My Zendrum videos (performance, mapping, techniques)

NEWS:
I promised before that I’d do some Zendrum videos, and I finally found a bit of free time to do them. Here are the first two–probably will do more in the future.

Short performance on the Zendrum LT:

Explanation of the mapping and how I play the Zendrum:

WEBLOG:
I don’t know about you guys, but when I watch movies or TV shows, one thing that has always irritated me to no end is the really cheap and illogical usage of misunderstandings between characters. For example, recently when I was watching the reboot of the V TV series, and I was so annoyed by the fact that the lead female character (Erica) couldn’t spend ten minutes to explain to her son why she wants him to stay away from the visitors, and this is after she’s already learned of the truth. What kind of mother does that? Why in the world would she not tell him the truth as soon as she found out? That kind of information is exactly what would save his life, yet the writers of the show decided she should withhold this information, which leads to his son getting even more involved with the visitors.

What annoys me about this kind of writing is that it’s a cheap way to create drama, and it’s cheap because most half-way intelligent people wouldn’t do it. We all know that the more we inform those we care about, the better protected they are, even if it’ll distress them. When choosing between potentially saving their lives by informing them of pending/potential danger and not wanting to distress them, there shouldn’t be any contest whatsoever. I could understand if there’s a legitimate reason where one character simply cannot tell the truth–whether it’s to protect those he cares about, out of shame, or for some greater good, but too often in movies and TV shows, the withholding of information or the refusal to explain oneself is totally arbitrary and a cheap gimmick to create tension and drama based on misunderstandings. Most of the time such actions are out of character as well. Next time you watch a movie or a TV show, pay attention–you’ll see this cheap trick being used by bad writers, and you’ll also notice that good writers don’t pull that shit. When good writers depict misunderstandings, there’s always a logical reason why it happened.

…

I finally got around to playing a bit of Left 4 Dead 2, and I have to say, I was kind of disappointed. It really felt more like a 1.5 update than a sequel. The addition of melee weapons really doesn’t add or change the game significantly, and the new enemies are kind of forgettable, except for maybe the spitter. The characters are also kind of flat, with the exception of Ellis, who’s probably my favorite survivor character so far. I haven’t played through all the campaigns yet–just the first one, so maybe my feeling will change.