Name: Sam.
Aliases: Sambrero, Sam the Man, Samwell, Will Smith, Sammy Boy, Sam-I-Am, Rico Suave.
Gender: Male.
Interests: Music & Composition, Sound, Sports, Animation, Film & Filmmaking, Politics, Philosophy, Art, Gaming.
Favorite Films (In No Particular Order): The End of Evangelion, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, The Thin Red Line, Mulholland Drive, WALL-E, Akira, Rudy, Beauty and the Beast, Looper, The Fifth Element, Godfather Part 2, Emperor's New Groove, Kung Pow.
Favorite Video Games (In No Particular Order): Skies of Arcadia, Metal Gear Solid 2, NiGHTS into Dreams, Borderlands, Fallout: New Vegas, Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Jet Grind Radio, Super Smash Bros. Melee, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap, Rez, Sonic CD, Journey.
Favorite Novels / Comics (No Particular Order): The Chronicles of Prydain (Series), The Passage, Allah's Mountains, John Dies at the End, Les Miserables, Discworld (Series), Fullmetal Alchemist (Series), Sonic The Hedgehog (Series), The Phantom Tollbooth, Bone (Series), Scott Pilgrim (series).
Favorite Musicians / Bands (No Particular Order): Foo Fighters, Daft Punk, Yellowcard, Streetlight Manifesto, Lindsey Sterling, Soundgarden, Rebelution, Rush, Crush 40, Maroon 5, Rise Against, Jun Senoue, Radiohead, Julien-K, Iron Maiden, Michael Jackson, Boston, Skyhill, Stereolab.
Favorite Shows (No Particular Order): Breaking Bad, Teen Titans, Firefly, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Scrubs, Arrested Development, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Beck, Revolutionary Girl Utena, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, NFL on ESPN.
Favorite Food Group: Italian.
Favorite Genres: Drama, Romance, Coming-of-Age, Musical, Sports, Animation.
Dislikes: Elitism, Privileged People, Mediocrity, Sadism, Meanness.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Analysis: How to Make Sonic Boom Good
ASK.FM ACCOUNT: http://ask.fm/Dreamstaro
TWITTER ACCOUNT: https://twitter.com/Dreamstar0
So I was given three choices by my good friend, Lyndon Bijahnson, for my next post on this blog. A review of Dinosaur Adventure...
St. Anger...
Or Sonic Boom. So naturally, I went with the least shitty option. I do have thoughts about Dinosaur Adventure I'm holding in limbo for now, because there's a lot to talk about with that particular film. I'm straight-up not doing St. Anger, however; there's nothing to talk about there.
I'm not doing a review of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric. What's the point? What is there to honestly say about it that hasn't been said before? It's barely been out for a year and already people are taking every possible opportunity to shit on it. I've heard all sorts of criticism ranging from "painfully average", "a dead end", to "obnoxiously annoying" and, my personal favorite, "one of the worst experiences of my life, and I've had four brain surgeries". Reviewing Sonic Boom, at this point, is absolutely fruitless. Talking shit about Sonic Boom is as easy as taking a piss - it requires no effort (hopefully) and everyone does it. Instead, I'm going to focus on the aspects that would have made this game excellent, or at least worthy of consideration. This will be covering on issues of tone and theme, rather than issues of gameplay.
1.) The Music
If there's one thing Sonic Boom reminded me of despite needing no actual reminder, is the fact that Jun Senoue and his team of musicians at Wave Master were very musically gifted. If there's one thing people remember fondly about Sonic, it's the great music, chock full of bright rock and roll, techno, jazz, hip-hop, songs that screamed "excitement" and "action". Sonic Boom's OST has tossed synths, guitars, and bass guitars aside for orchestral arrangements.
Which is utterly pointless. The whole point of Sonic the Hedgehog was to stand apart from the other gaming series and mascots of his time; the rock-fueled soundtrack helped define, even add to, that likable, distinctive personality. Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, 3, and CD contain four of the best soundtracks in 90's rock (a good decade for rock music); the Adventure series have music that is, to my mind, even better. The decision to give Sonic Boom a soundtrack completely unlike that is a counter-intuitive one. Rather than demand your attention, the OST fades into the background. It's noise.
Examples of good music:
Star Light Zone - http://tinyurl.com/p9xwo3v
Pleasure Castle - http://tinyurl.com/ncqj3ak
Mission Street - http://tinyurl.com/nja73c7
2.) Explore the New World
Sonic Boom's primitive overworld is very barren, uninteresting, devoid of life. It is primarily desert-based and forest-based, with very rocky terrain, thick canopies, minimal oceans and lakes. It seems to be a very technology-deprived world; rather than grand cities and space colonies and what not, there are small villages, huts, lots of unoccupied territory. The only people with any particular technology are Eggman - who constructs robots, WMDs, the works - and Lyric himself. It's like an extreme case of Green Hill Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog - the only people with any sort of technology are the villains, and it's the heroes who have to use the environment and their strength to their advantage to save the day.
Sonic Boom has a world completely unlike its 3D predecessors, so the need for world-building and exploration is even more important now. The Sonic Adventure series and Sonic Heroes all had very interesting settings and places. We only got to see very brief glances of the type of world those games had - huge, sprawling cities and military bases mixed alongside lush forests and sea palaces - but those brief glances were sharply etched to give the universe personality, pathos, and a sense of style. In Sonic Boom, I didn't feel entertained or immersed in the world and setting, and based on the conversation about the game, not even the fanbase would give it the time of day. The designers have a great opportunity to expound upon the primal atmosphere of Sonic Boom, even design it so that it could be a throwback to the older games.
3.) Keep the 90's Vibe
Sonic was at his absolute prime in the 90's and early 2000's, and his games were absolutely full of 90's futurism, culture, and idealism. This is especially true in the music, character design, architecture, color scheme. Sonic himself was based on a lot of late-80's, early 90's figures like Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson. Even when the series advanced into the mid 2000's, there were still games like Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog that held onto the kind of world-building and vibe of 90's video gaming.
Games with similar styles, auras, influences:
4.) A Picture Paints A Thousand Words
There's so much fucking dialogue.
This has, admittedly, been a problem with the series ever since Shadow the Hedgehog; it's around this point the games took a dialogue-heavy turn. Sonic 06 has the characters talk whenever they reach a new destination and it is aggravating. There are times when you don't need the characters to talk about their situation or what's going on all the damn time; sometimes, relying on visual cues is far better.
There are games, films, what not, that fly in the face of that rule, of course. However, in Sonic Boom is chock full of Captain Obvious-esque dialogue and the script is atrocious. Sonic Adventure 2 did a great job of placing dialogue in places where it was absolutely necessary, and nowhere else. Most of the conversations the characters have with one another aren't exactly relevant and really just underscore things that are already blatantly obvious to the audience.
"It's like these roads were built for me!" Yeah, no shit.
"We can bounce on these bounce pads!" Ugh.
If the dialogue was trimmed down, made more interesting and what not, this could not only allow for a more enjoyable experience and better voice acting, but it would enhance the art, animation, storyline, script, music and soundscape.
5.) Flesh Out The Characters
I rather like the new designs of the characters. They highlight what the characters are known for - the speedster Sonic gets longer legs, the powerhouse Knuckles gets a buff body - and they help define their personalities as well. However, it's never very clear as to why characters do what they do. Throughout the game, I asked a lot of questions.
How did Sonic and Tails meet?
What's Eggman's motivation?
Where did Lyric get all of his cool gadgets? Why?
Where are all the civilians? What do they think about the events of the story?
Will Metal Sonic be like how he is in the games?
Many, many more, especially in regards with Shadow (why is he here? What's his deal with Sonic? How did they meet? Does he have the same backstory as he does in the previous games or is he different? What's with his "Friendship vs. Isolation" philosophy?) and some of the logistics of the universe. I know it's a fucking kids' game, but it's a very one-note, unclear, poorly-written kids' game. The only reason I know who the characters are and what they mean to one another is because I'm a fan of the series; had I not played Sonic beforehand, Sonic Boom would be incredibly confusing.
6.) In Conclusion
Sonic Boom's biggest flaw is missed opportunities, and that's a flaw I absolutely hate. Hopefully whomever is developing the next Sonic Boom game realized where the first one went wrong and tries to address the multiple issues. Until then, though... stick with Sonic Colors or something.
TWITTER ACCOUNT: https://twitter.com/Dreamstar0
So I was given three choices by my good friend, Lyndon Bijahnson, for my next post on this blog. A review of Dinosaur Adventure...
St. Anger...
Or Sonic Boom. So naturally, I went with the least shitty option. I do have thoughts about Dinosaur Adventure I'm holding in limbo for now, because there's a lot to talk about with that particular film. I'm straight-up not doing St. Anger, however; there's nothing to talk about there.
I'm not doing a review of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric. What's the point? What is there to honestly say about it that hasn't been said before? It's barely been out for a year and already people are taking every possible opportunity to shit on it. I've heard all sorts of criticism ranging from "painfully average", "a dead end", to "obnoxiously annoying" and, my personal favorite, "one of the worst experiences of my life, and I've had four brain surgeries". Reviewing Sonic Boom, at this point, is absolutely fruitless. Talking shit about Sonic Boom is as easy as taking a piss - it requires no effort (hopefully) and everyone does it. Instead, I'm going to focus on the aspects that would have made this game excellent, or at least worthy of consideration. This will be covering on issues of tone and theme, rather than issues of gameplay.
1.) The Music
If there's one thing Sonic Boom reminded me of despite needing no actual reminder, is the fact that Jun Senoue and his team of musicians at Wave Master were very musically gifted. If there's one thing people remember fondly about Sonic, it's the great music, chock full of bright rock and roll, techno, jazz, hip-hop, songs that screamed "excitement" and "action". Sonic Boom's OST has tossed synths, guitars, and bass guitars aside for orchestral arrangements.
Which is utterly pointless. The whole point of Sonic the Hedgehog was to stand apart from the other gaming series and mascots of his time; the rock-fueled soundtrack helped define, even add to, that likable, distinctive personality. Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, 3, and CD contain four of the best soundtracks in 90's rock (a good decade for rock music); the Adventure series have music that is, to my mind, even better. The decision to give Sonic Boom a soundtrack completely unlike that is a counter-intuitive one. Rather than demand your attention, the OST fades into the background. It's noise.
Examples of good music:
Star Light Zone - http://tinyurl.com/p9xwo3v
Pleasure Castle - http://tinyurl.com/ncqj3ak
Mission Street - http://tinyurl.com/nja73c7
2.) Explore the New World
Sonic Boom's primitive overworld is very barren, uninteresting, devoid of life. It is primarily desert-based and forest-based, with very rocky terrain, thick canopies, minimal oceans and lakes. It seems to be a very technology-deprived world; rather than grand cities and space colonies and what not, there are small villages, huts, lots of unoccupied territory. The only people with any particular technology are Eggman - who constructs robots, WMDs, the works - and Lyric himself. It's like an extreme case of Green Hill Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog - the only people with any sort of technology are the villains, and it's the heroes who have to use the environment and their strength to their advantage to save the day.
Sonic Heroes
Sonic Boom
Sonic Boom has a world completely unlike its 3D predecessors, so the need for world-building and exploration is even more important now. The Sonic Adventure series and Sonic Heroes all had very interesting settings and places. We only got to see very brief glances of the type of world those games had - huge, sprawling cities and military bases mixed alongside lush forests and sea palaces - but those brief glances were sharply etched to give the universe personality, pathos, and a sense of style. In Sonic Boom, I didn't feel entertained or immersed in the world and setting, and based on the conversation about the game, not even the fanbase would give it the time of day. The designers have a great opportunity to expound upon the primal atmosphere of Sonic Boom, even design it so that it could be a throwback to the older games.
3.) Keep the 90's Vibe
Sonic was at his absolute prime in the 90's and early 2000's, and his games were absolutely full of 90's futurism, culture, and idealism. This is especially true in the music, character design, architecture, color scheme. Sonic himself was based on a lot of late-80's, early 90's figures like Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson. Even when the series advanced into the mid 2000's, there were still games like Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog that held onto the kind of world-building and vibe of 90's video gaming.
Games with similar styles, auras, influences:
Nights Into Dreams (SEGA Saturn)
Star Fox 64 (Nintendo 64)
-7.jpg)
Half-Life (PC, Playstation 2, Dreamcast)
Jet Set Radio (Dreamcast, Xbox)
4.) A Picture Paints A Thousand Words
There's so much fucking dialogue.
This has, admittedly, been a problem with the series ever since Shadow the Hedgehog; it's around this point the games took a dialogue-heavy turn. Sonic 06 has the characters talk whenever they reach a new destination and it is aggravating. There are times when you don't need the characters to talk about their situation or what's going on all the damn time; sometimes, relying on visual cues is far better.
There are games, films, what not, that fly in the face of that rule, of course. However, in Sonic Boom is chock full of Captain Obvious-esque dialogue and the script is atrocious. Sonic Adventure 2 did a great job of placing dialogue in places where it was absolutely necessary, and nowhere else. Most of the conversations the characters have with one another aren't exactly relevant and really just underscore things that are already blatantly obvious to the audience.
"It's like these roads were built for me!" Yeah, no shit.
"We can bounce on these bounce pads!" Ugh.
If the dialogue was trimmed down, made more interesting and what not, this could not only allow for a more enjoyable experience and better voice acting, but it would enhance the art, animation, storyline, script, music and soundscape.
5.) Flesh Out The Characters
I rather like the new designs of the characters. They highlight what the characters are known for - the speedster Sonic gets longer legs, the powerhouse Knuckles gets a buff body - and they help define their personalities as well. However, it's never very clear as to why characters do what they do. Throughout the game, I asked a lot of questions.
How did Sonic and Tails meet?
What's Eggman's motivation?
Where did Lyric get all of his cool gadgets? Why?
Where are all the civilians? What do they think about the events of the story?
Will Metal Sonic be like how he is in the games?
Many, many more, especially in regards with Shadow (why is he here? What's his deal with Sonic? How did they meet? Does he have the same backstory as he does in the previous games or is he different? What's with his "Friendship vs. Isolation" philosophy?) and some of the logistics of the universe. I know it's a fucking kids' game, but it's a very one-note, unclear, poorly-written kids' game. The only reason I know who the characters are and what they mean to one another is because I'm a fan of the series; had I not played Sonic beforehand, Sonic Boom would be incredibly confusing.
6.) In Conclusion
Sonic Boom's biggest flaw is missed opportunities, and that's a flaw I absolutely hate. Hopefully whomever is developing the next Sonic Boom game realized where the first one went wrong and tries to address the multiple issues. Until then, though... stick with Sonic Colors or something.
Monday, August 17, 2015
Review: Atlantis The Lost Empire
ASK.FM ACCOUNT: http://ask.fm/Dreamstaro
TWITTER ACCOUNT: https://twitter.com/Dreamstar0
My good friend, Chauncey, bless his soul, requested that the
first review on this blog focus on a little early 2000’s film called Atlantis:
The Lost Empire. Naturally, this fascinated the hell out of me, because I
certainly had thoughts about Disney I was holding on the table for later, and
now would be a good chance to kick things off, no?
Without any further ado, let’s get started on the beast that
is Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and god almighty, is it an intimidating beast.
Disney has always tried to appeal towards the seemingly inhospitable market
that is teenage boys, but for some reason, they decided to go completely
overboard with Atlantis. It’s a mixture of a lot of things I’ve seen before – I
picked up on traces of The Black Cauldron, Stargate, Blade Runner, and Indiana
Jones as I watched and rewatched the movie. You’d be a liar to say that all of
these elements coming together isn’t fascinating, and worth checking out to see
if the ingredients all come together in one epic, sci-fi dish. But do they?
The instigator for all of this stuff begins with the life of
Milo Thatch, a stereotypically nerdy linguist whose motivation
is to find the lost city of Atlantis, which his grandfather had previously
tried to find but to no avail. Milo thinks he’s onto something but the
intellectual minds of early 1900’s Washington D.C. aren’t having any of it, and
Milo returns home humiliated once again. However, the time of setbacks is
almost over, as Milo is soon taken to the mansion of Mr. Preston Whitmore, who
apparently knew Milo’s grandfather quite well. He has, in fact, found something
called the Shepherd’s Journal, which pinpoints the location of Atlantis; since
Milo is one of the only people who can thoroughly understand written Atlantean,
language only he can decipher what the journal means. Whitmore and Milo waste
no time in trying to search for the underwater kingdom, slapping together a
crew of mercenaries and putting them all aboard a futuristic submarine. They
all dick around for a while before managing to find Atlantis, a civilization
endangered by the threat of a faltering power source. The Atlantean Princess,
Kida, asks for Milo’s assistance in figuring out what’s wrong, and eventually
the mercenary crew turns on Milo to steal and illegally sell the power source
(because having a trustworthy mercenary crew is apparently an oxymoron). Angst,
shenanigans, and grotesque violence ensue, and the day is saved. Woo-hoo.
Augh, Christ. Part of the problem with Atlantis’s plot is
how unfocused and straight-up flimsy it is. It can range from incoherent to
one-note to unnecessarily dark, all at completely random intervals. This is a
problem – rather than having a complex yet lucid and well-defined story that
juggles mythology with character drama and themes about morality and greed,
Atlantis decides to use these elements whenever it damn well pleases, praying
to God they work. It is the literal definition of throwing crap on a canvas and
hoping something succeeds. Occasionally, it does succeed; the culture of
Atlantis is honestly fascinating as hell, but the film never expounds on
something interesting. How do the civilians feel about being separated from the
rest of the world, about their decaying city, about these strange foreigners
who apparently know quite a bit about them? The film never explains; these
aspects would have been far more interesting than the film’s overhauled third
act. The film doesn’t really expound on how its main protagonists, Milo and
Kida (i.e. the only ones we should care about) feel about the circumstances
either, which makes the entire story feel very contrived.
And yes, the characters are absolutely atrocious as well. I
am willing to give Milo and Kida a pass; their character designs mark them out
as very distinct personalities, the former shy yet bold and daring, the latter
bright-eyed and wise yet uncertain, and they have very strong performances from
their voice actors. Everyone else, however, are either incredibly one-note,
inconsistent, or plain uninteresting. The mercenary crew in particular is a
ragtag assembly of impressively racist and sexist stereotypes; you’ve got the
dumb black guy, the creepy short guy, the spunky mechanic, the crabby old
bitch, et cetera ad nauseum. Films, as a whole, don’t have a ton of free time
to fully flesh out characters, but if the writers were aware of this, why have
so many characters to begin with? We’re also supposed to believe this mercenary
crew are an ensemble, judged as secondary protagonists whom we should care
about. There’s absolutely nothing to care about. What is the character
resolution going to be? Why should we care? Likable and distinctive as Milo and
Kida are, they aren’t strong enough to support an entire film, and the villains
of the story are incredibly weak and undefined as well, so the need for strong
secondary characters is all the more present. The plot doesn’t handle these
characters very well, either. Only Milo and Kida’s motivations (and at one
point, the villain’s, but it’s such a cliché, out-of-left-field motivation) are
clear. Everyone else? They’re just there because the story dictated so.
In addition, as interesting as the whole dramatic European
steampunk flair is, nothing in the film ever clicks. Atlantis is full of little
bits of wonderful creativity and imagination that never ever come together in a
coherent, intelligent way. Combining futuristic technology with an outdated
world is something that has been done many times before, and it has been done
better. Blade Runner did a great job with this idea; the combination of the
rough, poor streets of Japan and the sleek, futuristic world of tech noir
mythology was incredibly natural and well-suited to the film’s environment. In
Atlantis, it feels like it’s there because it looks cool. We have nothing else
to go with beyond that. Did the seven writers of the film ever once stop to ask
themselves: “Why? Why this? Why that? Why?” Even the comic book-esque character
design screams “poser”; while an interesting direction for the Disney animators
to take, the characters look really hideous at certain intervals, almost
inhuman; they’re composed of perpetually tight, sharp lines and straight angles
and they look absolutely miserable.
The animation isn't even particularly smooth. There are parts when it looks good, but other parts where the characters and environment are full of stiff, unnatural movements. I primarily blame that on the poor character design, however; after all, Disney are professionals.
So, the ultimate question is: “What went wrong?” Atlantis is
very grim, anarchic in its storytelling, featuring little to no interesting
characters, an undefined world, topped off with some of the most atrocious and
inconsistent character design I’ve ever seen in a Disney film; it was not a financial nor critical hit, and I can easily see why. I believe the
answer to the question above is simple: Atlantis is a beautiful case of trying too hard. It wants so
badly to appeal to everyone, especially its target audience of teenage boys and
young men, so it decides it will have everything. Explosions, weird culture,
romance, supernatural stuff, all kinds of things would be great if they all
worked together, and they straight up don’t. Perhaps I need to rewatch it again and try to follow exactly where the plot goes and find any additional merits, but as it stands this is my least favorite Disney film ever.
What can I say? It's a masterpiece! 10/10!
(3/10.)
Sunday, August 16, 2015
Statement of Principles
STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES
Hello, everyone. I am Sam, aka Dreamstar, aka TF141Soldier, aka Sambrero. I have many, many more aliases, some of which are far too explicit to safely put on here. The Stuff Store is primarily a review weblog; occasionally, it will delve into different material (be it culture, philosophy, analysis, etc.) but all the material on this blog primarily relates to discussions about literature, film (animated or live-action), video gaming, theater, and all sorts of medium.
REVIEWS
Oxford Dictionary describes a review as "a critical appraisal of a book, play, movie, exhibition, etc.", and I can not think of a more accurate definition. My reviews will discuss whether or not a "book, play, movie, exhibition, etc." is worth seeing. It will touch base briefly on the central themes or anything I find interesting (be it story, character, theme) and will usually involve little to no in-depth analysis unless it is absolutely necessary.
ANALYSIS
Unlike reviews, which focus on an object's merits, analyses more or less looks at why certain things are the way they are in said object, in my own opinion. It will discuss theme, philosophy, allusions, the works. Analysis posts tend to be more subjective, as they will focus on what I personally think an object means or represents, and that does not necessarily count as fact or what it actually is. Reviews give quick plot descriptions; analyses tends to break down storytelling and analyse some of the glossed-over aspects.
REACTIONS / RANTS
The difference between reviews and reactions is simple yet subtle. I will write a review over an object I have seen / played / focused on in its entirety; reactions are all about my opinions on an incomplete project or something I have not seen in its entirety yet. Reactions tend to be shorter and less formulaic than reviews, more snippets of thoughts rather than organized thoughts.
RATINGS
If I ever use ratings - which I will - they will be out of 10, as is the norm.
10 / 10 - Nothing is perfect, but a 10 /10 is close enough. The flaws are ultimately trivial in the face of something that is well and truly great.
9 / 10 - Something truly amazing. The flaws are evident, and there could be room for improvement (What If's or If Only's) but it's something I personally believe everyone should see.
8 / 10 - Really, really good. Not essential viewing, but definitely something worthwhile.
7 / 10 - Very good. Nothing that will blow your mind; the flaws are evident enough that they simply can't be ignored, but there's enough positives in its favor that I'd recommend it anyway.
6 / 10 - Decent. This is where the cons begin to outweigh the pros. Enjoyable enough that I can safely say "I had a good time with this", but flawed enough that it makes me wonder if it was truly worth my time.
5 / 10 - Subpar. My least favorite rating. It is the absolute epitome of "mediocre". The flaws are both minor and major; the strong points are harder to care about. In short, boring.
4 / 10 - Poor. Something went wrong. Too many shortcomings, inadequacies; if there are any strengths, they simply aren't enough to save it.
3 / 10 - Bad. Straight up bad, not worth your time. The problems keep building up, and it bothers the hell out of me. Contains at least one strong point to save it from being truly abysmal.
2 / 10 - Irksome. One of my more favorite categories; negative reviews are far easier to write than positive reviews. A 2 / 10 is truly incompetent, unable to function as an object let alone something worthy of praise.
1 / 10 - The Pits. Truly terrible. 1 / 10 films, games, etc. tend to be a guilty pleasure, because this puts it either firmly in the "so bad it's good" or "so bad it's really bad" camps. Insulting to your intelligence.
And that should do it. Hopefully, this has been informative.
Check out my ASK. FM ACCOUNT: http://ask.fm/Dreamstaro
And my TWITTER ACCOUNT: https://twitter.com/Dreamstar0
Hello, everyone. I am Sam, aka Dreamstar, aka TF141Soldier, aka Sambrero. I have many, many more aliases, some of which are far too explicit to safely put on here. The Stuff Store is primarily a review weblog; occasionally, it will delve into different material (be it culture, philosophy, analysis, etc.) but all the material on this blog primarily relates to discussions about literature, film (animated or live-action), video gaming, theater, and all sorts of medium.
REVIEWS
Oxford Dictionary describes a review as "a critical appraisal of a book, play, movie, exhibition, etc.", and I can not think of a more accurate definition. My reviews will discuss whether or not a "book, play, movie, exhibition, etc." is worth seeing. It will touch base briefly on the central themes or anything I find interesting (be it story, character, theme) and will usually involve little to no in-depth analysis unless it is absolutely necessary.
ANALYSIS
Unlike reviews, which focus on an object's merits, analyses more or less looks at why certain things are the way they are in said object, in my own opinion. It will discuss theme, philosophy, allusions, the works. Analysis posts tend to be more subjective, as they will focus on what I personally think an object means or represents, and that does not necessarily count as fact or what it actually is. Reviews give quick plot descriptions; analyses tends to break down storytelling and analyse some of the glossed-over aspects.
REACTIONS / RANTS
The difference between reviews and reactions is simple yet subtle. I will write a review over an object I have seen / played / focused on in its entirety; reactions are all about my opinions on an incomplete project or something I have not seen in its entirety yet. Reactions tend to be shorter and less formulaic than reviews, more snippets of thoughts rather than organized thoughts.
RATINGS
If I ever use ratings - which I will - they will be out of 10, as is the norm.
10 / 10 - Nothing is perfect, but a 10 /10 is close enough. The flaws are ultimately trivial in the face of something that is well and truly great.
9 / 10 - Something truly amazing. The flaws are evident, and there could be room for improvement (What If's or If Only's) but it's something I personally believe everyone should see.
8 / 10 - Really, really good. Not essential viewing, but definitely something worthwhile.
7 / 10 - Very good. Nothing that will blow your mind; the flaws are evident enough that they simply can't be ignored, but there's enough positives in its favor that I'd recommend it anyway.
6 / 10 - Decent. This is where the cons begin to outweigh the pros. Enjoyable enough that I can safely say "I had a good time with this", but flawed enough that it makes me wonder if it was truly worth my time.
5 / 10 - Subpar. My least favorite rating. It is the absolute epitome of "mediocre". The flaws are both minor and major; the strong points are harder to care about. In short, boring.
4 / 10 - Poor. Something went wrong. Too many shortcomings, inadequacies; if there are any strengths, they simply aren't enough to save it.
3 / 10 - Bad. Straight up bad, not worth your time. The problems keep building up, and it bothers the hell out of me. Contains at least one strong point to save it from being truly abysmal.
2 / 10 - Irksome. One of my more favorite categories; negative reviews are far easier to write than positive reviews. A 2 / 10 is truly incompetent, unable to function as an object let alone something worthy of praise.
1 / 10 - The Pits. Truly terrible. 1 / 10 films, games, etc. tend to be a guilty pleasure, because this puts it either firmly in the "so bad it's good" or "so bad it's really bad" camps. Insulting to your intelligence.
And that should do it. Hopefully, this has been informative.
Check out my ASK. FM ACCOUNT: http://ask.fm/Dreamstaro
And my TWITTER ACCOUNT: https://twitter.com/Dreamstar0
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