Good-bye, Ryan Davis.

I find myself genuinely upset and quiet torn up. To find out a man who has influence my life more than anyone and in more ways then one, a man I never met. Ryan Davis died on the 3rd of July, and I honestly can’t imagine life without him.

THIS AIN'T NO GAME!

For the people who are asking “how can anyone be this upset about some you don’t know?” Ryan Davis wasn’t just a disembodied voice on the screen or an opinion on some paper he was, and I find it silly that I’m writing this, a friend and a inspriation to many people. His style of writing, along with the rest of the Giant Bomb crew, was unique. He really put himself in his writing, you got a sense of who he was, what his taste where. You really connected with Ryan, and in this day and age, with social sites such as Facebook, etc... I'm lucky to connect with the people around me locally let alone hundred miles away.

I'm highly dyslexic and have been my entire life. When I was 15-years-old I could barely spell, honestly you should read some of the crap I wrote back then. Below is my closing paragraph on my review of 'Pokemon: Leaf Green' I was 15 when I wrote this.

"Is one of the pokemon game ever. Poeple how were not around when Red & blue were out this is a good place to start off on and if you like you might what to try pokemon Ruby, Sapphire & Emerald. Fanil say:
It is a fun game for all pokemon fans so go and buy it."

Simon Burdall, Posted Jun 9, 2007.

All of my blogs, reviews, and short stories were poorly formatted, poorly spelt, with piss poor grammar. I join Gamespot in June, 2007, and randomly watched 'On The Spot' one evening. I remember seeing Ryan Davis for the first time appearing on the show, I can't remember what his segment was but I remember watching a early demo of 'Battlefield: Bad Compy.' Anyway, I fell in love with listening to Ryan Davis, Jeff Gerstmann, and Rich Gallup. I started to read reviews written by them I remember reading a review of a game called ‘Spy Hunter’ by Ryan Davis, and I began copying it word for word. I started to mimic, along with Jeff’s, style of writing and started to learn the basics of formatting a review, and how to express myself. From there I went onto becoming who I am today.

Ryan Davis influences my taste in humour, films, TV, how I write, what I write… His love of 'dumb' things is one of the reasons I own 'Robogenshi' on Blu-ray, because if I'm owning a film about a Robot Genshi I'm going to own it in the stupidest way possible.

 

In short, again I fill really fucking silly for writing this, I wouldn’t be who I am today without Ryan Davis, and the Giant Bomb crew, in my life. So thank you to Ryan Davis for unintensionly influencing my life and making me the person I am today. Thank you to Jeff Gerstmann, Brad Shoemaker, Vinny Caravella, Alex Navarro, Patrick Klepek and Rich Gallup for helping me express myself. 

 

There's more I want to write but... I really can't think, all I know that needs to be said now is...

 

Rest in Piece Ryan, and you will be greatly missed. My thoughts go out to his friends and family. 

I love you Ryan.

http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/ryan-davis-1979-2013/1100-4685/

My Thoughts on: Attack on Titan 進撃の巨人

In recent years, I've been longing for the Kaiju Giants to make the return to the big screen, such as Godzilla, Gamera, Mothra, etc... We've haven't seen a Japanese Kaiju film since 'Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy,' or as it's know 大怪獣バトル ウルトラ銀河伝説, a worthy 43rd anniversary of  Ultraman series back in 2009. Before that Cloverfleid in 2008. We could argue that films like Monsters and Troll Hunter apart of the 'Kaiju genre' but nothing has really scratch that ich, and with Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim just around the corner, and a new 'Godzilla' in the works, my slightly niche needs are finally being met.

With that said my needs have been catered for in Manga and Anime for a while now, and I've been sitting here literary kicking myself for not coming up with the premise for 'Attack on Titan,' otherwise known as 'Shingeki no Kyojin' (進撃の巨人). A heavily stylized show where humanoid creatures called Titans have forced humanity to retreat into a system of concentric Walls, and cower in there 'cage' while Titans 'rule' the Earth.

You have no idea how much that appeals to me as a writer. Its a script which has elements of humanity at it's lowest, pointing out there flaws and kaiju elements. Genius!

But with that said does 'Shingeki no Kyojin' live up to it's premise?

Just as side-note this should really be called "My 'Early' Thoughts on: Attack on Titan 進撃の巨人." As at the time of writing there are only twelve episodes of the Anime and ten volumes of the Manga available. I'm currently on episode ten of the Anime and haven't started reading the Manga yet, so this won't be a full 'review'.

 “The story starts off with the potential to be a thought provoking piece on the down fall of civilization, but quickly show its true colours…”

We follow Eren Jaeger, an idealistic and impulsive young man, who after the Titans breach the outmost wall and lay waste to the town witness his mother meet her end at the hands of a Titan. From that moment onwards Eren vows to "erase their existence from this world." Eren soon enlists into the military along with his adopted sister Mikasa Ackerman, and close friend Armin Arlert.

While goofy at times, the show is genuinely unsettling. Everything from the design of the Titans to the way they move is slightly disturbing. There design encapsulates the fear and threat of the Titans, perfectly. And there something symbolic about the biggest threat the human race is facing is a race of humanoid creatures. Something along the lines of “I think it's man's nature to go to war and fight.”

The story starts off with the potential to be a thought provoking piece on the down fall of civilization, but quickly show its true colours as a revenge story featuring giant monsters which in its self is fine. Around episode nine the show slowly becomes a text book ‘Battle-Manga’ where the main character finds that he has a special gift to fight the Titans with. At least before this revelation it was an unconventional ‘Battle-Manga’ along the lines of Neon Genesis Evangelion. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed but the show never pretends to be thought provoking piece, but I would also be lying if I said I wasn’t pumped full of excitement at the set pieces featuring the Titans.

These set pieces are where Shingeki no Kyojin’s Kaiju roots come alive, as the slow methodical Titans make their way through the city wreaking havoc and leaving only death in the wake. The cinematography during these moments is fantastic, giving a good sense of scale and context to the larger creatures and depicting the insignificant of the human characters. Along with the amazing score by Hiroyuki Sawano (澤野 弘之), also known for his work on Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (機動戦士ガンダムUC(ユニコーン), define these set pieces with adrenaline pumping pace.

The main theme "Guren no Yumiya" (紅蓮の弓矢) by Linked Horizon also gets a special mention for being so, for the lack of a better word, epic.

Sadly there isn’t much to say on the sound design other than its serviceable, the sounds of the ‘Titans’ and the ‘3-D Maneuver Gear’ are as you would aspect. But the sound never encapsulates the sense of destruction and confusion of an attack and relies on the Sawano’s music a little too much.

Going back to “a revenge story featuring giant monsters” this is where the biggest flaw with the show becomes apparent. None of the main characters, apart from Mikasa, are that interesting. That’s not to say there not interesting at all, it just that the entire main cast can fit into the generic cardboard ‘Anime’ archetypes. Mikasa is the only main character to barely escape her archetype by have some interesting redeemable qualities, otherwise she would fall into the quiet, mysterious archetype with the dark past. There are a few side-characters that have some remember-able quirks but beyond that the star of the show ends up going to the Colossal ‘skinless’ Titan. Who spends most of the series menacingly standing at the edge of the wall overlooking the destruction.

The animation quality seems 'fragmented' at times. For the most part the animation is defined, and bold. You can feel the weight, or the lack of weight, within a scene. As Titans rip through stone walls and take a cannon ball to the shoulder.  It’s engaging. While at other times it's static, but this is a common practice within the genre, it’s still immersion breaking.  

Ultimately, 'Shingeki no Kyojin' left me a little conflicted. As I said, I'm currently on episode ten of twelve and the series is ongoing so I can't defiantly say whether this is worth your time or not. For the most apart, I had a good time with 'Shingeki no Kyojin' I found it weirdly engaging but it wasn't without its flaws. None of the main characters stuck with me, other than the Titans. The Sound design is lacking and mentionable at best. The animation is at times defined and full of character while at other times it seems static. I can't recommend this to everyone, but if you're interested in Kaiju films, or unconventional ‘Battle-Mangas’ such as Evangelion it's worth a watch.

The 2013 Redesign.

Hello.

I'm currently in the middle of the long promised site redesign. So whats happened and why has it taken so long? And whats in the redesign? Well first; the redesign has always been something that I've wanted to do for along but has always been put on the back burner because of University and other projects but recently I've had a small window to work on the redesign.

Updates;

• All post have been hidden during the redesign. Some of these post will appear back on the site at a later with the new feature layout.
• 05/02/2013 - Place holder banner added, page out has been change to a default template while coding. 
•  27/06/2013 - CV Added.