GoSale.com :: Reviews by A2KI0LAYW1AM7R

Reviews Written By: A2KI0LAYW1AM7R

provided by Amazon.com


	Weight Training for Dummies
	"I'm still confused."	2009-06-03
I'm a beginner. I feel like the book has scattered information and certain important details are missing. For instance, they don't really explain how to get create a workout. They sort of give you guidelines in pages of text, but I'm still confused. They give you sample workout routines but don't explain the choices they made. The exercises they show need to be more detailed. They need to show arrows of motion with certain ones like the Pelvic Tilt. I'm still not quite sure how to accomplish that and I don't want to hurt my back doing it wrong. I'm just very disappointed in the book. It's an OK reference, but I don't think it is good enough for a beginner's book.
	Brian Wilson - SMiLE
	"The Successor to Pet Sounds?!"	2009-06-01
This album is difficult to listen to entirely. The album is so abstract that it's too difficult to understand. I listened to the album and really enjoy the sound of Suite 2, but not enough of the other Suites to distract me from what the heck it's trying to communicate. I absolutely love Pet Sounds. That is a masterpiece. The lyrics were simple, yet expressive, and the music was just amazing. But SMiLE?! Even after I got past his voice, I still preferred the Beach Boys versions of Heroes and Villains and Good Vibrations because they are better in every way, even the lyrics. SMiLE seems incoherent. The lyrics are too ambiguous to fit into any of the concepts that I've read about and the music seems like a bunch of smaller melodies put together. The first time I heard SMiLE's Heroes and Villains, I thought there were a bunch of separate songs. That's what the whole album feels like - a bunch of very small meaningless songs put together. It would be like I wrote this review with a bunch of one sentence paragraphs. It's like a children's album in content and feel, constantly changing to avoid boredom, but not entirely successful. How exactly does SMiLE triumph over Pet Sounds?
	Property (Vintage Contemporaries)
	"Interesting Book, Good Historic Details"	2009-05-23
Property is a book about life in the slave-owning "Deep South" of the 1800s. Its perspective is from a miserable wife of a slave owner. We read how she deals with her situation's continuous decay. At points this book was a page turner, and at others it wasn't. It is not overly descriptive and has good historic details subtley placed. Although this book may be perceived as slightly anti-climactic by some people, I didn't think it was so bad once I thought about it.
	Property : A Novel
	"Interesting Book, Good Historic Details"	2009-05-23
Property is a book about life in the slave-owning "Deep South" of the 1800s. Its perspective is from a miserable wife of a slave owner. We read how she deals with her situation's continuous decay. At points this book was a page turner, and at others it wasn't. It is not overly descriptive and has good historic details subtley placed. Although this book may be perceived as slightly anti-climactic by some people, I didn't think it was so bad once I thought about it.
	The Smashing Pumpkins - Adore
	"5 Star Music, 2 Star Vinyl Issue"	2009-05-22
This acoustic-ish album by The Smashing Pumpkins is one of their best. If you haven't checked it out, do yourself a favor. This vinyl version is an alternate Mono mix that sounds great and is enclosed within great, colorful artwork on the front. Manufacturing issues: The material of the sleeve that encloses the vinyl is cheap recycled paper that seems ever ready to absorb water. I don't think durability is what they had in mind with this release. The first copy I received has a bunch of scratches, skip-riddled tracks, and 3 loops on side 2 of the first disc. It was hectic to listen to it. Everything else was perfect. The second copy had a loop on side 1 and 2 of the first disc, and a few skips on side 2 of the first disc. While the second copy isn't perfect, I'm not going to exchange it again because it's not worth it.
	The Prodigy - Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned
	"Very disappointing"	2009-03-20
I was probably formally introduced to The Prodigy with Fat of the Land on MTV, but went back to their two previous albums and liked both of them, probably more so. They didn't have the energy of Fat of the Land, but their mellow, raw sound was very satisfying. And who could forget their inclusion in the movie Hackers, which was an amazing experience. As you can see, I am a huge fan of the 90s material from Out Of Space to Break and Enter to Smach My ***** Up. But AONO (Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned) is mostly a pop album. Most of the songs have vocals and all are short. The only songs that seem reminiscent, or even contains any Prodigy identity, is in tracks 8-12. All the others are pop songs featuring a vocalist who sounds like Britney Spears and some rappers, one of them sounds like the Twista who was also popular during the same year AONO was released. This album is a waste of money. Borrow it from somebody and just buy the good songs. But definitely check out their newer album, Invaders Must Die, which sounds more like an evolution from Fat of the Land.
	Super Mario Galaxy
	"Decent fun. But not Mario enough."	2008-08-04
Introduction I love Mario games. Mario is probably my all time favorite hero, next to Ryo from Shenmue. I've played and finished probably all mainstream Mario titles. Frankly, I'm always a bit ticked off that Nintendo focuses more on Zelda than Mario. It always seems like they barely get one Mario title out the door with each console. The new releases of Mario, New Super Mario Bros. & Super Mario Galaxy, were disappointing in the level of challenge they presented compared to previous games. I've finished the game with 96 stars. What's left are some of the purple comet levels, some hidden stars, including a green one. I was borrowing the Wii from my brother and I had to return it and I have more games to play that need to finish during my vacation. I feel like I have finished that game though and what's left is extras that, if I wanted to play, would have fun doing so. Story While the Mushroom kingdom is in celebration, Bowser shows up in Airships, taken from Super Mario Bros. 3, and starts bombing the ground. Then a flying saucer lifts the castle into space with Mario still on it. When they get into space, a Magikoopa knocks Mario off and he falls on a small planet orbiting outside of Earth, or whichever planet the Mushroom Kingdom belongs to. It is there that you are given the power to spin by Rosalina, which is your main attack and will allow you to travel through space via Launch Stars. Wind them up and they boost you to a predestined location. When you find your first Grand Star, it takes you to a space station called the Comet Observatory and you speak again with Rosalina, the keeper of the observatory. The story's main focus is on Rosalina, the newborn stars that populate her observatory called Lumas, and how her Comet Observatory came to be. It is told to you in chapters when Rosalina reads the story to the Lumas in the library room. New chapters become available after a certain amount of stars are collected. The usual Mario story still applies, but there is significantly more focus on explaining who all these new characters are. Mario Galaxy is different from other Mario games in that it seems to be more mature. The soundtrack sounds less goofy. There is a story attached to it that tries to provoke emotion. Even the ending seems to give some deep insight. Also, when you die, it's kind of graphic: Mario looks like he's reaching for the win with his last bit of energy. This feels almost too different at times, but it does give a new dimension to Mario games and makes me wonder how far they'll take it in the next Mario. Sometimes, it's just way overdramatic. When Mario gets a grand star, he does all these special flips in the air and flies around with the star as if he's in flirting with it. It looks stupid and stands out from the rest of the image the game presents. Speaking of things that are overdone, Mario Galaxy also has too many menus when you want to enter a galaxy. You have to be pulled by a Pull Star, then you have to choose a galaxy, then you start flying to it, then you choose a star, then the star spins, and finally you fly to the galaxy. Why can't I just enter the room, select a galaxy and a star in the same screen, and then fly to the galaxy? At least there are no loading times. Gameplay Mario Galaxy is played using the Wiimote. Flicking your wrist makes Mario spin. The other major use the Wiimote provides is as a pointer to collect Star Bits and to make Mario navigate through Pull Stars, which you can use to pull Mario across space. The Wiimote doesn't contribute anything exceptional to Mario Galaxy. It looks like they were trying to experiment with new ways to play with the Wiimote as well. You'll see this in very rare occasions. Nintendo forces us to use the Wiimote in a non-intuitive way. And it's frustrating when I kept dying, because I knew I could do it with the analog stick, which is generally used to move Mario, but it just sits there doing nothing. Controlling the camera is very limited, which I guess isn't too bad because I have to readjust my hand to reach the camera controls anyway. But it sometimes makes controlling Mario difficult. I think a lot of the difficulty of the game stems from the weird camera angles that make it difficult to judge exactly how you're supposed to move. Just like every new Mario game, there are new power-ups. This time there is: Bee Mario, which allows you to fly like a Bee for limited amount of time; Rainbow Mario, a limited time power-up that functions like the star in other Mario games; Boo Mario, which turns him into a ghost allowing him to go through certain walls; Ice Mario, which lets Mario turn any water he touches into a platform of ice; Fire Mario, which allows Mario to throw fireballs (a little awkward with the Wiimote); Spring Mario, which allows him to jump really high, and it looks cute. And there is also a secret power-up that isn't mentioned in the book. But I think you can only use it in two areas of the game, which is a shame. Instead of a castle as in Mario 64, Galaxy takes place in the Comet Observatory, which is made up of a number of small observatories, each with a theme. Each observatory has five galaxies associated with it, each with a sub-theme. Each galaxy has a certain number of planets in it depending on its design. Basically, each Galaxy is a level. Inside each galaxy there could be a bunch of small planets or there could be one big planet and it may have a few small planets around it. Most galaxies start out with three stars to collect, although the count will increase later as you complete it. While some people think that these sphere levels are revolutionary, I don't. It's been done before, creates camera and control issues, and makes it difficult to see where you've been and where you're going because you can only see a portion of the level at a time. Galaxy never got boring from beginning to end as there were always new things to see and do. But it did start out slow for me and I wasn't impressed. It was too easy and jumping from tiny planet to tiny planet was just unfulfilling. It was very linear and hardly required any exploring. After about 20 stars or so the game introduced much more challenging level deigns and more exploring was needed and it became more fun, but never surpassed the fun in Mario 64. Other Thoughts The in-game graphics, generally, met my expectations and sometimes surpassed them with how much attention to detail was. For instance, when Mario is underwater, he looks like he's holding his breath. I don't remember more examples, but did notice more of these that made Galaxy seem more like a living breathing universe. The only way they could improve the in-game graphics is to have higher resolution rendering, implement some much needed Anti-aliasing to smooth out those edges everywhere, and clear up some color banding that appears in some levels. They could also improve the (Full Motion Videos) FMVs. They try to look like in-game cut-scenes, but seem foggy, looking almost as bad as the FMVs in Super Mario Sunshine. And the beach levels have too much bloom, giving them an unnatural look. Conclusion Super Mario Galaxy is the successor to Super Mario Sunshine, but touted as the true successor of Super Mario 64. While it did return to the formula of Mario 64, I must say that I enjoyed Super Mario Sunshine more. And I don't mean that in the capacity that Mario Sunshine didn't score very high, so Galaxy must be a bad game. My personal taste was that Mario Sunshine was a good game and so is Super Mario Galaxy. It just feels like there something missing from Galaxy, yet I don't know what it is. What I do know is that I'm not fully satisfied with Galaxy as a Mario game. But Galaxy is still a good game that can last you for hours of fun.
	The Darkness
	"Fun for me."	2008-08-04
Introduction I rented The Darkness based on a score of 80 at Metacritic.com and no other prior knowledge. I didn't even look at pictures of gameplay. Thus, I started the game with no expectations, which may be why I've been slightly frustrated and disappointed, and yet pleasantly surprised throughout the game. It certainly has more potential than the developers thought it did, which the state in which they released it suggests. Story The Darkness is set in Manhattan during the night - I don't remember any daylight. Anyway, the map in the game doesn't remind me of Manhattan, so I'll assume it is fictitious. The main character is a shy Italian hitman named Jackie who reminds me of Eric Draven from the movie The Crow, except without the makeup. The game begins with Jackie doing a drug deal for his uncle Paulie that suddenly goes wrong. The money Jackie was carrying is lost and Paulie thinks it's Jackie's fault and wants him dead. While hiding from his uncle, Jackie turns 21 and inherits the Darkness. With this new supernatural power, Jackie goes after his uncle until Jackie realizes that he's not in control of the Darkness. Now Jackie has to find a way to control the Darkness and so that he finally take care of his uncle. The story is mostly told during gameplay when you interact with other character. Major characters you meet are representatives from other mob families and some associates such as "The Butcher." Jackie develops his character during these interactions, and more development happens with cutscenes during loading times between sections of the city. Here, Jackie may give you some background on himself, some thoughts about your destination or about his current situation with respect to the story; and sometimes, the lonely killer caresses his guns. The story does an adequate job of carrying the game, and sometimes it excels. The only real criticism is the main character himself and his wannabe tough guy mannerisms. They can be slightly annoying. Gameplay The gameplay resembles a first-person-adventure more than a shooter. The reasons for this are because the shooter portion of the controls is very unfriendly, the Darkness is an alternate semi-melee weapon, and because you have to find your own way through the game. The first thing I noticed when I started playing was how weird the controls felt. They felt too sensitive and because of that, I died many times. I initially turned off auto aim, but after dying, I realized that auto aim is a necessity to enjoy this game - that's why it's set by default. As for the sensitivity, I looked through the control options for a solution. I tried adjusting the 5 sensitivity controls, but I made it worse so I returned to the defaults. And those are what I used to play the entire game. Other control issues include looking with the right stick, and shooting with the triggers. Looking with the right stick was weird because when I looked around it felt like a square with rounded corners instead of a circle. When shooting, I noticed that the trigger buttons didn't work properly because pressing them repeatedly wouldn't always get a shot fired. It happens at least once with every clip. Up to the end of the game, the controls never felt right, but it is still playable if you're willing to stick with it. The Darkness powers are fun to use. Not only can you use the darkness to attack, but it also serves as a much needed shield during combat. You can increase its power by devouring the hearts of your enemies, which never gets old. You can also summon up to four creatures, each with a different skill, from the underworld to help you. And when you're not shooting, you can use a tentacle with a head of a demon to go after enemies for you and kill them with one shot. However, it would otherwise be too easy if it were not for one weakness: light. The Darkness powers feed off of the dark, shadowy areas. If you hear a sizzling noise, you are exposing the darkness to too much light. The light lowers their power bar, which is discreet. This game doesn't have any HUD. Instead, the darkness power level is indicated by the light on the demon heads to the side of you. You have to pay attention because it isn't very clear what is too bright for them. If their power bar goes to zero, they will leave you in a very vulnerable situation until you find a dark enough place to resummon them. You can interact with people in a variety of ways. You can talk to them in person. The general public that you meet says something similar to, "We're good?", but other key characters have more to say and will play an important part in the story. Other characters that look like the general public have small errands for you to do for them in exchange for bonus content. You can also call them with payphones, but they will only pick up if they bother you first. They can also page you on your pager - weird. You'd think he would have a cell phone and not a beeper. Maybe it was set in the 90's. You have to learn your own way through the game. It isn't linear because everything isn't spelled out for you. A character may tell you to go to this street, but where is it? Go outside and look at the map. If it's not on the map, maybe the subway can take you there - go look at the subway map. I think this is part of the charm of the game. I got stuck a few times as well, which is something that hasn't happened in a while. The game started out weird -- the main character was strange, the controls were mediocre, and the pace was slow. However, about a third through the game, you go into this dark dreamlike WWII setting where you fight the Nazis. I initially thought it was a gimmick and about how overdone this was, but it all made sense in the end and it made the game much more special because of it. Other Thoughts The Darkness has an ultimate first-person view, meaning you can see your feet. I also like that the character points to different directions with different environmental stimuli. If you're going around a corner, he'll point the guns around the corner as you round it. There are still some animation issues with these features, but they are still fun to see. The graphics are nothing special, and they become poor if you consider how bad the animation is. It just isn't natural. The characters' mouths look like they are muttering when they talk, which quickly becomes annoying. Their heads also move weird. TVs in the game have a few channels with high quality full motion video. You can watch music videos, movies and cartoons. All of these are real film and possibly full length. You can get extra content by mailing letters and calling phone numbers that you find in the game. The extra content you get includes some comic books to read and a bunch of concept art. Conclusion The Darkness is certainly not a triple-A title -- it is mediocre in many aspects including controls and graphics. But if you can put up with its short-comings, it may surprise you how fun devouring hearts and exploring a city may be.
	Canon Pixma MX850 Office All-In-One Printer
	"A few problems."	2008-05-23
I bought a MX310 and then had the pleasure of installing and configuring the MX850. I'm just going to highlight some important things. The MX850 was more convenient than the MX310. I like the full color LCD screen for easy fax configuration. I also like the native Cassette paper source. The documentation for printer installation and configuration is too vague. I was having an issue with Networking the printer between three different computers and when I kept looking at the book I wondered if they meant something other than what I initially understood. I finally got it to work the next day, but I can only theorize why it didn't work the first time. Problems that it shares with the MX310: The software is installs itself in multiple folders in the start menu. Why can't it just create a single folder and put all the things that have to do with the printer in there? It doesn't do that; it installs, even the manual, in a different folder in the start menu. It was nice of Canon to add clutter to my start menu. Another is difficulty in receiving faxes. These printers have a hard time distinguishing a voice call from a fax call. Even on Telephone Priority, they answer voice calls with the fax and then hang up on the person when it notices no fax info. When receiving a fax, they mistake it for a voice call. I'm still trying to figure this out. It will probably result in a call to Canon.
	Samsung U740 Alias Black Phone (Verizon Wireless)
	"Not what I expected."	2008-04-21
I got this phone because of text messaging and hoped it had good response with its GUI because it could also play music. The keyboard is too small and I end up hitting other keys many times. This cellphone is really bad for games because the thick section that connects the phone to the screen is right next the the arrow keys for games and its cumbersomeness causes me to loose continuously in even Pac-Man. The speaker-phone doesn't go very loud. And the loudness that it achieves is difficult to understand. Even talking on the phone regularly, with the phone to your ear, it sounds muffled and have to ask the person to repeat themselves repeatedly.
	Digital Video Essentials: HD Basics [Blu-ray]
	"Not as easy to use as it says."	2008-03-27
I've never owned a DVE calibration disc. Before this disc, I used to use AVIA to calibrate my TV. My TV is a Sony 32S3000, and it is connected via HDMI to a PS3, which I used as my BD player. Opening the HD Basics case reveals three color filters all in one single item. This is great compared to AVIA. Lift the paper holder up and move you head up or down depending on the filter you want. And the paper holder itself is a tool to check the grayscale. AWSOME INCLUSION! The HD Basics BD starts by giving you a crippled menu, but with a question: Where would you like to start? The question was a good start, but the execution reveals that they didn't even put thought into the menu: COMPLETE PROGRAM MENU - Self explanatory. HD IN DETAIL - Video shows how to setup Environment, Audio, and Video (more descriptions of Video things like scan-lines, color quality, etc). SETTING UP MY HDTV - Video shows how to use Basic Test Patterns. JUST THE TEST PATTERNS - Basic Test Patterns. The three lower items act like short-cuts to items in the Complete Program Menu. I don't like this menu because it's so annoying to get back into it and because the title of each item is very vague. "HD In Detail" - How vague is that? "Setting Up My HDTV" - Do you mean how to connect the wires to it? Also, having the Complete Program Menu at the top sort of contradicts their efforts to make it simple. Instead it should have been last, and called Advanced Menu or some crap similar crap that would've kept the average Joe from venturing in there. Once you enter an item you cannot return to this menu unless you press the Top Menu button on your controller, which shows a loading screen. When you enter an item, you can press Back to go to the Complete Program menu: INTRO TO HD - Video shows why we need to calibrate, new technologies and CRT matching, how wide color gamut sucks (possible shot at Sony?), and video compression. HD IN DETAIL - Video shows how to setup Environment, Audio, and Video (more descriptions of Video things like scan-lines, color quality, etc). HD VIDEO CALIBRATION - Known as Setting Up My HDTV in the top menu, this video shows how to use Basic Test Patterns. BASIC VIDEO SETUP PATTERNS - Known as Just The Test Patterns in the top menu, this item shows the Basic Test Patterns. AUDIO TEST SIGNALS - Self explanatory. ADVANCED VIDEO TEST PATTERNS - More test patterns. Allows the option of 1080p or 720p. Doesn't seem useful to me. DEMONSTRATION MATERIALS - Some videos to look at for viewing HD picture. Allows the option of 1080p or 720p. Narration by Joe Kane is also an option, but only in 1080p. CREDITS - Shows who you should complain about if you dislike the BD. Alot of the information on the 90 minutes worth of videos can get very technical and is not important to calibration or to the average Joe. The narrator sounds monotonous and throws in a few, really stupid jokes. It can also seem repetitive sometimes because every time he refers back to something he repeats that something almost entirely. It also sounds like a rant sometimes as the Narrator tends to sound disgusted with certain practices of HDTV manufacturers and goes on to say the beliefs of JKP. There are also no titles to each chapter of video and very little emphasis is place on calibration information that is mixed in with all the other technical information. So I watched everything and picked out the information that I thought was important, but it doesn't mean I couldn't have missed something. None of the of the Video Test Patterns allow you to calibrate Tint. How did they miss that and why? They went in so much detail on everything else. The Navigation Menu is similar to the HD DVD menu, if you're familiar with it, but isn't as easy to navigate through. When you enter a menu item, a chapter selection thing shows up. What sucks about this is that to select the next chapter, which is below the current one, you need to press Up instead of Down. Then if you want to get back to the Complete Program Menu, there is no item to do so. You have to figure out to press Back. In only three menu items is there the selection to go Back. This is inconsistent and isn't intuitive. Every Menu item has a description of it on the right of it that tries to describe in more detail what the item does, or how to use the test pattern if the item is for one. However, it fails. It's too verbose and not simple enough for the average Joe to understand what to do with it properly. It is also shown in too small font. I also found a bug. While look at a test pattern, if I press the Menu button, the image becomes cropped. I fixed this by going back to the Top Menu. It's happened to me twice so far. This is obviously something that can get very annoying and is the true testament of how much work JKP put into this BD. DVE HD Basics isn't as easy as they say it is to navigate and understand the full use of video patterns. However, JKP do provide the nice color filter item and there are true HD color patterns here unlike SD calibration discs. If you're an enthusiast, you may also find some of the technical information fun to know. My main complaint is that they could've made it so much easier to use by using common sense. It's just plain ridiculous the mistakes that they made in this edition. UPDATE: I just remembered, from AVIA, how to adjust the TINT control. Use the blue filter on the pattern used to adjust color. Make sure all the blue boxes are an equal shade of blue.
	Canon MX310 Office All-In-One (2184B002)
	"First Multi-function Works Well"	2008-03-06
I needed a fax machine, so I got this printer. I considered all Canon multi-functions, and figured I didn't need the more expensive options because I didn't need their features. I'm very happy with the print quality. Happy that it doesn't jam. Happy that I can fax. The scan quality seemed a bit lack, but I've never used a scanner before. Here's my main issues with the product. Setting up the fax machine was not an easy experience. The screen on the Multifunction used to configure the fax machine isn't very intuitive, and the instructions from the booklet were all over the place; I even had to visit a pdf Manual in the computer. My other major complaint is on the software. Why do I need four different scanning programs? That's not nice. If I was someone who didn't know about computers, I would get confused and frustrated. I don't like that they put such little thought into the consumer. Then they would have all this software bogging down the system. Another thing about the software is how it installs in the start menu. Why can't it just create a single folder and put all the things that have to do with the printer in there? They don't do that; they install, even the manual, in a different folder in the start menu. Nice of Canon to add clutter to my start menu. These issues were very annoying when I first got it, but once everything was sorted out, I was happy overall.
	Klipsch iGroove SXT iPod Sound System
	"Great Buy"	2008-02-20
It's smaller and heavier than it looks, but it delivers greatly in the sound department with a nice bass and very clean sound.
	Dirty Dancing - 20th Anniversary [Blu-Ray]
	"Cleaner, but disappointing"	2008-02-16
This is one of my favorite movies, so of course I had to buy it on Blu-Ray. However, the image quality is disappointing. It looks cleaner than the DVD version, but not up to par with available Blu-Ray movies from the same era, such as: First Blood, or even Enter the Dragon. This image quality also has aliasing on it. That is pathetic. I was also interested in the Blu-Trivia, but it wasn't that interesting. I distracted too much from the movie and was boring information, most of which wasn't anything that you couldn't easily find out if you wanted to. I watched this on a PS3, so I'm not sure if it is PS3 specific or not; but while watching special features, I couldn't go to the menu. I had to skip to the end of the special to reach it.
	Microsoft Intellimouse Optical Mouse
	"Thee Best Mouse"	2007-12-20
I love this mouse. I've tried expensive laser mice and I just can't get into them. This is the most comfortable and easiest to use mouse around. And the best thing is - it's cheap.