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Reviewed on May 9th, 2013
Universal presents a film directed by J.J. Abrams
Screenplay by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Benedict Cumberbatch and Simon Pegg
Running Time: 132 minutes
Rating: M
Released: May 9th, 2013

In 1966 Gene Roddenberry created Star Trek as a TV series and coincidentally this was the same year that director J.J. Abrams was born. The show was pitched as a space Western in the vein of Wagon Train, which was a Western mystery show set on the Frontier. Star Trek converged with the start of the Vietnam War. Roddenberry had already seen action as a fighter pilot in World War II. To counter Vietnam, his version of Earth was a society without conflict and in space there were galactic truces, race relations and a sense of unity aboard the ship the Enterprise. As with any good Western, there was moral code of ethics between men, no matter how pointy their ears might have been. Roddenberry believed in a disciplined society that could be unaffected by war or religion. Spock for example was said to be modelled on a police Chief he knew when he was part of the LAPD.

After many years as a TV show and dozens of films, someone decided Star Trek should be reinvented yet again and Abrams was hired to transform it into a glossy action film. As a filmmaker J.J. Abrams is somewhat of an enigma. One of his heroes growing up was Steven Spielberg. When he was a boy he was hired to repair some old film footage for him. Spielberg would later produce Abrams most personal film Super 8, a movie that typifies the director's career. Part of the film is a loving tribute to home movies and geek culture, while the other is a bombastic, overblown blockbuster, short of any personal imprint. He's a slick filmmaker, I enjoyed his TV show Alias until it became ridiculous, but he struggles to find the balance his idol has between action and character. Into Darkness is a better film than the messy 2009 film though. The best scenes overcome the generic, simplification of the action genre by retreating back towards the essence of the original show: a morally ambiguous grey zone, where the values of the characters and their races are tested. However, the characters are still bound by a rigid story structure, where at least ten elaborate set pieces take full precedence over the human and Vulcan drama. 

The most interesting aspects of the plot are when Spock (Zachary Quinto) and Kirk (Chris Pine) butt heads over their different beliefs. Kirk is tasked with tracking down a rogue agent named John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch), who is now essentially a terrorist bomber, causing havoc in London by using desperate people to do his bidding. This leaves a chilling, lasting impression, particularly when the film adds a layer of complexity, with Spock insisting that Harrison should be captured and trialled first. He's at odds with the order of the mission and Kirk, who wants revenge for the death of a colleague. Cumberbatch is frighteningly good in the film, a massive improvement over Eric Bana's villain in the first movie. The tension he brings through his menace, his arrogance but also his ability to cast doubts in the minds of the protagonists about who the baddies really are, is a magnetic quality that is hard to prepare for prior to seeing the film. What a terrific find he's become over the last few years. 

However, by ingraining itself in the structure of an action film, a lot of this ambiguity is undone. Whereas action and moral ethics fought and overlapped persistently in The Dark Knight, Into Darkness' rhythm is too discrete and foreseeable. The action is timed acutely to follow a stretch of exposition, dividing itself between moments of ideology and combat, and the emphasis on set pieces means the lines between good and evil become transparent again and remove the crucial shades of grey. Abrams also seems more interested in choreographing lavish action sequences than exploring the personal side of the drama. His imagination in the set pieces is limitless. He employs an array of frenzied techniques, including rapid cutting, tilting cameras, overhead shots and quick pans, to breeze through the action. Yet when the characters stop to face one another and talk his direction has none of the same flair or creativity. The actors sit or stand still, with the camera perched on their shoulders for dull reverse angle shots that don't heighten the tension. 

Rarely do we ever see these characters in their downtime either. Without any inner life they become ciphers for voicing conflicting moral ideas, like instinct against logic or law and these conflicts are often resolved within a scene of one another. After watching Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan recently, which Into Darkness borrow from, it's also fascinating that Kirk is viewed as an ageing man who has to start thinking about death and his legacy. In this film he's more on par with Tony Stark, able to bed two alien girls with tails at once. That amplifies where they're aiming this film at, in spite of the occasionally intriguing layering of the story. For a franchise that prides itself on going where no man has gone before, the Enterprise is starting to travel in circles.

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I recently activated World of Warcraft again, because I'm hoping to play with a friend who just signed up.  I figure it might be fun to see my total play time thus far, to the shock, awe and dismay of many of you reading this.  To be fair, I haven't touched the game since 2011, I bought the last expansion at release, but never installed it until recently.

1st Character (60 Mage) : Total Played Time - 24 days, 2 hours, 56 minutes.

2nd Character (71 Warlock): Total Played Time - 44 days, 1 hour, 15 minutes

3rd Character (60 Priest): Total Played Time - 29 days, 4 hours, 10 minutes

4th Character (66 Mage):  Total Played Time - 22 days, 22 hours, 14 minutes

5th Character (85 Hunter): Total Played Time - 25 days, 21 hours, 38 minutes

6th Character (85 Shaman): Total Played Time - 23 days, 21 hours, 13 minutes

7th Character (80 Priest): Total Played Time- 32 days, 1 hour, 24 minutes

8th Character (62 Druid):  Total Played Time- 15 days, 11 hours, 32 minutes

This doesnt count all the lower level charries, but its where the bulk of my time spent playing is, for the most part.

Anyway, if we add all this up, I get a total estimated playtime of ..(are you ready for this??)

5,139 hours!

This is around 214 days of total playtime, (give or take).  Sure seems like a lot when you put it that way, huh?  >.>

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Since Sony is going to possibly announce the PS4 this Wednesday and I hear about 720 rumors I might as well talk about them.

PS4 to have streaming for PS3 games

Looks like PS4 will allow you to play PS3 games after all...through streaming. You need to be online at all times to play PS3 games on it. Might as well own a PS3 in that case for full control and avoid connection issues though it's more convenient to play them on PS4.

PS4 might have a screen on controller

There have been prototypes of the PS4 controller to have a screen on it. I wouldn't mind it as long as it's done well.

PS4 to be 400 bucks

I'm fine with that, though I don't buy consoles at launch, only later.

PS4 to make you pay an online pass when buying used games

Eh, as long as I can play the game used...

720 to have 500GB hard drive, Blu Ray and Kinect

I'm fine with the 1st 2 but they need to improve Kinect for games, Kinect is mainly a success in sales, not in high quality games though.

720 to block used games

Probably the most insane rumor of them all. I don't see it happening and if they go for it I would be shocked. There's so many things wrong with it, like:

Can't find that rare game new since used copies don't exist

Makes renting games impossible with not enough copies

This will make it so games won't drop as fast, longer to wait to get that game you want for a reasonable price

Allows devs to exploit their practices

Killing the used game market

Yeah I don't see this happening. Can't wait until Wednesday though!

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We made an IPA.

We're college students, so we strained our grains by running over them with a car. We also used an amber malt extract. We used most of our hops during the"wet" hopping stage. We used a mix of centennial and cascade hops.

Then end result of the beer, the verdict, is pretty damn good. The aroma is a bit lacking, but what's there is distinctly citrus (no surprised there ). The body is thick, like a Hefeweissen, though the color has more of a copper tone. The flavor is quite balanced: The rich hops works well with the sweet and sacharine amber malt.

The ABV I estimate (by flavor) is around 7-8%.

It's not a perfect brew by any means. I want to experiment with a larger hop count, specifically during the aroma stage, perhaps a bit more during the bittering stage. I might also do a little more dry hopping as well. But overall, I think as a first IPA, this was really good.

----------------------------------------------------

In other news, I've been playing Fallout 2 again. I am trying to get through the campaign (still haven't beaten it yet). I keep forgetting just how clever and well written this game is. There's so much to see, so much to do. So many bizarre characters.

I recently got rid of the "Pariah Dog," detroying many of my limbs in the process. It took a loooong time. If you played the game but don't know what I'm talking about: GOOD. You were lucky. No literally, you had a high enough luck trait that you didn't have to deal with it.

And that's about it for me. Have a good day, GS!

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This is my last blog here in this profile, thanks everyone who commented in my previous blog, you really were helpful I'm going to keep searching for my old friends to track them and be friends with them in my new profile: GerardoExber.

Afterward I will put this profile to private, I don't want to see it again.

Yes all my progress is lost now, but whatever, a brand new start awaits me in my new profile

See you there: http://uk.gamespot.com/users/GerardoExber/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-26003880

Thanks for Reading "exber" last blog

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to Dr. Strangelove.

Enjoy.

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DarraghIrish93

Add it!

Oh and my blog public again. I didn't use it before..but I'll start using it again.

Mostly for random ramblings. Nothing significant or important, just random ramblings of me!

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One of the highlights was a video I filmed though, it was Johathan Ross wrestling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCv9FQLBPhM

I also wanted to get my Youtube channel up on here, because I'm going to start bringing some content to it, so feel free to help me out in that as well.

-

Gamespot related, I am posting a little more but like I said I've been pretty busy - all is going great and hope it's the same for you guys!

Let me know how you're doing!

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In the coming weeks I'll be coming up with a new username and I'll post a new blog to make up for it. So...look out for it I guess.

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I'm looking through my old posts/blogs and WOW I wrote a lot of dumb things.

Not that much has happened in the past few months.

I guess my taste in music has changed a lot.

And I'm going to see Radiohead in november, so that's pretty exciting.

I still hate this username.

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Peace All,

Bryan

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