Post-Fall 2016 GMU Recap!

Phew! Boy, did I work so hard over the course of the semester at George Mason this fall! Not only did my sister Christine came home to spend with us for the holidays, but I finally finished up History of Game Design (GAME 230-001), Critical Theory of Art (AVT 472-001), Basic Game Design (GAME 210-004), Music & Sound for Film & Video (GAME 250-001), and of course Package Design (AVT 417-001)! I have the final grades to prove it!

At first, I thought for sure that Professor James B. Hicks was gonna be a touch teacher to handle with, but after having a nice talk with Jessica Machado, Wayne Adams and my mom, things are becoming less stressful and next thing I know, his attitude with me and the other Package Design students has slightly improved and is actually being quite easy with us! I know I got a B- on my first project which is the Heartland Soup cans, but in the next following projects, my grades and the reactions I get from the teacher and the classmates have greatly improved and almost everyone, including Ben, Angela, Ryan and KC, in what was a very difficult subject have started supporting me and gave me some confidence that I need to complete my projects. Angie even helped me with the purchase display project and convinced me that I actually don't need to include the boxes containing 9 soup cans that I was struggling to work on. I was happy that I got an A- by the end of the semester instead of a B like I thought I might get! Even better, I got an A+ in Seth Hudson's History of Game Design class where I worked VERY HARD on the final paper about the Pac-Man topic! An A for Lynne Constantine's Critical Art Theory class and Josiah Lebowitz's Basic Game Design, and I also got an A- for Thomas Stanley's sound design class where I create my videos (including the hilarious Charlie Chaplin short) and incorporated my own sounds and my own music that I make in the work station! Although, I was disappointed that I got a C+ in the online exam for the sound class and on the final Basic Game Design project that Cooper, Ali, Bryce and I have worked since the midterm. But that doesn't stop me from getting the A grades like I always have!

From November to December, I got to see Doctor Strange, Trolls, Rogue One, and of course Sing! Never thought I would actually enjoy them all even after being so underwhelmed by critically/financially disappointing summer movies that aren't Captain America: Civil War, Finding Dory, or The Secret Life of Pets! But that's not all!

Trailers to all the upcoming 2017 movies have been popping up! Including Transformers 5, Fast & Furious 8 (or "The Fate of the Furious"), Pirates of the Caribbean 5 (the one with Javier Bardem), Pixar's Cars 3, Despicable Me 3, the final Wolverine movie Logan, and the long-awaited Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man movie starring Tom Holland himself! But what I'm most excited to see next year are the live-action Beauty and the Beast remake, Transformers: The Last Knight, and Spider-Man: Homecoming! However for Transformers 5, I can only hope that building a writers' room starting with the aforementioned will mark a significant improvement from the 2-year-old thought-to-be-pointless-cash-grab that proves that the Bayformers are the "worst thing that's ever happened" since the Milla Jovovich Resident Evil movies. Because watching the teaser trailer has given me the suspense and a lot of questions of what I can really expect besides learning about the happy returns of familiar faces from TF 1-3 including Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Barricade and Megatron (Galvatron from #4?), further development of Transformers mythos as promised by the new writers hired by Akiva Goldsman, lack of uninspiring Age of Extinction stars minus Mark Wahlberg and Stanley Tucci, while hoping that TF5 will deliver the same TF movie experience that I have been missing so much since my 2nd year at Oakton High School without repeating the same tiring and upsetting mistakes that has absolutely hurt the sequels since Revenge of the Fallen! And as for Spider-Man: Homecoming, the moment Tom Holland's Spidey was all "'Sup, guys? Wait a minute. You guys aren't the REAL Avengers!", it was that exact point that I know for sure is exactly the Spider-Man we so rightfully deserve after being so impressed with Ben Affleck's Batman. Even if it's not ANOTHER origin story nor does it have a familiar villain like Green Goblin, Doc Ock or Lizard, what I really want is for the new Spider-Man movie to cleanse the bad tastes that we fans had to suffer through Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 and the now-uncompleted Amazing Spider-Man franchise! No matter what people say about Tobey Maguire being the "best Spider-Man ever", what's to stop them from wanting to see the Spider-Man who should be making hilarious quips JUST LIKE IN THE COMICS that I know most kids like? Whether it will earn the same amount of money as the first three from when I was in elementary and high schools, I hope that it will once again make Spider-Man a blockbuster hit that Sony has been desperate to achieve!

Speaking of Spider-Man 3, though I can't believe that I have to say this. But maybe Spider-Man 3 is not the "#1 worst movie" I have ever seen. It still is in my view, but not at #1. I basically called it that because it was overwhelmed by a huge number of things that I know tarnished (or did it?) the greatness of the first two films like X-Men 3 once did to the 1st two Bryan Singer X-Men films as soon as we got an Andrew Garfield reboot (and its now-wasted sequel) instead of a Spider-Man 4 (with or without Vulture or "Vulturess") that would have redeemed the original cast's reputation. In fact, after Sony marked The Amazing Spider-Man 2 a "disappointing failure" for earning just $709 million worldwide and being given a 52% rating by Rotten Tomatoes, I blamed Spider-Man 3 for causing the death of what could have been the most memorable blockbuster movie franchise up there with Harry Potter and Shrek. But yet, every comment I would find, whether on YouTube or other movie database sites I would usually browse on Safari, all I would find is that Spider-Man 3 is "terrible but does not deserve a lot of hate". It's like despite a lot of things that people dislike in that threequel, they just acted like it's a continuation worth remembering unlike Independence Day 2 or the Matrix sequels when it comes to the word "trilogy" (think Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, Back to the Future, and The Dark Knight)! It's no wonder there are petitions for a Spider-Man 3.1 Cut which restores some much needed extra footage such as Sandman and his tragic relationship with his daughter, Eddie Brock trying to approach Gwen Stacy, and Venom's alternative way of convincing Sandman to team up with him (that doesn't involve "Interested? Yeah, sure") to kill Spider-Man. Even though the studio is to be blamed for forcing Sam Raimi to include Venom and Gwen which interferes with his original vision. I wasn't sure how can it be so when nothing in Spider-Man 3, besides the more familiar aspects that was still retained from the first two, has given an indication that what was once likable can remain so. Do they not have a huge problem with how Mary Jane disses Peter for not understanding her Broadway career downfall (her career dream is to be a theater actress (NOT as a singer), right?) and for stupidly going along with Harry's plan to break up with him despite that she will always "support" Peter at the very end of Spider-Man 2 ("Go get 'em, tiger")? Especially when Peter/Spider-Man does the upside down kiss with Gwen IN FRONT OF MARY JANE, as though he is nothing but a self-absorbed idiot before he made contact with the alien Symbiote? How does that make Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man "likable" as he was in 1 and 2? And there's no way that I would call the Peter/Harry fights "awesome" when they're like super cheesy and the fact that their second fight inside the Osborn Mansion is filled with awfully-written dialogue that tried to be funny when they're NOT! I treated the moment when Peter and Aunt May found out from Captain Stacy that it was Flint Marko who actually killed Uncle Ben (revealed that he actually shot him by accident when the carjacker carrying the stolen cash startled him) in the more enjoyable first one, as a cheap motivation to gain our attention to experience our first look at the Black-Suited Spider-Man on the big screen when all we got is nothing but TOO MUCH EMO PETER PARKER that pretty much made a mockery of Marvel's most beloved comic book superhero. And why would people enjoy Spider-Man 3 and not erase it from their minds (like most other certain awful/bad movies) when they have the worst depiction of Eddie Brock/Venom since Deadpool's transition to Weapon XI in the should-be-non-canon-even-before-DOFP X-Men Origins: Wolverine? But even if Spider-Man 3 is "improved" by extra scenes (in a novelization by Peter David or in the 3.1 version) that makes the multiple characters and storylines far from superfluous like most reviews say, does the Sandman retcon still ruin what was already well-handled and similar to how it was in the comics in the first Spider-Man movie unlike in the forgettable Amazing Spider-Man? Maybe the only way that Spider-Man 3 would be more watchable than the so-called Amazing Spidey films, is that I would skip out almost every cheesy as f**k Emo Peter Parker scenes (including "Now dig on this"), parts with the news reporter and the crowd ("Awesome! Wicked cool!") during when Spider-Man was about to be overwhelmed by Sandman and Venom, the Harry & Mary Jane "Do the Twist" dance, the butler's too-little-too-late revelation to the facially-scarred Harry Osborn, the Tobey Maguire crybaby faces, mute Sandman's "and the gun was in hand" line and have myself say that his partner with the stolen cash "shot him", thus removing the retcon that made everyone loses their mind on and everything that led Peter to becoming Spider-Man in the first film wouldn't be because of a little "accident", and to make the Peter/Mary Jane slow dance ending far from depressing (in my opinion), I would view the happy final swing video on YouTube (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dSeUJy_X5o). I mean, why would I "give Spider-Man 3 a chance" when from now on, the only Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies that are canon in my head are 1 and 2? Just like I see the first two Alien movies as canon only,  and then disregard Alien 3 (no matter how better is the "Assembly Cut," if it still killed off poor Hicks and Newt at the start due to an Alien egg that WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE ON THE SULACO IN THE FIRST PLACE!) and/or Alien Resurrection. After all, X-Men: Days of Future Past was able to give the original X-Men trilogy cast an actual happy ending by erasing everything that led to the X3 disaster and thus brought back Cyclops and Jean Grey from the dead. How can the way that Spider-Man 3, that was tainted by an awful amount of stuff that made the characters we so love more than the Amazing Spider-Man characters completely idiotic, ended be truly "happy"? Spider-Man 2 ended on a HAPPY note, like the journey of Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker to accepting his true destiny as Spider-Man is already completed since he finally have Mary Jane (b*tchy or no) as his girl, if we ignore the part with Harry discovering the Green Goblin lair when he clearly said no to his dead father's hallucination yelling "Avenge me"! Yet people keep saying "trilogy" like Spider-Man 3 is an entirely important chapter like Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King always were despite knowing that every third installments are "always the worst"!

But when I read over the review (https://bradleybasement.wordpress.com/spider-man/spider-man-3-film/) on the Spider-Man 3 novelization, it says that it was a "great improvement on the actual movie", given that author Peter David "enhances on the darker nature of Peter Parker's character when he gets increasingly over-confident", as well as exploring that, for example, "MJ is trying to protect Peter as well as her when being threatened by Harry" and "thinking about Peter when kissing Harry, as she realizes that what she's doing is wrong" (yes, but does it still make her likable unlike in the movie?). And when I piece that review with the other comments that "Spider-Man 3 doesn't deserve a lot of hate" after being upset with Amazing Spider-Man 2, that was when I had some second thoughts about if I should permanently ignore Spider-Man 3 like the time-traveling at the end of X-Men: DOFP did to the pre/post-X3 events. Perhaps I was being a little too hard on the threequel that I thought pulled the same franchise-killing technique as Superman IV and Batman & Robin. If the Ultimate Edition version can make me change how I feel about Batman v Superman, which contains like a lot of stuff that most people had a problem albeit with some enjoyable parts like Wonder Woman, perhaps the extension and further development of some random scenes (when I read the novelization that my sister has just ordered from Amazon as a late Christmas gift) in Spider-Man 3 will change my opinion of what was thought to be a very depressing ending for the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy that everyone claims to be "great" even though we actually have a much more likable Spider-Man (whose own solo movie is coming next July) in the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe.

So to conclude this blog post, I had a hard day's work over the past 3 months. Mom and I had a nice talk with Linda Barajas about considering taking a job internship next summer, yet I was unsure of what I can expect as I move ahead to spring semester at George Mason next year.
I should be ready for Christmas Day this weekend! I hope I have plenty of time to see all the holiday specials like Shrek the Halls and the Chuck Jones' How the Grinch Stole Christmas cartoon, or the Christmas-themed movies like The Polar Express and Gremlins on the night of Christmas Eve before I would go to bed so Santa may come to our house to deliver our presents, even if we're not little kids anymore. So as Santa Claus would say, "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

Quick Review of 'Warcraft'

Could this be the first "good" live-action video game movie adaptation? For people who are fans of World of Warcraft, hm maybe. Me? Meh. I probably wouldn't say so. Because of the supposedly good word of mouth (critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 28%) despite not doing so great at the domestic box office (obviously) while actually a much bigger hit in China like Transformers: Age of Extinction and Terminator Genisys were, I now wanted to see the Warcraft movie for myself after skipping it in theaters. Given that it's made by Legendary, the studio that brought us the monster-sized blockbuster hits Pacific Rim and Godzilla. Mostly because of one character that I deeply care about more than the Alliance humans: Durotan, chieftain of the Frostwolf Clan. Why does it feel like I'm better off rooting "for the Horde" than the humans even if the Orcs are vicious and merciless like the other Orcs in The Lord of the Rings? Why? Because of a bunch of nobodies like Travis Fimmel (Anduin Lothar), Ben Schnetzer (Khadgar), Ben Foster (Medivh), and of course whoever the hell that poorly-developed young man is as Lothar's (SPOILER: deceased) son Callan. Do they expect me to cheer for the humans who unfortunately don't seem to be interesting enough for us to even care? No wonder this movie failed on the opening weekend 3 months ago. At least Game of Thrones have much better acting from stars that are already famous as of now! I do think Paula Patton is kind of hot, though. And seriously? No Director's Cut? Maybe Warcraft would have been better if the pacing is less abrupt and actually had MORE SCENES to properly develop the characters! Where's the part with the Orcs rushing through the snow? What's with the studios cutting out very important scenes nowadays since Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad? The best thing about Warcraft for me, are the motion-capture CGI Orcs. Especially Durotan! His interaction with Orgrim and his wife Draka have proven how much of a good actor Toby Kebbell was than his disgustingly awful Dr. Doom role since Koba in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. That's why I consider Warcraft as one of the great examples of how to really make CGI characters like the expensively-animated Autobots more than just visual props, which Michael Bay and Paramount should definitely learn from when building their own cinematic universe! And man, what an awesome fight between Durotan and Gul'Dan! Overall, Warcraft is visually enjoyable since Transformers, but the way it ended just made me despise Gul'Dan and Lothar (because he thinks Garona murdered King Llane in cold blood when the king forced her to in order to "bring peace between humans and Orcs") so much deep down once my favorite character Durotan is dead (and maybe along with his entire Frostwolf Clan minus Orgrim). Don't know why they're saying that they loved it. I doubt that it was worth watching again and again like the 1st Transformers movie and Pacific Rim. The ending shot of that cute now-orphan Orc baby Go'el definitely screams "sequel!" despite unsurprisingly flopping hard big time! And even if with over $433 million thanks to China, shame the studio still treated it as a box office disappointment. That's what I hate most about failed movie franchise starters (ex., The Golden Compass, John Carter, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones). Thanks to this movie, now I really wanted explore more of the Warcraft video game concept even if we don't get sequels to the film that had such potential! For the Horde (that's right, people)!

Gabe's 25th Birthday Week!

This week is officially birthday week! I have just turned 25 (my birth date was 9/20/1991), and I'm expecting some fun stuff happening around me even in the face of tough assignments, projects, and study review for quizzes for my required classes at GMU! After being so hard on myself for being criticized by my Package Design teacher James Hicks, Jessica Machado, Wayne Adams, psychiatrist Tamatha Barber, and especially my mom were able to cheer me up and encourage me not to worry about what Prof. Hicks says about the soup can label project I've been struggling with.

Three days ago, I went with my mom to Cici's Pizza for lunch after my class time with Lynne Constantine. Then, we went to Best Buy where I can get the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows Blu-ray 3D. Cowabunga! Later that night after my swimming at Oak Marr, we held together a nice, yummy birthday cake. We even got to skype my sister Christine Mayuga! I opened my birthday presents, and what I got are the Suicide Squad Joker and Harley Quinn action figures that Christine ordered from Amazon, the Star Wars Rebels Season 2 Blu-ray, and the Civil War Black Panther (finally!) and Agent 13/Sharon Carter Toys R' Us exclusive pack that I bought from the store ON THE EXACT SAME DAY. It's like my birthday week is gonna be lots of fun before it would get even more exciting in the next 2 weeks when I invite my Mason Swim Club friends to Bowl America for my birthday party! Today, mom and I got the chance to see the laugh-out-loud/cute animated movie Storks at Regal Fairfax Towne Center this afternoon. I hope that the birthday party at my house will be tons of fun no matter how important is my preparation for the History of Game Design quiz and the full priority submission of the soup can labels for the hopefully-more-friendly critique with Prof. Hicks! 25 years really is a long time for me!

Welcome to Game Design at George Mason!

Image taken from Gaming Blog

*Sighs* So here I am. Back at George Mason after my LOOONG summer break. Only this time, the Critical Theory of Arts and Package Design classes aren't the only subjects I'll be taking this semester. 'Cause this time, I've just got myself declared a minor in Game Design!
Where do I start? Well, after my mom and I had a brief meeting with Jeremy Tuohy two weeks ago, we agreed that it would be great if I could have game design as my new required/elective subject after I am using up a lot of required classes for graphic design. At the same time however, it was decided that I may have to have one more school year prior to graduation and my earning in the BFA degree. Specifically, instead of May 2017, my graduation date would now have to be May 2018 which is two years from now.
I have already entered my new semester as of Aug. 29th, and so far, I seem to be having a good time if not so easily challenged by the new subjects I now have to deal with. Of all the game design classes, they are History of Game Design (GAME 230-001; Seth Hudson), Basic Game Design (GAME 210-004; Josiah Lebowitz), and Sound and Music for Film and Video (GAME 250-001; Thomas Stanley). While these classes have these intriguing gaming details, what concerns me more are the upcoming assignments and forthcoming deadlines of projects or inevitable quizzes and tests. But with some helpful assistance and advice from my trustworthy teachers and my beloved mother, I hope that I will have no problem accomplishing all five of these subjects in one entire semester before I would be ready for the holidays! I better not let them down!

What's Wrong with the 2016 Movies?

No matter how much "fun" I had in the hot summer of 2016 with my loving family, the same can't be said for these blockbuster movies that had such promise. Why is it that the only films, besides Captain America: Civil War, Finding Dory, The Secret Life of Pets and Suicide Squad, that were very successful are mostly in the spring (Deadpool, Zootopia, Jungle Book)? What has happened to those that unfortunately didn't bring much excitement like they have before? Is it the poor marketing? Or is it the vaguely tiring storylines in franchises that either overstayed their welcome or they were not supposed to be from the very beginning? Right now, the only films that I'm glad/ok with that they lost money at the box office are the entirely unnecessary Ice Age: Collision Course and the Ben-Hur remake, as well as the expected-to-flop Gods of Egypt and the critically-divisive all-female Ghostbusters reboot. For Universal/Legendary/Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft, I had a feeling that it wouldn't be a huge hit, except in international states like China, given its lack of box office draws and my unfamiliarity with the World of Warcraft video game concept. Here are the 2016 movies (some of which I enjoyed or thought I did enjoy, or never seen but heard of) that I didn't expect them to end up as critically and/or financially disappointing flops that could trigger possible consequences:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
RT: 38% / CinemaScore: A-
Budget: $135 million
Current Box Office Run: $242.5 million ($82 million in U.S.)
Predecessor: TMNT (2014) (Worldwide: $493.3 million/U.S.: $191.2 million; RT: 22%, CinemaScore: B)

The Divergent Series: Allegiant
RT: 13% / CinemaScore: B
Budget: $110 million
Current Box Office Run: $179.2 million ($66.2 million in U.S.)
Predecessor: Divergent (Worldwide: $288.9 million/U.S.: $150.9 million; RT: 41%, CinemaScore: A) & Insurgent (Worldwide: $297.3 million/U.S.: $130.2 million; RT: 28%, CinemaScore: A-)

The Nice Guys
RT: 91% / CinemaScore: B-
Budget: $50 million
Current Box Office Run: $36.3 million (U.S. only)
Predecessor: n/a

Kubo and the Two Strings
RT: 96% / CinemaScore: A
Budget: $60 million
Current Box Office Run: $27.6 million ($24.9 million in U.S.)
Predecessor: n/a

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
RT: 50% / CinemaScore: A
Budget: $50 million
Current Box Office Run: $69.4 million ($52.9 million in U.S.)
Predecessor: n/a

X-Men: Apocalypse
RT: 48% / CinemaScore: A-
Budget: $178 million
Current Box Office Run: $541.1 million ($155.4 million in U.S.)
Predecessor: X-Men (Worldwide: $296.3 million/U.S.: $157.3 million; RT: 81%, CinemaScore: A-), X2 (Worldwide: $407.7 million/U.S.: $214.9 million; RT: 86%, CinemaScore: A), X-Men: The Last Stand (Worldwide: $459.4 million/U.S.: $234.4 million; RT: 58%, CinemaScore: A-), X-Men: First Class (Worldwide: $353.6 million/U.S.: $146.4 million; RT: 86%, CinemaScore: B+), & X-Men: Days of Future Past (Worldwide: $747.9 million/U.S.: $233.9 million; RT: 91%, CinemaScore: A)

Star Trek Beyond
RT: 83% / CinemaScore: A-
Budget: $185 million
Current Box Office Run: $243 million ($151 million in U.S.)
Predecessor: Star Trek (Worldwide: $385.7 million/U.S.: $257.7 million; RT: 95%, CinemaScore: A) & Star Trek Into Darkness (Worldwide: $467.4 million/U.S.: $228.8 million; RT: 86%, CinemaScore: A)

Alice Through the Looking Glass
RT: 30% / CinemaScore: A-
Budget: $170 million
Current Box Office Run: $294.5 million ($77 million in U.S.)
Predecessor: Alice in Wonderland (2010) (Worldwide: $1.025 billion/U.S.: $334.2 million; RT: 52%, CinemaScore: A-)

Independence Day: Resurgence
RT: 32% / CinemaScore: B
Budget: $165 million
Current Box Office Run: $382.4 million ($102.9 million in U.S.)
Predecessor: Independence Day (Worldwide: $817.4 million/U.S.: $306.2 million; RT: 61%, CinemaScore: A)

Oh, what the heck. I think I'm glad that it didn't do well at the box office! Maybe Roland Emmerich should not have thought about making a sequel (or two) to Independence Day 20 years ago! At least Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Jurassic World paid better respect to their long-time predecessors!




So in conclusion, I believe that this year would have probably gotten better movies if neither of them were sequels or remakes to movies that nobody's crazy about or are vastly underrated films that have intriguing originally-conceived concepts yet aren't heavily-marketed enough, based on these disappointing financial figures. Can't believe that this summer, while could have been more fun than last year, is coming to an end. But I hope that my new Fall Semester classes at George Mason will bring back the fun and happiness that I always had!

My Favorite Movies of Summer 2016

My Top 10 favorite movies of Summer 2016:

1. Captain America: Civil War - 91% (CinemaScore: A)
2. Finding Dory - 94% (CinemaScore: A)
3. Suicide Squad - 27% (CinemaScore: B+)
4. X-Men: Apocalypse - 48% (CinemaScore: A-)
5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows - 36% (CinemaScore: A-)
6. The Angry Birds Movie - 44% (CinemaScore: B+)
7. The Secret Life of Pets - 74% (CinemaScore: A-)
8. Star Trek Beyond - 85% (CinemaScore: A-)
9. Jason Bourne - 54% (CinemaScore: A-)
10. Ghostbusters - 74% (CinemaScore: B+)




Note: These percentages indicate how positive the critical reviews are, according to rottentomatoes.com. To learn more about CinemaScore, enter http://www.cinemascore.com/.

Quick Review of 'Suicide Squad'

You know what? Forget what everybody thinks. I think Suicide Squad is actually quite entertaining, better than Batman v Superman! When I looked at the 26% Rotten Tomatoes rating and the reviews stating that this suffered too much editing problems or a "muddled plot", I almost feared that it was gonna be like Green Lantern/Fant4stic-bad as one review would state. But when I finally got to see it last night with my sister, almost everything in that film actually got me quite satisfied even with some things that Warner Bros. and DC still needs to absolutely work on. So there we have in a world where Superman died from the Doomsday battle, and the government including the big boss of "Task Force X" herself Amanda Waller (better than the utterly-wasted Angela Bassett in the Ryan Reynolds GL film) are considering the alternatives of who they should use to defend the world from any possible off-world threat since the events of the first two DCEU starters. And that's when the Suicide Squad was born when some ancient supernatural force like the oh-so-sexy-but-weird-looking Enchantress threatens to bring total annihilation upon our world. The supervillains introduced in the Squad, minus Slipknot, have some brilliant chemistry amongst each other and are actually more fleshed out than ever instead of us seeing them as cheap evil villains. At least that it doesn't always take itself way too seriously when there's some parts where the added humor is necessary instead of awkwardly forced like the Iron Man sequels or Thor 2. The songs included made it look like it's Guardians of the Galaxy, except in a more twisted way when it comes to a supervillain-only movie. Deadshot, Harley Quinn, El Diablo, and Killer Croc are the biggest standouts of the Suicide Squad movie! But my favorite out of all of them are of course Harley Quinn, because Margot Robbie - she's hot and really acted like she had fun playing the character who dearly loves the Joker (A.K.A. Mr. J or "Puddin'") so much! I'm not even sure who's the hottest babe in this film? Her, the Enchantress, or the sword-wielding Japanese newbie Katana? Sometimes, I feel like I can't help but think to myself that the Enchantress (Cara Delvingne) is extremely hot due to her seductive bare-nakedness! And I believe that Will Smith really pulled off his Deadshot character, delivering some entertaining one-liners and having a tragic backstory of him trying to be with his daughter before getting arrested for the murders he committed as a hired hitman. He probably should have signed up and starred in the Independence Day sequel. But by the end of the movie as the Suicide Squad faces off with the Enchantress, things got a little interesting when El Diablo unleashes his true power by enlarging himself into some giant behemoth on fire! What really works and saved most of Suicide Squad from suffering from the studio-meddling problems was probably the music score composed by Academy Award-winner of Gravity Steven Price. For example, the part when Deadshot was about to fire his gun at the explosives to destroy Enchantress while conflicted by his daughter begging him not to pull the trigger and turn into the man she might be scared of. How emotional can you be? If they didn't hype up some stuff like the presence of Jared Leto's Joker, then this movie would have actually gotten some decent reviews instead of bad ones that make it out like it was a movie not worth seeing which I don't believe. But I would definitely kill (figure of speech) for some extended scenes that will really develop some stuff that should have been anything but cheap exposition like Harleen Quinzel's transformation into Harley Quinn. But at least we have the Batman: TAS "Mad Love" episode to better understand the Joker/Harley Quinn relationship. Heck, I would be happy to see what scenes, originally seen in trailers and TV spots, that have the Joker were cut out just to make us care about the Jared Leto version! I'm glad that the Batman we see in Suicide Squad is none other than Ben Affleck, who eventually tells Amanda Waller in the mid-credits scene to cease her Task Force X activities to let the Justice League handle the situations. Oh, and did I forget to mention about the Ezra Miller Flash cameo in the Capt. Boomerang flashback? Let's pray that the hiring of Geoff Johns & Jon Berg post-BvS/SS will mean that the DC Extended Universe will be just as good as the now-too-formulaic Marvel Cinematic Universe. Cue the Bohemian Rhapsody/Ballroom Blitz/Sucker for Pain, etc. song, evildoers! Glad that I'm not as underwhelmed as my first viewing of the theatrical version of BvS! I just think this summer could have been better if only it wasn't so full of financially-disappointing and critically-reviled films.

My Delta Alpha Pi Honor Society T-Shirt Design

Since I have been writing too many blog posts about movies, I thought I would like to share this to prove how much of a brilliant graphic designer I am since attending George Mason 2 years ago. I am currently enrolled in the Delta Alpha Pi Honor Society, which consists of people with disabilities such as autism and hearing impairments. There is a t-shirt design contest that will go on until next August, the start of Fall Semester. I thought it would be most respectful if I could design one of my own since I am a DAPi member.
The design I had made for one of the t-shirts prior to submission for voting, it's a set of words spelling out "Delta Alpha Pi Honor Society," positioned to the right in a staircase-like manner, as a way to symbolize the message that when you take one step at a time, you are on a path to success when accomplishing your desired goal. The typeface for these DAPi letters are in a Charter format, and "George Mason University" (capitalized to express its strong contribution to the honor society) and "Honor Society" are both PT Sans typefaces for simpler and cheap uses. I applied them with dark green, dark blue, and mild yellow colors. In addition to that, I created several black lines with the square tool before carefully aligning them with the "Delta", "Alpha", "Pi", and "Honor Society" evenly as though they are the steps that form a staircase. I've increased the size of D, A, and P letters to slightly bigger to display like some kind of an acronym, while living the other letters to each the first capitalized letters all lowercase with some kerning and leading altered to provide tiny gaps and eliminating any sign of tightness among the letters.

So there you have it. My very own DAPi t-shirt design, not having any logos already used which is copyright-protected. It's better than just applying the official DAPi logo that would have been a challenge for me since I can't change any details that are already perfect as it is. My design may not end up as the winning one, but at least it'll be respectfully nominated by the deciding voters of the t-shirt design contest, whether or not that will happen. Got to be prepared for the next (and penultimate) semester at George Mason University, even if I was just having such a relaxing summer break!

Quick Review of 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' (ULTIMATE EDITION)

Where do I begin? Oh, yes. Despite its first theatrical release 4 months ago, I did not make a quick review on this blog because 1) I have no comment to say about it given our underwhelming reactions to what we thought would be a Batman/Superman movie worth waiting, and 2) there is a 3-hour long, R-rated extended cut that I know is what the BvS experience should have been like while still retaining stuff that most people find uncomfortable. I made a Facebook note that jots down a lot of details that I believe that Zack Snyder (I named him one of  the "worst directors of all time" next to M. Night Shyamalan!) and the guys involved could have avoided without repeating the same upsetting mistakes from Man of Steel. It felt like as though I might have made a mistake being excited to see Batman v Superman even though Captain America: Civil War is what I'm waiting to see this year. Watching the first trailer of that last year and then another set of them prior to its first debut reminded me how much that promising blockbuster event could have turned out if they didn't have a lot of things that could spell, how do I put this? MAJOR LETDOWN! No matter the spectacular action and visual sets, especially Ben Affleck's Dark Knight Returns-inspired (yet murderous in a controversial way to fans and critics) take on the eponymous Bat Vigilante, it's sad to see that everything gets to be majorly criticized because Warner Bros. and DC thinks that it's "good" to make it all dark and gritty in an out-of-character way. Especially when they absolutely mishandled Superman's iconic bald-headed archenemy that deserves better in the live-action movies. Just like Superman who's had way too many mediocre movie adaptations after the first two critically-acclaimed Richard Donner films. Perhaps the studio should know that Superman was never supposed to be in the same league as Batman just by acting so full of misery because Snyder thinks it's necessary to make his actions, heroic or not, relate to our real-life events when that's not how the Superman concept works. But when I looked at the initial reactions to the Ultimate Edition (which came out on Digital HD June 28th and on Blu-ray/DVD July 19th, which I finally bought this week), they were instead generally positive which gave me some enlightenment that perhaps the DC Extended Universe might not be such a terrible idea after all after suffering from such a debacle that almost killed off any chance of that happening like it did to Sony's Spider-Man Cinematic Universe. So, I decided to give myself to see if the Ultimate Edition will justify everything that Batman v Superman has most people were extremely uncomfortable with, even if it whether or not alter the overall movie experience and initial criticisms (already rated 27% on Rotten Tomatoes, 6.9/10 on IMDb, and granted a CinemaScore grade of B) for diehard fans in the similar vein of the superior director's cuts of Daredevil and Kingdom of Heaven. I mean, they're the ones who praised Ben Affleck's first time playing Batman despite being undeservedly hated for his murderous actions.
When I first saw the movie at home last week on Saturday night, I think it was much better than my first viewing at a theater. The Ultimate Edition does make the plot more coherent, if only they didn't really hype the long-anticipated fight which only lasts like a few minutes. I mean everybody despised the part where Batman stopped killing Superman because he uttered the name "Martha", both shared by their respective mothers, yet we all should know that it is because he finally saw the humanity in Superman, and comparing him to how his father also said his wife's name before dying, which is why he frustratingly threw away the Kryptonite spear as though he was becoming the man who murdered his parents. What hasn't changed however, is the awfully cringy to painful lines uttered by Jesse Eisenberg's so-called Lex Luthor (said to be the "son of the ACTUAL Lex Luthor", who we could have had, but no!), no matter how better improved is his plot to motivate both of DC's most popular heroes into fighting each other in this new cut (explained by extra stuff like Clark Kent's Batman investigation, the death of a branded criminal plotted by Luthor's thugs, and the suicide bomber's wheelchair being lined with lead making it immune to Supes' x-ray vision). And even if everybody likes this more than the studio-based theatrical cut, what's to stop them from criticizing the final act with the even more destructive battle between the Trinity (Superman, Batman, and WONDER WOMAN!) and Doomsday (cloned from General Zod's dead body) when it was said to be too much of a last-minute addition to an awfully-crowded plot that WB and DC were clearly struggling with if they're willing to compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe? And yes, it did feel like it's too soon to (SPOILER) kill off Superman when bringing in the Doomsday monster when he just starred in the DCEU a movie ago. But without that, then Bruce and Diana would not have been inspired to build up a Justice League by finding the Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg (no matter how "cheap" their teaser via email was handled). And Bruce wouldn't even have to consider going back to his 20-year-old no-killing rule hence why he instead spared Lex Luthor from viciously branding him in prison.
This major crisis wouldn't have happened if Zack Snyder and David S. Goyer only knew that perhaps not every DC hero needs to be like Batman because dark and gritty does not always equal success. If they wanted to portray our favorite superheroes without making them as cold-hearted murderers, they could have at least watch the better-written and definitive DC Animated shows like Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited than just looking at comic book pages and then not bother reading their entire stories of how noble and heroic they need to be. And if they wanted Batman v Superman to earn $1 billion before earning just $872 million, they would have like taken their time reading and approving what works or doesn't work in the script, despite being rewritten by some Oscar-winner like Chris Terrio. If I can guess one major reason why critics are dissing them, is this: too much destruction. Maybe Zack Snyder could at least tone it down a little and make the preserving people's lives a major concern and priority for heroes to worry about no matter how overpowered most superpowered beings can be. It could be the reason why Captain America: Civil War was instead better received and actually did earn over $1 billion. At least the plot and the reason that our favorite heroes are against each other were so easy to follow without finding them extremely convoluted like BvS's. Guess Marvel is "better than DC", in terms of live-action movies, no matter how "forced" the humor was that many people would find such a big deal to complain about instead.
But the point is, I actually liked the Ultimate Edition of BvS. Definitely on par with the excellent extended cuts of say the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the underrated albeit overlong Watchmen. I totally recommend that to people who might have been upset with the outcome of the final cut at a movie theater that the studio lazily favored over Snyder's. The best thing about that, regardless if they were hated for no reason, was the fact that at least Ben Affleck's Batman is more terrifying and a truly excellent fighter unlike the previous Batmen in the outdated films, which is what fans absolutely want, correct? Although they really need to work on making Henry Cavill's Superman more likable and not so easy to hate (since Superman IV and Superman Returns) for being so mopey even in a situation where he was feared by many people around the world for being an outcast alien before he was eventually seen as a martyr after death. They also need to better clarify questionable and stupid plot holes like Lois throwing away the Kryptonite spear into the water abyss only to retrieve it again later on and nearly drowning herself during the Doomsday fight. And having seen the Comic-Con trailer of... JUSTICE LEAGUE! It looks to be that the promotion of Geoff Johns and Jon Berg as head of the DC Films Division has paid off! And with the enthusiastically positive buzz of next month's Suicide Squad, it looks like that the newly-built cinematic universe of the DC superheroes are starting to look toward a brighter future!

Quick Review of 2016's 'Ghostbusters'

Who you're gonna call? Someone else. By "someone else," I mean female stars like Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones. Four months ago, I watched the first trailer of this feminine reboot version of the once-popular 1980s Ghostbusters. Every review I read, which were mostly negative on YouTube regarding the sexist topic, and view these hilarious yet stupidly corny jokes, I thought it was gonna be like one of those horrible remakes and reboots (Amazing Spider-Man, Terminator Genisys, Total Recall) made by Hollywood nowadays that nearly stained classic ones. Especially when I called Sony the worst movie studio of all time due to the lack of well-marketed and highly-appealing movies, its over reliance on product placement, and its greedy obsession of making unwanted by-the-number remakes like Annie and next year's Jumanji. I even called this year's GB as one of my worst movies of all time prior to theatrical release. But when Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 73% rating (though audience score is right now 57%) by saying that it was "great", I was confused. What about when the Internet Movie Database gave it a 4.0+/10 rating? Surely, they were exactly what the YouTube reviews have been saying. I said to myself that I would pass on the new GB movie no matter how much Sony keeps promoting it. I've just seen my 1984 Ghostbusters DVD twice as an absolute reminder that it will always be what many people remember the Ghostbusters as. However, during our brief stay in Indiana by visiting Auntie Lily's house last weekend, my sister Christine goaded me into seeing it with her despite my concerns about the negativity being true. I guess that she was trying to let me give it a chance because of what I've been saying to her about how the female Ghostbusters movie is not as bad as the comments on YouTube have been saying.
In my first viewing of it, I was aware that while the jokes given that it is a Paul Feig movie may turn out to be worth laughing out loud at, not every one of them should be taken too seriously. Everything does remind me so much of what I remember Ghostbusters to be like, at least not in a disrespectful way since it is after all a reboot from scratch with no connection with the first two original films. Kristen Wiig, as Erin Gilbert, is one of the female comedy stars I like for playing such a nice woman with an excellent sense of humor because look, she reminds me so much of the lovable Lucy Wilde from Despicable Me 2! She acted like she's having fun interacting with someone like Melissa McCarthy, as Erin's Ray Stanz-like friend Abby Yates. And remember when I thought that Leslie Jones, as Patty Jones, would be so irritatingly annoying because of her stereotypical black woman characteristics? Actually, she doesn't seem so bad, because she actually does make me laugh so hard when she says things like "I don't know if it's a race thing or a lady thing, but I'm mad as hell!" and "The power of Patty compels you!" But the biggest standout of the lady quartet is Kate McKinnon, as Jillian Holtzmann! I think she is the most eccentric and the most likable female Ghostbuster of them all! Love the way she acted like such a goofball while being a brilliant engineer and provider of the ghost-capturing weapons. Especially how she took down all of Rowan's evil ghosts LIKE A BOSS ("You just got Holtzmann'ed!")! The other stars I find okay or mediocre are the hunky yet wasteful Chris Hemsworth (Kevin) and the one-dimensional Neil Casey (GB 2016 main villain Rowan). There are also some fun albeit cheap cameos from the original Ghostbusters, now mind you they are actually characters DIFFERENT from the characters we know and love, like Bill Murray, Annie Potts, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, and of course Ernie Hudson!
Overall, it was actually a fun remake of Sony's horror-comedy blockbuster property even while suffering from the usual remake-is-inferior problems and the so-bad-yet-it's-ridiculously-funny-if-not-completely-forced jokes! It didn't actually end up a franchise-killing abomination like Batman & Robin or Fant4stic! And neither is it one of the turned-out-to-be-awful-in-my-opinion movies that strangely earned good Rotten Tomato ratings (Noah - 76%, Indiana Jones 4 - 77%, Superman Returns - 76%, Piranha 3D - 73%, etc.)! Perhaps it wasn't much of a waste of a ticket even if there are other summer movies better than this what is now one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies right up with Angry Birds, Pixels, Battleship, and the Transformers movies! Let's see if its $46 million opening will allow Sony to begin this ever-expanding cinematic universe of the Ghostbusters (having their own production company called "Ghost Corps") they've been planning after their Spider-Man Cinematic Universe was killed by The UN-Amazing Spider-Man 2! So who are you gonna call?

GHOSTBUSTERS (either male (old) or female (new))!!!

Regretful Throwback Review of 'Transformers: Age of Extinction'

I thought it would be nice for me to write this regretful throwback review of 2014's Transformers: Age of Extinction since today is June 27th. "Best Summer Movie of 2014"? "Better than TF 2 & 3"? What the heck was I thinking? Was the wait for TF4 worth it after Michael Bay finished Pain & Gain? As I compare and contrast this fourquel with the first three films that I remember were the real deal, it grieves me to say how disappointed I was. For a minute, I thought that TF4 would help me put aside all of the overwhelmingly upsetting complaints and flaws (such as cheap fan service of 'bots and 'cons) that I've had to go through in Revenge of the Fallen (my most disliked TF sequel since 2009) and Dark of the Moon, both of which I believe were not on par with the first ever live-action Transformers movie that changed my life forever. Once I knew that Shia LaBeouf's character is not set to appear in the 4th film, I thought that it would be a relief. From my first viewing of TF: AOE at Tysons Corner, I was sort of glad that most of the robot characters like Optimus Prime felt like actual characters than cheap visual props. With the addition of the Dinobots and Galvatron being revealed to be the same Megatron from TF 1-3, I thought that things were about to get very interesting for the movie franchise. But it's as though the weak domestic gross of $245 million, the meager $60 million DVD/Blu-ray sales, and the Rotten Tomato critical rating of 18% that AOE got were right all along. As do the mediocre-detailed TF movie toy figures (and lack of correct-sized toys regarding Lockdown and Galvatron) nowadays. For every repeated viewing before looking back at the original 3, I realized that my initial appreciation of TF4 was a big mistake. Which leaves me a question: Is the latest movie that stars Mark Wahlberg the post-DOTM epilogue I have been waiting for after finishing the final season of Transformers: Prime? Problem was, Age of Extinction lacked everything that I enjoyed about the Transformers movies, terrible or no, before the movie industry became dominated by even better ones like Marvel/DC superhero movies, Hunger Games and such. The outcome of the Chicago Battle we got instead are humans fearing and hating the Transformers, especially the Autobots that have fought everything by sacrificing their own home planet to save mankind from the Decepticons, which prompted the government to finally cut off military ties with the Autobots and thus allowing the hostile human task force Cemetery Wind to hunt down Decepticons AND Autobots across the globe! What happens to the post-DOTM Autobots (anyone NOT Optimus Prime or Bumblebee) minus newcomers like Hound, Drift, and Crosshairs? They were said to have been massacred. Every. Last One. Which may include Ratchet (check), Leadfoot (check), Roadbuster, Topspin, Dino/Mirage (Mattel, not Hasbro, owns Ferrari - so, he must be dead), and even Sideswipe. Not the personal "thank you" I wanted for the Autobots that may not participate in AOE. It just makes me feel so upset and angry that the Transformers brand is losing everything that made it so popular as if cheaply killing off Starscream, Soundwave, and Shockwave in TF3 wasn't bad enough! Seeing Ratchet, the last of the original TF1 cast, getting gunned down by Savoy's team and Lockdown was like seeing part of my childhood being destroyed! They should have let Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson come back to play Lennox and Epps again to provide some indication that the TF1-3 feeling is not gone for good and that there are still humans remaining loyal with the Autobots. It's almost like Dark of the Moon, although containing stuff that upsets me the most like Sentinel Prime's allegiance with the Decepticons and his role being a main TF3 villain instead of Megatron or Shockwave, could have been the final film despite the ending that I felt needed some extension to properly tie up loose ends. Even with the new human cast, they're just even more unlikeable and even worse than they were before like the movie crew and writer Ehren Kruger were either on drugs or completely desperate to make the movie per the studio's request without being concerned about the fans' complaints! And once we were given an explanation that there were "Creators" that uses their "Seeds" to produce and harvest the metal "Transformium" from every organic material they destroy to build the Transformers, as well as the mention of "Knights" (albeit poorly-developed like it was an afterthought) given by Lockdown, that's where it becomes such a jumbled mess that we're unable to clean up. I was more used to the whole AllSpark/Sun Harvester/Moon history thing that I thought for sure that that was it in order to tie all 3 films together. But with the Creator-Seed-Knight issue, I'm not so sure if they do tie well with them. Plus, Optimus and Hound acted like they know so much about that even though Optimus doesn't know who these Creators are and how those Seeds work! I would have to assume that Lockdown might have told him off-screen while Tessa escapes from the drones! And does the AllSpark cube matter to that new plot detail in AOE that wasn't thought of to begin with, or does it not anymore when they say that TF4 is a "soft reboot" despite having an obvious connection with the Chicago Battle in the predecessor? Not only was Transformers 4 so entirely convoluted, but it was so full of very forced humor and unlikeable & unnecessary humans like Jack Reynor and Sophia Myles, and said to be too much of a product placement commercial as though it was for the sake of raising business in China hence why AOE was strongly successful internationally than in the U.S. As soon as we're introduced to Creators, Cemetery Wind, KSI (pointless as it is due to the uninspiring "transforming" sequences), Lockdown, and Galvatron's one-dimensional subplot of him leading his army to capture the Seed, there was just TOO MUCH GOING ON given the 2 hour 45 minute run time! I think I'm good with just the AllSpark origin. It's that simple! Why bother saying that the Creators were responsible for the birth of the Transformers 3 movies later? It was so much better when it was just Autobots vs. Decepticons. THAT is what the Transformers movies after 3 should have been about! Perhaps it was a bad decision to kill off our favorite Decepticons so soon which kinda explains the point with the KSI-made prototype robots. Are these guys out of ideas no matter how much amount of money they get from each film? This is why the first Transformers movie to me is the best one compared to the inferior sequels, like what Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is to the 3-4 sequels. If next summer's Transformers: The Last Knight does not breathe some life back into this 5-time Razzie Award-winning, critically-struggling 4-film franchise that grossed over $3.7 billion worldwide, then they are about to meet the same fate as the other shameful movie franchises (Resident Evil, Terminator, Ice Age, etc.) that have overstayed their welcome! Guess as Brains would put it, "You dumb greedy bastards just brought extinction to yourself." Paramount had better let Michael Bay be true to his word that The Last Knight would be the "last Transformers movie" he would ever direct to make fans very happy! Right now, the best place where I will truly appreciate the Transformers is not just in the 1st Michael Bay TF movie, but in the G1/Prime TV shows and the War for/Fall of Cybertron video games.
However, with the return of Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson and Megatron (not as Galvatron?) in TF5: TLK, it seems that my faith in the TF movies would have to remain intact before I jumped to conclusions too quickly about reminding myself that "the TF sequels always ruin everything." To remain positive rather than worry myself no matter how many awful comments I find in each movie update, I would watch the final TF4 scene of Optimus leaving Earth to find the Creators a couple times to make me feel anticipated for the 5th installment of the "Transformers Cinematic Universe". Even if, at the same time, I feel nervous about the franchise fatigue getting much worse since Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Terminator Genisys. Let's hope that the oh-so brilliant Writers' Room are successfully getting the Transformers movie franchise back on track with these "wonderful ideas" that they'll come up with for spin-offs (Bumblebee) and prequels (Cybertron).

I'm coming for you.

My Overview and Reason for Lack of Blog Activity

Whoo! Finally! This is my first blog post since the Academy Awards from this February! I have not even touched Blogger because of my concerns for lack of physical activity at home (such as painting as suggested by my mom and the peers and clients who praises my painting skills) and my full commitment to another blog site called Writing for Designers for my Writing for Artists class with my kind and most understanding teacher Prof. Lynn Constantine. And believe me, I have had a good but difficult and challenging time at George Mason for spring semester this year. I was lucky to get an A in both Writing for Artists (Lynn Constantine) and Co Brand and Design (Jessica Rodriguez) classes, an A+ in Visual Voices Colloquium, and an A- in Paula Crawford's Painting III class. Although I got a B in 3D animation class with Prof. Jesse Cowan, which I thought was the most difficult class of the semester even when I was getting quite good with the tools in the Maya Animation program. But what matters most, is that I did great with that semester, as always, for all of my hard work and effort even when there are times when I kind of prefer to do things I love to do besides painting or working on computer stuff. Like watching movies, that is.

But as I prepare myself for hopefully an exciting summer, I've experienced some surprises and twists and turns that sometimes spawn in a consequential or controversial outcome. For example, Fox's Deadpool was an astounding hit for an R-rated comic book superhero movie, but Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice which is what I thought I was most excited for besides Marvel's Captain America: Civil War, sadly opened to very upsetting results which is not quite what the studio or fans had expected. To begin that subject, the Zack Snyder-directed blockbuster follow-up to Man of Steel is unfortunately filled with extremely out-of-character moments, particularly for the once proud "symbol of hope" Superman, and convoluted subplots that add nothing to what the "Batman v Superman" title really suggests. Why couldn't the trailers and TV spots be true to their word of what the final product will be like when deep down, it's as though they have NO CLUE of how to honor what made Batman, Superman, and all the DC heroes so popular in a comic book studio that must really think that being Batman is all they care about. I wanted to like the new takes on the most popular superheroes of DC Comics, mostly because of the praise on Ben Affleck's take on Batman, but because BvS has instead repeated the same bothersome mistakes found in Man of Steel, like making Superman too scornful and joyless because "dark and gritty works best", I'm not even sure if that means we should treat the Henry Cavill version of Superman as canon and act like the more heroic Superman (mainly Christopher Reeve and the DC Animated Universe counterpart) doesn't exist. They even made Lex Luthor (in name only even if he's "the son of the REAL (but dead... DEAD!?) Lex Luthor)!) a total loony thanks to Jesse Eisenberg! I would think that Captain America is the real Superman we deserve who is at least handled correctly and acted like a true American superhero and is actually willing to help people without any stupid morals. But that doesn't mean that every DC hero like The Flash or Aquaman should "be like Batman" as though DC thinks that darkness is always "fun"! I feel like the animated shows (mostly the '90s) are always gonna be better than the awful live-action movies (Green Lantern, Jonah Hex, Catwoman, even the DC Extended Universe films like Batman v Superman)! Although there's a 3-hr R-rated Ultimate Edition coming in DVD/Blu-ray that will change our we feel towards the critically-panned theatrical cut, is that going to justify how upset we are with the stuff that we feel didn't need (Justice League teasers, death of Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane's bullet investigation, nightmares including the Flash, reason that Batman and Superman fight each other is because of "Martha", the Kevin Costner cameo, last minute inclusion of Doomsday and Death of Superman storyline, etc.)? And with Suicide Squad coming this August and the announcement of Geoff Johns and Jon Berg being made as the "Kevin Feiges" of the DC movies, does that mean that there is "hope" for the DC Extended Universe, particularly correcting the way that Superman was terribly handled prior to next year's long-awaited live-action Justice League movie?

Hey, everyone!

On the bright side though, is that after I finally completed my spring semester at GMU, I got the chance to be reunited with my sister Christine Mayuga and see Captain America: Civil War at Tysons Corner! It's a superhero movie that I believe that Batman v Superman should have ended up as instead when pitting two of our favorite heroes for all of the right reasons with no abrupt resolution. But the biggest highlight of all was being impressed with Tom Holland's long-awaited FAITHFUL portrayal of Spider-Man after having to suffer with the awful-to-mediocre, franchise-killing Spider-Man 3 and Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2! For once, Sony made the right decision to allow Marvel handle everyone's favorite wall-crawler with care and bringing him back from obscurity! I have viewed the first two critically-acclaimed but overrated Sam Raimi films to prepare myself for Spidey's first debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since last year. I was glad that my wait for that was worth it. But for now, let's focus with the Captain America vs. Iron Man squabble. While it retains the awesome direction from Phase 2 game-changer Captain America: The Winter Soldier and proved to be a great start for Phase 3, I would think that it felt kinda too long for 145 minutes with all the fun humor and serious action which is sorta hard to balance each other without annoying Marvel and/or non-Marvel fans. Nevertheless, based on the box office research, it is already earning over $1.14 billion worldwide which is amazing! I knew that Civil War would mark a great start for summer 2016!

Now as far as I can tell, I also had a nice trip, albeit with some stressful struggles when it comes to being so far away from my beloved home Virginia while visiting places like Japan and the Philippines. I was excited to have arrived in Japan with my mom is because that Japan is, as I would call it, the birthplace of all of the famous properties that I was mostly familiar with! Godzilla, Power Rangers, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Hello Kitty, Transformers, Sony, you name it! Tokyo, Japan was such a big city! I never thought that I dreamt of coming there! The biggest gripe for coming to Japan though was all of the foods that I'm uncomfortable to eat with, since I am well picky. I still ate some pizza, chicken and burgers, which is a relief. But oh the places and beautiful sights you can find in Japan! And I almost bought many awesome Japanese toys due to how expensive they were! It is kind of fun to wander around, especially when I visit a place like the Tokyo Tower and the Tokyo Disney Resort! My mom and I even got to see Christine again who was already finishing her classes in this country! Onward to the Philippines!
The Philippines, as I know, is a birthplace of my mom and dad since the 1960s. It must be a very long time for them since they moved away to live in the United States to raise me in 1991. But when we got to Manila, I never expected the conditions to be so tightly full of traffic and full of dirty but poor and helpless people loitering in the streets. My family and I had a fun time, however. We moved to an apartment called Victoria Towers where we'll settle there for 2-3 weeks. We also would usually visit each of our closest relative to the Mayuga family, and we would always to special malls like SM Megamall, Robinsons Mall and Green Belt. I also got to see movies with my dad like Angry Birds and X-Men: Apocalypse, which were already out prior to their American dates! The moment that I never expect would happen was coming to the Philippine General Hospital, which is the building that I have seen before in the paintings that I made for my parents and their friends! It was like seeing a painting brought to life, with almost all of the EXACT details that I painted in every specific area of the canvas! My favorite relative that my parents, my sister and I have visited was Uncle Cito, who is of course the BROTHER of my Facebook friend Auntie Melody, and he was a huge fan of superheroes and Transformers! I was so surprised to see what kind of a fan he was! During the times in Manila, Philippines, life can be very stressful since I felt like I miss Virginia so much. Mostly because of all the foods that I had trouble coping with in every restaurant my parents wanted to go to honor their friends. Many times, they would find some helpful alternatives for me to have an effective lunch or dinner. I knew that coming to the Philippines wasn't always a bad place to come, even if there are some places that challenges my taste and views.

By the end of May and the beginning of June, we traveled to the beaches, where we would have a relaxing time splashing ourselves with seawater and explore other exotic islands and life in the Philippine waters. We visited the El Nido resort and stayed there from Thursday to Sunday where would take some special trips to somewhere where we'll snorkel ourselves beneath the salty waters. My sister was like the only one out of our family to have an amazingly fun time! Me? I just go along with how they're enjoying themselves. I even got to kayak with Christine and finally ride the tides on a surfboard along the beach water! Sure feels like summer!


So overall, that's what I was doing and why I haven't touched this blog since the start of GMU spring semester. But that's all I have to recap everything that I've done so far! I wonder what I can expect to see or hear before arriving back in George Mason this fall following my LOOOOONNG break this summer!

The 2016 Academy Award Winners!

The winners of my "favorite categories" at the 88th Academy Awards ceremony from last night are...!


Best Picture

• The Big Short
• Bridge of Spies
• Brooklyn
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Room
• Spotlight

Best Director

• The Big Short (Adam McKay)
• Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller)
• The Revenant (Alejandro G. Iñárritu)
• Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
• Room (Lenny Abrahamson)
• Spotlight (Tom McCarthy)

Best Actor

• Trumbo (Bryan Cranston)
• The Martian (Matt Damon)
• The Revenant (Leonardo DiCaprio)
• Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender)
• The Danish Girl (Eddie Redmayne)

Best Actress

• Carol (Cate Blanchett)
• Room (Brie Larson)
• Joy (Jennifer Lawrence)
• 45 Years (Charlotte Rampling)
• Brooklyn (Saoirse Ronan)

Best Supporting Actor

• The Big Short (Christian Bale)
• The Revenant (Tom Hardy)
• Spotlight (Mark Ruffalo)
• Bridge of Spies (Mark Rylance)
• Creed (Sylvester Stallone)

Best Supporting Actress

• The Hateful Eight (Jennifer Jason Leigh)
• Carol (Rooney Mara)
• Spotlight (Rachel McAdams)
• The Danish Girl (Alicia Vikander)
• Steve Jobs (Kate Winslet)

Best Original Screenplay

• Bridge of Spies
• Ex Machina
• Inside Out
• Spotlight
• Straight Outta Compton

Best Adapted Screenplay

• The Big Short
• Brooklyn
• Carol
• The Martian
• Room

Best Animated Feature

• Anomalisa
• Boy and the World
• Inside Out
• Shaun the Sheep Movie
• When Marnie Was There

Best Production Design

• Bridge of Spies
• The Danish Girl
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant

Best Costume Design

• Carol
• Cinderella
• The Danish Girl
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Revenant

Best Cinematography

• Carol
• The Hateful Eight
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Revenant
• Sicario

Best Film Editing

• The Big Short
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Revenant
• Spotlight
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
• The Revenant

Best Original Score

• Bridge of Spies (Thomas Newman)
• Carol (Carter Burwell)
• The Hateful Eight (Ennio Morricone)
• Sicario (Jóhann Jóhannsson)
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens (John Williams)

Best Original Song

• Fifty Shades of Grey ("Earned It")
• Racing Extinction ("Manta Ray")
• Youth ("Simple Song #3")
• The Hunting Ground ("Til It Happens to You")
• Spectre ("Writing's on the Wall")

Best Visual Effects

• Ex Machina
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Sound Mixing

• Bridge of Spies
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Sound Editing

• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Sicario
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens