Posts by Skinny Jeans

As much as I love Final Fantasy, I sincerely hope that they don't try to impose an RPG element into Tomb Raider

Thanking you all .

Grape wrote:

ah I guess I should be calling you SJ now heh...

I suppose, but whatever floats your boat, whether its by my forename, current abbreviation of my screen name or my previous one; I'm not fussed.

Grape wrote:

I really like the middle bottom one

Use it if you wish, they're there to be used and all I ask in return is credit...obviously

Grape wrote:

PS) I'm in need of an sig! I haven't got photoshop atm...

Post your pictures and any other additional specs and I'll see what I can do over the next week although I'll be a little busy. However, I will warn you that I'm only using the abominable Photoshop 5.5 at the moment so don't expect anything too brilliant .

New avatars. Taken from TRU and the Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII compilation. It has to be said, I am rather proud of the last avatar.

Bienvenido al TRG
You can expect any of the following languages from me:
English
Spanish
French
Russian
And of course, the odd moment of incoherent Mathematical and Scientific babble

Valkyrie is a good film, but not brilliant.
It radiates the moody beauty and intensity of classic films of the 1940s, and I think the composer did well to achieve feelings of anxiety in every scene. However I think my knowledge of what happened historically ruined the film for me slightly, and the morphing of languages from German to English in the opening minutes of the film irritated me a little. It was certainly one of the better suspense thrillers I have seen and I would recommend that you see it, but its not the sort of thing I'd see again as I find that films romantacise the truth of events.

I watched St Trinians last night, and like I've said before, it easily mops the floor with Wild Child whose American ideas of an English School for Girls are completely ridiculous...where were the producers when the brains were handed out? Get some originality, please.

I'm going out to see Valkyrie later on. I'm trying not to let my anti-American prejudices (sorry!) ruin my enjoyment of the film but its going to be hard...I strongly believe that the film should have been produced in German; given that Germany, Hitler and the Nazis held an intense hate for the Allies, and Hitler would be cursing in his grave if he heard about this, even if the story is about a plot to assassinate him.

Are you at the top of a tall building? Can you get to a roof quickly? Jump off!
Stolen from 40 Year Old Virgin. Used for when telemarketers phone the house number and I fancy an argument. This is also used if any pretentious religious groups decide to disrupt the silence in my home by their frequent calls, alongside some choice words.

I'll probably give the book a miss, I'm extremely particular about which books I read. For example, at the moment I will not read anything that has been advertised in women's magazines because I cannot think of anything worse than reading about some lonely woman who has a pretty normal life until some guy turns up and whisks her off of her feet only to then break her heart then beg for forgiveness. No, I'm an avid fan of thrillers with a slight hint of romance. I hit the jackpot when I stumbled upon Experimental Heart by Jennifer L. Rohn whilst randomly Googling. It is probably the best book I have ever read. It satisfies my thirst for science whilst having a believable and addictable plot and a little romance, but only so much so that your imagination takes over. I seriously recommend it.

Catracoth wrote:

Speaking of High School Musical, don't even get me started on it! I honestly can't stand Disney movie actors/actresses sometimes (the TV shows on Disney Channel, I don't mind at all).

Argh! I want to burn everything to do with Disney Channel, or anything to do with High school/ teenage romance. I swear to god it makes me nauseous. These programs are bad for children! They are the reason why schools get bad grades. They set up false illusions for the preteens who are about to enter Secondary School/ High school: It tricks them into thinking that the coming years will be the best in their lives as they will 'find true love and live happily ever after with the best friends in the world'. BOO Wrong! Personally my years in Secondary school (11-16 years of age) were arguable the worst in my life! I don't regret anything and I certainly don't regret what has made me the cold hearted person that I am but I cannot begin to tell you how much sh*t I went through. I met two arseholes and they tricked me into thinking that I loved them only to then induce some of the most painful moments when I trusted noone. These shows concentrate on the sickly lovey-dovey side of school but there is nothing to do with the amount of work to do or the splitting of true friendships. The extent to which that does happen is over a boy or sth. Thats just ridiculous.
And what do you get at the end of it? Teenagrs who go off the rails as it didn't turn out to be a fairytale whatsoever. Tough luck honey, thats life. Deal with it.

Anyway, last night I watched Mamma Mia! again. I like musicals.

I went to see Twilight on New Years Eve and if I'm honest, it didn't live up to my expectations, even though I have not read the book. Although I'm somewhat pleased that it murdered High School Musical 3 in Box office hits, I'm suprised that it did. All dialogue between the characters seemed difficult and forced whilst I didn't think that any of the characters were convincing. I'll probably not watchi it again, and it certainly hasn't persuaded me to buy the book or look out for the sequel.

Catracoth wrote:

I mean, other than the movie Crank with Jason Statham, when was the last time you saw the protagonist become thwarted in the end by his/her enemy?

Possibly in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, but as it is a prequel and is tied down by canon, it doesn't count. I think that we are unlikely to see such a thing happen as developers of the past have essentially written a set of laws forbidding it, because they may have some misaprehension that it may inspire an audience to follow the 'bad guy's' lead. I really do wonder about these people, they've just lost sight about what is important. Say they did kill off the protagonist of a game, at least they would get the public riled up about it. Take Aerith, another Final Fantasy VII character. Despite being arguably the most popular character aside from Cloud, she was killed by Sephiroth -another fan favourite. There was uproar about it, but Final Fantasy VII is and remains the most popular (and my favourite) of the franchise based on game units sold. I think CD and company tried to replicate it somehow in TRU, when they killed off Alister.

Jeissy wrote:

Probably, because she thought that the doppelganger would finish Lara, and she didn't think that Amanda would arrive and save Lara.

Thats plausible, as just about all 'bad guys' in games, films and books etc are blinded by their own arrogance and perception of events. Although, one would think that after being thwarted before, she wouldn't give Lara any means to potentially do so once again.

I didn't get a main present as my GANT designer glasses were bought for me a couple of weeks ago (check my myspace pictures...and comment them while you're at it )
I got:
Two dark chocolate luxury boxes, one from Hotel Chocolat and the other from Thorntons. Someone clearly doesn't agree with my healthy diet and/or wants me to get fat.
Mamma Mia! DVD
Michael McIntyre Live and Laughing DVD
Ashes to Ashes box set
Pyjamas
Slippper Ugg boots
Shaun the Sheep slippers
A diamond watch
GHOST perfume
Money
A £50 Zara gift card
Various bath smellies, aand a selection of bath bombs
A Cristiano Ronaldo calendar, I'm in love with it.

Joyeux anniversaire.
Laura, you really need to visit here more often...the Games Arena well misses our meatballs
Anyway, have a good'un.

Joyeux Noël

I bet I can top all sums on money spent on parents. I spent somewhere in the region of £200 on them, and around £100 on my friends.

I'm not bothering with the resolutions this year, because they always get broken within minutes of making them. Last year, for example, I said that I would stop swearing and that clearly didnt happen. I may try to loose some weight or get in shape.

rogue_90 wrote:

Greetings =)
i have something to talk about. has anyone watched Requiem for a Dream?

Yeah, I watched it a couple of weeks ago:

Skinny Jeans wrote:

Requiem for a Dream.

Small wonder why it was nominated for 30 something awards, I've never seen a film which portrays the lives and problems of seemingly normal people whose drug addictions spiral out of control so well, even if it does contain a lot of adult material.

I'm hopefully going to be receiving Hubert Selby Jr.'s book for Christmas to see how the film adaption compares.

Bad Santa was on in the background last night. That film should be blacklisted for the amount of swearing in it.

They've been spending their time trying to push the grapical boundaries of games to out-do other companies -haven't I already said this?

Welcome back
C'est bon de te revoir

I agree, this is what I said on the matter in another thread.

Skinny Jeans wrote:

And finally, I think the whole concept of AoD was an abomination to the name Tomb Raider. Lara wrapped up in a murder mistery? Come on, even my sister could come up with a more interesting plot. I believe its all about escapism. If you want to see a CSI then walk into a modern city, but that isn't loosing yourself. When playing TR1 & 2 in particular, I really felt I was in another world or civilisation, untouched by the society that is wrecking our planet with murders and terrorism etc, it was almost like a dream. Yeah yeah I know thats a cheesey cliché but thats how I felt.

I think most games manufacturers have lost sight of what is important. Instead of concentrating on a solid plot, they've fallen victim to the rush to out do eachother in terms of visuals and making graphics unbelievably realistic.

When I think back, the most memorable games in my opinion were those released in the infancy of 3D gaming. The gaming industry had to manipulate our imaginations with a great story to compensate for the graphics. Hence the reason why the original TRs and other games are more distinct that the current ones. Not that I'm saying I don't like Lara or TR any less, we just need that 'magic' back.

Why get high when there are other ways to achieve a smug sense of superiority?
-Usually used for when the topic of drugs is being discussed.

Anything that is man-made has the right to be mocked, 'cause we're a pathetic, self destructive species.
-This is a phrase I use frequently 'cause I can't seem to train myself to be more simplistic and just appreciate everything for what it is.

To say cost isn't a factor is silly; the Global Economy is in a recession. What is the use of producing a long game if noone has the money to buy it? The company would go bust instantaneously.

obi-wan_the_hobbit wrote:

Underworld just does not feel like Tomb Raider.

I agree, based on TRL and TRA.

IMO, CD's Lara doesn't have the sarcasm and wit as she did in TR1. I do believe I have said before that in TRA, Larson belittled Lara and patronized her -where has our heroine gone?

Its a shame, given that one of the most recognisable characteristic traits of the British is our dry sense of humour and taking that away is almost like taking the accent away and replacing it with a different one.