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!