seen it I would have avoided an awful film that made me feel just completely disgusted. Notice the awards or whatever the heck they are with 2011. I thought it was bound to be a good film. Fell for it hook, line, sinker.

Here is a plot summary that I got from the film website, I will be going further into this so warning for spoilers:

Leslie Easterbrook plays the lead role of 'Mother Maggie', a disturbed mother of four who delivers an unimaginable level of abuse to her children while defending her actions with her own twisted interpretations of the Bible. Three daughters live in constant fear of being beaten and abused by their mentally disturbed mother. Escaping the wrath of their mother seems impossible and proves to be deadly. Based on a true story, The Afflicted takes you inside the lives of those who live in constant fear with no escape.

Who would you recommend this to?

Honestly. I would recommend it to nobody. But I have to recommend it to someone so here goes.

I recommend this to the following:

1. Counselors who are damn useless at their job of recognizing when a child is suffering parent abuse at home and tells them explicitly to their face but listens to the mother.

2. Older brothers who don't know what a bad brother is like.

3. People who enjoy the feeling of depression and sadness to create an art piece of make music, for whatever reason. (Or go and listen to some music)

4. Bored teenagers, adults looking for something horrible and full of suspense and the world's worst and creepiest mum.

5. Social services.

6. Parents, particularly the husband so they recognise when their wives are about to lose it.

What happens in 'The Afflicted'?

Right after reading the plot it sounded like an interesting story covering a tragic true story with an ending that the police and town discover what happens and children are saved. Oh how wrong I was. I should stop thinking these films are going to have a happy ending. Stupid expectations but on with the plot. The story begins with a happy beginning with Carla (played by Katie Hollands) receiving a present of butterflies earrings from Cowboy Profil (played by J.D. Hart). The story is narrated by Grace and I'm sorry but I don't know the actresses name. Its been so hard to find the cast's names even in IMDb which is saying something. 

So this is the family:

Father Hank, Mother Maggie played by Leslie Easterbrook, daughters Carla who receives butterfly earrings at the beginning, daughter Cathy who runs for help and daughter Grace who narrates the story from start to finish as well as son called Bill. And the family's friend Cowboy Profil who gave the butterfly earrings.

Now I'm going to copy Axel from Kingdom Hearts and say:

"GOT THAT MEMORISED?"

What happens next?

Following this happy beginning, the next scene involves the father leaving quietly, he dresses quietly leaving the wife asleep, gets his bag and heads quietly to the door. Next thing? She's at the chair and asks him where he's going. Apparently for a walk but she notices he has a bag. He leaves through the door and she hits him with a bat killing him, using rope to attach to a back of car, drags him to the shed and puts his body in the storage box. Oh what a lovely beginning, roll out the rest of the film. 

Grace then begins to narrate what happened after the mysterious disappearance of papa

With Daddy gone we see the abuse that occurs in the house with the mother and her daughters. It first starts when Carla tells her mother that she cannot buy alcohol from the store anymore because she is under aged. Her mother's reaction to this is to beat her with a belt and get a pillow to asphyxiate her until her daughter is in tears. This is just the beginning and was bearable, things get worse from here on out. There is a phonecall the next scene (I don't know how much time passes sometimes in the film so I'm going to guess a few days) in which the Mother is being requested to go to school.

One of the other daughters, Cathy has spilled the beans to a counselor about the abuse she is receiving at home. The Mother arrives to school with cowboy Profil dressed nicely with makeup and talking emotionally and kindly wondering where Cathy could have been upset. 'It must be something to do with school, we have such a wonderful home. It upsets me to see her like this'. The counselor is a fool. FOOL FOOL FOOL.

Woman to left is Mother Maggie, gentleman is Cowboy Profit and the idiot with the spectacles is the counselor. WHO TO BELIEVE? A crying girl scared of her mother, or that woman. :/

Cathy returns home with her mother after the counselor believes Maggie and begs her mother to forgive her. The mother tells her to go the house and straightaway the evil look returns and we know oh dear, here we go. She goes to the shed, uses some screw drivers, hammers and some other utensils you use in a shed to build, from going to the convention it looked like a paddle. But this paddle is not for fun but for discipline as the mother announced to her children, hitting Cathy repeatedly. 

Thoughts so far...

This is what I was expecting, an alcoholic mother who was having a psychotic episode using religion to abuse her children and maybe a resolution of some sort. Things however take a different turn.

The mother isn't eccentric, she's crazy...

By this point, the mother needs bills paid and is lazy so she comes up with a wonderful idea and goes to her daughter Carla to tell her God told her a way to pay her bills.

Maggie: Carla, I've been having problems paying the bill and asked God for help and he told me a wonderful idea. You can use your daughter, beautiful Carla. Now go make yourself pretty. The men will touch you here and you might enjoy it, or they may go here which is also okay but you need to do it.

Carla: Are you fu***** sick? 

Maggie: I AM NOT SICK, I AM JUST TRYING TO PROVIDE A LIVING! (slaps)

Yes you read that right, the mother wants to pimp out her own daughter to pay the rent. :/ Someone get a shrink for the women LIKE NOW!!!!

The next five minutes involve Carla being raped by an ugly man and bursting into tears at the end. 

Why did you keep watching?

The suspense and also I had hope, I was hoping they will be able to escape and held onto that wish, hoping for the best after all the suffering they were to endure.

The mother notices she's getting fat.

After going on scales, Maggie the mother notices she's getting fat so takes it out on Cathy force feeding her cake mixture and other food again and again until Cathy revolts by saying she's had enough. At this point the brother, Bill is in the car outside with Cowboy Profit, who tells him about the abuse he endured from his alcoholic father and tells him if he needs a father figure or is in trouble, he only need to tell him. 

Now you think this would be a perfect opportunity for the boy to tell him but no he says NOTHING!

ZILCH NADA! ZIPPY DIDO!

When Bill enters the house, the Mother has gotten a gun out and has shot Cathy in the shoulder, the siblings try to call the police but with a crazy woman holding a gun kind of makes it hard. Cathy is then handcuffed to the shower railing and honestly I should stop calling Maggie a Mother at all at this point.Cowboy Profit pays the house a visit without any of the children telling him what has happened even the guy being an idiot when Grace handed a note discretely. Instead of hiding it he waved it around resulting in its disposal by Maggie, know having her eyes on Grace being disloyal. Seducing Cowboy Profit, Grace returns to her room hopeless. Maggie continues to torture her poor daughter and begins saying to her she doesn't know suffering, having a bipolar episode describing a brutal rape episode with her father that sends chills down the spine. 

I like Cathy. She was the brave one and the one who had the guts to tell someone. She even stood up to Maggie saying what us on our viewer had on our mind.

"I don't care what excuses you have mum. Nothing justifies this".

Days pass, nobody does anything as Cathy slowly dies from infection with the mother removing the bullet from her but just from the state of Cathy you knew the poor girl had it, guessing septicemia or something. Billy buries her body being the obedient son and now only three children are left. 

                                                                Happy Families :D 

One child down, :(

Oh no poor Cathy, maybe one dies and this encourages the others to stop their mum and escape. I thought after this. (No Adam, you are being delusional, again like Maggie is).

When there's fewer of you, chances of being picked increase... 

With Cathy dead or as Grace put it, "Free". There has now been three moments where the nightmare could have ended but has failed on part of Billy, the idiot counselor and Cowboy Twit.

We then see Carla looking at the fast asleep Maggie. This is the adrenaline rushing moment in which Carla collects the keys and tries to escape but fails. Maggie decides to punish Carla by forcing her own two children to beat Carla to a bloody pulp which is where I start to get annoyed. 

Grace hits Carla three times until Maggie is satisfied. But Billy, the brother hits his sister to the point when you finally see Carla's face in the closet her body is dragged to, her face is unrecognizable. Grace narrates the reason being for their obedience because it was the first time they felt their mother loved them and praised them. I know these children will be psychologically messed up but Billy irritated me. Why would he hit his poor defence-less sister with such rage. Was he releasing that rage he had built up against his mother?

Or heck, in some reviews some people pointed this out why didn't the children turn on the mother. Maggie's son was taller and perhaps stronger than the mother and they outnumbered her. However, I guess psychology plays an explanation again. With the constant abuse, they felt constantly trapped and powerless even when in reality they were not. 

Carla is next to die as again nobody does again, even Billy who leaves the house to go to work. BROTHER OF THE YEAR GOES TO: NOT BILLY! 

Carla's body

Billy dumps his sister which he killed into a cardboard box, dumps into the middle of nowhere and sets it alight. I did not understand one simple logic of this. Wouldn't the kindest thing to do, after all he did would be to bury his poor sister. No I'll just dump her on the side of the road and set her alight like a kebab. Job done he drives off saying to himself "What the eff am I doing?". 

Me: Yes Billy, I was wondering myself too. WHAT THE EFF ARE YOU DOING?!

Maggie loves Billy and Grace a lot after how well they taught that Carla a lesson. But without Carla, she turns Grace into the new escort of the family for the ugly truck driver. Grace reaches breaking point after also being raped and cannot handle it anymore.

The Brutal and stupid finale~ in which we learn the blurb of the film had a rhetorical question. THERE IS NO RUDDY ESCAPE.

I'm fed up of retelling the plot so I'm going to hurry it up.

Cowboy Profit spends fifteen minutes at a strip club before being kicked out and driving around in a stupid manner. I'm surprised he didn't have an accident with the amount of alcohol he chugged down. The police discover Carla's body and Cowboy Profit sees the commotion, he looks at the body to see the Butterfly earrings. The same butterfly earrings he gave as a present to Carla.

"That demonic bitch!" he yells getting into the car without even telling the police. What a bright bloke, oh well he is a cowboy, and the people with brain cells have already been killed off.

Me: Hooray, justice that is too late as the rest of the characters get killed off.

Grace looks as though she is about to kill herself as she slits her wrist with a knife, she does it but it turns out to all be act for her Maggie. Dropping the knife on the floor and calling for her, she sees the knife and notices her slit wrist. Whilst Maggie is distracted, Grace pulls out the gun and shoots the bitch in the chest. (Pardon my language but after 1 hour of watching a mother treating her children like that, it makes me quite huzzah). 

Maggie dies. And not even brutally, slowly or even disgracefully. 

Me: Antagonist is dead! Hooray, that means the children are free!

Billy returns home, finds the home bloody and his mother dead. STAB! Grace sticks a knife into his chest and holds it there as Billy dies.

Me: What goes around comes around~ as said by Beyoncé

Cowboy Profit reaches the residence opens the door to find the mess, I mean Tragedy with Grace putting a gun at her head, ready to blow her brains out. 

Paradox narration. :O

Cowboy Profit tries his best to make Grace see sense, apologizing he didn't realize earlier when she gave him the note even offering to put himself in prison for the girl to have a second chance at life.

Me: COME ONE GRACE! Live for you sisters, make something of yourself, tell people your story, get counseling and live. You can do it. Listen to the cowboy.

Grace: (Blows her brains out)

Me: What the hell, you were narrating the story to us, how can you do a first-person narration if you died. Great another story with no point and no survivors. At least Cowboy Profit survived?

          Even Romeo and Juliet ending was Tragedy as a result of Love, this was the result of mummy issues.

Final thoughts.

This was not what I was expecting and good lord. This is why children are not home-schooled in the U.K. or why we don't sell guns. The only pros of this film is that it made me feel better about my life and learn how to identify mothers who need a shrink on the double and what NOT to do being an older brother. With that, I have written this long post that has taken 2 hours to write so people know what this film is really about without being deceived by the poster. The film has a good performance by Leslie Easterbrook, she will creep you at Maggie without a doubt but do not expect the film to have a resolution. Its meant to be bleak, depressing, disgusting and just meant to make you feel crap. But now I have warned you.

This is TokyoDreamer9

Adieu 

Olympics Opening Ceremony Thoughts

Best opening of Olympics by far :D

Four years since the last Olympic when I was watching it at the age of 15 in Morocco, Beijing 2008. Alot of hype was surrounding London hosting the Olympics and it more than lived up to it. The Olympics opening ceremony was incredible. I cannot remember the last time I sat in front of a TV for five hours straight, cheering, smiling, laughing and just having an incredible time. My Facebook and Twitter exploded and I tweeted over 200 tweets, a rare feat I have never achieved before just to show the extent of how fun it was. On Facebook everyone was talking about it, constant status updates as we were all shocked and amazed by appearances of Rowan Atkinson doing his part as Mr Bean causing hysterics. J.K. Rowling appearing to read an extract for the Literature part of the opening. My favourite part was the NHS sequence which involved children in night beds and nurses and doctors danced around them, once night arrived evil forces such as the Child Snatcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Voldemort from Harry Potter began before the good guys came to save the day. People also acted out Britain's history of the Victorian age with factories and furnaces as well as the Women's suffragettes including the music era. From also the Queen's entrance with Daniel Craig as James Bond jumping from the helicopter with parachutes, the night never failed to entertain and amuse one bit. 

The Rings connecting! The number of times my mouth was wide open in awe I lost count :O

                                                            The Lovely J.K. Rowling

                                                       Rowan Atkinson~ A Legend

Voldemort Versus Mary Poppins in Literature~ Kaerith wished Aslan from Narnia made an appearance 

Danny's Boyle's music score

One reason we still haven't seen a sequel to 28 weeks later is because Danny Boyle has been busy preparing for the Olympics. I honestly thought the music he provided for the event was nothing short of just INCREDIBLE. And it was perfect because 28 days later and 28 weeks later are both set in London with scenic empty landscape shots of London, so the soundtrack suited it perfectly. The one good thing I can say about the Olympics ending is that Danny Boyle will finally begin work on 28 months later since he will then be free (fingers crossed).

The beautiful and talented Emeli Sande sings 'Abide by Me', featured in 28 Days Later when Jim discovers his parents died peacefully in the aftermath

3 hours of 284 nations being introduced...

I loved the opening ceremony but goodness me that parade which introduced the countries I didn't enjoy as much. And also the number of countries which made me want to get an Atlas out or Google it. Places like Muamba, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Seychelles (I look at my tweets as saying this because they were easy to forget). I kept feeling very stupid when my face pulled a frown as I thought "THAT'S A COUNTRY!?". And the letter A and B dragged on for 45 minutes. But at least we know everyone in the world is being involved I guess. As well as the long duration, alot of people were tweeting, about how sorry they felt for the drummers. Can you imagine how tired those poor poor drummers must have felt, drumming for 3 hours straight. And the reaction of Queen Elizabeth II was priceless that there were a lot of memes, but in defense of the Queen not looking impressed with the 3 hour duration of countries being introduced she is very old and to stay up that late with the energy and also the high heels. Bless her Majesty for that effort, she really did amazing. I screamed loudly for Japan! Being a Tokyo Dreamer. Morocco and France for my family from there and sat through the whole 3 hours for my country, Great Britain which came last as we are currently hosting the Olympic Games this year. :)

My favourite meme XDDDD

After all the flags gathered on the hill...

We were all dying to find out who was going to carry the olympic flame for the final run as David Beckham and an athelete in a speed-boat approached the last run under London Tower Bridge. We were all hoping it would be David Tennant to commemorate Doctor Who and its British culture and impact, particularly the season 2 episode with Billie Piper playing Rose Tyler called 'Fear Her'. Or heck even David Beckham. Instead it was a male athlete who won something in the last Olympics. 

My reaction was "Who the f*** is that?" O.o You can imagine the memes that started popping up on Facebook.

The 2006 episode of Doctor Who, 'Fear Her' must have taken place in a parallel universe. :/

The ceremony ended with the beautiful cauldron being lit.

And it was a beautiful cauldron, the image I was getting was a flower coming to life, its stem bouncing up. We also saw UN leaders holding the last flag showing the Olympics logo representing all five nations and Muhammad Ali which brought a tear to my eye. Such an emotional and fantastic opening. Even without David Tennant it was beautiful and brought the whole world together under one starry sky. That day 1 billion people tuned in to see the world celebrating all together in one city and that's why the Olympics is still going even since Ancient Times. This is TokyoDreamer9 signing off for the Hunger Games, I mean Olympics. :D

                                                               The Grand Finale

Cannot wait for Nicki Minaj new single

Pound the Alarm!

Nicki Minaj's latest single Pound The Alarm will be having a music video release soon, currently being filmed in Nicki's home, Saint James Trinidad and Tobago and from the preview I cannot wait. If you have not heard the song, here is the youtube link. Its currently on the top 40s single chart for the UK. 

                                         I <3 Face Painting! ^^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HouET3H0vAE

Why do you like Nicki Minaj's music?

Nicki like all the artists I like at the moment always makes such catchy music and her raps are also as addictive. The Beez in the Trap is my personal favourite, when someone has been annoying you its just the perfect song to start playing and telling the world to get lost. I also like her colourful outfits and her attire choices, artists that change their attire choices extravagantly each time they appear are a lot more interesting, its what makes them artists. Both their music and their fashion combined gives them that title. 

Also I love her accent and alter egos particularly in the songs, Moment 4 Life and Roman Holiday in which you hear them. Makes me smile so much these songs. So in conclusion I like Nicki's music because it does what music is supposed to do, make you smile, dance, laugh and shake your fist at the world when it gets you down. 

Lady Gaga comparisons

With regards to the Lady Gaga comparisons that I've noticed on many websites including youtube all I got to say to those people is to chill. People love to compare artists today and say "THAT ARTIST IS A COPYCAT!" "BURN THEM AT THE STAKE" "BUY THEIR ALBUM AND BURN IT!". And I'm like, wowwww, chill.

1. Nicki Minaj is aware of comparisons as people have already asked her in interviews, she replied to this with a response that makes a lot of sense. A lot of the female artists this generation are using wigs, outfits the lot to promote their music. Its not just Lady Gaga using extravagant costumes, Katy Perry, Rihanna etc are just some of the few. 

2. Lady Gaga does pop music whilst Nicki Minaj does rapping, those are two completely different genres of music. So I'm guessing its Nicki's clothes choices. Do not forget Lady Gaga is inspired by older generation artists such as Madonna, David Bowie and fashion, she didn't design all her outfits. She knows where the clothes came from, the designer etc but she has a team that discusses with her what her next clothes are going to be. 

3. There is a difference between copying and inspiration, copying is when you take an idea and claim it as your own. Inspiration is when you take an idea/ concept you like and change it to make it your own. Lady Gaga was inspired by David Bowie in the Just Dance music video when doing the blue lightning bolt across her face, and from all the costumes she has done a lot of artists may have also been inspired from this. This is good because it means people are joining the trend. 

My point is people need to calm down and just enjoy the music. I know people want to prove their how hardcore they are as fans and how much they love the people that inspire them but recently on the news I saw a fan videotaped himself harassing Nicki saying she ripped off Lady Gaga which I just thought was ridiculous. Lady Gaga's message of equality and love everyone sometimes does not get into some thick people's skulls unfortunately. Last time, people were bullying Adele after she beat Lady Gaga to a few off the awards, going onto their twitter to call her names. And its quite sad unfortunately. :(

 I love Lady Gaga and I also love Nicki Minaj. They are two talented females producing music to entertain, if you don't like their music there's over billions of other music to listen to. 

Other than that, cannot wait for Pound The Alarm and Roman Reloaded is available on iTunes and in stores. 

Alter Ego: Ziggy Cloud born

What is an alter ego?

An alter ego comes from Latin, 'The other I'. In other words, a second self of a person that is distinctly different from a person's normal or original personality. 

For those who know me...

In real life people know me as normal and boring, Adam. On the internet I call myself TokyoDreamer9, reasons for why I discussed a few months back on this blog. I have an eccentric side that appears when I become bored, hence why making this blog, to channel all that frustration resulting in me going mad to something possibly creative and time-fulfilling. But recently I got annoyed by some people and decided to take the side of me that is crazy and eccentric and make it an alternate persona to myself. In real life I have to put on a brave face sometimes and be polite with people a lot even when they're rude to me. I decided if I made another persona that was not me, I could start changing a bit more. This has been done by quite a few people I notice including Beyoncé when it came to performing as Sasha Fierce to get on stage. But I'm not performing, this is just to deal with life in general and also when people decide to walk all over me I can open my mouth and give them a thought or two.

Such silly reasoning :/

Well...its just....

Screw you!

See what I did there. Just turned to Ziggy. Now go make a remix of how bad your life is.

If you always think the following:

What will people think of me if I say that? I don't want to hurt that person's feelings. I don't want to be rude. To the extent your feelings are not taken into consideration you need to say No.

If you don't know what I'm talking about. Congratulations, you've reached it. YOU DA BOSS!

For some reason its Ziggy Cloud.

Don't ask me why, Ziggy chose it and that's all I can say. Other than that. Yes.

Goodnight
TokyoDreamer9 Vs Ziggy C.

Misha B's New Single~ Home Run

Misha B has a new single and accompanying music video

Misha B for those of you who who don't know what I'm talking about is an artist that was in last year's X Factor, so 2011. Yes 2011. Just remembered its 2012. For me, Misha B was one of the best artists vocally and how she ended up in the bottom two demonstrated the X Factor is sometimes a popularity contest rather a talent contest. I liked how she wasn't scared to try individual, unique looks it made it refreshing for us to watch X Factor. Since then she has released a new single on June 25th 2012 which I only just discovered and having just subscribed to her VEVO Channel.

If you haven't seen the music video, the link for the youtube video is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaOw35GBPQw

The song is called Home Run

Misha B has really gone for the Home Run with this debut single. And it sounds amazing!!!! I can't describe how but the song is just delicious for the ears and the music video will provide such eye candy with the paint, and background colours. It reminds me of Rihanna's 'Rude Boy' and Nicki Minaj's album cover artwork for 'Roman Reloaded'. I'm surprised it hasn't received a lot of views. Hence why I am blogging about it, it deserves more. It will always be beyond me why people choose to share terrible videos like last month's Hot Problems which thanks to becoming viral has not made those girls infamous and earn some more money to make more atrocious music. Whilst, Misha B has talent and I can see becoming an icon. If you have liked this music video, please share it. Good Artists need promotion, because I'm tired of awful stuff being made viral and this song has not been heard on the radio or received the promotion it needs.

To Misha B :)

Keep going, we need an album and more singles!!!! And I am happy for you. All the best :D

Peace

TokyoDreamer9

Dark Knight Rises Massacre

Films should never have openings like this. Ever.

First things first. All my prayers go to all the families and victims affected by this horrible tragedy, I started this entry days ago and couldn't bear to continue because it was still sinking in.

First hearing the news:

I was in a car, being driven back from Essex when my friend Kaerith told me that on Twitter it was trending that people had been shot in a cinema to a viewing of The Dark Knight rises by a guy trying to impersonate the joker. 

Marvel frenzy

This news shocked me but also horrified me. Marvel is highly popular at the moment with Thor, The Avengers Assemble, Iron Man etc clocking in the box office numbers. I went to see The Avengers Assemble, (which by the way is incredible) and it makes you think how short life is. It could have been any of us in a cinema watching a film, the least likely place you'd think something bad would happen. The incident also brings to light about how USA has guns available.

If you love guns, put fingers in your ears, caus I'm gonna diss 'em

I don't know what the laws are about selling guns in the US being from the UK but over here. Getting a gun is like getting 3 weeks of no rain in March. Its impossible! Period. Only police and military have access to it. I was also watching Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (which is set in Manhattan, New York, basically USA) and the number of times somebody had gun when they were not supposed to including underage children was shocking. There are arguments that I'm sure people will argue why people should be able to carry guns e.g. to protect themselves. But there really needs to be more restriction on who buys it, particularly the ones this criminal had when he did what he did.

Memes and Jokes regarding Dark Knight Incident...

Some of the jokes I have seen on Facebook and twitter related to the incident are not funny. This is a tragedy not a joke. People actually got hurt, its not some viral video on You tube of people doing silly things. Find something else to make jokes about, but show respect because let's face it, almost everyone goes to cinema these days and it could have been you. LECTURE ENDS there 

Obama didn't name the man who impersonated the joker.

When I heard what Obama said about this incident I honestly did smile. Wise words there as he said "although the perpetrator of this evil act has received a lot of attention over the last couple of days, that attention will fade away". From what I have seen with films such as 'We Need To Talk About Kevin', these incidents usually happen because the killer wants to be famous, craves attention. And Barack Obama is right. At the end of the day, the criminal will get locked up and put in prison. And the families and victims will be the ones who are remembered and honored.

Peace

TokyoDreamer9

My prayers also go out to the anniversary of the Oslo incident of Norway. I pray next July in 2013 we do not have another incident of gun violence.

Thoughts on Kristen Stewart Cheating

Oh dear, what happened :(

This morning I turned on my laptop, went onto google news. I like knowing what's happening around the world via google news than a newspaper, saves spending money ;) And under the usual articles about the Olympics in London, icebergs melting and politics. I noticed an article that was trending that was discussing about Kristen Stewart cheating. I was like what on earth is going on, so clicked onto it and began reading. To be honest I'm not shocked but also disappointed. 

From Twilight to Snow White...

I remember watching the trailer for Snow White and the Huntsman and thinking that looks like an amazing film but a lot more was happening behind the scenes that expected. Kristen according to the rumours and I don't think they are rumours, from Kristen's public apology to photography and sadly the camera never lies unless one uses photoshop, it looks like Kristen cheated on Robert with the director who was also married and I have a feeling Kristen also met the wife. 

So what got you typing about this? O.o Its just celebrity gossip again right.

The reason I wanted to talk about it was because I find it really disappointing Kristen would do this. A lot of people already criticize her in her role as Bella in Twilight and in Snow White, one thing that put off my friend Kaerith from going to see it was Kirsten was in the film. But I thought for once, here's where she wiill finally begin to evolve as an actress and maybe prove people wrong about her acting skills. Now I have never hated Bella from the Twilight series until seeing Eclipse in which she cheats Edward with Jacob and there I was like. LOST COMPLETE RESPECT!

Actors act characters, but Kristen for me has just completely become like Bella in that respect after hearing this, which is terrible really. And I feel sorry for Robert. Also all of these relationships were born out of film-making.

(FILM MAKING Y RU RUINING RELATIONSHIPS?)

Also the article discussed how an earlier interview with Kristen discussed she wanted something to f*** her life up and make it go wild. 

Be careful what you wish for strongly comes to mind.

Lady Gaga tweets...

Lady Gaga tweeted how appaling the paparazzi were eating up this story as though its icecream. And I agree with her. I never typed into google news the following:

Kristen Stewart

Robert Pattison

Twilight

It was underneath the olympics article O.o How tragic is that?>.<

If I made a mistake like spilling paint all over the M25 and it was plastered next to the Olympics 2012, I'd feel pretty bad about myself >.<

I agree with Lady Gaga with the respect that this affair should be left to be sorted between the people it affected. But also that's the price of fame unfortunately especially when many of these people involved have used the paparazzi to promote films and events, its a double edged sword.

What now?

I don't know because 

1. We don't know the whole story or picture, news is always biased.

2. Humans are humans. We're not perfect despite what some people like to think of themselves.

3. Wrong place, wrong time?

I hope Kristen and Robert get back together if they're relationship is as genuine as they claim it to be and Kristen learns a lesson from this. 

Why's that?

People make mistakes, its also up to Robert whether he can forgive. But I look at Kristen and Robert as people who are victims of the Fame, they rose to high popularity due to the ahem...Twilight Saga thing and a lot of people feel the bad side of it. It's why Beyoncé never goes on tabloids a lot or interviews about her personal life, she draws a distinct line. 

 And with that, I can't wait for the Olympics, it begins tomorrow. :) YAY! 

(Apart from the fact the motorway and trains are down but other than that HOORAY!)

Final Fantasy Versus XIII Cancelled Rumour

My thoughts on FFVERSUSXIII being canned 

First things first, I honestly believe this is just a rumour. I have my reasons which I will start saying in a moment. For those who don't know what Final Fantasy Versus XIII, you must be fairly new to the world of RPG gaming or been living under a rock if you've played Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts or any Square Enix related game. The game was first announced in 2006, a ridiculous time to announce a game that had just began development. Since then, only trailers and teasers have been released with no demo or gameplay tried. Since then Final Fantasy XIII has been released, Final Fantasy Agito has been renamed to Type-0 and also released (although a western release is still lacking) and also a sequel to XIII and a highly likely third sequel to be announced September 1st 2012 by the looks of things.

 The logo for Final Fantasy Versus XIII is highly fitting, a game that's gone to developmental sleep

Why I think Versus XIII has not been canned:

1. Six years of development time and teasing. With that amount of time, energy and costs that's like wasting 3 hours making an extravagant cake and then giving up before putting the dough mixture into the oven. I'm using a poor analogy but its just ridiculous. I was 13 years old when Versus XIII was first shown and now 19. Talk about waiting for a bus that was never going to make an apperance. 

2. If Versus XIII has been cancelled, what is Square Enix going to do with all that free time. Work on that pitiful excuse of Final Fantasy XIV. No matter how hard they try to improve it, the damage is done. First impressions are what stick with people. Final Fantasy XIV might be good now, heck it might be perfect but people will still think its bad from their first impressions. Also Tetsuya Nomura noted that Kingdom Hearts III would be started when Versus XIII was complete. No word on that either as of yet, which suggests Versus is still in development.

3. A scam~ Kotaku magazine reported this rumour apparently from credible sources. First of all, a lot of people are dying and also impatient to see Versus XIII. This rumour of it being cancelled could be a way of trying to make Square Enix make some sort of announcement about the game or leak some details about it in a hope to reassure fans resulting in details of the game being shown. Which will not work because S.E. are not the type to spill the beans. Gaming magazines are also like tabloids in the sense, they need to fill their pages with rumours and gossip about latest games which most of the time is not true and also to keep readership rates high.

4. Square Enix have a lot to lose by canning this game. Not a lot of fans were impressed with Final Fantasy XIII and didn't stick around for XIII-2. For some XIII-2 was a kick in the face when they specifically requested Versus XIII. Ask Square Enix for chocolate icecream, oh hello vanilla icecream which I didn't ask for. A lot is at stake with this game in terms of Final Fantasy's brand with some of Square Enix staff admitting that FF has been going downhill lately. 

Stella: Noctis have you heard? Noctis: What? Stella: We've apparently become vapourware, our story shall never be told. (sad face) Noctis: I don't give two sh***

There is a chance it could have become vapourware...

Some people are saying if this is true, Square Enix have transferred the content to Final Fantasy XV for a fresh start. One friend of mine called Kaerith, thought this was a wise move seeing the number XIII being damaged by the title Final Fantasy XIII. But I don't like it for two reasons.

1. Final Fantasy Versus XIII was made initially to be a darker Final Fantasy game with blood and violence with gameplay being inspired by Kingdom Hearts. It doesn't feel like a main entry game to me and shouldn't be treated as such and also goes against what Square Enix said initially about the game's concept and it being part of the Fabula Crystallis whatever the heck it was called.

2. Final Fantasy XV should be a brand new game, not something rehashed out of pure laziness that you've been teasing fans for about six years. Its rude and just gah rant over.

"WHAT!!!! NO FFVERSUS XIII!!!! Men I order you to KILL SQUARE ENIX!"

September Square Enix conference 2012

September 2012 is when a lot of new things are going to get announced, including by the looks of things, a Final Fantasy XIII third sequel. I really hope Square Enix release details about Versus XIII because not to be frank but this is beyond ridiculous. Six years and only two trailers and a teaser. If they don't contradict the rumours, it will not do a lot of good for the final fantasy franchise. Other than that, fingers crossed this game has not been canned but I'm not holding my breath for news on it, Type-0 held my breath and passed out and its still not here.

 Vanille is very sad about Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Type-0 not being released as of yet. OH WELL! There's always Final Fantasy XIII-3?!

Dark Cloud 3

Level-5 on making Dark Cloud 3 or is it just a dream?

For those of you who don't know Level-5. Level-5 is a Japanese video game developer that has made some of the most amazing and well received RPGs that compete with Square Enix. Videogames they have published include Dark Cloud, Dark Cloud 2 (Dark Chronicle in Europe), Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, Rogue Galaxy, Professor Layton Series, White Knight Chronicles and now recently they have collaborated with Studio Ghibli, the anime studio behind classics such as Spirited Away and my Neighbor Totoro to produce Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch.

Back in 2009, when discussing about White Knight Chronicles, the CEO developer Akihiro Hino was asked about a sequel to Dark Cloud series and said the company would consider it if enough of the community asked for it. Now straight away I sent an email, signed a petition you name it. But I do wonder if they are giving us false hope. No matter how many times I sign up to facebook groups, sign petitions, send emails requesting the game- nothing. What is with game developers not interested in providing the game a fan wants. I understand that they want to explore down other paths and try new things but would it actually hurt to make something for the fans just once.

                             Dark Cloud 2~ One of the most underrated PlayStation 2 games ever

Remakes that publishers do not wish to do e.g. Final Fantasy VII

Other examples I'm thinking of publishers not wishing to remake or release sequels is Square Enix. And I'm thinking in particular to Final Fantasy VII. Unlike Dark Cloud, Final Fantasy is a lot more successful and more heard of, Final Fantasy VII has sold so many units and regardless of what many people think is considered the most popular entry in the series to date. And yet for so many reasons even after millions of requests Square Enix will still not consider a sequel, only leaving hints, teasers and the lot that developers continually do. 

I know why Square Enix cannot make Final Fantasy VII, a lot is at stake in terms of development time, destroying the classic per chance and making the fan community angry etc etc etc. But going back to Level-5, a lot of these reasons are not in place. The only reason I can think of is that they themselves what to leave Dark Cloud behind. I'm saying this because I'm tired of all this waiting.

Even Dirge of Cerberus ended on a cliffhanger, what happens next?

Waiting?

I'm tired of waiting for:

Dark Cloud 3

Kingdom Hearts 3

Final Fantasy VII remake

Final Fantasy Versus XIII

I'm even tired of waiting for Final Fantasy Type-0 to be released in the west even after promises of it happening. In short, I wish game developers would stop giving their fans false hope and either say yes or no to a sequel or remake. How about all of you? Are you tired of waiting? Are there games you wish could see the light of day, heck even a HD remaster or have you moved on a long time ago?

Regardless of time, I continue to wait for these titles but when I remember them after so long I do honestly why it hasn't happened as of yet. 

TokyoDreamer9

Fifty Shades of Grey

What is the book everyone is going on about? O.o

When I went to the land of Essexia the other day with Kaerith and Mrs C. we looked inside WHSmith and shopped inside Tesco in which I noticed a particular book has gained quite a lot of popularity being continually put on display. Its called 'Fifty Shades of Grey' by E.L. James. The book had a picture of a tie on it and after typing Rihanna into google news the book was mentioned again, when a fan tweeted the singer to read it she replied to them to go eff themselves, "#phuckyoamateurs" was what she said specifically. Okay RiRi no need to start some more twitter beef. O.o

But seriously, what is it with books gaining so much popularity and its been over a year since they were released. The Hunger Games was not a new book, it only became very hyped when the film was released and then people began to notice the books. However, having read and seen The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins I can say that popularity is understandable as the book is excellent and has a fantastic and emotional plot line. But Fifty Shades of Grey unfortunately I have not read yet and upon reading the plot on wikipedia, its quite a controversial book. Touching upon topics of S&M, sadism, bondage and masochism. I guess that explains the sequels in the trilogy I saw in WHSmith in which I saw handcuffs as one of the front covers.But I do wonder about its popularity. Are people reading it because its the latest trend, a movie is being made of it, its controversial topics, or the fact its in the genre of erotic fiction and they need something to steam it up. Or is it just that a GOOD BOOK. For those of you who have read it. Would you recommend it?

I'm guessing the tie on the front cover refers to one of the protagonists is the billionaire entrepreneur, Christian Grey who I'm guessing like with all business men likes to wear a tie. Hence the cover.

A Trip to the land of Essexia with Kaerith and Mrs C.

In which it rained and a lot of things happened that resulted in me giggling a lot...

Do you remember when I said that I had a house, and then I lost it, well after Kaerith called up some realtors and people to arrange viewings, Mrs C. Kaerith's mummy gave us a lift to see those viewings. I am so happy Kaerith and Mrs C. helped me so much that day. With the landlord pulling out I sunk into Depression and was not heading to sleep at quite late hours, so late it became morning. Which as you can see is quite late. Anyway, Kaerith was kind to arrange the viewings and Mrs C for arranging to be our taxi for the day free of charge ALL THE WAY TO the land of Essexia so I thank the lord for that and them. Kaerith told me I had to go to bed early because they were picking me up at 9am.

Kaerith: Adam, you got to go to bed early!

Adam: Okay, I will.

Kaerith: Good, caus if you don't I'm hitting you with a spade!

Adam:..... Okay.

But by some unlikely events, I didn't go to bed early. I went to 5am in the morning. 

Four short hours of sleep later. I was awake and in the back of the car driving to Essex or as I would like to call it Essexia for it sounds like we're travelling to a kingdom where something magical and full of a lot of ecstasy will occur. Things started very positive, apart from being tired we had a lovely chat in the car but lord oh lord. The journey to Essex is very long and brutal. Luckily Mrs C stopped for a rest break and the journey was very quick. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said for the journey back due to the rain being a poo but we'll get to that in due time. 

So what was the first place you saw?

We saw the dorms we saw with Madnut that I wasn't impressed by. Cost-wise it was good and after a second-look it didn't seem that bad. The only thing that made me go meh was the shared bathrooms. But if its shared with 5 people. There's about 3/5 chance that the bathroom will be filthy or have an unflushed toilet.

What happened after that?

Kaerith had some bad news. And it turned out to be quite a jinx the next viewing. Kaerith said the realtor for the next places we were going to check out were sleeping due to a night shift so were meeting us no longer at midday but at 4pm. Mrs C noted the question we were all wondering:

WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO WITH ALL THAT TIME?

We decided to go to Clacton to the beach. In Clacton, because I was fasting I enjoyed getting high watching the ocean waves, watching Kaerith and Mrs C enjoying icecream and burgers. Watching Kaerith draw Rydia <3 Edge in the sands, this was followed by going on the Clacton pier where Kaerith thrashed me in a game of air hockey. 

(For the record Kaerith has beat me in every game, whether its video game, arcade game and its highly frustating.)

After walking to the edge of the pier and discovering some people fishing in which we all agreed is a highly dull sport I learnt from Mrs C that I was spamming facebook a lot and I told Kaerith her hair looked frizzy again. 

After a lot of revelations and shocks we returned back to land and searched the desolate town of Clacton and I would never move to Clacton based on the high street. It was pitiful how they didn't have a HMV store. 

What was Clacton High Street like?

Clacton High Street was peculiar, there was alot of people shouting for no reason and there was fountain which the pigeons were bathing and drinking from only for us to discover a sign that said:

"DO NOT DRINK FROM THIS WATER, IT HAS CHEMICALS IN IT"

Poor Kaerith almost cried hearing this news.

What happened after that?

We returned to the car and drove back to Essex where we waited by the next accommodation for the realtor. We still had an hour and 30 minutes left before she arrived. So we played I spy.

The rest of the story will be continued in the next entry...

Kingdom Hearts 3DS: Dream Drop Distance

Obsessions Weather Forecast

Here has been my obsession piecart forecast over June and July 2012. It first began with Gossip Girl, then went to Skins, then Poppy Shakespeare, then Jacuzzi s, then houses I couldn't afford and finally Kingdom Hearts.

I cannot wait for Kingdom Hearts 3DS: Dream Drop Distance to be released. Even when it gets released I still can't play it because I still haven't bought a Nintendo 3DS due to having no money at the current moment and also finding the console abit pitiful having only 2 hours of battery life for playing. I'm not joking but smartphones have longer battery life than a Nintendo 3DS and people complain how they don't last a day.

Why are you looking forward to KH3DS?

I'm looking forward to it because it means the story finally gets some progress even though I've already spoiled it by looking at wikipedia. The battle system is apparently meant to be so smooth and also Tetsuya Nomura said once this is finished and released it means KH3 will be next. FINALLY KH BACK TO HOME CONSOLE. It's been 6 years since KH2 release and I'm tired of spinoffs and prequels being released on hand-held consoles that result in me fishing out money for the console because alas I haven't bought the console yet and its annoying. Apart from Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2. Every KH game has been released on a new console each time, never a same one. Imagine how frustating that must be for KH Fans.

Worlds of Kingdom Hearts

Apart from Square Enix having some weird reason for making us return to traverse town again!? We have some new worlds including hunchback of notre dame. But I really hope we get Toy Story in KH3. We also got some emo kids from a new game Square Enix made. The dude that looks like Sora except wears purple attire. 

What's KH3DS About? Spill the beans...

If you must know, from what wikipedia told me (unless a bad fan changed it since anyone can edit wiki).

Sora and Riku go to Yen Sid who tells them that Xehanhort or whatever his name is that basically he's coming back and even more stronger. Oh no! (That;s good for us, because it means more sequels of KH for the fans including KH3). He begans testing them for the mark of mastery exam for being a keyblade warrier. How the game plays out from here is you alternate between Riku and Sora in a world of dreams. So for example, instead of heartless there are dream eaters and nightmare eaters. You play as Sora until the timer runs out and he falls asleep resulting in you taking over Riku and vice versa. So sounds interesting.

Why is there no KH3?

Because Square Enix are taking forever with Final Fantasy Versus XIII. (dun dun dun)

Loving the artwork for the latest game in Kingdom Hearts :)

And is it me but Sora should be called Sleep Boy, he's always sleeping in the games. Up to Riku again to save the day I guess :/

A House is taken away from us and alas thy search continues

Students are treated like garbage, particularly nice ones :(

Okay, remember when I said I had a house. Well guess by the cruel irony of fate the landlord sent us an email to tell us that they were backing out of the contract for "personal circumstances" resulting in Kaerith and I not having a house....AGAIN. Seriously wtf. I apologize in advance for the amount of whining I'm going to do but when making a blog its supposed to be a way to channel frustration and vent anger in a therapeutic manner without harming anyone in the process physically. I counted on my fingers the other day how long I have been attempting to try finding a house and its ridiculous its been seven months since January when the first listings came out. It first started off with four of us, then one of us dropped out due to circumstances involving already finding another group and house. We then searched for a house as a trio but by April, end of Easter Holidays Madnut dropped out alas due to also personal reasons leaving us as a duo. You can see the orchestra has already begun to fall to pieces.

And finally we thought, HOPE AT LAST. Somebody who is kind and will let us stay with them. We talked to the kind landlord for over 2 hours about our house hunting problems from the beginning to end. We said yes, we wanted the place, the landlord liked us we signed the contract BAM done. End of April, just before the start of exams. We thought done sorted. May began and finished. June began and finished. And now its July, we're not in the land of Essexia anymore but what happens. 

An email of an apology for the inconvenience it has caused. Quite an inconvenience, we don't have a house and we're over 80 miles away from Uni to search for another house and term begins in roughly what 3 months with all houses gone or now too expensive (its a good thing I didn't go on holiday abroad). Today I met up with Kaerith to type up some emails asking for help. But I am warning now. If it turns out that the Uni reply with this:

 "Poor you. Alas our campus accommodations are not for second years even after every effort they have tried and down to their last, final, desperate option with circumstances beyond their control we will just offer this very helpful advice. Keep looking, I'm sure you'll find somewhere".

If they reply with some kind of crap like that. Watch me, I'll be heading to BBC Watchdog for Citizens Bureau. Whoever will listen to me or heck write a book talking about how students are treated like rubbish. 

Adieu

TokyoDreamer9