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Let's start with a little History lesson:
de Blob was originally developed as a free downloadable game for Windows by eight students studying Game Design and one student studying Game and Media Technology in the Netherlands. THQ noticed the game and was very impressed with the team's work, and acquired the rights to the game. THQ handed over the game to Blue Tongue Entertainment and Helixe and the companies each developed their own versions for different consoles.
- Wikipedia

Picked this one up this weekend. I did my research beforehand, and read the reviews, and was shocked to find the ratings were anywhere from an 8.5 (critic rating) to a 9.5 (user rating), considering I had not even seen so much as a commercial or ad campaign for this at all.

You play as this gelatinous blob that is going around restoring color to the worlds. I.N.K.T. has taken over everything. The people are spend mindlessly wandering around in a black and white society with no fun, parties, activities, etc. You go around collecting paint to put the color back and defeat the I.N.K.T. agency.

The upside:

• The graphics are phenomenal. They're intensely clean, bright and just really great on screen.
  
• Overall storyline - Reminds me of the perfect blend of Mario Sunshine with Jet Grind Radio.
• Soundtrack - I only have 3 songs, but I love them. Can't wait to find the rest of them.
• Insanely cute characters. Think Pikmin with Animal Crossing talk. ;-)
• Uncomplicated missions - Sometimes it's a nice break to do some games where you don't have to find a feather to give to the old lady who will then give you a bowl who you have to take to the merchant just to get a gem to get a power so you can move a rock.
  

• Inconvenient save points. Unless you can dedicate a full hour to this game then don't bother starting it. You can't save the game until after you have defeated an entire town sector. It's not a ridiculously insanely hard game to get through but it does get kind of annoying if you have two jobs and you want to put 20 minutes here and there.... Okay that might be just me then.
• The jumps - I haven't quite gotten the hang of the jumping thing. When I jump it's hard to control (for me anyway) where I want to jump and land. Also the jumping distance is inconsistent. Sometimes I can jump really high, otherwise I'll end up stuck to the wall and have to slowly drip down.
  
• Movement - It does get dizzying after awhile. x_x Again it might be because I haven't put much time into it, but as you "walk" through you leave trails of paint behind you. I'm thinking the trails of paint effect your position in the game. You can't stand still. You end up drifting and moving around where the blobs of paint are, which does get annoying if you need to stand still for a moment, and you keep falling off buildings.
• Challenges - I'm hoping the challenge levels pick up a bit, otherwise it's going to be redundant. How many times can you paint buildings a certain color and NOT get bored with it?
  

I love fairy tales, which is probably why I still watch Disney movies and cartoons. The imagination and the buildup of it is the ultimate story. You have a beginning with the goal/dream of the character who goes through quite an adventure to get to the end. How can you not love fairy tales?

So here's the tale this movie revolves around:
Long ago humans lived in harmony with water nymphs, the Narfs. As time passed humans on land moved more and more inland breaking ties with the Narfs. Without the communication and guidance from the Narfs, humans on land became increasingly violent and disruptive towards one another. So the Narfs starting sending in their most precious ones to guide them once more. According to the legend, Narfs have the ability to see into the future. Based on that they know who their "Vessel", person they have to meet, is going to be. The Vessel is said to have a major impact on the world, but needs to see the Narf in order to be inspired and directed where he/she needs to go. All the Narf has to do is make sure the Vessel sees her.

Scrunts are animals made of twigs and grass who try to prevent the Narfs from accomplishing their mission. But there is an understand that Scrunts will not attack on the night of the Narf's departure, for fear that they will be punished by the Tartutic's. Sometimes rogue Scrunts will attack regardless of the rules. The Tartutic's are three monkey-like animals that keep justice between them. They are said to be evil.

The entire movie takes place on this story. A Narf, Story, is stranded after completing her mission. A rogue Scrunt has attacked her repeatedly when she tries to leave. And so she seeks the help of the landlord to apartment complex, Cleveland Heep, help her, who researches the story from one of his neighbors, a Korean college student who has a mother who knows all about this bedtime story.

As the movie continues there is more to the story of how to help her get back to the giant eagle, who will help her get back home. Like if she has obstacles there is a select group of humans who can help protect her. A Guardian who can ward off the Scrunts. An Interpreter who can see signs in simple things to guide them. A Healer, to... well heal her.

What I loved was the realistic spin to this fairytale. What I didn't like were the inconsistencies:

1. The fact that the Korean lady knew of this bedtime story and made-up words like "Narf", "Scrunt" and "Tartutic" were somehow translated from Korean to English.
2. Where were the Tartutic's all along? Weren't they supposed to come punish the Scrunt's for attacking her when she tried to leave the first time?
   
3. If she is allowed to have helpers like the Guardian, or the Interpreter, to help her get to the eagle, and they're allowed to see the eagle, then why can't she tell these people she's allowed to see them?
4. I wasn't quite clear on the "ceremony". What was the purpose of the 7 sisters? 5 of them were actual sisters, so where did the Interpreter pick the other 2 from?
5. This is going to sound weird but given the circumstances, I find it hard to believe that everyone would believe such a fairytale is really true. Think about your landlord coming to you and saying "I really found Cinderella, and she needs help finding her glass slipper. Can you help?"

I stumbled across this one through one of my favorite webcomics, Three Panel Soul.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the storyline. It's about this girl who was created accidentally by God, and so to correct the mistake there are angels around her who try to make her as unnoticeable as possible. There's this one panel where it shows her making these art projects throughout various times in her life, and the angels ruining them in one way or another. Eventually she gives up on her passion because nothing ever works out and she just becomes this miserable, snarky, extremely sarcastic girl. It's fantastic!

Usually when I'm drawn to a webcomic it's the artwork THEN the writing. In this case it's the vice versa. Not saying the artwork is bad by any means, but the writing for this is brilliant. The timing of all the responses and reactions are phenomenal. I can absolutely see this as a sitcom or a movie. It does remind me a little of George from Dead Like Me (FYI: IMDB has that it's coming back in 2009!!).

Anyway, please check it out. It's only been around since the beginning of the year, and gets updated about once a month, so you'll catch up quick.

SPOILER ALERT!

So the highly anticipated series, Heroes, returned Monday night with a 2 hour special.

I don't know about anyone else but I was really disappointed. Let me start off with Claire. They totally mocked season 1 with her storyline in the first episode. ALL of season 1 was spent to protect the cheerleader so that Sylar doesn't become "immortal" and that gets disproven in one episode?!? Come on!

I'm thinking we'd be done with Sylar by now, but no. The sucker is still around. It's getting old. I hope they keep Sylar in that little room for awhile and focus more on Adam Monroe/Kensei Takezo. Just change something... anything. Because if you think about it... they've been running the same plotline since season one. Yes, yes the world is in danger. Yes the cheerleader has something to do with it. Yes everyone is intertwined in some way. Yes the company is out to ruin everyone in some way. I feel like a lot has happened in the season and at the same time nothing has changed.

You know what... someone needs to die! I thought Nikki was gone for good and was glad, because to be honest she annoyed me. She didn't really have a power, she just a severe mental disorder a.k.a. multiple personality disorder. The Petrelli brothers were each supposed to die, and ended up living by some miracle... oh yes that's right Claire's blood. Does that mean all of the characters are going to live throughout the series?

As much as I complain I will probably end up watching all the episodes. So I'll come back when there's something worth mentioning. But here are my predictions:

• Hiro is going to be chasing that girl for the formula for the whole season.
• If it doesn't happen during the season finale it'll happen close to it: Ando and Hiro will have a face to face battle.
• Future Peter is going to spend the whole season fixing his mistake.
• Present Peter is going to be stuck with those gang of convicts for quite some time.
• Mrs. Petrelli might end up being evil and take Sylar under her wing, can't tell yet.
• Mohinder might actually die, or he'll create a cure for his side effect and end up coming up with a cure for the virus.

What just happened? Seriously, that's what I thought when the movie ended. This movie picked one of the hottest and controversial topics and actually managed to go through the entire two hours not really discussing... anything. So in that sense I'd have to give it a nice round of applause to waste how ever many millions of dollars to make this film about absolutely nothing.

The entire movie felt like you walked into someone else's conversation midway and they're talking about the topic without being direct about it. So you just feel lost and you don't want to leave yet, because maybe they'll start making sense soon... hopefully?

This movie seemed like it was trying really really hard to sound really really smart and come off artsy... and failed abysmally.

I always love the movies that are told in a semi-documentary/biographical sort of way. Apollo 13 and Girl with the Pearl Earring (one of my top favorites) are good examples. So I figured that this would be a good pick, aside from the fact that it won a lot of awards and it was critically acclaimed blah blah blah...

First off, Paul Dano (Girl Next Door, Little Miss Sunshine) was fantastic. He was perfect for the role of Eli Sunday, the over zealous wanna-be prophet for the town. He was creepy and conniving when he needed to be and during the moments when Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) didn't give him what he needed/wanted, you are reminded that he is still a kid and how naive he is.

Daniel Day-Lewis didn't impress me at all. It seemed like he was impersonating someone from that time as opposed to acting like someone from that era. He just seemed so out of place and there was something about his character that was unnatural.

As for the storyline... this movie would be a good example of a horrible translation from book to film. As the story progresses for what appears to be no reason at all Daniel became more and more irrational. In the beginning you see him as this very calm level-headed businessman. I suppose everyone has a snapping point though, and his would have to be when his son became deaf after an explosion when they struck oil. Even then you still feel disconnected from his character and unrelatable. I'm left confused by his actions instead of feeling sympathetic and understanding.

Oh, and what was up with the soundtrack?! WORST soundtrack ever. It seemed like they ran out of money making the film so they took the soundtrack from a disposable B-rated horror film and slapped it on this one.

My assessment... overrated. I'm hoping the book will be better. I'll let you know.