OVERRANDOM

• The fight scenes in Jumper were pretty interesting. A fight in a desert would involve a wave of ocean from the Atlanta ocean or a bus from Tokyo hurdling onto their enemy.
• The way how the main character discovers his jumping ability is interesting. Fighting for his life after falling into a frozen lake, David is suddenly transported to the Ann Arbour library (and the surrounding water, too).
• A few other things that happen here and there. Saying what they were would void the story of the movie.
  

• A little sloppy. The movie opens up with a narration from the main character with a shot of him standing on top of a Sphinx statue (with picnic supplies). The problem with this is that it offers too much foreshadowing. I feel that for movies such as this, you should follow along with the character.
• Sometimes the camera does not follow the action. When there are fight scenes involved, the camera should not be shaking around to feel like the viewer is in the fight, too. This does not happen the entire time, but when I wanted the camera to stay still, it did not.
• The Jumping ability is a little too similar to Nightcrawler from XMen. The jumper can only jump to places he has been to, he sees, or he has a picture of. This is why the wall of a Jumper's home is riddled with pictures of everywhere.
• I felt the ending was a little silly. I will not say exactly what happened, but the new location of Roland after being jumped by a Jumper (and the expression on Roland's face) is somewhat silly. Judging by the places the Jumpers have gone, they could have dropped Roland in a much more scary place, and giving him a much better expression on his face.
• The animation of a collapsing building was not well done. I saw an absence of detail in the falling bricks and the entire wall. Right away. Bleh!

• It is not "Godzilla". Not even close.
• The handycam view is not meant to nauseate (but still can to some people).
• You might want an alien invasion after the movie is over.
  

• Cloverfields animation combined with the handycam action made you feel like this was happening here and now. When doing compositing in animation, having the camera shake around proves to be difficult for the compositor to combine both the computer generated element and the camera's position. In Cloverfield, this was done flawlessly.
• The character's were pretty interesting from the start. With the event that opens up in the movie, you get a little attached to the characters. This becomes a hurdle to get over later in the movie.
• Uses some pretty clever shots that have to do with the handycam. "Wait wait, do you have the night vision setting on?" "There's night vision?" "Yea, the button is right ... here. Does that work?" *there's a few monsters in the shot now*
• The movie makes you feel like the monster is in your face. Since the camera does not pan around or change to a different angle like most movies do, when the monster looks at you and roars, you get the rare sense of "OH MY GOD, I HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!!"
• No music to make this movie feel like a movie. With the absence of a instrumental soundtrack in the background, I still had the feeling that this was real. Awesome.

• When I left the movie theater, I looked at the buildings: Dang, no aliens. Cloverfield made me want to be involved with an alien/monster attack.
• There were some issues with anatomy with the monster. One of my friends pointed out that the size of the arms would not make it easy to tear through a building. They might be able to pull it down, but this monster was swinging right through it to bring it down. Also, I do not remember if the monster actually picked up anything, but the location of the elbows would make it very hard to pick up anything. However, I did not notice any of this when I saw it.

Especially when it's my motivation riding it.

• The movie is short if you walk out early. Impossible to stand the entire two hours, so I walked out early!
• Maybe one or two of the first scenes were decent. When the first fight took place at Farmer's farm (ah, that's easy and hard to say), it seemed alright.
• The Krug in the movie were pretty similar to those in the actual game.
• Definitely had potential. If it wasn't sloppy and was properly edited, it might have been a much better game to movie translation (like Hitman).
  

• Sloppily done. The movie had a tendency to move around A LOT. For example, the shot would be one thing, then a different scene and setting, snap to a different one, then snap to the first one, then the third, then the second. This can work for certain situations, but this was done throughout the movie, and the shots were long. As soon as you had an idea about what was going on, the shot changed and I had to rethink stuff.
  
• Did not give me a chance to get a feel for the movie. Within a few seconds of the first view of the movie, people were talking. The problem was this was I had no idea what was going on. While it is good to have the viewer wonder what it is about, it is bad to make the viewer not know what the immediate situation is about. Plus, it attempted to introduce me too fast. In the beginning scene, one person says to his ladyfriend (or whoever she is) something along the lines of "Your powers are improving." They're in bed, what powers?
• Stonebridge is not farmlands and straw houses. It is literally "Stone Bridge", with houses made of stone (not hay and straw. It's not Haybridge, or Strawbridge)
• The name "Farmer" is good for the game, not for the movie. In the game the movie is based on, the main character (you) is named Farmer. The reason for this is to give the player the ability to "create" his character and not have to abide by whatever name they choose. In a movie, the movie decides for them. As if that was not enough, Farmer's wife and his son were discussing why his name was Farmer. The reason for that was also silly (for a movie). The reason was that his name makes who he is: A Farmer. This entire discussion was also very useless.
• There was no editing to the film. The film is two hours long and there is a bunch of scenes that did not have to be there. An example of one scene is described just above (about Farmer's name).
• If an actor does not know how to cry, try something else. When Farmer's wife is told that her son has died, she tries to cry. She does not look like she is crying, but instead she looks in pain (physical pain). It hurt me, too, to see an actor try something too hard. When something like this happens, it is okay to mold the script to better fit this. If an actor is unable to cry, instead of doing a shot of her face (which they did), have the actor bury her face or hug the person who is telling her.
  
• The opening title was mis-aligned. When the movie opens and shows the title, it zooms in. However, the spaces between the words increases. No no no no no no no.
• I left the movie after an hour. Arghafu.

AVG is a personal computer security suite. This suite protects your computer from any threat from viruses to spyware. The AVG Free Edition just protects against viruses, but does it well. I decided to go ahead with the full version of AVG Internet Security, which comes with anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam, and a firewall.

Before AVG, I was using Norton. Eventually, after the complete incompatibility of my usual computer usage (online gaming and development), by constantly alerting me that my game is accessing the Internet or random things that just were not easy to go around, I found the AVG Free Edition. AVG is extremely easy to use and does not get in your way. Now with the full (not-free) version of AVG Internet Security, here I give the review for it.

Pros:

• Really easy to use. The interface is simple, and does not try to have pretty, long loading pictures. Click and scan, off you go.
• Updates every day. The updates are automatic and very fast (most of them are under 100KB).
• AVG Firewall includes "Game Mode". A very good option for gamers. In other firewalls without this setting, full screen games will minimize when a security alert pops up that relates to the game in full screen. With Game Mode, the security alert (if it relates to your game) does not bother you while in game. Most firewall systems actually do have this, but it was either hard to find or not working.
• (Someone can correct me on this) Worms or Viruses which close anti-virus software do not seem to have an effect on AVG. There's this computer my family uses that I scan regularly. Because of their improper use of it, the computer is riddled with violent worms and sickly viruses. The included Symantec Norton Anti-Virus Corporate Edition closes often when I try to scan the system. Eventually, I put AVG Free Edition on there. The software never closed and removed the worm. This is an important plus for AVG.
• Updates allow resume. The Internet connection I have is pretty darned slow and I love to resume my downloads for later. Finally, I can do it with my virus scanner, too!
• Pretty much Automatic. The updates automatically close too when they are done, so if you leave it for awhile (say, a few days), you do not have three finished update windows on the screen at the same time.

Cons:

• Somewhat slow of a scanner. However, this can be fixed by changing the options to allow higher priority over other systems.
• Lots of memory usage. Each AVG system is it's own program and eats about 80MB on the memory all together.
• The Backup CD is a mandatory buy. For some reason, when I was buying AVG online, I couldn't deselect the Backup CD from the cart. There just was no option for that. This added about $11 to the total price.

• Excellent interface. The dock is an easy way how to quickly access the programs you need without cluttering up the desktop with icons. You can also place folders in it. Moving the mouse over the folder on the dock causes them to stack up, which is a new feature for Leopard.

• Very quick. The OS boots up very quickly.

• Superior multi-tasking ability. Forget Dual Monitors on this system (although, it would still be awesome). There is a bunch of software included used for multi-tasking. For example, pressing a certain function key (depends on your own selections), causes all the windows to appear in a shrunken form. Another new feature that was introduced into Leopard is called Spaces. Pressing this function causes four squares to appear. Each square is supposed to represent one screen. You can manage four different work spaces. Each square has their own open applications. Clicking a square opens that workspace, and minimizes the other one. You can also drag applications in between squares. Each of the squares also display how that workspace looks (application location and size).

• USB Devices work extremely well on it. When I plug in one of my three hard drives, the device pops up on the desktop. No unnecessary things to do. Ejecting a device is very simple: Just drag it to the eject icon (the trash can changes to an eject icon).

• Front Row is awesome. Opening the Front Row software (or pressing Menu on the remote, if you have one) turns the screen black, and displays a list of options: Movies, Music, Photos, and Podcasts. This is basically an entertainment software, like the kind of thing you would see on a TV.

• Huge selection of included software. Make movies with iMovie, create music with Garage Band and listen to it with the best music player on the planet: iTunes, then create a DVD with iDVD. Manage your photos with iPhoto, make web sites with iWeb, and view them with Safari, the Mac web browser.

• Putting the computer to sleep works very nicely. I never used the sleep option (or Hibernate, too) with Windows because I always thought it would turn right back on, plus it took time to sleep. Sleeping the Mac involves just closing the lid, and it will be sleeping in two seconds. The power light will then pulse to indicate it is sleeping.

• Extremely easy to update the system software. Click the Apple, then software update. The software will then search for all available updates, including updates for programs such as Garage Band or iMovie.

• Raising the volume has a funny sound. Each time you press the volume up or volume down button, there is a funny sound that comes up. Like a "blip" or a "bloop". Yea.

Cons:

• You pretty much need Microsoft Office. The included office suite might work for you, but Microsoft Office is much better for the job (not to mention Microsoft Office is originally a Macintosh program, so it works very well).

• The Dock runs slower on Leopard than Tiger (previous version). The Dock has this mirror effect. The background behind the dock items is sort of like a mirror for a floor, and reflects. This is a little graphic heavy (on my machine, at least, but the graphics card is very good, so I did not expect this).

• When no Wi-Fi is found in range, the system hiccups every (approx.) five seconds. This will continue until it finds a Wi-Fi signal, or till you turn off the Wi-Fi radio.

• Not a gaming system. However, this is changing, and the amount of Mac games is increasing rapidly. This is because of the new Intel processors. Basically, this means that the programming for Windows games are the same as games on Macintosh. EA Games has begun putting some of their Windows games on Leopard, such as Battlefield 2142 and Need For Speed: Carbon, and run fantastically. Graphics cards used on Macintosh computers are now much better than they used to be.

• Awesome Graphics. From displaying many high quality buildings to correct shadows to detailed walls, Assassin's Creed pulls you into a fantastically detailed world of The Third Crusade.
• Fun Sword Fighting. Your opponent screams at you, "Die Infidel!" and lunges at you with the sword drawn. Dodge his attack, then swing at him. If he blocks it, use a combo kill to get past his block. When your sword hits your opponent, the game makes it very satisfying.
• Amazing Free-running madness. Leap across the roofs of buildings, and climb almost any wall in the game. Pursue your assassination target on top of buildings. There is no obstacle in Assassin's Creed that you cannot overcome.
• Interesting story. I do not want to spoil anything, but it is good.
  

• Somewhat repetitive battles. For example, you can counter your opponents attack which triggers an awesome looking animation. Slice slice, STAB. While there are plenty of animations for this move, you tend to see them over again
• Very repetitive "Leap of Faith". One of the actions you have to do when exploring your city is get up to the highest point to update your map. Then, you can climb down or take a "leap of faith". The one very noticeable thing about the leap of faith is there is ALWAYS a barrel of hay directly below that point.
• Words spoken by the peasants can get repetitive, too. "...and his infidel army!" "...the other tries to embrace." "...and awkward sons." "I say it is a privilege! To die in service to god!"