World of Tanks

When I was first told about the game, I was 100% certain that any game which would feature tanks would not be of any interest to me. I kept reminding people that I in fact am a woman and tanks and soldiers aint toys that usually a girl would like. It featured two qualities which I never liked: Tanks and PVP. But funny how things work out. As it turns out this game is awesome. From the first time you sit down to play it will drag you in.

World of Tanks is a free to play, massively multiplayer online game. There is a premium option if you choose to go that way, for which you pay monthly but unlike many free to play models I have seen, you can easily play and improve your gaming without having to pay at all.

The beginning point of the game is your garage where you have got a number of tier 1 tanks from different nationalities waiting for you. The tanks you will see in the game range from early to late 20th century. Each tank earns its own xp but money you gain from each battle is naturally pooled to use on any tank of your liking. You can improve each tank individually and when you have got enough xp and money you can buy the next model.

There are 5 types of tanks in total, light, medium, heavy, tank destroyers and SPGs. You can follow which way you want to go from the technical tree of each tank that you own and through experience in battle decide on which role suits you best to go for it. I usually choose light tanks because I love scouting; and tank destroyers because their fire is ideal for blowing things up in one shot. Heavy tanks are very sturdy but moving with them is like a nightmare. Medium tanks in my opinion are by far one of the most difficult to handle because of their wide range of variety and roles within a battle. As for SPGs I do not like being stuck at the back rows for an entire battle so they are my least favorite.

The battles are quick and painless whether you win or lose. Victory makes you happy, Defeat doesnt affect you so much because you move on quickly to your next tank and keep on fighting. If you do something stupid you dont really care because every time you launch a battle it is in a different group of random players. Every battle takes an avarage of 8-10 minutes. The goal so far stayed always the same, either destroy every enemy tank or capture their flag (or in encounter battle, capture the common flag). There are 15 tanks in each group and there is a total of 40 battle fields to explore once you hit tier 3.

What I like best about the game is that there is absolutely no blood and gore. A kid could easily play the game without getting affected by it. My son watches me play and I let him play too on my low tier tanks and he gets a kick out of it. Political and racial debates on messaging window is absolutely prohibited which is another thing I like about this game.

I do have some minor qualms though. It seems to me that despite the fact that there are 40 fields the algorithm of the game does not work as it should and you might find yourself in Himmelsdorf more than you'd care for. As a matter of fact to the point of getting sick of it. Now on low tiers the game keeps you in specific fields till you learn how to handle your tank which of course is understandable but I wish they would introduce another scheme in the future which would not make you sick of seeing the same places over and over again.

Another negative I can think of is the fact that there are times when you are coupled in groups which are way higher than you in tier. Your tier 4 light tank can very easily find itself with those tier 8 tanks which gives you little if at all chance to survive the battle. I think 2 tiers higher should be the border and no more.

All in all I can say that World of Tanks is a very neutral, war zone, pvp mmo, very enjoyable and fast. You can log in for a quick battle or two for a half hour in order to rest your mind. One would think that as a pvp and tank game it would be stressful and demoralizing but I found it to be the exact opposite. I would recommend it to everyone who likes blowing off some steam through gaming.

Those who are interested can dowload the game here: World of Tanks Official Site

How I Met Your Mother Vs Friends

Now isnt this a big face off? Supposedly both series are sitcoms with a detailed insight into lasting friendships, relationships and love while letting us have a couple of laughs to lighten our day.

Friends was a Warner Bros production from the producers and some of the scenarists of Dream On, a very successful (in my opinion) situation comedy sitcom which ran on HBO between 1990-1996.

"Friends", as the title implies, was about the daily lives of six friends with their ups and downs while making you crack in almost every episode of the 10 seasons. Even though the tempo slowed down a little around the 7th season and so on, it never really lost its dynamic. Friends had one of the strongest comedy scenarists I had ever watched on tv who I might as well add, kept the fun going for 10 whole years. Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Joey and Phoebe were all comedy makers in their own ways with their cardboard characters drawn elaquently so as to balance each other out. Actors were incredibly talented despite their weakest links who would be Courtney Cox and Matt LeBlanc. I have to give it to Matt though; playing that dumb a character must have been hard on him. What I most admired about Friends though was this: They never had a specific character, shouldering the entire comical elements of the show which is exactly the case with How I Met Your Mother.

How I Met Your Mother was an originally CBS production about a guy telling his children how he met their mother and it had impressed me during the first 3-4 seasons. It had a unique structure with a light-hearted and understated comedy. Over the years I watched it succumb to the worst kind of mushy, sticky melodrama. The character Barney (aka Neil Patrick Harris) had to shoulder 99% of the comedy because the rest of the gang were so dramatically un-funny.Robin turned incredibly sour and Lilly turned annoying while Marshall grew dumber and Ted...oh my oh my Ted...well suffice it to say that from a character I hardly liked he turned into a character I truly loathe. The scenarists could think of no more original jokes and so they fed us the same old used up humour of theirs under the name of retrospection. I hardly ever laughed during the last seasons and I was unmoved during the last episode which I just finished watching. As for the very last 3 minutes of the last episode I actually said the words : "You have got to be kidding me!" How I Met Your Mother began its career from a very strong point, started to fall periodically until it fell to the point of being cheesy. I have got one suggestion though, change the title of the show...we now know (and somehow, have always known) that mother of Ted's children was, in reality, just a stepping stone...It never was about the Mother.

I had watched Friends on and on again when I just wanted something light for a restful evening. I would never do that with How I Met Your Mother. Once was more than enough! I am afraid I would get a condition of "rolling eyes syndrome" or something...No offence meant to the fans of the show though.

Now in all fairness, I have to say that it is not easy to keep the pace of a show for a very long span of time but Friends showed us that it, in fact, can be done. I am sorry but "Friends" wins my face off without even breaking a sweat. 

Black Mirror

TV Series

I have just watched the first season of Black Mirror and I find it hard to contain my excitement about it. I hardly ever say that I am blown away by a TV show but I think I will say it this time:

"I am blown away!"

Those who share my techno-paranoia will also be pleasantly surprised by these inspired episodes. But I am going ahead of myself. Let me explain what the series are about first.

Created by Charlie Brooker, Black Mirror is a British TV series which explores the dark life that lurks beneath an overdose of technology. Each episode casts different actors (some of the names will indeed surprise you and some faces you will remember from underrated, yet valuable works), each episode takes place in a different setting and each episode is unique in its own way. Sublimely directed, with an utterly inspired story down to every detail, the first season was a sensation in my opinion.

I can easily say that it is along the lines of the works such as "The Time Machine" and "The Machine Stops" in its satirical, futuristic gloom. What becomes of the humankind when he uses technology at every insignificant need? Does one survive the technology itself when he can remember and relive every single memory through a chip planted beneath his ear? How does one cope with a hungry audience who will watch anything that appears on his screen? How does he move past it when technology compels him to commit despicable, irksome acts? How does technology both elevate and find a way to crush our dreams?

Such are the questions you are going to ask yourself while taking a break between episodes. But probably the most important question you are going to ask is: "Can we resist technology?"

It had been a long time since I last watched a series with my husband and got into a philosophical discussion afterwards. At best we usually both agreed that the series were good, at worst we laughed at it or turned it off because we found it completely unbearable. This time we found ourselves talking and talking, sharing opinions, pointing out scenes one of us would miss and enjoyed a deep conversation full of intellectual perspectives. 

If you like what you have read so far then watch it and you won’t be sorry that you did.

Philip Seymour Hoffman found dead...

With a heavy heart I read these lines today...
He was a talented actor and a talented director and to end up in your apartment in New York with a needle still hanging on your arm is such a sad way to go. According to sources it was not a suicide attempt but an accident of overdose.
May he rest in peace. He had more to give, so much more to accomplish but drugs won the day today.
Farewell Philip Seymour Hoffman and my condolences to all he left behind...

For more info: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/10613357/Actor-Philip-Seymour-Hoffman-found-dead-after-apparent-drugs-overdose.html

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

Written by Marina Lewycka, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, was published back in 2005, originally in English. The author herself is of Ukrainian origin and began her writing career as late as her fifties. Perhaps this is the reason why the book has got the sound humor of an adult and a lighthearted approach towards drama and in some cases ‘melodrama’.

The book is written in first person point of view and our narrator is called Nadia, whose father decides to take a wife, less than half his age, after his eighties. Appalled and shocked, Nadia buries the hatchet with her ‘Big Sis’ against the common enemy which comes in a make-up covered package of one Valentina, whose bosoms make the daughters feel flat-chested. The more Nadia digs, the more she will find out about her family history, her father, her sister and herself.

 
One would expect a lesser book with such a washed up story but that is not the case with Marina Lewycka’s narration. The book subjectively and discreetly discusses human nature and through personal experiences where different people stand on communism, capitalism, famine, war and immigration; and tractors…

What I admired most in this book however was the artless manner of the writer herself. She relates events in sincerity but without dragging them out; never succumbing to melodramatic expressions and bitter notions. She doesn’t impart the story through emotional exploitation of the reader but rather treats it as a simple history of one family which, like other families in the entire world, has got its own secrets, shame, resentments but also love, respect and devotedness. Like any other family, they are unique in their simplicity.

I enjoyed reading it and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in a simple yet engaging story written in a humorous fashion while all the way revealing truths about the human nature…and tractors…

Happy 2014

With hopes of 2014 kicking 2013 in the crotch, I wish you all a happy new year. May 2014 bring everyone a peaceful mind, happiness and health. Best wishes :)

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Holiday Season Special:

 Now that the holiday season is upon us and in but two days it is Christmas, let me recommend a movie to watch one of these days (that is if you haven’t watched it already).

The Nightmare before Christmas is a Tim Burton project which dates back to 1982 when he wrote the poem while working as a Disney animator. Since then Disney had been meaning to put this poem into work either as a short movie or a 30-minute tv special.  When it finally came out as a stop motion musical fantasy movie in 1998 it was released under Touchstone Pictures because Disney considered it to be too dark and not really meant for too young an audience.

To me it is one of those perfect productions meant for adults who are still in touch with the child within them. It is the perfect combination of the gloomy and the merry. But marrying these two contradictory notions within the same production is Tim Burton’s specialty anyway.

So what is the story of The Nightmare Before Christmas?

‘Twas a long time ago,
Longer now than it seems
in a place that perhaps
you've seen in your dreams
For the story that you are about to be told
began with the holiday worlds of old

Now, you've probably wondered
where holidays come from.
If you haven't I'd say
it's time you begun.
For the holidays are the result of much fuss
and hard work from the worlds that create them us

Well you see now, quite simply
that's all that they do,
making one unique holiday
especially for you
But once, a calamity ever so great
occured when two holidays met

 by mistake

This introductory poem sums it up for us but let me give you a more detailed description of the story. Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town is fed up with his work and renown. One successful Halloween after the other…he feels hollow and he yearns for something new. That is when he stumbles upon the Christmas Town. Bewitched and overcome by the spirit of Christmas he will soon find himself doing something he never means to do.

The music was composed by Danny Elfman who also takes part in the movie as the singing voice of Jack Skellington. I have to say: The music makes this movie what it is!! I have always been a great fan of Danny Elfman and Tim Burton so the movie is my personal heaven for Christmas. As a matter of fact we have got a family tradition of decorating our tree to the soundtrack of The Nightmare Before Christmas.

It is the perfect film to watch during the holiday season. However its gloomy and dark atmosphere might be a little too hard for children under 8 years of age so if you are planning to watch it with your kids be on your guard. As for your inner kid…he/she will be most satisfied and will thank me for recommending it to you.

 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYBODY

AND

MEEEEEEERRY CHRISTMAS!!