The Forgotten War

Stuck inbetween roughly World War II and the Vietnam War, the Korean War also known as The Forgotten War is a Cold War esque conflict still intact arguably through decades of tensions, and despite the ironic nickname, it still remains an obscure battle field of the past and the present in the far east.

Having seen and visited both North and South Korea as well as China and Japan already, and as I am about to discover Vietnam in parallel among other countries this month, I think that I have a good overall insight inside the majority of the belligerents involved regarding this war history.

Recently, as if tensions weren't high enough already back in 2013, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un have been exchanging harsh and warmongering words, as their regimes blame each other for destabilizing the far east Asia region, and arguably the entire world with nuclear weapons involved.

Objectively, the West propaganda machine proclaims the DPRK to be the sole aggressor on the Korean Peninsula, but if you might recall my previous blogs regarding this conundrum, there is much more happening here than that the regime is provocative with threats of ashes of fire happening.

It is desperately clinging onto national survival, and the nuclear deterrance is it's best method of defense against the imminent invasion/self defence alliance of the US, ROK and Japan. Even China is working against it's ally through economic sanctions, but I still believe that they as well as Russia would assist if a new war would break loose.

The worst outcome of this all would be to have another nuclear disaster or holocaust to happen in the 21st century, and this time the damage would be much more severe than back in the 1940's, as the war technology and the quantity of the weapons has improved.

My next step of this strategic map would be to basically leave North Korea alone, and acknowledge that it really is the USA that needs to back off quite a bit, and possibly even let it's troops leave South Korea at least, so that the Koreans can have space and diplomatic means for themselves, while the US can chill out over at Japan, I mean it has enough military bases in the world already, which proves that it is acting as a police cop of worldly proportions.

If you don't know much about the Forgotten/Korean War yet, consider reading up about it, so that the current war rhetoric can be understood better. Again, I really hope that a reunification will happen in my lifetime, but as said, the worst consequence would be to have millions and millions of deaths happening.

And that is why this political blog is part of the October horror month, as this consequence could definitely become a reality, arguably even triggering World War III.

Recent Developments

Annually, I would start writing up a horror article every day in this month. However, due to very busy recent developments, I am unable to promise myself of this pleasure for this year.

I will still have over a dozen of articles ready for publication, so it's not really a loss, especially considering that Flok Factory remains obscure. Still, I'm content enough that I can express my thoughts, feelings and opinion in this way.

At the same time, I am still considering to migrate from text based updates, towards video logging, or vlogs, or at least making the transition to offer reviews of all kinds, but preferably and most likely video games. However, I don't have time to implement this yet.

And this is because of several reasons. First, my own home here at Zeist is now complete and invitational for the long-term period, that is also why I hosted my housewarming yesterday, which was very cozy, entertaining and gezellig.

Second, for the last 2 weeks, I needed to unexpectedly start applying for new IT jobs, because my current employer did not want to continue working with me for several reasons, but basically I was getting too expensive towards them.

Luckily due to my updated curriculum vitae and my perserverance, I am insured of a new job elsewhere, because I have received some offers already. Now for the upcoming week, it's just a matter of time and careful selection before I sign on a new contract.

Third, I have been studying for MCSA Windows Server 2012's last module 70-412, but I have failed it's exam twice now, because of it's huge learning curve, and the fact that I am missing work experience with the content.

And finally, I am also busy arranging my personal itinerary for my upcoming November vacation. I have the flight tickets, the visa and I am halfway through the accomodations, but there is still the huge amount of enjoyable time investments I will have to use this month where I will select the highlights I will want to experience.

So as you can see, I've got plenty of recent developments which occupy and keep me from posting daily horror topics. And that's okay for 2017, because this is my life I am managing at my best, and to be honest, I like how I am taking control.

Enjoy the upcoming horror blog posts!

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

 

A surprise move from Naughty Dog, the Uncharted franchise does not end with A Thief's End, but rather perhaps Nathan Drake's tale does, for now at least. Instead, In this (sequel, interquel?)adventure, we follow Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross on a request to discover mythical Tusk in the lands of India.

For the first time, we are having a female lead of a similar type towards Nathan, except that of course the humor is lost in translation. The structure and level design of previous entries is copy pasted here in a gentle way, and the new settings seen here are as stunning, if not, more than that.

The gameplay consisting of gunplay, puzzle solving and my favorite, climbing and jumping around platforms and obstacles remains intact, and combined with the voice acting dialogue, it once again is a compelling and rich adventure.

Compared with the other entries, The Lost Legacy sits somewhere in between the heavy hitters. While it easily dethrones Drake's Fortune, it's length and character development aren't as satisfying as the others, as the chemistry between Chloe and Nadine is less exciting to me.

A revised photo capture mode with filters, selfie expressions and such make sure that you can make memorable pictures along the chapters, and speaking of which, the last one involving the train is pretty much my favorite as it is action oriented and again, a good reminder of a similar chapter in Amongst Thieves.

The multiplayer seen in A Thief's End is carried over here and is just as entertaining if not better. The unlockables cheates such as slow motion, a mirror world and other effects make up for a second replay, and the difficulty remains challenging on the highest settings.

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is in my opinion an impressive output from Naughty Dog considering that it first started as DLC for A Thief's  End, but in roughly 1 year they managed to produce another well done entry in a beloved franchise, respect for that!

Rating: 8.4

A New Home, A New Beginning

It´s time to move out of the bird´s nest and begin my new life and chapter at the city of Zeist starting as of today on August 19th, 2017. At the age of 29, I personally feel that I am one of the last people of my generation to move out, but truthfully, that´s just a social pressure, and me and my parents were happy that I could keep living in peace at home for so long.

As I finally move away from my youth town Maarssen, where I first grew up in the residential area Reigerskamp, and until yesterday in Zwanenkamp, I think back of the countless and numerous memories I have made at each of them.

Finally, independence, freedom and opportunities are within my hands truly, and I can´t wait to adjust my lifestyle towards this. My maisonette or duplex with two floors has been cleaned, painted and made more personal through the furniture I have chosen, and the neighborhood seems to be calm.

As my living room will be inviting, modern and social, my office will be dedicated towards my IT based studies, while my sleeping room will be equipped with a boxspring bed, which is a first for me, and I am eager to sleep on it!

A fourth room shall be entirely dedicated towards my retro gaming scene, as well as the fact that I have started collecting officially as of last February. Aside from hooking that all up, I also expect that I will eventually attempt to build my own custom arcade cabinet in there.

The future of myself, my family, friends, love and of course Flok Factory itself shall continue and expand, as I have become a proud uncle as of last June, and I am already getting aware of friends of friends living close by, and that making new friendships and acquaintances will happen very likely.                                          

Here's to the best new beginning I can imagine!

Power Unlimited

While North Americans were treated and grew up with Nintendo Power in my youth, Dutch kids on the other hand would be exposed to Power Unlimited, a gaming magazine that actually is still getting published to this present day.

During the 90´s, this is what would inform, excite and humorous me regarding video games. The crew´s noteworthy feature for me was that pretty much each in game screenshot would be somehow made a joke about by final editor Ed Wiggemans.

My first exposure towards the worldwide madness coverage, that is Electronic Entertainment Expo, would always be covered in this magazine, and I distinctively remember the chosen crew members always getting excited not just because of the flight and the announcements, but also because of the booth babes!

It was always my first experience with the art of crafting game reviews. I remember that the crew had the tendency to fuse personal experiences with the articles before talking about the games themselves, and while this was for the most part acceptable, eventually I would get tired of it.

Flash forward to the middle 00´s/2000's, what was the reason for me cancelling the subscription? I was getting tired of the crew's repetitive content, humor and criticism I guess. Plus around that time, I was exposed to online game reviews such as on GameFAQs anyway, I figured that this would be the right choice.

Power Unlimited is still going strong both as a magazine, as the television program Gamekings, and digitally on www.pu.nl. Looking back at it now over a decade later. I still fondly remember that I would anticipate with excitement for upcoming video games, seeing the score ratings, and laughing out loud about the humor it had so much to share and offer.

Nostalgia is remarkable.

Dunkirk

 

All great things come to an end.

Christopher Nolan´s portfolio has been unprecedented over the years, and by now, everyone who is even slightly enthousiastic about film making and critique in general can name pretty much all of his major directional works, minus maybe Following(1998) and Insomnia(2002).

After taking a year longer to release his latest, it seems that the momentum of the expectations surrounding Nolan have started to lower a bit. By no means is it a bad film in any aspect, but from what we have seen previously, it's quality is in overall lesser.

Dunkirk is the dramatic and intense adaptation of a miraculous World War II event where Allied forces where surrounded in masses by the Germans, and while doom was lurking over their heads, hundreds of civilian boats from the United Kingdom where able to evacuate and save the soldiers.

Starring a slew of new and veteran actors, Nolan always seems to approach this mixture, and so far it has worked out. From the opening scene of avoiding enemy gunfire and lining up for further orders to the arrival and celebration of a massive evacuation, the camera will show you plenty of different views.

3 subplots seem to be working out here through interconnection as the general direction is of course about the surrounded forces getting trapped and eventually escaping unexpectedly. A young boy hides on a mole while saving privates inbetween, an older man is dedicated towards bringing all of the young men back home by sea, and a young man fights in the skies while later on taking down a bomber, saving many lives.

The cinematography and the soundtrack say much more than the plot and the characters themselves in the picture. Hans Zimmer is once again collaborating, and Dunkirk's soundtrack is another stellar piece of intense instruments building up on the film's beautiful cinematography, which if you ask me is it's best factor.

Fionn Whitehead, Tom Hardy and Mark Rylance must all deal with difficult choices and moral dilemma's as the war rages on on the seas, lands and skies of Dunkirk, otherwise also known in Dutch as Duinkerken, but in reality, filming locations among that main one also included Urk in The Netherlands.

The movie had many amounts of extra's to emphasize the reality and drama of the actual event, plus the explosions, bombardments and shooting seemed to equally reflect on those themes. It's also interesting to note that Nolan consciously decided not to let the Germans appear on screen, as well as keeping dialogue to a bare minimum, which enhanced the pace, and the movie was over before I knew it, which always is a good sign to me.

Dunkirk is a different kind of war movie, which shows defeat in a spectacular way, and although it is inevitable to happen in any war, perhaps the sense of homecoming and retaliation were best seen at the ending, where Winston Churchill delivers a speech and unlike The Dark Knight Rises, makes defeat an emotional victory.

Rating: 8.5

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy

First time I’m playing Crash Bandicoot, and I am pleasantly surprised! This N. Sane Trilogy seems to be a good entry point. It’s quite challenging with precise jumping needed, but the amount of fun cannot be denied. You can spin your way through enemies and boxes in order to advance, and your jumps sometimes need perfect timing in order to progress. With enough levels and motivation to destroy all the boxes and see the bonus content, Crash Bandicoot is a classic 3D platformer!

Rating: 8.1 

Cortex Strikes Back

A sequel with more varied levels, but the world map is missing this time, Cortex Strikes Back lets your arch nemesis trick you into collecting purple crystals so that he can achieve world domination and everyone becomes his slaves! The challenge is still there but is a bit more mild. Collecting the purple crystals is required to beat the game, the other gems however are bonuses. Playing more as Coco this time, Crash’s cute sister, it’s another solid title!

Rating: 8.2

Warped

This time Crash and Coco are able to perform more flashy and handy moves, such as double jumping, spinning extra longer to hover in the air, and riding on a bicycle to race! Warped has levels with more stereotypical settings, and despite being the easiest, again I could not deny the amount of fun and just the right amount of challenge presented. Extra gems are still present, and the secret levels provide enough motivation and content to see through it all.

Rating: 8.3

In overall, I had a blast playing through all three of them, and it felt like I uncovered a hidden section or part from my 90's youth! Now let's just hope that Sony sees the revitalized success of Crash Bandicoot, and start cranking out more remastered editions or sequels, or better yet, what about reviving Spyro the Dragon!?