The Singularity is Near

A futuristic insight into the decades to come as to how the Singularity will probably unfold as told by Kurzweil. The Singularity means several things, but to summarize it, it would mean when man and machine are fused, and the differences can no longer be told apart, whether by appearance, intelligence or empirical senses.

He predicts numerous things that will happen as the 21^st century continues along, including that “strong” artificial intelligence will shape up our reality and ascend or transcend it, nanotechnology of which the most quoted example are the nanobots who will assist us internally through our blood, bones, flesh and brain cells, and other stuff.

The Singularity is Near is for the most part a pleasant and thought provoking read, but Kurzweil at one point did spam me with countless of charts to show me growth etc. which annoyed me.  

Rating: **

Top Favorite TV Series

This list of most of all recent entries will surely not surprise anyone, and to be honest, there are so many damn good TV series out there that it might take a life time to watch them, so let's just present my current 5 favorite TV series:

5.The Walking Dead

The best zombie TV serie continues to be The Walking Dead, where the zombies take a backseat as the story is more about survival, rations and in what kind post apocalyptic civilation the humans would like to live in.

Countless amounts of impressive gore effects, human deaths and of course the skin of the zombies keep this visually appealing for horror fans, and combined with some pretty good leading characters, this sub genre remains popular.

  4.Dexter

The bloodsplatter analyst overday who seeks and delivers self justice at nights looking for criminals who got away, Dexter is a look into a serial killer's mind and life, featuring a fun cast of support characters.

The intro is a morning routine of familiar tropes, and the monologue narration of Dexter is smooth to listen to. The most fun with Dexter is that pretty much for every season, Dexter has to face a new major villain, and The Trinity Killer from Season 4 is my favorite of them.

3.Breaking Bad

Similar to the previous TV serie in the sense that both protagonists will stop at nothing to protect their families while leading dual lives, Walter White is a former chemist teacher gone drugs cooking gang lord who outplays his opponents every time.

There are some very badass characters that assist or conflict with Heisenberg such as Saul, Jesse, Mike and especially Gus, each of them acting out their persona's beautifully. Breaking Bad is an intense crime thriller!

2.Game of Thrones

Easily the most popular serie even as we eagerly await the final season, while spin-offs, prequels and such are more or less announced, Game of Thrones took the world by storm, and the action, the acting and most of all the political mind games is what keeps me watching.

Almost all of the characters have interesting personalities, backgrounds and quotes to say, while sex and gore can be very effective in their own ways. With a few fantasy elements happening, Game of Thrones is mostly about family, power and control.

1.Twin Peaks

David Lynch's unique TV series known as Twin Peaks is full of interesting characters, scenes, dialogue and most of all mystery. With a memorable intro and outro playing for each episode, it's very binge worthy, but most of all, it's a one of a kind.

Special Agent Dale Cooper investigates the Washingon stated town where a murder has taken place, and the numerous characters accompany and enhance his ascended visit as he takes another sip of damn fine coffee.

Twin Peaks is truly special and can be cryptic and creepy at times too. The recent third season shall personally be reviewed in the upcoming horror month of october, as that season takes a dramatic new turn.

Oh, and about my two Top 25 lists from 5 years ago? Don't worry, they will both be getting an update later this year.

Movie Game

Ever heard of this terminology?

What about Walking Simulator?
Interactive Experience?
Pure Kino?

A movie game is where the cinematic quantities of it become so overwhelmingly large, that the game sometimes forgets most, if not all of the gameplay involved, or it simply considers that and arguably even the plot itself as secondary.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is a great example. With over 8 hours of cut scenes filled with voice acting, conspiracies and nano machines, it's a polarizing title in a beloved franchise, and yet people continue to talk about it.

Or take Quantic Dream's modern games, Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Soul and Detroid: Become Human. Each of them adds new layers of storytelling, while the power to control dialogue and event outcomes gets more vast in richness.

What about the Uncharted games? To me, they shape the mood of a movie game very good, as while there are plenty of voice acting and dialogue options, the mandatory cut scenes are very few, and actually pretty much all of the storytelling is done dynamically next to the gameplay, and yet the Uncharted games still feel like Indiana Jones to me!

Walking Simulators are a relative modern term used on video games such as Firewatch, Gone Home and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, 3 games of which I have 3 very different opinions about. I would consider The Stanley Parable as a thought provoking ride of a walking simulator though.
They often feature little to no gameplay,  but they attempt to overwhelm with narrative.

So a movie game can actually be pretty of things when looking at all of these examples, and when thinking about it, the term might be outdated, not needed or unnecessary. And yet, video games are turning more mature than ever with all of these recent years, where emotions are getting more involved, I wonder when a new classification regarding the video game genres will happen?