Et Cetera 11/29

Stuff we found on the Internet
by ManicallyDepressed

Great news! You don’t need to waste two hours of your life. Here is The Plot of New Moon Summarized in Three Panels.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… FACEBOOK! 5 Star Wars Status Updates.

Geek-o-meter: See how many of these are you thankful for.

Quit stealing our letters. Seriously.

If you haven’t seen it yet, here is The Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody Video.

The Sallie Gardner Effect: Top 5 Breakups… Not Mine, Of Rob Gordon

Issue # 5
High Fidelity (2000) Review
by ManicallyDepressed

IMDB

After 2012 and Being John Malkovich, I am reviewing another John Cusack movie. So, am I now starting to have an affinity to John Cusack? Yes, after I watched High Fidelity.

Hairography

 By Starman

The title of the 11th episode of Glee is "Hairography". Prepare to see more of Terri in this episode. Nevertheless, it is still a great, though not the best, episode. True Colors (originally sung by Cyndi Lauper) and Imagine (John Lennon) were some of the cover songs in this episode. Another mash-up was performed which included the songs Hair (cast of Hair) and Crazy in Love (Beyonce Knowles). The mash-up was a forgettable performance but they were able to redeem themselves by following this with a tear-jerking performance of Imagine. It was nice to see and hear Tina as the lead for the final performance. I think we all need a break from Mercedes and Rachel's voice.

Sue Sylvester is back with her old antics. She will surely bring twists to the New Directions' road to the sectionals. Emma is starting to lose screen time. In the last few episodes, she is reduced to giving advices. I hope we see more of her soon. Terri is back in this episode and along with her pregnancy plot, she will surely annoy you. I hope they end this plot soon. The main topic of the episode, however, was the many distractions presented to the different characters. Finn with Rachel, Mr. Schu with a car, Quinn with her kid's future, and the whole Glee with hairography. A solid episode with great performances.

Hairography is a solid episode and I can't wait for the next episodes as the Sectionals draws near.

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"Never let anything distract you from winning... Ever."

-Sue Sylvester

Fate/Stay Night Episode 1&2 Summary: The Fated Night

By werdan88

The episode opens with the last part of the last Holy Grail War with two servants fighting. After that, an explosion was shown and a child standing after the fire was shown. After that, it brings the story back to the present in the home of Rin Tohsaka, a magician who summons forth  hero to aid her in the Holy Grail War. The defective summoning brings forth Archer, who due to the defective summoning didn't have any memories of his life. After this, the scene shifts to the backyard of Emiya Shiro. the protagonist of the anime.

Emiya Shiro  is a typical student and a part time mechanic at that. However, he has a secret. He is a magician. He is the son of Kirutsugu, well actually he is the adopted child of Kirutsugu, who is a magician from the recent Holy Grail War. However, Shirou is only familiar with the spell of reinforcement. It also introduces us to the character of Sakura Moto, who usually visits Shirou in his home togeter with their teacher Taiga.

Shirou and his friends are alarmed that a series of crimes had been happening in the city where they live, Fuyuki City. Then one night while he was in school, he chance upon a person in blue who turned out be a hero, Lancer. Lancer attacks him and he was stabbed because he could not afford to be seen. Rin Tohsaka arrives at the scene and revived him with the help of her jewels. Archer and Lancer then had a short battle. Afterwards, Lancer catches up with Shirou and tries to kill him. However, a mysterious light covers him and before him a woman in full armor stands before him calling him master

Review:

The anime starts off in an exciting mood. It begins off with a battle between two servants. However, the shift to the present in the introduction of Shirou's life is quite boring. Nevertheless, this episode picks up the action in the battle of Archer and Lancer. Moreover, the climax of the episode is the appearance of the mysterious woman who came to the rescue of Shirou.

Rating: 8/10

Remember Edward

 By Starman

Remember Me is a romantic drama film that will be released on March, 2010. It is directed by Allen Coulter (Hollywoodland). As you can see in the poster, it stars only Robert Pattinson (Twilight). Not really, they forgot to put names like the lovely Emilie de Ravin (Claire from Lost), the suave Pierce Brosnan (Die Another Day, Seraphim Falls) and the acting veteran Chris Cooper (Adaptation, Seabiscuit).

It is about two lovers whose relationship gets threatened after tragedies occur both in their family. I am not a fan of Rob Pattinson but the trailer looks pretty good. I am a sucker for this film's kind of genre. I can't stop myself from crying in almost all of these movies. This movie will surely attract all Pattinson fans out there. I will surely watch this especially because I miss Claire Littleton (played by Emilie de Ravin) from Lost.

Here is a link for the trailer of Remember Me.

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"...and I am working on the forever part."

-Tyler Roth narrating on the trailer

Christmas Is Early In Madagascar

 By Starman

Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman are back in this special TV broadcast of Merry Madagascar. Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett-Smith and David Schwimmer are all back to reprise their voices in the film. The story in here takes place in between the first and the second film.

Alex and the gang accidentally caused Santa Clause to lose his memory. Worried that Christmas will be ruined for everyone, they took over Santa's goal of delivering every gifts. Meanwhile, Santa is left to deal with King Julien's behavior with his subjects.

Merry Madagascar offers plenty of laughs whether they would come from the penguin's quick-witted conversations or Mort's annoying voice, thanks to Andy Richter. They did an orchestra-like opening for "I Like to Move It" which was great. You would not know what they were singing until they burst into their dancing mode. King Julien and his self-worship attitude is the main focus here. We all know that Christmas is a season of giving and the king of Madagascar is infamous for his abusive, yet funny, treatment to his subjects. Watch the credits so you could listen to King Julien's funny "Santa Clause is Coming to Madagascar".

This is a must-see show for the family. It has the laughs and the moral story that the children will surely love.

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"What's so special about Julianuary if everyone gets to have something?"

-King Julien on his subjects

Fate/Stay Night

By werdan88

Fate/Stay Night is an anime based from a visual novel. It is about a battle for the Holy grail which would grant the one possesses it any of their deepest desires. The Holy Grail had been happening in each century between the top magicians of the world who summon servants of heroes of past to aid them in the quest for the Holy Grail. The protagonist of the Fate/Stay Night is Shiro Emiya, a boy who was adopted by Kirustugu Emiya when fire or holocaust blazed forth in Fuyuki City. He always wanted to be a hero of justice. He knew his foster parent was a magician but he was only able to learn reinforcement or the spell to make materials stronger and more durable. That is why, he had a part time job as a mechanic. He never knew that he would get mixed up in the battle of the servants and magicians until he meets a servant who stabbed and killed him supposedly.

From this day forth, I would be making reviews and summaries of each episode Fate/Stay Night, one of the best anime I have ever seen. I hope, these summaries would get you to have a better appreciation of the anime, Fate/Stay Night. :)

The Sallie Gardner Effect: $200 for 15 minutes

Issue # 4
Being John Malkovich (1999) Review
by ManicallyDepressed

IMDB

The movie title refers to John Malkovich, the actor, but this is not a biographical film on him. It’s more like the worst nightmare he can ever have.

One of the, if not the most, essential characteristics of a fantasy-based film, or any literature for that matter, is the originality. Originality is an understatement for Being John Malkovich.

Not So Horrible At All

By Starman 

Movie: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Synopsis: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a short musical film distributed through the Internet in 2008. This was directed by Joss Whedon. He is mainly known for directing tv shows like The Office, the short-lived Dollhouse and everyone's favorite vampire slayer Buffy. It stars the always awesome Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day, Nathan Fillion and Simon Helberg(Wolowitz from Big Bang Theory). The story is about an evil doctor, Dr. Horrible, who has a mission to get inside the Evil League of Evil and win the girl of his dreams, Penny. But there is a very bumpy obstacle that he has to cross and it comes in the form of his rival, Captain Hammer.

Just Because...

  By Starman

Movie: New Moon

Synopsis: This is a 2009 romantic fantasy film that is based on the novel of the same name by Stephenie Meyer. There is a new director for this sequel. Chris Weitz is known for such movies as American Pie, About a Boy and The Golden Compass.

Most of the characters from the Twilight movie will reprise their roles in this sequel. Kristin Stewart (Panic Room, Adventureland), Robert Pattinson (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) and Taylor Lautner (The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D) are the leads in this film.

On Bella Swan's 18th birthday, Edward realized that he could not always protect her. He ended the relationship and moved to another place. She is devastated by this loss but eventually found comfort in the form of her bestfriend, Jacob. Though she have spent time with her werewolf friend, she could not forget her feelings for her vampire ex-lover. She started to do dangerous activities just so he could appear in her consciousness.

A miscommunication resulted to Edward approaching the Volturi, the royalty of the vampires that also acts as the enforcer of their own rules. He requested for them to kill him.

With the vision of her bestfriend, Alice, they found out about his plan of suicide. Can she now race through time to reach him before a classic Romeo and Juliet scenario occurs?

The Un-Culkin

by ManicallyDepressed

Three of the four shown above are Culkin brothers. Who do you think does not belong here?

Find out after the jump.

Et Cetera 11/19

Stuff we found on the Internet
by ManicallyDepressed

New Moon’s here. Before you rush to the movie house, watch this first. It’s something you might be able to relate to.

What would happen if the Internet disappeared? Then I won’t be able to share you this link.

If the huge percentage of a child’s intelligence is acquired from the mother, then you should marry someone like these.

GMA7’s Michael Fajatin Epic Fail Video.

After almost 1 year, Amir gets back at Streeter with Prank War 8. If you don’t know what Prank War is, watch all episodes here.

Best. Game. Ever.

 By Starman

There is no doubt that this is the best-est game ever... I just finished playing the whole game again and despite the fact that it was released more than a decade ago, I still get hooked to it.

Earthbound is an RPG published by Nintendo for the SNES console. It was released in Japan in 1994 as Mother 2. It became an instant big hit but had less commercial success when it was released in US a year later. Nevertheless, it has became a cult hit and has been named in most people and review site's list of top games.

The Sallie Garder Effect: Did The Mayans Predict How Bad This Is?

Issue # 3
2012 (2009) Review
by ManicallyDepressed

IMDB

2012 swept in more than 200 million USD over the weekends. I find it very odd that humans love the apocalyptic. The unfortunate thing is I am a member of this race so I had to watch this movie. Was it worth the money? Yes. Then, it’s a good movie, right? No.

Salt and Spice

By Starman

If you want to see Angelina Jolie in another spy movie, then you will surely love this. Salt is an action spy film slated to be released on July of 2010. Evelyn Salt is a CIA officer who is accused of being a spy by a defector. She goes on the run to clear her name. With all her years of training in the agency, she will have to elude capture as she tries to uncover the web of mystery.

Tom Cruise was considered to play the lead role of the film but he turned it down when he saw how similar the plot is to that of Mission Impossible.

Watch this trailer to see Jolie kick some butt.

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"Our friend Robin used to do porn....wait for it....ography!"

-Barney Stinson

The Sallie Gardner Effect: More Like This-Movie-Totally-Sucks Room

Issue # 2
Breathing Room (2008) Review
by ManicallyDepressed

IMDB

I’ll go straight to the point with this one: 0 asterisks.

(spoilers beyond this point.. but hey, you won’t be watching this, right?)

The Sallie Gardner Effect: Coz He Doesn't Know Twitter

Issue # 1
Following (1998) Review
by ManicallyDepressed

IMDB

It has a very low budget. It has a cast nobody has heard of. It was shot on a 16mm black-and-white film stock. Expectations are practically zero. And yet it is one of the greatest crime-thriller films I’ve watched. I effortlessly rate this film with 4 asterisks.

Obsessive Con-Pulsive Disorder

By Starman

Movie: Matchstick Men

Synopsis: This is a 2003 dramedy film directed by Ridley Scott(Blade Runner, American Gangster, Gladiator). Roy Walter(Nicolas Cage) is a con artist with an obsessive-compulsive disorder. He gets uncomfortable whenever he is outdoors. Together with his partner, Frank Mercer(Sam Rockwell), they trick people with their different schemes.
Everything was going well until Roy met his 14-year old daughter, Angela(Alison Lohman), from his ex-wife. He must now choose between his stable life as a con artist and his daughter.

Kick-Ass Poster

By Starman

The movie is based on an ongoing comic book series with the same name. It is written by Mark Millar. It is about a teenage boy who decides to become a superhero despite having no powers. He will try to bring justice in the city with the help of other misfit heroes. It stars Nicolas Cage, Mark Strong, Aaron Johnson and Christopher Mintz-Plasse(McLovin!!!). The movie is set to be released in cinemas on April next year. I would definitely watch this one. It also has a kick-ass trailer.

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"It's a gift... and a curse."

-Adrian Monk

The Sallie Gardner Effect: First!

Issue # 0
by ManicallyDepressed

Welcome to The Asterisks. The Sallie Gardner Effect will serve as my main contribution to the site and to kick things off, I decided to write an overview on what the SGE will be all about.

Who the hell is Sallie Gardner?
In the year 1878, a certain someone sponsored a certain smarty pants to prove that horses, when running, lift all four hooves off the ground at the same time. To prove this, the smarty pants set several cameras parallel to the horse track. Each camera was controlled by a trip wire to be triggered by the horse as it runs through the track. This experiment produced the first ever motion picture. More than a century later, people watched gigantic robots in war, a boy wizard fighting a Dark Lord, a 3-ft. hobbit destroy the one ring, and a vampire and a human falling in love. And all these were viewed in 72 ft. by 53 ft. IMAX screens. Aaah. Things truly changed after the day Sallie Gardner galloped through that track.

First. Post. Ever.

By Starman

Hi! Welcome to "The Asterisks", where we review just about any stuff.

I am Starman and I will be reviewing movies, TV shows and video games. I will take you down memory lane with my reviews of old school video games. (Though the titles would be limited)

I will also give my insights on some TV shows that are currently airing. My limited interest will be compensated by my co-authors.

Movies will be my main contribution. I will be giving lists of my favorites in different categories and also rank them individually.

A 10-point ranking system will be used to discriminate the must-see shows(10) from the crappy ones(zero!).

We hope that you enjoy reading this blog!!!

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"It's gonna be legen... wait for it... dary!"

- Barney Stinson