Midnight Club

Alright so as I mentioned before I am a HUGE car fan. One of the first things I did when I bought my Playstation 3 was buy Midnight Club Los Angeles. I thought it was an awesome game that improved on Midnight Club 3. First of all I liked the game taking place in one city. Midnight Club 3 took place in San Diego, Atlanta, Detroit, and Tokyo. San Diego, Atlanta, and Detroit were kind of fun to play in, but got old really quickly. I think San Diego could have been better if they would have added mountains into the game. Tokyo was my favorite city, but it did not feature much as it was really just a side mission city. Having Midnight Club Los Angeles focused on one city it really made the game fun because it allowed the game to have different racing modes with more of a story. Another thing I liked about Midnight Club Los Angeles was that there was no choppers. They were really annoying in Midnight Club 3. And it was even more annoying that it took awhile to get sportbikes. Sorry for those of you who like choppers, but I do not. I do not find them sporty or part of the racing culture. Another good thing was the inclusion of police chases. Sure it got annoying sometimes, but it made the game feel more real.

Despite being a good game, Midnight Club Los Angeles could have been so much better. The two big problems in my opinion are the lack of cars and lack of mountain racing. Sure they feature mountain races, but not a lot of them, and all the mountains have rails. There is no punishment for making a bad turn. At least when you are near the ocean if you go into the water you damage out. There were not enough SUVs in the game.

There are two cities I do have in mind for the next Midnight Club game.

The first, Miami, I think this would be a great city to base the next game in because of it's street racing and car culture as well as crime and drug history. Plus how can I deny that Miami is a beautiful beach city with beautiful women. For this game they could really make a story based off of drug lords and street racing. And Miami is known for it's exotic car culture. Which means more potential exotic cars and luxury cars for the game. Miami also has some really good streets for a racing game.

Finally, Tokyo, okay so it has been done before, but I think in the next game they could really expand on Tokyo and really give the city and it's people/street racers a story. Tokyo and Japan are so closely affiliated to the racing scene. And I think one of the best parts about Japan for this game would be the Yakuza. For those of you who do not know, the Yazuka is basically the mafia in Japan. I think something that would be awesome about Tokyo would also be the different types of racers. For example Rockstar could include: drifters which Japan is famous for. But also have different types of racers from illegal underground racers to rich kids. What would really make this game a huge improvement in terms of Tokyo is the mountains. Tokyo has some beautiful mountains and if they were included they could do wonders for the game. Especially relating to the drift scene and falling off the side.

Some improvements for the next game:
Turn signals
Cars that swerve to get out of your way and do not just run into you
Pedestrian casualties. In MCLA if you hit someone they were like a ghost, but I think the next game should include casualties which would make police a little smarter in terms of knowing your crimes
Also being able to customize your character. Much like how in MC3 you could change outfits and characters.
And one of the biggest things: more cars. Now i know this could get expensive for Rockstar because they have to pay car companies to use their product, but here are cars I would love to see in the game.

Audi A3 and Q7
BMW M3, M6, and X5M
Cadillac CTS-V and Escalade
Ferrari: 458 or California
Ford Focus ST
Honda Civic Si and S2000
Hyundai Genesis and Genesis Coupe
Infiniti G, M, and FX. Infiniti also has the new Infiniti Performance Line G-Coupe
Jaguar XK
Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT
Lamborghini Aventador
Lexus IS F and LF-A
Lotus Elise, Exige, and Evora
Mazda Speed3
Mercedes-Benz C63
Nissan 370Z, Maxima, and new GT-R
Porsche 911, Panamera, and Cayenne Turbo
Subaru WRX STi and BRZ
VW Golf R
Bugatti Veyron
Pagani Zonda
Koenigsegg
Bentley
Rolls-Royce
McLaren
Honda CBR1000RR
Suzuki GSX-R1000
Yamaha R1


Basically what I am saying when it comes to cars is keep the ones already in the game and just add these cars to the list. Also give the option of coupe, hatchback, sedan, and convertible if the individual car has it...

SASHA

Hows everyone doing? It has been a while since I have posted just because of school work and work itself. So I am sure many of you watched the Oscars. What was your opinion of Sasha Baron Cohen dressed in his dictator costume for his upcoming movie, The Dictator. In my opinion I thought it was funny, but at the same time the Oscars is a very special event that should be treated with respect. So it is a tuff thing to call. I just do not think the Oscars should do much with self promotion. Im going to keep it short today and hopefully find topics to post soon.

Bueller Bueller Bueller...

So yesterday a clip was posted on Youtube of Matthew Broderick reprising his role as the legendary Ferris Bueller. For those of you who have not seen the movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" shame on you it is a classic. Drop everything you are doing to watch this comedy.

The short 10 second video features Broderick as an older Ferris. Where he basically opens his curtains and says "How can I handle work on a day like today?" Then the screen reads 2.5.12 which is the date of this years Super Bowl game between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants.

This mini clip is extremely mysterious as the viewer does not know who is advertising this. It could be that they are making a new Ferris Bueller movie and the studio is advertising. Paramount was the distribution company for the first film. Or it could be a huge disappointment as maybe it is just an advertisement for some product. Hopefully it is the first option.

The other questions that have been circling the internet include, who would also be in the film? Would Alan Ruck and Mia Sara be in it? What about Jeffrey Jones?

Matthew Broderick has really tried to make a sequel in the past. He stated he wanted it to be either during Ferris' college years or during his first job. But Broderick said that they were never able to find the right hook in the story. Alan Ruck (Cameron) said "I used to think why don't they wait until Matthew and I are in our seventies and do Ferris Bueller Returns and have Cameron be in a nursing home. He doesn't really need to be there, but he just decided his life is over, so he committed himself to a nursing home. And Ferris comes and breaks him out. And they go to, like, a bar and all this ridiculous stuff happens. And then, at the end of the movie, Cameron dies."


So what will happen? Will the world get an update to Ferris Bueller's life? Or is it just an advertising ploy?

The Tournament of Roses 2012

Alright folks. This one is going to be about The Tournament of Roses Parade for 2012.

Happy New Year!

I worked last night until 3 am at Disneyland. But hey it was pretty fun, cant complain.

Alright for those of you who dont know the Tournament of Roses Parade will be tomorrow, not today. Why? Well the Rose Bowl Game is not held on January 1st when it falls on a Sunday, so that it doesnt compete with the NFL games.

"Since then the parade has been held in Pasadena every New Year's Day, except when January 1 falls on a Sunday. In that case, it is held on the subsequent Monday, January 2. This exception was instituted in 1893. Local tradition has it that "the Tournament has a deal with God; we'll never hold the parade on a Sunday, and He'll never let it rain on the Rose Parade." (Wikipedia)" Part of the reason the parade is never on Sundays is so that it doesnt interfere with local churches.

So the Parade will be tomorrow at 8 AM. It will be shown on ABC (national), NBC (national), HGTV, KTLA, Hallmark, Univision, Home and Garden, and KTLA online live feed.

The Parade was first started in 1890 by the Valley Hunt Club. Most of the members of the Valley Hunt Club were from the East Coast or Midwest, and this parade on New Years was a way of showing how nice the weather was compared to their former homes.

Professor Charles F. Holder announced, "In New York, people are buried in the snow. Here our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear. Let's hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise."


The first floats were Horse Drawn carriages covered in flowers.


All of the Floats today have to be covered in flowers or seeds of some sort. It has to be something natural showing, it cant be artificial.


They also feature Equestrians and Bands from high schools, Los Angeles school district band, Marine Corps, Honor Band, Salvation Army band, colleges, international bands, and the two universities playing in the Rose Bowl Game.


Last year the Parade had an attendance of 700,000. Reaches 47 million viewers, and 28 million international viewers.


The Tournament House, headquarters for the Tournament of Roses, was William Wrigley's home. He donated it once his wife died in 1958. Wrigley is the founder of Wrigley's Chewing Gum.




Now there was an article by the LA Times. About a stronger police force in the Tournament of Roses, why? Because there is an Occupy the Rose Parade movement. Demonstrators of Occupy movement, made successful negotiations with Police and the Tournament of Roses to march after the Parade. The agreement was made so that there would be no violence, in hope that it would be peaceful.


Now in my opinion. I agree to an extent with this agreement of Occupy being allowed, but at the same time I dont think they should be at the Parade. There are certain days of the year we can forget about politics, war, economics, and worldy troubles. New Years Eve, New Years day, Christmas Eve and Christmas day, Easter, and Thanksgiving. They are taking an event of such tradition and worry free spirit and making it political. I really hope allowing Occupy to be here doesnt bring down the event, I hope occupy actually acts respectfully.

sorry

Sorry for not posting in a while. I have been real busy with school and work.

I will write a blog post tomorrow about Favorite holiday movies.

what are your favorites? check in tomorrow for my favorites

Lincoln

Okay so this article is dedicated to cars.

Now I am a HUGE fan of cars, I try to go to the local auto show every year, and being I live in Southern California hopefully that means this year it is the LA Auto Show.

Now my favorite luxury car brands are Audi and BMW, but I will admit I like the Infinity G37, new Mercedes Benz C63 AMG Coupe, and Lexus IS F. My favorite BMW is the of course the M3, but I also like the 335 Coupe. When it comes to Audi, well where to start: A3, A4, S4, A5, S5, R8.

Usually I will go on various car manufacturer websites building my dream cars.

Now this lead to my thinking, What is wrong with American Luxury Brands?

If you did not know the main American luxury brands are: Cadillac and Lincoln, although Chrysler would like to consider itself a luxury brand.

Well sorry to break it to you Chrysler, you are not a luxury brand. They do have the popular Chrysler 300 which arguably is a luxury car, but that is it. The 200 is basically a renamed Sebring and te Town & Country, which luxury brand has a minivan. Plus for the base models you get cloth, no luxury brand would put cloth in a luxury car, I mean it better be a luxuries cloth that out does leather.

Anyways I am not here to talk about Chrysler, I am here to focus on Ford's Lincoln. Get it Focus on Ford. Ford has recently invested $1 Billion dollars in its Luxury brand as sales for the Lincoln brand are hurting. Ford sold Volvo and Jaguar a while ago. And they discontinued the Mercury brand. Was it a smart move? Well I dont know to be honest. Mercury was a brand that was hurting and shared too many similarities for its cheaper Ford versions. And if you wanted a luxury car all you had to do was pay a few extra thousand and get a Lincoln.

Now lets be honest, look at Lincoln, what is right with it? The American luxury brands have sure taken a back seat to the Germans and Japanese, but I think a lot of it has to do with marketing and new designs. All I can say besides the fact I think Cadillacs are ugly, is atleast they differentiate themselves from other GM Brands. Lincoln has just used the Ford cars and dressed them up as Lincolns. That would be like seeing a Jetta with an Audi logo on it, or a Malibu with a Cadillac logo on it. Lincoln just doesnt make itself different from Ford. If you take an MKZ and customize it to the max it would be around $42k, but take a Ford Fusion and max it out it would be almost $10k cheaper, yep just $32k for a car that has received outstanding reviews from various car magazines.

If you look at the two they look almost identical, but I think the Ford is 100 times better than the Lincoln.

And that is not all the Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX are also the same vehicles just with minor visual differences.

Now what does Lincoln, or Ford, need to do with this $1 Billion?

I think Ford seriously needs to think about Lincoln. I am not saying to get rid of Lincoln, just rebrand it and kind or redue the entire Lincoln brand. My opinion: new Logo. I just find that logo to old looking, I think Lincoln needs an update. I think they should incorporate the L into a new logo. Also what might look really cool is having on the back of the car the letters LINCOLN rather than a logo.

Another thing I think Lincoln needs to do is get rid of their line-up. Yes I said it, even the once popular Navigator. I think they need to put a line-up together that can compete with BMW, Mercedes Benz, Lexus, etc.

That means new cars, and not ones that look like Fords. If you want to sell more luxury cars you better have cars that are different from your base brand, in this case Ford. They need a new grille, that grille is just super ugly. What I would do is get bars that go straight down, not diagonal. Take out the middle part with the logo and have the grille go all the way across. And no bar running horizontally on the grille. When it comes to the taillights, make them more modern. They look way too ugly. Make this a car someone is going to want to own.

What not to do: Dont make a new Grand Marquise, Those things were ugly and dont try to bring back old ugly American luxury styling. I am not saying avoid boxy cars but do it so that it looks modern and that a 30 year old will want to drive it, not a 90 year old. This car on the left is not terrible, but looks way too Grand Marquise. The car also looks too much like a sedan version of a Dodge Challenger. What I would recommend is look at Mercedes and Lexus and see what they do right in styling. Sure I dont want you to copy them, but dont make your styling ugly.

Other things: scrap the idea of making an efficient small car, you are a luxury brand, you need to show that someone with a million dollars will buy you. I think the company needs to focus on performance as well. Bring in a coupe or a few coupes to match your sedans. Maybe even a wagon as well. And make like two SUVs that are cross-overs. I would recommend they have a smaller car a little bit bigger than the focus to compete with the 3-series, and a Fusion size sedan and then a sedan to compete with the 5 series. And like I mentioned make a coupe for each one. Please no ugly Cadillac style coupes that dont even look like arrows.

One of the big things, make a sports car line-up and super car. Similar to Mercedes AMG, Audi S and RS, BMW M, and Lexus F.

I just think that Lincoln needs to reinvent itself as a luxury brand that doesnt barrow from Ford and looks modern.

I think if Lincoln were to do this they could pull themselves around and make themselves a wanted brand.

I might consider drawing some sketches and posting them later.

DROID!!!

Okay so we have all heard about it by now the Motorola Droid Razr. Despite sharing its name with the popular last generation Razr it is very different.









Besides being a touch screen vs flip phone,

Although one big thing these phones do share is their slimness. The new Razr is the slimmest 4.3 touch screen available 4G LTE phone. Try this .28 inches thick. That is crazy.

This new Razr features a 4.3 inch touchscreen with two cameras. A front camera that is 1.3 megapixels and shoots 720 video. And a back camera that is 8 megapixels and shoots 1080 video.

Motorla says it has a special designed front so that it is harder to break, and the back is almost carbon fiber like. The material is called Kevlar which is super durable and used in bullet proof vests. I would advise not to test it out and shoot at it.

The screen is 540x960.

One of the best features of this phone is Smart Actions which are basically quick short cuts for your phone. For example, if you plug in your headphones, the moment you do it your phones music player or pandora will load up and start playing. Verizon and Motorola claim that it helps out with battery life as well.

It does feature an HDMI out to hook it up to a TV or Computer.

In more news Android Ice Cream Sandwich is coming soon.

The biggest problem is the battery. Which smart phones are not hidden from. According to tests you would have to charge it around twice a day depending on usage. Also you cannot take the battery out. This means, well I dont know what it means? What happens when the battery dies?

I am a fan of Droid phones no question, but I hope this phone is better than my Droid 2 Global. Dont get me wrong the Droid 2 Global is a good phone, but for me it has had too many problems. And when I went into a Verizon store the employee told me that it is their most trouble shooted Android phone. That is a bummer considering Verizon doesnt want to admit it.

What is wrong with the Droid 2. The phone has some freezing problems, phones calls dont always go through, the speaker will some times stop working, battery really sucks, I charge the phone at night then have to charge it again when I wake up and it still turns red before I get home. Now my Navigation almost no longer works, first it flipped the maps upside down, then when it fixed it, the voice on the Navigation no longer says anything which is annoying when I use it while driving. I cant tell you how many times I have missed a turn because of it losing its voice. The other problem not related to technology is the weight, it is way heavier than any other Droid. That is the price I pay for wanting a keyboard that doesnt really matter anymore.

Well besides those problems the phone is good, and some of the problems except the navigation volume have gone away.

The Droid Razr starts at $300