The Evolution of Movie Aliens

After watching the billionth-and-a-half movie about aliens, I've started to notice a sort of weird evolution in terms of how aliens in movies are represented. What do I mean? Look back at the aliens in Independence Day, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and (if you want to go back really far) the book of War of the Worlds. Those aliens were alien aliens, so unusual their morality, technology, and occasionally physiology. They were nigh-unstoppable, hellbent on eradicating or, more rarely, saving the Earth, and their technology was unthinkable in terms of modern science. Now look at aliens nowadays, such as in The Avengers, Transformers, Battleship, or Cowboys and Aliens. Especially look at their technology. They don't have ray guns or flying saucers, instead they have missile launchers or other practical weaponry, and ships that are highly-functional and maybe even probable in terms of science. In other words, they're no longer aliens, but more-advanced humans.

Why is this? What caused our view of aliens to change? Stick a standard UFO or a little green man in a modern movie and it'd look ridiculous. Give them alien ideologies or moralities and it'd seem out of place and might even break the suspension of disbelief, even if aliens themselves somehow didn't. Now every alien has to have a reason to invade the Earth that we can actually comprehend. Now their technology has to look like it could be ours in a few hundred years, rather than being so unusual or physics-defying that we can't ever hope to make something like it. But again, why is this?

Perhaps it is because that the idea of aliens isn't as far-fetched as it might have been back in the fifties and such. Now, with our super-powerful telescopes and our own small steps out into the void of space, we might actually be able to find them before they find us, something considered unthinkable decades ago. Maybe even we will be the ones to invade an alien planet, a concept movies like Avatar or Battle for Terra have explored. With this very real possibility, the idea of aliens doesn't seem so, well, alien anymore. We might be able to walk alongside them in a few centuries. This isn't something we could have ever anticipated back when H.G. Wells wrote War of the Worlds. Back then, another intelligence making its way across the cosmos to our little planet was something gods did, not mortals. But now we might be able to do it ourselves.

Now, we're taking the steps that aliens have taken in our movies, books, and video games for decades. And since we still have yet to fully confirm the existence of extraterrestrial life (unless the government is hiding it from the public to protect us or something) what we think aliens might be is much more something we could do ourselves. Thus, their technology and their ideologies are more like us as well. Aliens will always be in media, as the idea is still fascinating that we are not alone in the universe. But how they're represented will continue to change as we get closer and closer to doing what they do. And who knows? Maybe in a few centuries, we'll have flying saucers and ray guns.

The Major Problem With Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Now, before I begin, let it be known that I understand not many will agree with me. I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan, and thus my opinion might seem a bit unnecessary. However, I think my lack of bias towards Star Wars actually helps my argument rather than hurts it, as I'm saying this from an outsider's viewpoint, a casual fan looking into the cauldrons of arguably the biggest cinematic franchise of all time.

With that said, I'll dive right in: I'm not looking forward to the upcoming Star Wars movie, "The Force Awakens," for a number of reasons. Most of them are personal reasons: I don't like J.J. Abrams as a director, for instance, an opinion I recognize is purely subjective. However, the big reason I'm not looking forward to this new movie is something that a lot of other people seem to love about it: it's trying way too hard to pander to the older installments.

The Millennium Falcon. The stormtroopers. TIE-fighters. The Empire against the Jedi. All three of the original main characters. There are even rumors that Darth Vader himself might be returning. All this in an installment supposedly taking place 30 years after "Return of the Jedi," which is actually more time between the original Star Wars and the last of the prequels, "Revenge of the Sith." While many seem to be embracing this focus on elements from the original trilogy, I'm questioning it greatly. The Star Wars galaxy is a big one. There are many worlds to explore, many characters, many species, and many factions. The prequels, as reviled as they are, realize this and do what following installments are supposed to do: expand the material. Most of the planets, most of the characters, most of the species and all of the vehicles were brand new to the prequels, showing just how huge and diverse the galaxy far, far away truly is. The prequels may have had a lot of problems, but further exploring the Star Wars universe was not one of them.

Now, don't get me wrong: this new one does seem to have some new elements, but all two of them have been ridiculed as much as they have been celebrated. The new lightsaber with the light-crossguard has been questioned, criticized, and even mocked by quite a bit of the Internet; put me in with the criticizing group. The ball droid, the other new element, I think is quite ridiculous as well. Sure, it may be more practical than a droid with legs, but it looks silly, and looks nothing like any of the droids ever shown in Star Wars. I know I said expanding is good, but consistency with expansion is greatly preferred.

I understand people love the older installments, and they've certainly proven to be cinematic classics. But there's more to Star Wars than the Millennium Falcon, TIE-Fighters, Luke, Leia and Han Solo. A lot more. Just look at the massive and now sadly non-canon expanded universe. The galaxy far, far away has a lot of stories to be told, a lot of planets to explore, and a lot of ground to tread. Retreading the old ground shouldn't be the priority of these new movies. Be consistent, certainly, but don't be completely derivative. This is why I fear J.J. Abrams as the director. He has said time and time again that he's a huge fan of the original Star Wars trilogy, much more than he ever was of Star Trek, a franchise he also delivered to the big screen. But his undying love to the originals might be the new movie's undoing. 

If you still don't understand my worries, let me tell you a story: Ever heard of Bryan Singer? The guy who directed the first two X-Men movies as well as the latest one, "Days of Future Past?" He wasn't as huge of a fan of X-Men as he was of Superman, especially the original movie from the seventies. Thus, when Warner Bros. hired him to direct his own Superman movie, he loaded it with all sorts of homages, tributes, and references that it became a huge mishmash of continuity and an overall mess of a movie. What was this movie? "Superman Returns," which was enough of a failure to have Warner Bros. reboot the franchise seven years later with the much more successful "Man of Steel." This scenario is eerily similar to what we are facing with the new Star Wars movie. Just replaced Bryan Singer with J.J. Abrams, X-Men with Star Trek, and Superman with Star Wars. I only hope that the final outcome will not be another "Superman Returns" and instead focus on being its own movie in this massive continuity. However, based on the trailer and all of the news and hints given by the studio and the director, I really doubt it will. Prove me wrong, J.J. Abrams, this December 18th. Believe me, I'd love to be wrong.

Graduation Rap

(Just imagine this with a beat-box in your head)

I just graduated from the UNC!

I have now conquered the university!

The world is now my oyster, now time to dine!
Because that college diploma I've earned is MINE!

It wasn't easy, that much I can say!

I wanted to quit almost every day!
I cried, I stressed, I complained to my mom!

Yet it was all worth it: graduating's da bomb!

Back when I was young, it was very rough startin'!

My parents thought I couldn't go to kindergarten!

High and middle school was never where I stayed,

I was homeschooled from third all the way to twelfth grade!

I started at a local community college,

from which I started my academic knowledge!

Then I went with my buddy to a school far away!

But it wasn't a good fit, so I didn't stay!

At UNC I met over a hundred friends!
Ones I'll keep in touch with after school ends!
I went through classes both great and horrific,

But I never failed, so that's kinda terrific!

Now I'm out of school, and I say PEACE!
I've worked through gallons of elbow grease!

And now that I'm done, who knows what'll happen!
But life is a dance, so I better start tappin'!

Through twelve semesters and almost six years,

Through my ridiculous and irrational fears,

I have walked the walk, and made it through!
If I can graduate, then hell, so can you!

Chilly Loquaciousness

(For those who are unaware, "loquacious" means "excessively wordy," which I think describes this post in a nutshell)

How cold is it today? That's a question that cannot be answered in just a few words. Big words will be needed. Huge words. Gigantic words in lengthy descriptions will be needed to describe just how completely crazy cold, how frostbite-funneling frigid, how bone-bitingly brisk, how indescribably icy, and how horrifically hypothermic today was.

Walking to class through fiery cold wind chills and flurries of piercing snowflakes, my fingers went numb within seconds, and sparked to drink the heat as soon as I walked into the relative warmness of the school building. Then as soon as I walked back, same thing, only this time the wind changed direction so it would still blow in my face and ignite my skin regardless of the direction I walked, as if the storm had a vendetta against my attempts to stay comfortable. The wind would occasionally blow the hood of my coat up and expose my face to the elements for a few brief yet torturous seconds until I frantically brought my hood down. As I like to listen to music when walking to class and back, most of the time I don't wear gloves, and thus keep my hands in my pockets when they're not being used to control my iPhone, so bringing my hood down exposes my fingers to the unfathomable cold as well. Sometimes I wonder if I should just sacrifice my music for the ability to keep my hands warm, but without it I'm not distracted from the freezing temperatures and thus I feel even more frigid. Either I'm really cold yet focused on my music, or slightly-less cold but more focused on the temperature. Picking the lesser of these evils is the bane of my walks to class.

Getting into the car requires brushing the snow off the windshields, a process that can either be mercifully brief or long and grueling depending on whether the ice from the snow stuck to the car. Then, once I can finally see through the windshield from within, I endure temperatures that can seem even colder than outside due to the stillness of the air inside the car. Turning on the heater only works when the car itself is warm enough to create heat, which can take up to five agonizing minutes of the engine running thanks to my car's age. Then, once the heater's finally emitting warm and wonderful air, I've already reached my destination.

How cold is it today? To say it's freezing isn't doing it justice. To say it's unbearably frigid isn't using enough adjectives. If the ice planet of Hoth crashed into the Earth, the resulting nuclear winter would be a welcome change. If a radioactive snow golem born in a freak Antarctic blizzard fell in love with Elsa from "Frozen" and had a kid who inherited his mother's ice powers and his father's inhuman frigidness, the kid still could not fathom such low temperatures. It is colder than an evil overlord's glare. It's more frigid than the shadow of death. It is more unwelcome than a crazy stranger barging into my house, and more unforgiving than a murderer on a killing spree. It is cold, cold, cold, cold, COLD.

Well, okay, it was only 10 above zero today at the coldest, but I don't like cold, okay?!

Things about new technology that just push my buttons

Ninety-nine percent of the time, I embrace new tech. Heck, I usually embrace new things in general. While I do have nostalgic feelings for certain things, mainly LEGO's Bionicle, old video games, and other childhood stuff, I recognize my feelings for them are indeed nostalgic. I don't think something's better purely because it's older or from my childhood, instead I welcome the future with open arms, ready to see what changes are in store.

However, this doesn't mean I love everything new, nor does it mean I think everything old is outdated. These things are some of the changes to our current technology--the main thing that drives my life--that really, for lack of a better term, push my buttons and make me wish the older ways were still the norm.

Firstly, wireless tech for a computer. Now I know that some wireless tech is indeed very helpful, especially for phones and tablets. I'm talking about stuff for the computer. The concept of wireless keyboards and mice is nice, but for me anyways, that means spending extra money on batteries that run out after a few weeks, plus I tend to lose them if I absent-mindedly put the mouse or the keyboard in a weird place when I'm done. Having a cord to connect them to the computer helps with both stuff. And don't get me started on wireless internet. Maybe I'm just in bad places, but wired internet works faster and better every flippin' time. At my house I can barely stream a YouTube video with wi-fi, but plug my computer into the router and I can watch full HD with no issue, or download game clients within less than an hour, or just load pages with a lot of bandwidth in less than the thirty seconds plus it takes with wi-fi. I don't think it's just a bad internet connection: everywhere at my college people complain about the wi-fi and immediately have all their problems solved by plugging the computer directly into the router port. Overall, I'd say in terms of personal computers, wired wins every time.

Secondly, programs where pressing the X button at the top-right doesn't really close it. This is actually more common than you might think. Skype does this, Curse does this, most game clients do this, and most chat programs do it as well. With any other program you press the X to close it, and press the little dash button to minimize the window. With Skype and such, X also minimizes it, rendering the actual minimize button completely moot. In order to really close the program, you've gotta go into the program's menu or right-click on the icon on your taskbar and select "quit." Well, what do you think I'm trying to do when I press the X button, you silly program?! I've lost count of the number of times I think I've quit Skype to do computer homework, only to be interrupted by a message or a call, as the program, even though I pressed the X button that closes every other program I can think of, is still running in the background. What's the point?! Why not just have the X button close the program, the minimize button do the minimizing, and remove the whole special "quit" button altogether?! Just add one of those "are you sure you want to quit?" thingies when you press the X button and everything will be fine. That just seems far less complicated.

Finally, and admittedly this is more of a personal thing, touchscreens. I get the concept on phones and tablets: it makes it a heck of a lot easier to use and allows so much more stuff to be done. What's the point of it on computers?! Is that little insignificant thing called a "mouse" too inconvenient? This wouldn't be too much of a problem, except for having desktop computers use operating systems like Windows 8 as the default, a system which is built for touchscreens. You know all those super-special touchscreen features for Windows 8? Can't use any of them, and based on what I've seen them do on other computers, the traditional way to look at pictures or listen to music or whatever on computers works a lot better. I just don't get why they'd make programs that have all these features meant only for touchscreens and yet also run on desktop computers. Trust me, I'm not missing a thing not using any of them. This wouldn't be too much of a problem, but then they sacrifice essential features for regular computers just to allow more cool stuff for touchscreens. Like, you know what I miss? Start menus. The touchscreen one built into Windows 8 can work with a mouse, but it's layout is far too messy and hard to customize compared to a traditional start menu. I've heard there are ways to get old start menus on a Windows 8 now, but when I first got a Windows 8 on my desktop, I had no clue of that, and I had to adapt to using the computer without the convenience of a start menu. All in all, touchscreens are a wonderful idea overall, just keep them away from my computers!

And that's all for now. My rant, typed on my wired keyboard without the use of a touchscreen, is over. Once I post this, I'll close my internet browser with the X button. Oh, the simple joys in life.

The Digital Evolution of Bullying

I was bullied quite a bit as a kid. At summer camps, at computer camps, at school, and even at church groups, there was always some guy who constantly reminded me why I sucked, every day, all the time. They were never physical. I was never shoved into lockers or punched in the face. It was all verbal. "You're so stupid!" they would shout. "Does everyone get to have fun? Everyone except Matt?" they would say. All throughout my childhood and even a bit into my teens there would always be that one guy. There was never more than one at a time, but when an old bully retired, a new one came in. I hope they didn't realize how much they hurt me, because if they did, they're evil people. I really, truly hope they didn't realize how they made me cry. How they made me permanently wary around new people. How they made me hate myself.

Once I grew older and reached my current height of over six feet, obviously the bullying stopped. Or so I thought. For not every kind of bullying is face-to-face. In fact, in this day and age, most bullying is fought in a battleground much harder to moderate: the internet. People in the safety of behind their monitors say horrible things to others they don't even know, things they would never say to someone's face. Now that online games are a thing, there are now many new ways for someone to lower their self-esteem. Online bullies are a rampant disease, one that will probably only die when the internet dies. For people like me, who have been permanently psychologically damaged by face-to-face bullies, it makes me wary every time I boot up a game. I don't want to sacrifice the fun times I have in most of my games. But every now and then there's that one game with that one player who spews out horrible, toxic things to his teammates, to strangers he's never interacted with before.

I shouldn't be bothered by it. They're just meaningless words, spat out by a random loser whom I'll never see again. But for someone as sensitive as I am, those meaningless words hurt. They hurt bad. I've been told to kill myself just because I played badly at a video game. Not just once either, but frequently. I hope they don't really think that. I hope they don't realize how evil they sound. And the worst part is, there are people out there who are more sensitive to this stuff than I am. Some of them actually do kill themselves because of these monsters.

Bullying has always been a problem, but now that people can hide behind their computers, they can be even worse bullies and get away with it. Anonymity is a huge part of it. Studies have shown that if you video or voice chat with the people you're playing with rather than just type through a chat system, the rate of bullying goes down a huge amount. But not enough.

Internet bullying will never go away. Neither will bullying in general. There are always going to be people who need to bring down others to feel better about themselves. I speak to all those who are like me, who bring themselves down even further when they're bullied: I know you can't help feeling horrible, but please, don't sink to their level. Don't bully back. It may be tempting, but it won't help. Treat others the way you want to be treated. It's the golden rule for a reason. It's been said for thousands of years, and it will be said for thousands more. Because it's true. Because it's right. Because it's the way people should be. When I play an online game, I try my best to be friendly. I call "good game" after a match even if I've lost horribly. I help others who may not know as much about the game as I do. I use a lot of "lols" and ":P" faces in my chat messages to let people know I'm a good-natured guy. And more often that not, people appreciate me for it.

I say to all: don't be a bully. I know what it's like to be bullied relentlessly. I've felt the pain. Don't bring that on other people. I don't care if you're face-to-face or in an online session with others thousands of miles away. Bullying is never the answer. I'm still recovering from the psychological damage. Others might not be so lucky.

Bionicle Park Tycoon - The Sweet Child of Two Parts of My Youth

When I was a kid growing up in the early 2000s, there were two things I loved more than any of the plethora of other interests I had: LEGO's Bionicle line, which ran from 2001 to early 2010 (and will return in 2015) and Chris Sawyer's masterpiece Roller Coaster Tycoon. All day I'd play with my Bionicle sets, build new ones, and participate on Bionicle forums, and all day I'd build massive theme parks with thousands of guests and crazy roller coasters in Roller Coaster Tycoon. Both of these things allowed me to harness what many people I know call my best trait: my creativity. I could create the most colorful and awesome-looking figures with my thousands of Bionicle pieces and give them elaborate backstories. I could construct the most thrilling and twisting roller coasters, as intense as the guests's programmed intensity limits would allow them to ride, and decorate them with an assortment of scenery items that almost told a story itself.

Now that I'm grown and have more resources available to flesh out my creativity, I've put these two interests of mine into a fully self-created game, programmed with an incredibly flexible program called Game Maker Studio. It hasn't been an easy path, nor has it been a short one. I first learned about Game Maker in 2005 from a friend of mine who recommended it to me, and my early games were quite amateurish to say the least. Back then I had neither the capability nor the skill to create a game as complex as a theme park simulation. The idea had always been in my head, but for several years I stuck to more simple games like puzzles and mazes. 

It wasn't until 2009 that I felt I had the skill to undergo the creation of a game of this caliber, and the resources available to actually make my vision a reality. The result was Bionicle Park Tycoon, a molding of my two biggest interests as a child. It was the natural choice. Not only did I love Bionicle as much then as I did as a kid, but I was also an active participant on Bionicle forums across the web, giving me an audience for my game. At the same time, Roller Coaster Tycoon was still a game I played when I had the time, even all those years after it first came out in the late nineties. I had a better understanding of how theme park simulations worked than when I did as a younger folk. It's not just about building awesome roller coasters and other rides; the player also has to manage their money, figure out how to make a profit, figure out how to keep your guests happy, and understand the huge differences in even the placement of a burger stall. Don't put food shops right next to a huge roller coaster! Don't create a coaster so large and intense that no one rides it and you can't make back the money you spent building it! All these are strategies a theme park builder, whether virtual or actual, must learn to be a success.

I finished Bionicle Park Tycoon in late 2010. I obviously couldn't sell it, as Bionicle is a trademarked brand. Nonetheless, I considered all the effort I put into it well spent. According to the website I hosted the file on, it's been downloaded thousands of times. I constantly got messages from Bionicle forum-goers about how awesome the game was and how many hours they spent playing it. If it sounds like I'm bragging, it's because I've never had so much positive feedback for any of my creative works as I did with Bionicle Park Tycoon. That, more than anything, is what I'm proud of the most. Obviously the game is nowhere near as complex as Roller Coaster Tycoon: I'm not Chris Sawyer, after all. But the fact that this game I made entirely on my own with no intention of selling got as much praise as it did makes it in my opinion one of my greatest accomplishments.

The screenshot you see up above, however, isn't Bionicle Park Tycoon. Bionicle Park Tycoon looked a lot more crude and simple than the game up above, which already looks crude enough as it is. It's homemade: what can I say? No, the screenshot at the top of the post is of it's long-overdue sequel, which for now is so creatively named Bionicle Park Tycoon 2. Over the years, even when I've left the Bionicle forums after activity died down since Bionicle's cancellation in 2010, I received many messages asking if there was a followup to Bionicle Park Tycoon in the works. I never gave the idea too much thought before, as I was focusing on college and other creative projects. Plus, now that Bionicle was over, there wouldn't be an audience for it. Sure, people still fondly remember Bionicle from their youth, but most of those people aren't on Bionicle forums anymore, and with no future of the line visible, there'd be no reason for them to return to the forums and see my work. It appeared Bionicle Park Tycoon would be just a one-hit wonder for me, something fun for me to work on and fun for people to play, but also something with no future, much like Bionicle itself.

Then, just a few weeks ago, the future of both Bionicle and Bionicle Park Tycoon was saved by an announcement from LEGO that, after many years of dormancy, Bionicle would be returning, currently set for 2015. New fans are likely to come in, and old fans now have a reason to be interested again. More importantly for me, an audience for a Bionicle Park Tycoon sequel was restored. That was all the motivation I needed to get to work on a sequel. That screenshot up above is only a few weeks' worth of work, so it's very pre-pre-alpha. But work will continue throughout the coming months. I have plans for this game that greatly exceed the ones for the first installment. I can only hope that the feedback I get for it will be half as good as what I received for the original. With this project underway, my two favorite childhood interests are molded together once again. I can only hope the kids who might play this, the new fans of the new Bionicle starting in 2015, will have Bionicle Park Tycoon 2 as a fond part of their childhood too. That, more than anything, would be the greatest thing I could ever ask for.