Sims 3

I'll admit it. I'm a Simmer. I love this kind of games, ever since I first played Little Computer People on my C64. When the Sims Classic was announced I was very quick to pick it up and to get busy with it. I loved the open ended gameplay and the absolute freedom you as a player have to play. It's even fun to create your own set of rules and see if you can successfully complete them.

The Sims 2 however is gaming-dream come true. Again there is the open ended gameplay but as I collected expansion and stuffpacks, the Sims became incredibly complex liveforms in my PC. If one was to truly sit down and satisfy a single Sim's every want and desire, one will notice that juggling everything to make it happen does require a quick mousehand and acute problemsolving skills. Add a spouse and three kids and you'll see where this is going. You don't have to cater to every Sim's wish ofcourse. It's up to you to make the game as complex or as simple as you want. You can sit down and get ready for an afternoon of playing to the letter, or just 50 minutes of your Sim washing his car or tending to her garden. It is up to you, and you have every freedom to do what you want to do.

My true interest in the Sims has shifted to building houses. My most famous project on the Sims2.com was my creation of an entire neighborhood, complete with downtown, shopping center and University while keeping the architecture as close to the world-famous architect Costa as I could manage. Costa is a Brazillian architect who designed Brasilia. There's ample material on Costa and Brasilia on the net and if you're interested, check it out.

Sadly, this neighborhood does no longer exist due to HDD problems in the past. I'm currently debating to start over again, but it's a huge undertaking I'm not sure I want to go through again.

Soon, Sims 3 will be here. This time, the neighborhood will be seamless, meaning that when your Sim walks out his frontdoor, he will be able to go places without being confronted by loadingscreens. The assigning of personality points to your Sim has also been changed and it looks very interesting. EA has taken many actions to ensure that content creation will be handled from within the Sims-framework instead of us creators relying on public-domain tools.

I have pre-ordered my copy of the Sims3, and payed upfront. I'm very much looking forward to June 5th! =)

Seen in the theater: X-men Origins: Wolverine.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Having regretted to have missed the X-men Trilogy playing in the theaters and instead seeing them on DVD, I made it a point to go see new X-men movies in the theater. The first new X-Men movie is X-Men Origins: Wolverine. This movie follows James Logan AKA Wolverine from his earliest years to the point where Charles Xavier welcomes his first group of gifted youngsters and Wolverine loses all memory of the past.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is miles apart from the one-liner heavy original X-Men movies. It's also a lot darker lighted, the mood of the movie is sad and the focus of the movie is not on the mutant-abilities, but on the people possessing said abilities. Sure, there's room for the more extreme abilities like Zero's gunplay and Gambit's card-tricks, but those moments are few and far between. Afterall, it's all about Wolverine.

The movie starts with James as a small, sickly, boy, nursed by his half-brother Victor. His father comes to check on him, but shortly thereafter there's trouble as an unwanted visitor arrives. James' father leaves the two boys alone to attend to the ruckus. Victor and James then hear a gunshot and they instantly know what happened; father has been shot. James jumps out of bed and goes to his father, only to witness his death-struggle. The man who attacked his father is still around and James ignites in a bestial rage. Suddenly, his special ability, the retractable claws, surfaces and he attacks his father's murderer, killing him.

Victor and James see no other option but to run away and they go from war to war, starting with the American Civil War, WW1, WW2 and Vietnam. Both men appear to be werewolves with exceptional healing ability. In Vietnam however, Victor becomes uncontrollable and both are put before a firing-squad. Of course, they survive. At that point a certain military officer, William Stryker enters the scene and offers the two men a way out. They accept...

From there on out, a clever and well thought out complot is explained, leading up to how the modern Wolverine came to be. Coming out of this movie, you'll be a Wolverine-expert.

There are a few drawbacks in this movie though. The first one is that this movie clearly didn't benefit from the budgets that were available to the X-Men Trilogy. It's painfully obvious that the sets are tiny, giving the viewer a very cramped feeling. You hardly ever count more than ten people on screen. More disturbing is the fact that the company responsible for the green-screen backdrops is not really the best company in that part of the trade. There are points were it seems as if the actors were acting infront of a picture-postcard. Most eye-catching is the difference in lightning for the set and the green-screen backdrops.

Hugh Jackman is once again acting his ass off as Wolverine, but he seems to have distanciated himself from the sarcastic cool as ice Wolverine. This time, Wolverine is trying hard to be a normal human being with normal human being problems. Jackman kinda fails. It's even more brought to light by Liev Schreiber, who plays Sabretooth, Wolverine's halfbrother. Jackman gets repeatedly outplayed by Schreiber. It's mostly due to the story, where Wolverine has to be normal and Sabretooth can remain to be feral. Taking Wolverine away from his mutant-base is too much of an amputation to remain standing in the course of the movie.

The reason for James Logan to become Wolverine is also not very believable. Betrayal and attempts on his life mean nothing to him, but when a tragedy befalls him he turns around and makes a deal with Stryker.

Most interesting is the great length X-Men Origins: Wolverine goes to tie in with the X-Men Trilogy. If you've seen the Trilogy, you'll nod at the moments where the movie points at the trilogy. It's therefore a shame that the WW2 sequence didn't involve liberating Magneto from the Nazi Concentrationcamps. Storywise, X-men Origins: Wolverine could very well be the first X-men movie in the franchise. Judged by the cheap effects, it wouldn't be too far fetched.

I'm of two minds with this movie. Hugh Jackman did a great job being Wolverine for the fourth time, but he made a mistake inviting Liev Schreiber to be Sabretooth. Jackman is not in Schreiber's league. Inadequate budget for the movie pushes it further below the quality of the X-Men Trilogy. However, clever storytelling and finding out how Stryker fits in Wolverine's past was very enlightning.

So, I think that X-Men Origins: Wolverine is must see for Wolverine fans. Wolverine remains to be the #1 X-man. On the other hand, I have seen the theme of the movie before. Then the main character was called Connor Mcloud, played by Christopher Lambert. 20 years later, Lambert's rendition of an ultra-cool immortal is still the best performance.

Wolverine is baaaaahaaaack!

WOLVERINE

Tonight I'm off to see the new Wolverine motion picture. Wolverine is by far my most favorite X-man. He's king.

At first I was a bit anxious that another actor than Hugh Jackman would be performing as Wolverine, taking the character in another direction. (Most obvious excample, John Cho as Mr. Sulu...) But luckily for us Wolverine fans, Hugh Jackman has taken it upon himself to perform as Wolverine once more.

I think it's safe to say that a Wolverine movie without Hugh Jackman playing the part had better not be made.

From a documentary about Hugh Jackman I saw the other day, he even hinted at yet another Wolverine-project, that could be unfolding in Japan, with him yet again performing as Wolverine. Most exciting!

In order to be ready for tonight, I have reviewed the X-men movies, which in a way were all about Wolverine to start with anyway.

If the Wolverine in Japan project sees the go, then Hugh Jackman will have performed as Wolverine a total of five times. I hope that he'll be the #1 choice for Wolverine a long time yet.

Imagine if they have to ask George Clooney to be Wolverine for a 6th project. Talking about a black day for the Wolverine fans. Sheesh!

Anyway, Wolverine tonight. I'll post a review when I get back. =)

4/30 Black Queen's Day.

Queen's Day is hard to explain to people who have never been to the Netherlands. Not only is it the Birthday of a past Queen (IMO the best Queen the Netherlands ever had; Her Majesty Queen Juliana of Orange-Nassau.), it's also the day the reigning Queen, Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of Orange-Nassau, celebrates her birthday (Not withstanding the fact that her birthday is later in the year). Next to that it's a day that's nationally celebrated, from the biggest cities to one street and a church holes in the ground.

All festivities are organized by volunteers, united in Orange-committees, who once a year on Queen's Day organize the biggest outdoor party known to man. The scale of it is unheard of outside of the Netherlands. There's nothing like it anywhere else in the world. Many people, including yours truly, look forward to this day.

On Queen's Day you get up early. You dress up in orange clothes, you drink orange colored tea at breakfast. The key to celebrating Queen's Day is to be spontanic about it however. You only decide where to go at Queen's Day breakfast. Where will we go? Utrecht? Amsterdam? Rotterdam? Do we wanna see the Queen? If so, where will she appear? Ending Queen's Day is also shrouded in riddles. Oftenly we would spend many hours of the night finding everybody back who belonged to our initial group... or I myself discovered that people I was partying with were not exactly the people I started out with. And nobody cared because it's frigging Queen's Day.

Another thing that makes Queen's Day unique and what baffled the international world, was the fact that Her Majesty mingled with the people on this day. If you're one of the lucky few, you are able to hug her, even. Impossible everywhere, doable in the Netherlands and with a seemingly minimum of security. But we were proud of Queen's Day and apart from that, we were proving that a nationwide outdoors party, with a Royal Family smack dab in the middle of the people, was possible. We were pulling large noses at the outside world all the time too. "See? We can do this without fear that our Royal Family will come to harm. And all you countries that have to wrap their Kings, Queens and Presidents in bubble-plastic while flanked by Special Forces are LOSERS. NEENER, NEENER!"

At noon today, an overstressed man of 38, fired from his job, on the receiving end of a messy divorce and with a debth comparable to the National Deficit, took his car and broke through security, drove over partying spectators and missed the Royal Family by mere meters to ram the Needle, a monument in the Town of Apeldoorn. The reason that he missed the Royal Family was due to the fact that all the people he hit brought his car out of balance...

Her Majesty Queen Beatrix was later on national television. She was visibly shocked and fighting to hold back her tears.

The criminal did survive the attempt and before being brought to hospital he admitted to police-officers on the scene that his intended target indeed was Her Majesty Queen Beatrix. Latest news is that he's now in IC at a non-disclosed hospital and is now braindead. Rumor has it that the plug on his medical assistance has been pulled.

What can I say? Allah is mercyful even to those who mean evil. Far be it from me to question Allah in his decision here. We all have to trust Allah's wisdom and in his plan for the Dutch people. I for one, though, would have liked to see this man stand trial and being dealt justice.

Four people died, three more are fighting for their lives. Ten people, under whome is a nine year old girl, where wounded. What compelling reason was there to do this? It's safe to say that this man saw no other way to be heard anymore. There are lessons to be learned here that can't be learned now. We only know that they CAN happen, but if the man had survived, we could've learned why they CAN happen and develop policy to signalize people that are on the same slope as that man.

Another question that is now posed and to which is no real answer, is the question whether or not it is possible to continue celebrating Queen's Day like we traditionally do. A security expert who has been the head of security for the Royal Family in the past, believes that there is no reason to not do so. It's possible to secure situations so that groups of whatever ilk can be kept at bay, but there's no security plan in the world that can stop a solitary madman.

And he is right. I myself have witnessed this many times in the field, we all have witnessed this in shool-bloodbaths and what have you. A single person is impossible to stop until he is right on top of you. It's scary as hell, but the reality is that all modern drama's were one-man shows indeed.

Well, knowing the heart of my Queen, the same Queen I have proudly worn the uniform for, She will not be willing to give up Queen's Day due to the actions of one man. Next year on 4/30 the Netherlands will be one big party-ground again. But it will never really be the same. it's a crying shame.

Fook Mieh? prt 3

Political parties overhere have already vowed to not form a coalition with the PVV (Party for the Freedom), headed by Geert Wilders, should he be landslidedly elected into power. Although this gesture seems to make sense, it's a wrong thing to do.

For those of you who don't know, Geert Wilders is a populist politician overhere, who has the Muslim Menace as his prime agenda-point. As of late, this focal-point has shifted to being the champion of ill-advised free-speech. Still, the driving froce is his animosity towards the Muslim faith as a whole, and the radicalist practicioners at summit. A list of things he would like to see happen should he become Prime-Minister of the Netherlands:

1. Place the Qu'ran on the same level as Mein Kampf, and have it forbidden.
2. Officially have the Qu'ran labeled as fascistic.
3. Use the Army to quell public unrest that can hardly be controlled by the police.
4. Close Mosques that don't preach what he likes, stop the building of new Mosques.
5. Stop third world aid.
6. Close the dutch borders for new immigrants.

The list goes on, and none of it is good for the Democracy. Not withstanding the fact that many things will have to change should the Netherlands want to retain it's identity as a clogswearing people of tulip-sniffers, it's never a good thing to be linear about it. But it is even worse to reject it because the PVV is too against. It's an un-democratic act to deny another political party that has the approval of the people the right to practice politics.

Of course, the "people" here are the same people who have elected a dead man into office before, so why not elect Geert Wilders?

I myself am not happy with Geert Wilders and the PVV, especially being 1st gen Dutch and a Muslim. I do however recognize the fact that his being here is the result of Democracy working as it should; that is, un-educated people voting for someone who feeds on their "perceived right".

[

The concept of 'Perceived Right"

Perceived right is the right one feels one should have. "The african immigrants are taking our jobs, they should be thrown out of the country so we have work."; is a "perceived right". In a Democracy, everybody has the right to a job. Everybody in the sphere of influence of a Democracy is therefore a subject of that same Democracy and have therefore the right to aquire, perform and hold a job. Those who feel victimized by their precious Democracy should evaluate their level of education and qualifications and work to better themselves so they become more valuable to the workforce.

]

In fact, the PVV's manifesto is riddled with these "Perceived Rights" and the solutions the PVV has for them are written down in such a manner that the target audience can understand it. Mobrule in politics. Who thought it would come to this?

But to what I am trying to say here, the Parlaiment should not deny the PVV their right to practice politics. One of the established parties will have to sacrifice their platform and take seat in Government with the PVV should they become a large enough political body come next elections. The rest should unify in opposition. It will be four years of achieving only one thing, blocking the PVV in any direction they want to branch out to and working to push the will of the other 'people" down their throats.

Besides, there's nothing to be afraid of here. History has shown that political parties like the PVV have little strength to be leading in politics, since their first line politicians are usually second rate or rejects from other political parties. Most of them don't even subscribe to the ideals of the PVV as a whole, they just are interested in being in Government. Offer half of them a job in your Party to have Porta-Johns on every streetcorner for the right amount of gifts, and they'll switch coats to join you.

Should the PVV win next elections, I give it six months till we have new elections again. Democracy will win. It always does.