Xbox One Follow Up-The Prediction

Ok so if you haven’t heard the Xbox One was shown awhile ago at a large demonstration in Seattle and London. I was following the show and made an article which you can view here. With the rest of the world tuned in on their television sets Microsoft rolled out their plan for the new Xbox console which can be broken down to Television and Xbox equals Chocolate and Peanut Butter.

Ugh it always goes straight to my hips, then my gums bleed out, but its totally worth it

They spoke about the new Kinect which will come with the Xbox, the compatibility with the television, and the Halo show. However in their little presentation they neglected to mention some of the flaws (outside of the name) but our friendly neighborhood Sony was more than happy to tweet shady remarks about them until we could finally see them ourselves. However before we get into strictly Xbox problems, the need to address the state of the gamer nation is high so this I shall do.

Ok the trend of the industry moving away from the gamers has been long documented. We’ve seen it and especially with the advent of the Wii, we’ve lived it. I mean they really were able to capitalize on people who never would have played games before. That’s great, whoop-ti-doo great for you Nintendo really, but who do you think introduced these foreigners to the games in the first place. That’s right, the hardcore gamers. If you piss off these people NOBODY will buy your product because WE are the experts, not your fancy advertisement campaigns with your clever phrases and puns. Not your millions of dollars that you spent developing the product. No it is US the Gamer Nation that holds the fate of your company in our hands…and we…are a butterfingery bunch. Why the slightest aggravation could cause us to lose our grip!

Just try us

Even deeper down the rabbit hole you’ll find Gamestop which uses the slogan “power to the player”. Yeah I remember when that actually used to be TRUE for them. I’d get a game maybe it was already scratched, maybe somehow it got scratched the same day I bought it, either way it was “Power to the player” and I got another disc. Now they try to swindle even more money out of you by requiring that you buy an insurance policy. That’s right they now want you to pay for something they used to do for FREE. The reason this messes with me is because it is one of the MAIN reasons I went to them because lord knows I wasn’t selling them any of my games. However this is just another facet of the move away from hardcore gamers. Microsoft sees this and is going right along with it so now that you have that back story, let’s get into the issues with the one they call….the one…for whatever reason.

Dude just call it the first thing that comes to mind and lets move on

KINECT MANDATORY

First off it comes with the Kinect which sounds great BUT that’s probably going to drive the price up. Now if later on I discover this is not the case and the price is around the same price as the 360 was (plus inflation) then I shall retract this statement. However any way to make an extra buck seems to be Microsoft’s saying these days so I doubt I’ll be doing that. Also the reason that the Kinect comes with it is that it will be MANDATORY for ALL GAMES. Now that doesn’t mean that you will have to use it as a controller in every game. I’m sure they won’t have you leaping about the room to the next Final Fantasy game. However it will be used for everything from turning on the Xbox to in-game controls by reading your game controller. It can be a good or bad thing however I’d love to have a choice in the matter. Don’t get me wrong I totally went out and bought a Kinect and thoroughly enjoyed all three games I ever played on it. It’s a great concept and it’s nice to see that they have enough dedication to it to do something like this. Yet it just seems to be a bit of a stretch just like…

The Xbox1 Look

Ok so many people around the net noticed this so I’m glad I’m not the only one. Does it look like a 90s VCR to any of you? For those of you who don’t know what a VCR is…grow up and stop making me feel old. The Xbox1 looks big and clunky, a direct opposition to what they pushed with the curvy (kind of) 360. I loved the look of the 360 and to replace it with this mess just seems crude. It looks like a generic box, and not much fun. Usually in advertisement you DO judge a book by its cover and this one looks like some boring book about the growth cycles of worms.

Sounds fascinating!

Internet Connection

So apparently you will HAVE to have the internet to use this system. Every 24 hours it must be connected to the internet which SUCKS. I mean seriously to play a game that I bought, with my money, from your company, I have to then pay another company 25 plus bucks a month to get access to play it??? What sense does that make? None and yes it’s been confirmed that even offline activities will require this. This leads me to believe that Microsoft has a very narrow view of economics. See if you buy something one time that means you saved up for it. Even if you couldn’t afford this Xbox every month, you can afford it maybe once a year or maybe once every two years, but now that you have to factor in the additional internet costs…it’s just not going to work for a lot of people. Especially for people outside of America who you do realize, are also an entirely large market. I know people take it for granted that internet access is there for everyone but that’s just the problem, when making a multi-million dollar investment, you can’t just assume.

No Used Games

As per their new philosophy of get every penny out of their pockets no matter how much it pisses them off, they’ve outlawed used games. Simply put you will have to pay for every game even if your friend brings over his copy of the game. Say little Johnny is all excited about Halo 5 and you plan on going through it on the co-op modes which by the way for YEARS they’ve been making so much more intricate because we’ve demanded it. Ok so he brings the game over you pop it in and because you are connected to the internet they immediately recognize that this is not a game that you have paid for and they shut your share happy butt right down.

Pictured: Bill Gates

Yep not so much fun for you and little Johnny is it? This is a shameless attempt on Microsoft’s part to stem the tide of people moving from brand new purchases to second-hand gaming. See games have always been on the expensive side but ever since they jacked the price up to $60 a game people have been throwing money at Ebay and Gamestop to get their games. Ever since that explosion happened the console creators that be have been scheming to get their paws on some of that sweet sweet cash. It wouldn’t be good enough to cut down the price about five dollars to see more people buy directly from them. They want to make it so that we the gamers have no choice but to crawl to them with our hands out begging.

sigh…it’s never enough is it?

No Backwards Compatibility

This one just doesn’t make any sense. I tried to make it make sense by saying “maybe they think everyone will just buy second-hand” but even that doesn’t fit because nintendo released Zelda on Gamecube and Wii and both did extremely well on both systems. This has been the case for many systems, Sony was still releasing titles on the ps2 for quite a while after the ps3 was released. Xbox one really through me for a loop. I’m supposing (if one will allow a supposition) that this was merely a side effect of the programming used to keep people from playing second-hand games. I mean we haven’t forgotten that red ring mess Microsoft so you are really going to have to prove yourself this time, and this mess isn’t helping your cause at all. I’m a die-hard gears of war, Halo fan but man this is ROUGH territory right here.

So Microsoft I love my Xbox 360, I loved my Xbox, and I really thank you for everything you’ve done with both. I mean I had about 90 games on the Xbox and 2 original Xbox consoles with 8 controllers. I sold all of it for the 360 and currently have about 50 games on that. I really do hope that I’ll find some reason to get this Xbox1 but as a gamer…I can’t see it. However I’m still going to keep my excitement and hope up for this console because I want it to be great.

C’mon get it together pleaaasseeee!

Prediction

Yet my official prediction for this system hinges on the oh so little knowledge of the competition. I really know nothing about the Wii U and plan on keeping it that way. The ps4 isn’t backwards compatible either but its a more powerful system but they still never fully utilized the ps3’s full potential. I’d say the fields are pretty even and after ps4 is rolled out we’ll really see. Right now I’d say Microsoft is going to take a loss, they’ve put the ball in Sony’s court, if they play along and do what Microsoft did then the gamers are screwed and we won’t have a choice. But if Sony gives in and keeps the used games as an option then Microsoft loses everything.

Thanks for reading! I hope you found it informative and entertaining as usual you guys are the best!

Sincerely,

Brian Bell – Wiseguy Industries

The Top 5 Cartoons of the 90s

The nineties were a time of crazy backwards clothing, 99 cent gas, oval office oral opprobria, and of course…CARTOONS! Man were kids ever catered to back then Disney channel was mostly cartoons and (shocker) so was cartoon network! I know crazy right? Well that was until some…changes…

You just stood by and let Ted Turner kill us

The WB had morning cartoons as well and all was right in the toon world, we even got a live action crossover movie with the biggest basketball superstar of all time. So things were great. So to narrow it down to five is going to be rough but here are my top five as I remember them, If I leave any out feel free to list your “favs” in the comment section! The rules for inclusion I’m doing shows primarily meant for kids so no…Ren and Stimpy isn’t on here, it had to have STARTED in the 90s so 89 and before doesn’t cut it. Ok…here we go!

#5 Doug

Centering around the new kid and his huge imagination, Doug lured everyone in with its accessibility, and kept them there with their zany characters. Doug is a kid who doesn’t quite fit in but he’s got hi pal Scooter and his dog Porkchop along to help him out. With his huge imagination and strange ability to get into awkward situations, he’s able to keep us entertained. Plus every now and then he becomes one of the coolest superheros to wear a belt… QUAILMAN.

…maybe he was just a tad to old for this…

#4 X-men

Yes based on the extremely popular comic book series this show brought it off the page and onto your television set. Along with being just a great show in general, it gave us one of the best theme songs in the history of man-kind. I mean most of us are still hooked off the intro alone. Here’s something to try, walk into a crowded place and blast this song and watch what happens.

They will appear…

The character selection was great, they had Morph, Beast, Rogue, Cyclops, Storm,Wolverine, and much more. Even Jubilee served as a pretty good character in terms of  introducing us to the X-men’s world. They did a really good job with character development and keeping them close to their comic book counterparts. From Wolverine and Sabertooth’s rivalry, right down to having Storm be afraid of tight spaces. This show really shaped the direction that Marvel has taken and helped it become the force in film that it is now. Without it we’d still be stuck with movies like the 90s captain america and the Avengers movie would never have existed! Thank you X-men!

But you…no thanks

#3 Ducktales

Ok the 90s has the crown when it comes to theme songs. If people can agree on nothing else we can at least agree on that! When this song comes on try not to go WoooOOO!

The show circles around Scrooge Mcduck, the richest duck in the world, and his 3 grand nephews. I’m not exactly sure who the father is(Darkwing duck?) but Donald is their uncle. Huey, Dewey, Louie, and their uncle get into all sorts of adventures while Scrooge tries to protect his riches while gaining more. My personal favorite is the episode  the hound of castle mcduck. Based off of the book “the hound of the baskerville” it really demonstrates the variety of the show and its ability to make a story it’s own. Plus it taught us all that if you have enough money you can do this-

I’m about to diiiiiiiiive iiinnnn

#2 What A Cartoon!

The What a Cartoon show was Cartoon Networks testing grounds. It just so happened that most of their tests were amazingly forward thinking, creative, and outright fun. You never knew exactly what you were going to get when this show came on, and that was half the fun. The other half was knowing that this one shot episode might come back later on for several seasons. Many great shows got their start here including the Power Puff girls, Courage the cowardly dog, Dexter’s laboratory,Johnny Bravo,Codename: Kids Next Door, and little known fact Family Guy!

With all these great shows owing their existence to “What a Cartoon” we have to give it its respect. Side Note: I wish that they’d come out with another show like this, it would really accelerate the amount of good shows being put on television.

#1 Batman The Animated Series

Oh Superman fans stay out of your feelings! Without this shows success your guy never would have made it.

Neveeerrr wouuulddaa maaade iiit

If you’ve ever read even ONE of my blogs you knew Batman was going to be somewhere on this list (Statics not here because he just missed the cut off airing  9-23-2000). Seriously though even non fans have to admit with music by Danny Elfman backing it up and an atmosphere that completely changed the way people saw superheroes, it had to be on here. Batman led the way for other fan favorites such as Superman the animated series, Batman and robin the animated series, countless amazing DVD DC universe features, and a little show called The Justice League. Dare I say without this animated series we might not have seen Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” as any Bat-Fan will tell you if anybody got the Bat right it was this series and Nolan DID study it. It introduced to the world outside of comic books so many things such as how Gotham looks, the relationship between Batman and the police, and the infamous…Bat-Glare!

Just run…he’ll catch you but…maybe he’ll just break one arm…maybe…

Little known fact that’s actually a superpower…joking but he has used it to effectively shutup Superman, Martian Manhunter and just about anybody else foolish enough to question his methods(except wonder woman who insisted on making him her boyfriend).

Close your eyes and try to listen to Batman’s voice…now the Jokers…how about two face? Penguin? I’m willing to bet that you heard in this order: Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Richard Moll, and Paul Williams. I’ve watched every Batman movie a million times over and still these are the voices I hear, no matter how great Heath Ledger was in the Dark Knight that was a one time gig, Hamill has been the joker for decades now. Kevin Conroy has been Batman for just as long and why? It’s off the success of this amazing program. The artwork was amazing in fact they had to give it its own name as it didn’t fit into any category that came before it “Dark Decko.”

Nominated for 19 awards and winning a Daytime Emmy this show embodied not only the Dark Knight and Gotham, but the entire idea of what we want to see in our superhero cartoons. Each hero has a fan following for a reason, when you bring that to the screen you keep those fans and add more (I don’t get what’s so hard about it? Stop letting your ego get in the way Hollywood.)

That’s the best five for right now but as I was doing more research I’m thinking about making a top twenty because WOW the 90s weren’t playing when it came to cartoons! So for now I hope you enjoyed this but I’ll definitely be updating it soon!

Thanks for reading Sincerely,

Brian Bell-Wiseguy Industries

Most Underrated Xbox Title of All Time!

Advent Rising!

System: Original Xbox

Price: Well when I bought it used it was $2

I remember when I first picked this game up for 2 dollars at a pawn shop in college. My friends and I came back from band practice (all music majors at the time) put it in the Xbox and sat back to see what a crappy game I’d purchased.

Immediately we were blown away by the composition of the music. I mean epic is basically the bare minimum for the term you’d have to use to describe it. It caught us so off guard we actually laughed.

This wasn’t what we expected.

STORYLINE

Almost immediately we were thrown into a new world where the stars were no longer the limits and humans were being sent out as ambassadors to meet an entire species that thought of them as holy creatures. Soon after they meet them, the aliens that want to destroy them attack their ship. The main character Gideon uses previously unknown psychic powers to help stop the attack and then he is sucked through a wormhole. That’s where the game really starts.

I’m big on character driven stories. I think everyone subconsciously is, I mean you can’t really care about what’s going on in a story if you don’t care about the characters. In advent rising they really push the dynamics between the characters. Gideon is the younger brother of a hot shot war hero. His brother basically gets him a job just off of his charisma and Gideon is left wondering if he is completely worthless. There are many other characters that add to the drama and feel of this game. Overall this storyline just gets 5 stars from me, this is what I love to see from my video games. Take it seriously, develop those characters and subplots!

Characters

Gideon Wyeth (voiced by Will Friedle) — The main character of the game. He is a member of one of the last human outposts.
Ethan Wyeth — Gideon’s hotshot older brother. Because of his celebrity following the Independence Wars, he is assigned the role of pilot for the mission of first contact with the Aurelians. He used his connections to instate Gideon as his co-pilot.
Olivia Morgan (voiced by Vanessa Marshall) — Gideon’s fiancé, a scientist assigned to Luriam space station.
Marin Steel — A decorated pilot from the Independence Wars, she encounters Gideon as he attempts to escape Bahr Han on her ship. She is captured by the Seekers and unsuccessfully imprisoned on the island of Teran, having developed her own psychic powers.
Kelehm Farwaters (voiced by Dwight Schultz) — A ninth-tier Garhgon (an Aurelian religious caste), he has trained himself in the telekinetic arts. Kelehm belongs to “the old faith” which states that the discovery of humans is part of a prophecy and the Aurelians will gain greater psychic power through them.
Enorym Tenspur (voiced by Michael Bell) — Ally to Gideon and the most highly trained of the Aurelian elite fighters, Enorym serves as a commander of the elite Felidic warriors. Enorym leads an assault on a Seeker ship shortly after Gideon learns how to use his psychic powers.
Bud – A troublemaking Marine that starts a bar fight with Gideon and later challenges him and Ethan to a training match. After losing, Bud fires a blaster at Ethan. The player then has the choice of either using a stungun to disable Bud or picking up a blaster and killing him, which determines whether his squadmates help you or abandon you in a later gameplay segment.
K’Chell — A Seeker ambassador who interrupts the planetary ruling council and demands that the Aurelians hand over Gideon and Marin. When Kelehm refuses, K’Chell kills him, then escapes to the ansible to inform the Seeker armada.
Sevan — A council member on Aurelia, he leads a rebellion to give the humans to the Seekers and avoid retaliation. After staging a coup, he co-opts the council, gives Marin to the Seekers, and puts Enorym on trial for treason.
Banath — Originally serving as Enorym’s best warrior, he is revealed to be a double agent for Sevan. Having planted a Seeker ambush inside the ansible, Banath becomes visibly angry after Enorym orders him to escort Marin back to the Aurelian capital. He returns with a dropship manned by other rebels after giving Marin to the Seekers and announces his betrayal by killing one of Enorym’s warriors. Gideon kills Banath shortly after Enorym is put on trial.

GAMEPLAY

As Gideon you’ll be able to utilize his kinetic abilities. One of my favorite parts of this game is the fact that he is just learning them. Now clearly this something many games use in order to make your character weaker in the beginning so the game will be harder. However in Advent rising they really mean he is LEARNING and he doesn’t stop ever. You get new and exciting moves and upgrades all the way through until the last stage. The greatest part of this game is they always throw something new at you and honestly its not even when one thing gets old, they just do it. Oh you’ve got a gun? Here take this Kinetic energy, oh you’ve got kinetic energy? How about SHOOTING FIREBALLS out of your hands? Oh I see you’ve got a Jeep- HOVER CRAFT!

Pictured: The head developer

One of the more interesting parts of this game is the control system. They have made use of a “flick targeting” control system that utilizes the second joystick. It’s very cool once you get used to it. Basically you flick the stick in the direction of the offending enemy and all of your attacks then go directly to that foe. This really comes in handy as its a large cartoony looking world. A third person shooter like that would have been a hair pulling experience trying to aim.

The enemies are intelligent and vary in size and abilities. They all have several specialized attacks of their own. While one tries to over power you with its extra limbs, another might try to snipe you from a distance, while yet another will try and Rambo you with automatic weapons. All in all the controls and enemies you fight make for very exciting and fun game-play.

Here are the actual controls for the game.

GIDEON CONTROLS
Left Thumbstick Walk. Run. Click In to Toggle Crouch/Stand
Right Thumbstick Flick Targeting
A Button Jump. Pull Up From Hanging Position.
B Button Melee Attack
X Button Arm Left-Handed Weapon (Hold). Dodge From Hanging Position. Activate.
Y Button Arm Right-Handed Weapon (Hold). Reload Weapon.
White Button Throw Grenade. Toggle Grenade (Hold).
Black Button Select Alt Fire Mode (With Right or Left Trigger)
Left Trigger Fire Left-Handed Weapon
Right Trigger Fire Right-Handed Weapon
Combo #1 X + A = Charge Jump
Combo #2 Any Direction + X = Acrobatic Moves

Also there are vehicles! These are pretty cool
SCYTHE VEHICLE CONTROLS
Directional Pad Enter or Exit Driver Side (From the Left). Enter or Exit Turret Side (From the Right).
Left Thumbstick Up = Forward. Down = Reverse.
Right Thumbstick Turn Left/Right. Aim Turret Chain Gun.
A Button Jump
Right Trigger Turbo. Fire Turret Chain Gun.

SHIPS/SHUTTLES CONTROLS
Left Thumbstick Forward = Thrusters. Down = Slow.
Right Thumbstick Steering
Right Trigger Thrusters

ANTI-AIRCRAFT TURRET CONTROLS
Right Thumbstick Aim
X Button Activate/Release
Right Trigger Fire

GRAPHICS

Now the graphics are the only reason why any one would ever doubt this game. The director made the choice to have elongated limbs which made them look more like comic book characters. This is an artist’s choice, however it gave them a weird gangly look (the game was originally supposed to be a comic book which may explain why he wanted this so badly). The frame rate does lag in certain areas doing certain things, however it is never enough to detract from the game as a whole. Plus I mean look at it! It still looks AMAZING for an original Xbox game. It plays well and by well I mean its extremely exciting.

Music

Ok I have to come back to this music because…well it’s part of me! I love music and truthfully a game with poorly composed music will make me put it down just as quickly as bad graphics.

But here are two examples of the total and complete epicness of the music for this game.

Here’s another one which is used a few times during boss battles but they have more themes as well.

The music was composed by Emmanuel Fratianni and Michael Richard Plowman and performed by Laurie Robinson and Tommy Tallarico. Here’s the list of songs for the entire soundtrack.

Advent Rising Original Soundtrack (57:21)
No. Title Length
1. “Muse” 3:08
2. “Poeta” 3:36
3. “Bounty Hunter” 3:05
4. “Aurelia” 3:03
5. “Greater Lights (feat. Charlotte Martin)” 3:52
6. “Glorious Human” 1:46
7. “Stolen Transport” 2:15
8. “Canyon Encounter” 2:04
9. “The Rise Of Aurelia” 2:01
10. “Edumeas Last Stand” 2:04
11. “Aurelian Conflict” 2:04
12. “The Aurelian Movement” 2:21
13. “Luriam Down” 1:04
14. “The Human Movement” 2:09
15. “Human Demise” 1:35
16. “Seeker Assault” 2:05
17. “Midst Of The N’Kul” 0:34

18. “Seeker Horde” 1:04

19. “Fiery Arrival On Aurelia” 0:55
20. “Power Within” 2:11
21. “Fortified Strength” 1:01
22. “Mastery Of Self” 2:20
23. “Return To Humanity” 2:16
24. “The Seeker Movement” 2:09
25. “Seeker Unrest” 2:05
26. “Conquest” 0:36
27. “Greater Lights (Jay-J’s Shifted UP Mix)” 3:58

WHY ISN’T THIS GAME HAILED AS AWESOME?

Well apparently there was a terrible marketing strategy of people being able to win one million dollars if they were able to decipher secret messages in the games various levels. Due to issues with security they had to shut down the contest which cost them quite a lot of money and advertisement. Also the first reviews for this game were way off, giving them five out of ten. Later they went back and fixed that with reviews like 8 out of ten or 7.8 out of 10 (IGN). Without advertising its hard to really get as big as you should be able to. However there is a core community online that knows about this game and they LOVE it. Its getting bigger and bigger by word of mouth, unfortunately it may be a little late for the company that produced it. However there are sites and Facebook pages online dedicated to this game and to creating a sequel.

SEQUEL

Will there be one? Who knows, it’s one of those things, teased forever but it’s anybody’s guess. Some things weren’t meant for sequels (Hangover I’m looking at you). However this game clearly was written to be given at least two more entries. Especially taking into account the terrific ending that happens AFTER the credits. Oh and that’s not just a cutscene there is GAMEPLAY after the credits. Yeah I had walked away (like a BOSS) after thinking I had beaten one of the best games ever made.

My face when I saw what was going on.

Suffice to say that last part was the icing on the cake. I mean that really let me know how much one, they respected this genre, and two knew about cinematic qualities being infused with video games. It was an amazing teaser for the next game which unfortunately never came out. Yet there are still those who are pushing for it.

On the plus side they have produced a line of comic books that I haven’t read but apparently they follow up so if you want to check those out here.

RATING

If you couldn’t already tell this is getting five out of five stars. The story is excellent, the music is amazing, the gameplay is exciting, fun and always advancing. It does a great job in making you feel what Gideon is feeling and all of these things merge together at the end to make one amazing experience.  The replay value is VERY high on this as they’ve included a way to upgrade different abilities. Also if its ever NOT fun to dive through the air and force blast an enemy into a lake of lava please stop the planet because I’ll be getting off.

So the bottom line is, if you haven’t gone out and purchased this game, do it. Seriously it’s like 2 bucks and an original Xbox is like 30 bucks now(because its not backwards compatible sucks I know.)

Thanks for reading everyone! I’ll keep  you up to date with new Xbox One news as well as PS4 news when they start delivering it. As always I’ll be bringing you old school reviews!

Thanks Again!

Sincerely

Brian Bell-Wiseguy Industries

48 Hour Film Festival Update!

As you may know Team Wiseguy Industries is now an official team entered into the 48 hour Film Festival thanks to sponsorship by The Home Medical Supply Store. Tonight we had our first official meeting and wow my team is even bigger than I’d thought! All of these talented people will be working to make the best film in 48 hours that they can and we’re all excited and ready to go!

Brian Bell(that’s me!)-Team leader, Director,Writer,Producer

Dave Carlson-Assistant Director,Writer

Douglas Guerra-Director of Photography

Mike Sayre-Composer

Damon Griffin-Chief Editor

Rohan Parikh-Actor

Roy Scandela-Actor

Sally Conners-Actress

Shuiken Chan-Actress

Bill Sullivan-Actor

Samira Gibson-Actor

Jahim Henry-Actor

Fransisco Gregory-Actor

Natalie Harris-Actress

Courtney Harris-Actress

Ruby Shattuck-PA

Ryan Fritzmartin-PA

Thanks in advanced for all of you talented, driven people!

If you are in the NYC area check out the screenings! Team Wiseguy Industries will not, I repeat WILL NOT disappoint!

Premiere Screenings

Date 6/7/13 6/8/13, 6/9/13
Time 6p, 8p, 6p, 8p, 7p
Place Cantor Film Center, 36 East Eighth Street, New York, NY 10003

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Brian Bell-Wiseguy Industries

IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT Movie review: On the Waterfront

“I coulda been a Contendah!” For me this is THE call of the downhearted, hopeless, and regret filled man. This is a classic line from the classic film “On The Waterfront” starring Marlon Brando. Terry(Brando) is a small time dock worker who is the younger brother of the accountant of the mob leader. The mafia runs the docks dolling out work to those who they feel are falling in line and removing those that don’t. Everything’s going pretty well for Terry, his connection to his brother helps him get consistent work and eventually a lofty position as a guy who does nothing but gets paid…pretty sweet. However, ever since his unwitting aide in the murder of Joey Doyle, Terry’s been thinking about his turns in life. He meets Joey Doyle’s sister and as usual the woman throws everything out of balance. She is bent on finding her brother’s murderer, putting Terry in a strange predicament that ultimately changes his life.

This is a great story of redemption, sacrifice, struggle, love, anger, and finally justice. This film takes you down several different roads of emotion and really delivers in its ending scene when you realize that Terry was meant to be more than just a Contender.

Marlon Brando turns in another amazing performance and he has great help from Eva Marie Saint playing the sister and Brando’s love interest. Everyone in this film did a tremendous job portraying their characters and above all making them very believable. The direction was also superb and everything came together beautifully to make an amazing experience.

If you haven’t watched this film do yourself a favor, ignore that its in black in white, (I know they lived like cavemen back then!) and watch it. One of the best films I’ve ever seen!

Here’s the complete cast and crew as listed on Internet Movie Database
Directed by
Elia Kazan

Writing credits
Budd Schulberg (screenplay)

Budd Schulberg (based upon an original story by)

Malcolm Johnson (suggested by articles by)

Cast (in credits order) verified as complete

Marlon Brando … Terry Malloy

Karl Malden … Father Barry

Lee J. Cobb … Johnny Friendly

Rod Steiger … Charley Malloy
Pat Henning … Kayo Dugan

Leif Erickson … Glover
James Westerfield … Big Mac
Tony Galento … Truck
Tami Mauriello … Tillio
John F. Hamilton … ‘Pop’ Doyle (as John Hamilton)
John Heldabrand … Mott
Rudy Bond … Moose
Don Blackman … Luke
Arthur Keegan … Jimmy
Abe Simon … Barney

Eva Marie Saint … Edie Doyle
rest of cast listed alphabetically:

Martin Balsam … Gillette (uncredited)
Dan Bergin … Sidney (uncredited)
Zachary Charles … Dues Collector (uncredited)
Jere Delaney … Bit Part (uncredited)
Robert Downing … Bit (uncredited)

Michael V. Gazzo … Bit (uncredited)

Fred Gwynne … Slim (uncredited)
Thomas Handley … Tommy Collins (uncredited)
Anne Hegira … Mrs. Collins (uncredited)

Pat Hingle … Jocko (uncredited)

Scottie MacGregor … Mother of a Longshoreman (uncredited)
Barry Macollum … Johnny’s Banker (uncredited)
Tiger Joe Marsh … Longshoreman (uncredited)
Edward McNally … Bit Part (uncredited)
Mike O’Dowd … Specs (uncredited)

Nehemiah Persoff … Cab Driver (uncredited)
Johnny Seven … Longshoreman (uncredited)

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Brian Bell

Kickstarter, losing it to hollywood?

In lieu of a picture tonight I decided to write about something I see going on that’s troubling.

Kevin James just turned down Kickstarter.  “We nearly Kickstarted the budget back in November,” he said. “But now I’m feeling like that’s not fair to real indie filmmakers who need the help. Unlike back when I made Clerks in ’91, I’ve got access to money now — so I should use that money and not suck any loot out of the crowd-funding marketplace that might otherwise go to some first-timer who can really use it.”

When it first started, Kickstarter was for the independent artists who would never have gotten funded by the big corporations. But ever since veronica mars threw a project on there and made way more than what they were asking for, the celebrities have been drooling.

It’s a very simple idea, and I loved it. You have an idea, you have no money, no name, no way to get it off the ground. All you have is passion, drive, and determination. Well guess what here’s a site full of people like you who will help and receive help and it can be one big community of artists doing great things! Of course until celebrities get involved. See they have something, several things, that independent artists just don’t have. But the main thing is a name.

Bear with me a moment while I explain exactly why this is going to destroy Kickstarter for the people it was meant for.

Crowd-Sourcing, that’s what its called. You are attempting to get a bunch of people you don’t know to donate to something you are throwing your all into. The first trick is to get people to FIND your listing. This is hard enough without people searching for famous celebrities listings. If you don’t get picked as a staff favorite you pretty much have no chance. Even IF they find it AND like your video and your project getting them to believe you will finish it is yet ANOTHER obstacle. With celebrity comes a name that people feel they can hold accountable.

People like to donate to things other’s have donated to because they figure if they like it maybe its good. However the floodgates have now been opened for people to say “who is this guy? That’s not Zach Braff nope not donating.”

What’s worse is this could scare people away from posting things because they know they don’t have that name recognition that others have. The co-founder of Kickstarter Yancey Strickler spoke on this earlier.

“The thing is, if Michael Bay came along and wanted to do a Kickstarter we’d probably tell him, please don’t,” Strickler said at the time. “I would never want to scare the girl who wants to do a $500 lithography project, ’cause that’s why we started this thing. We think we have a moral obligation to her.”

Very well put, however I feel that Kickstarter will become commercialized and over run by celebs who could easily fund their projects themselves or with a studio’s green light but will whine about having to have their character drink Coke instead of Pepsi, or don’t want to put in the energy to argue down a studio on small issues like that. Pretty much it will begin to be dominated by people who don’t need our money but as shown previously in human history, we will continue to give it to them.

I had a Kickstarter that failed for several reasons one being advertisement and placement. I’ll be listing it again utilizing a different marketing strategy, I still remain hopeful for this site. It has amazing potential. I’d just hate to have to re-list my project next to George Clooney and Denzel Washington’s projects.

Thanks for reading

Sincerely,

Wiseguy Industries

I am my hair, but I still don’t fit in your box: a post about hairstyle and the ignorance of society.

Whenever I meet someone who knows nothing about me, they eventually get around to asking me the same question: “Why dreads?” I usually don’t give my real answer because it takes too long and people end up just staring at me like I’m crazy. Well this is my blog so I’m allowed to seem a little crazy so here’s the real answer and it ain’t “so I can shake ’em”. There are three things that my hair stands for, one is my origins as an african male, the second is my Deist(will explain) belief in God and respect for other cultures, and the third is my deep respect for love.

Part 1 African Origins-

The Dreadlock hairstyle is one of the oldest hairstyles in existence. The first evidence of Dreadlocks originates from Africa, Egypt to be precise. Egyptians have drawings depicting people with Dreadlocks, and there have even been mummies exhumed that show evidence of this hairstyle. Different tribes in Africa have utilized this hairstyle for different reason. For example the Maasi tribe’s warriors are famous for their long red dyed Locs. Other tribes in west africa view it as a very spiritual hairstyle as it is worn by their priests. The Mau Mau, a largely ethnic Kikuyu rebel group in Kenya fighting to overthrow their colonial British oppressors from 1952–1960, hid for many years in the forests, during which time their hair grew into long locks. The images of their rebellion, then broadcast around the world, are said to have inspired Jamaican Rastafari to wear locks. When I look at my locks I see the proud history of my people fighting oppression. This is not political, it is historical. I have never thought having a love for your own history was political.

Part 2- Religious beliefs and culture.

In Jamaica the wearers of this hairstyle were said to live a “dread” life or a life in which he feared God, which gave birth to the modern name ‘dreadlocks’ for this ancient style. A deist is primarily someone who believes in a higher power but does not fully believe in a direct link. For example I am a Christian but I do not believe God will fix your problems. To be simple I believe that he enacted Karma and left us to ourselves. It would explain the sharp drop in Prophets and people talking to God but that’s another blog for another day. I pay close attention to the term that Rastafarians use in this instance (though I am not a member of this religion). I respect all the different cultures in the world and i believe that inspiration can be drawn from all of them. My hair reflects this love of cultures far and near. To fear God has always been in my mind, like the old Machiavelli question “should a leader be loved or feared.” Yet I am told to do both when it comes to God. How could one love that which he fears? Its simple when you learn to that to fear simply means respect the power. The man can flood the world whenever he wants so give him the respect he deserves. My Dreadlocks reflect this respect and constantly remind me to check myself and make sure I’m going down the right path.

Part 3-Love

When I was deciding on whether or not to get this hairstyle, I did a lot of research that encompassed many different decades, people, and cultures. Doing this research I found a lot of stories about historical figures that had Locs. One that still stands out to me in my mind was the indian story of Shiva and Kali. Kali would go into battle and once blood was spilt she could not stop killing. The only person who could calm her down was Shiva, her husband. Shiva is always depicted with a mass of dreadlocks on his head and the followers of Shiva wear their hair the same. During one particular battle, Kali would not come out of her battle dance. People were dying left and right needlessly. Shiva came down, putting himself in harm’s way, and covered Kali with his dreads and calmed her down because when she saw that she was putting the one she loved in danger she was able to snap out of it. TO me this represents the truest form of love breaking through barriers. Anybody who has ever been in a fight can attest to the fact that the rest of the world gets tuned out. For a God trapped in a blood lust dance it must have been worse than that. Love broke clean through that barrier and every time I look at my Locs I see the love for not only another person but the love for the world that would allow a man to sacrifice himself to help the one he loves and the people of this world. Love is the most powerful force in the world that I have ever seen. Love makes a man jump from the subway platform onto the train tracks to save a strangers life, love makes a Sister give up a kidney for her brother, love makes that military man or woman put on that uniform and go into that fire fight. Dreadlocks to me represent this love as Shiva had for Kali.

Finally My only gripe with the hairstyle isn’t even with the hairstyle, it is in the publics view OF the hairstyle. When I go out for a job I can tell they look at me differently than when I had a short cut. Unfairly a stereotype has been thrust onto one of the oldest hairstyles in existence. Granted not everyone is thinking all of these things when they choose this hairstyle. Some do indeed only want the ability to shake their heads and let their hair cascade to their favorite song in the club. However I believe that in 2012 we need to move forward out of trying to put everything in a box. Why have we not yet learned that some things can not be defined? Scientists don’t even have a precise reason as to why we sleep, yet we try to say all people have this hairstyle for the same reason. Why is it that a historically black college bans their students from having the hairstyle that is native to their people? I am completely unwilling to accept societies ignorance even when it is thrust upon me by my own people.

This Hairstyle to me represents many things, but in the end it is the perfect representation of what drives me. My determination, creativity, my dreams, this is why I am still here. Sitting on my computer messing with my hair, typing, creating characters and seeing these amazing worlds I create in my head. That’s where I find happiness. My hair makes me happy, does yours?

Sincerely

A WiseGuy

State of the union. A victory into a new age.

The morning after…I can turn on my television and once again feel safe that I will not be assaulted by political ads. One side is quiet whilst the other side celebrates…it is a simpler time, a time when all who campaigned either on the side of democrat, republican, independent, or even “based god Lil’ b” must step back and quietly assess the full desires of the American people.
Fresh in our minds is the race, the Democrats were worried, the Republicans were confident. Last minute campaign stops in Ohio, New Hampshire, and Florida. A tightly contested race was reported by nearly every media outlet. So what happened? How did President Obama garner almost every single swing state?Ohio, Virginia, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada and Colorado, he even won Massachusetts the state that Mitt Romney was governor of, how could this happen? It’s simple, this is the rebirth of the melting pot.

Nowhere else in the world is the diversity as much as it is in the U.S.A.  People come from all over the world for their chance. Finally this is actually reflected in the polls and the Democrats have been intelligent enough not only to recognize this, but to capitalize on this as well. While the republicans have been ignoring the blatant truth, that times are changing, the Democrats have embraced this. It is no longer ok to only have the white male vote. The growth of the minorities in America has been explosive over the past ten years. Overall, racial and ethnic minorities accounted for 91.7% of the nation’s population growth over the past 10 years. Hispanics were responsible for 56% of the nation’s population growth over the past decade. There are now 50.5 million Latinos living in the U.S. according to the 2010 Census, up from 35.3 million in 2000, making Latinos the nation’s largest minority group and 16.3% of the total population. There are 196.8 million whites in the U.S. (accounting for 63.7% of the total population), 37.7 million blacks (12.2%) and 14.5 million Asians (4.7%). Six million non-Hispanics, or 1.9% of the U.S. population, checked more than one race.-Pew Research Center. Democrats tapped into this growth running a campaign that hit small cities with large minorities, grabbing 80 percent of the black vote and around 70 percent of the latino vote. He sowed up the gay and lesbian vote by becoming the first sitting president ever to support gay marriage and repealing don’t ask don’t tell. This man is not afraid to be controversial. He clearly understands that to be great you must stand and deliver, and the country respects him for that.

To the republican party…the numbers do not lie. No longer is it acceptable to be so stoic and stand-offish. Campaigns explicitly targeting the opposition simply will not work anymore. Americans want to know what YOU can do for this country. America has changed, gone is the time where you can limit yourself to one race, you must appeal over all boarders. Limiting rights based on color and sexual orientation is unacceptable in today’s America and it is time the Republican party acknowledges this unless they want the run for president to be exclusively a show in democratic dominance.

Long have I been told that America is the land of the free, where if you study, are dedicated, and work hard you can accomplish anything, but I’ve always been a bit cynical about that. I always looked at it as the character “Pimp” famously stated in ‘Man-child in the Promised land.’

“When the white woman brings a male child into the world, she can look at him, smile, and say ‘son, someday, you may be President.’ Sonny, they tell me that he’s got one chance in eighty million that he’ll be president. But even if he misses it, sonny, there’s a good chance that he won’t be too far from President. When a [Black] woman brings a male child in the world, she looks at him, shakes her head, and says ‘oh, my son, forgive me for what I’ve done.'”

This quote defined how I felt as a Black male in America. It molded my very view on the American system. Why is it that the families on top were always white? Why is it that every position of power were held by Caucasians while people who looked like me were nowhere to be found? From his first term President Barack Obama was the embodiment of hope. I began to believe in America with his election long before the Romney campaign perverted the phrase(more on that later). By saying that I mean I believed in the people, I believed for once after all the times I’d been followed in the store, pulled over by the police for no reason, lost out on jobs…I believed that the color of my skin was not a impediment.

That being said the American people made the correct choice. Past the issue of race, heritage, and surface politics. Tuesday they went out and voted for the man who has shown that he can make a difference and had a platform to run on that included more about his positive record than negatively attacking his opponent.

Never before have I been so proud to be an American. We have been able to look past the surface and delve into the issues. I feel this election will be the start of a brand new day.

Sincerely

A WiseGuy

The Cowardice of Hollywood

Yep, that’s right I said it. I’ll say it again! Cowards! All of you! You have forsaken us, you turned from the path that we followed you so blindly down into a cul-de-sac of repetitiveness and mediocrity. Where are the original films? Why on earth would you remake Total Recall? Were you trying to ride off the “success” of Arnold’s similarly titled autobiography? No that can’t be it because you’ve also remade Judge Dredd and Spiderman. You just made Spiderman! There are fifty remakes coming out yes that is correct fifty. Come on Hollywood this isn’t what we need to see.

Ok I fully understand that this is a money-making industry, at the end of the day it is far easier to green light something that already has people who love it than to green light something that nobodies ever heard of. But this is not why we love you Hollywood. We love you because you gave us films like the godfather, strangers on a train, west side story, terminator, Singing in the rain, and do the right thing. Do you see the diversity of those films? This is what we came to expect from you but you tricked us. You got us in there, you saw the profitability of films like these and thrown away the full artistic qualities needed to produce such. Primarily you have discarded creativity for easy profits. But what you have forgotten is that the newer the creativity the more long-term profits. Star wars is a perfect example of this. While the idea of an epic is not new, the ideas behind it were some of the most creative ideas ever to grace the big screen. To this day there are new star wars fans being born every day and it is one of the most profitable movies ever made.

I remember when I used to read the list of new movies coming out in the theaters and actually have to read the review to know about what was going on. Now I just look at the list and its “i saw that when i was five, saw that when i was six, what that just came out last year they’re remaking it already?”

But you know what? It’s our fault, the audience, the movie-goers, we are to blame. We’ve allowed you to comfortably slip into mediocrity like a warm security blanket, hit that snooze button and miss class. When really its time for us to yank that cover off you and kick you out the door. We’ve gone to remake after remake but I can only hope that the flop of Total Recall will usher in an era of productivity in the creativity department.

Hollywood its time to stand up, get back on the right track, get back to being that creative, amazing, unpredictable force that you once were. Let some new people in the doors, at the end of the day I’ve seen more creative stuff on youtube than from Tinsel Town. Don’t get me wrong Hollywood, I still love you and hope to be counted among your illustrious members one day, but I hope by that time you have gotten back on the right path.

Sincerely yours,

A man named B

Wiseguy Industries