On the Verge of Lunacy

Instead of reviewing the sixth and seventh books of the Malazan Book of the Fallen separately, I'm going to discuss both in this entry. My previous reviews focused mainly on the themes for each book, but this time I'm going to take out my hammer and look more closely at Steven Erikson's delivery. Although both books have explored two themes, they focused mainly on intergrating the two major story lines of the series. This time the Malazan Empire meets the Letherii and the Tiste Edur. The Bonehunters Erikson's sixth book sought to question the fate of the characters who followed or were forced to follow their gods. Are the faithful, or in most cases here, those who had been chosen by the gods, doomed to become tools forever? This subject is fully explored through the four characters: Apsalar, Heboric, Kalam, and Icarium. Ganoes Paran's interpretation of ascendancy was also shown in this book. The nature of the younger gods' path to godhood may have been...

I just got back this week from my hiatus and I still haven't written anything yet. As promised, I will write more anime reviews (which I will start doing so next week). I will feature several series I've seen in the past few years including Prince of Tennis, Samurai 7 and more of my favorites. I will also review some of the Dean Koontz books I've read before. Not being able to use the internet for two and a half months gave me an opportunity to...well, do things I still usually do. Therefore it was not a very good break for me. Sometimes my hands are itching to write about something and post it publicly. At least I got to finish two more Steven Erikson books, a pre-history book from National Geographic and I re-watched a few anime series. I finally got to play LittleBIGPlanet as well.

Last year I finally started writing again and even began to write reviews. I finally finished the things I had to do at school. This year I have more plans - more things to explore and enjoy. I think I will start off by writing anime reviews. I've seen a handful of great series in the past and I was thinking, why not write about them? I'd be doing more book and game reviews as well. I've also stopped writing poetry and I'm hoping I'd be inspired again to do it this year. Last year I've put off art projects because I'm too lazy. Maybe this year I'll find some inspiration once again. I'd still be active on Gaia Online as usual and maybe I'd write something about it as well. It has inspired me to try a lot of things. It wasn't just a waste of time. It finally made me want to tinker with PhotoShop and CSS and try online forums for the first time. I think this will be another exciting year for me. I will never stop looking for more things ...

Kantarou Ichinomiya was gifted with the ability to see youkai (demon, monster, spirit). He was bullied as a kid because of this ability however, but he has always found comfort from his youkai friends. One day they told him that he should find the oni-eating tengu (literally ogre-eating heavenly dog or goblin) to become stronger. Many years passed and Kantarou by then was an exorcist and folklorist, but he still wanted to find the oni-eating tengu. He soon discovers the shrine where the goblin was confined and was able to successfully release and name it  Haruka . By giving it a name, Kantarou becomes Haruka's master. This is a review of the series that brought back my interest in anime. I have seen this a few years back but until today, it remains one of my favorites. The manga was made as a collaborated effort between Sakura Kinoshita and Kazuko Higashiyama. It consists of 12 volumes and was set during the Taisho period. The anime consists of 25 episodes. After...

This first-person shooter game is the sequel to one of the best-selling games of this genre. The single-player campaign follows up on the story from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. I played the four following characters: Private 1st Class Joseph Allen, Private James Ramirez, Sergeant Gary "Roach" Sanderson, and John "Soap" MacTavish. Although I did not play the previous game, the story is quite easy to understand.  The opening shows that Imran Zakhaev has taken control of Russia. But this is just one part of the story. One of his underlings, Vladimir Makarov has begun campaigns of terrorism. Joseph Allen was recruited into Task Force 141 by Lieutenant General Shepherd. He was sent to an undercover mission in Russia as one of Makarov's men. This mission in the game is optional because it's quite sensitive. It shows Makarov's massacre of the people at the airport in Russia. All I had to do was shoot innocent people (I discovered that Makarov would kill me...

Publisher : KOEI Developer : Omega Force This sixth installment of the Dynasty Warriors (Shin Sangoku Musou) series has 41 playable characters and the new Renbu system and stage targets. It also features the Skill Tree where players can choose which skills to use when upgrading the characters. It tells the story of the Three Kingdoms period at the time when the Han Dynasty lost its power. It all started with the uprising of the Yellow Turbans. People who sought power saw this as an opportunity. Three states rose to quell the chaos in ancient China: Wei (or Cao Wei), Shu (or Shu Han) and Wu (or Dong Wu). The previous games also included the factions from Dong Zhuo, Lu Bu, Meng Huo and Yuan Shao. Wei is led by Cao Cao, Shu by Liu Bei and Wu by Sun Jian. This period in China has been adapted in many forms including this video game series. I'm glad they included Sima Yi in Musou Mode because it tells how he was able to manipulate everyone in the end. Most of the characters' outf...

Developer : Criterion Games Publisher : EA Burnout Paradise is not just a racing game. The game is set in Paradise City which becomes your playground where you can compete in five different events to level up your driver's license to unlock cars and more events. The five events are: racing, road rage, marked man, stunt run and burning route. There are also bonus missions such as: power parking, super jumps, road rules, showtime, smashes and billboards. It's a very addictive game. I found I could not put the controller down once I got used to navigating the menus. It was a bit confusing at first and I did not know what the other events are for.  I love this game because it is not just about speed. I found a good use for my destructive abilities. Road rage is my favorite event. I could finally use the big, noisy cars in a race. The same cars are pretty useful in marked man as well. Stunt run is a bit tricky, and in order to win the burning route and unlock special cars, you ha...