Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Rating: T for violence)

This was an excellent game! Unfortunately, this was the first Metroid Prime game I have played, as I am waiting for the Trilogy game for my birthday. But, anyway, this game has the best graphics you can ask for in a Wii game. But, graphics aside, the plot is incredible. If you are not already a fan of the Metroid series, then I highly recommend you become one.

You (Samus Aran, a bounty hunter armed with a Chozo Varia suit. OK, she's a girl. A highly trained combat-ready girl who can shoot a Space Pirate in the face and not worry about ruining her manicure. So, yeah...) start out in your ship, meetingwith the Galactic Federation fleet. When you arrive at the ship, you make your way to the control room(using the best first-person controls I've ever seen), where Admiral Dane is waiting for you. When you arrive, you and three other hunters (Rhundas, Gandrayda, and Ghor) are informed of a virus that has been injected into every Galactic AU (Aurora Unit, a genetic supercomputer that makes up the entire GF database), and that you must purge the AU's of the virus before it becomes permanent. But, in the middle of the briefing you are informed that the fleet is under attack by Space Pirates, and that they are headed for the planet Norion's home base, where the planetary defense system is. You are sent down to the planet to stop the Pirates. Once you arrive there, you are assigned the mission of rebooting the generators that power the Planet's Defense gun, the only weapon capable of taking out orbiting ships. After you do this (no easy task your first time through, I assure you) you head to the control room with the other hunters, and try to fire the gun at an incoming Phazon bomb. But, before you can do this, Dark Samus (apparently she comes about in the first Prime) bursts through the window and blasts all of you with a Phazon beam. Ouch. You (Samus) stagger to the gun and fire it, saving the planet. You then collapse, unconscious.
One month later, you wake up to find that the other Hunters were sent to go purge the Virus from the other AU's in the system, using the Phazon found in their bodies after the attack. Phazon, a new extremely powerful energy source, was incorporated into their suits to use against the new extremely powerful enemies sprouting up everywhere on these planets. Your suit has also been modified to use this Phazon. However, the hunters have since disappeared. You are now the Galactic Federation's only hope (go figure). You must go and find the other hunters, and purge the virus from the AU's. However, unbeknownst to Samus, the Phazon in her body is slowly spreading, and if it spreads too far, she will become fully corrupted. You must destroy this spreading Phazon...before it destroys you.

While this is a violent game, it is surprisingly not bloody at all. When you shoot an enemy, they fall to the ground and evaporate. Some of the enemies are slightly creepy (for the record, I only screamed twice when they popped up out of the ground), and some of the areas do cause a chill to run down your spine. This is due in part to the creepy music that plays throughout, and the dark atmosphere that makes up this game. However, your blaster is used more for problem-solving then blasting baddies. There are many slightly hard puzzles scattered throughout the game, making this more than just your average first-person shoot-em-up. Also, the moral of the game is good...in a way. Samus has to overcome the corruption in herself, when she could keep it and become fully evil. But she doesn't. However, the game makes it so that you HAVE to use the Phazon every once in while, or else suffer a painful and annoying death. I spent half the time yelling at the TV in frustration. But, in all, I think this game deserves a 5 out of 5 stars.

North Carolina

ONC. Old North Carolina. I say this as a method of agreement, similar to OK. I do this because OK is actually the abbreviation of Old Kentucky. So, whenever you say OK, you're really just referring to Kentucky. Which would be fine with me if I were IN Kentucky. But, right now I'm in North Carolina. Hence my ONC. Though, when I say it as a word I end up sounding like a large goose.

Anywho, as I said we are currently parked in North Carolina. As it turns out, there are a lot of cool things to see here. Kitty Hawk, Lighthouses (not to mention the Atlantic Ocean) are among these.

First we went to Kitty Hawk (for those who flunked out of Fourth Grade history, or those who just forgot, Kitty Hawk was where the Wright Brothers performed the first motorized, non-glider flight in 1903). The first thing you see upon arrival is the aviation monument on top of Kill Devil Hill. We missed the show by about 2 minutes, so we looked around the museum for a little while. They had all kinds of exhibits on the experiments and calculations conducted by the Wright Brothers. The Wright Brothers were originally bike repairmen. I found it amazing that you can go from bike repairer to aviator in thre years. As a matter of fact, their experience with bikes was evident in the motor that they invented for their plane (a chain drive). Those men had to have been brilliant. They had to read and memorize al the formulas (no calculators, computers) from books that they could find in their parent's library. The museum also had exhibits about the progression of aviation after the first flight. I found it remarkable that we went from no aviation to breaking the sound barrier in a little over 40 years.

After the museum, we headed to the actual flight sights. The Wright Brothers made four runs, the last one being the farthest (852 feet). There was a rock embedded in the ground for each landing, one at 120, another at 175 feet, and the third at 200 feet. They had also reconstructed the cabins which Orville and Wilbur lived while conducting their experiments. Then we hiked up the hill (puff, wheeze, gasp) and reached the top. The view was amazing. I wanted to take a shortcut down the hill, but apparently they don't want you on their dead grass (FYI you can't plant grass in sand). When we arrived back at the museum, we were just in time for the informative show. The park ranger came up and talked about the Wright Brothers lives and about the times they lived in. Then, he asked for a volunteer. I raised my hand because, hey, you might as well, right? Well, I got picked because I was the tallest kid in the room (which almost never happens unless I go to a kindergarten). I was handed a little white glove that looked almost exactly like the Hamburger Helper. The ranger then led me to the Flyer. He told me to grab a lever and pull, and not to worry, the guy who owned this plane only paid a million dollars for it. I gulped and pulled. The front elevators of the plane moved up and down. This demonstrated the ability of the Flyer to change pitch. Then he took me to the side of the plane and told me to push one of the fuselages up and down. The wings moved up and down with rod. This was to generate lift. The back rudder was also used to adjust yaw (moving left and right).

fter the show, we headed to the other museum building. Inside they had a flying model of the Wright Brothers plane, and videos of recreations of the first flight at the 100th aniversary in 2003. One of which was a failure.

As we left, I started to think. Man has always considered things that are beyond their own knowledge to be impossible. Flight, space travel, and and even the automobile are examples of this. What else could we acheive when we try to attain the impossible?

Temeraire book 2: Throne of Jade

Rating: T (violence, language)

Plot: After the successful repulsion of Napoleon's invasion, Laurence and Temeraire have another enemy to worry about. Now that Temeraire has been revealed as a Celestial, the highest in Chinese royalty, the Chinese want him back. Laurence argues that the egg was found and captured aboard a French vessel, and therefore rightful property of England. But the Chinese refuse to acknowledge the politics of the world, and still demand Temeraire be sent to China, or they will side with France in the war. Temeraire does not want to leave Laurence, and the new prince Yong-Xing will do everything in his power to separate Laurence from Temeraire, including murder. To avoid war, the English Aviator Corps send Laurence to China to convince the Emperor to allow Temeraire to fight for England. But the voyage to China is treacherous, with unknown creatures, storms, and frequent French attacks. And at the end of the voyage waits the complications and dangers of Chinese politics. Meanwhile, Napoleon prepares for another assault. Laurence must survive the trip to China, sway to Chinese Emperor to England's cause, and return to England before Napoleon strikes again.

Highlights: another great book in the Temeraire series! Unlike most fantasy novels, this one creates a believable story which keeps you interested throughout. Even the political aspect, while plentiful, keeps you interested and is not slow at all. Like the first novel, this one contains plenty of fighting, most of which is slightly bloody, but realistic.

Negative elements: Less of these than in the first book. Still a little language and lots of violence, but overall a very well-told story. I can't wait to read the next book.

Temeriare book 1

Plot: Laurence, a successful captain during the Napoleonic era, captures a run-of-the-mill French vessel, just a regular day's work for an English captain in the blockade of France. He is both surprised and dismayed at the useless amount of fighting displayed by the French crew. When he captures the ship, however, he is even more surprised to find out why. The ship was carrying an extremely rare Chinese dragon egg. Laurence and his crew try to sail back to England before it hatches, but despite their efforts, the egg does hatch. Laurence tries to make it choose a young ensign as it's captain, but instead it chooses Laurence. Resigning his ship to his second, Laurence becomes an English aviator. Laurence and Temeraire (his dragon) begin to train and make friends among their wing mates. Temeraire quickly becomes the best formation flyer in the Corps, and he and Laurence also begin to bond with each other. But, an invasion by Napoleon is eminent, and Temeraire will be vital to its repulsion. If England falls, so too will the rest of the world. The fate of the world hangs in the balance.

Highlights: Great plot! I have been longing for a fantasy novel about the Napoleonic wars for a very long time (Napoleon being my favorite general) and Naomi Novik delivers. The battles, while being slightly gory, are very realistic, and fun to read. It is also a rather lengthy book, so those looking for a long read should look up this title. I would definitely recommend this book to any fantasy lovers or Napoleon lovers.

Negative elements: Not many of these. The only thing I didn't like was the portrayal of Napoleon as a villain (again, favorite general) but overall a great story. There is a small amount of language (mostly D---), and the violence is not for the weak of stomach. But overall, I would give this book a 4and ½ out of 5 stars.

Health care summit

Well, I realize it is a little late, but today I'm going to talk about the Health Care Summit that took place on February 25. Now, it was introduced as bipartisan, but I didn't feel like I was watching a bipartisan summit. I was watching President Obama proceed to blame everyone besides himself for the way the economy is going. All I saw was an unorganized meeting in which Obama did the majority of the talking, and spent the majority of that time trashing the Republicans. As a matter of fact, Obama spent nine more minutes talking then all the republicans combined. Democrats, including Obama, spent 233 minutes talking, while Republicans spent 110. And whenever the Republicans brought up a talking point, Obama either jumped around the point, or just dismissed it entirely. When AR senator McCain brought up a point about different states receiving different health care, Obama said, "Well, let me make this point, John, because we aren't campaigning any more. The election's over." He then proceeded to talk about how they shouldn't be arguing about talking points back and forth and talk about how to get things done. That's…not…arrogant at all. At least now we know what he's like without his teleprompter. By the way, Obama can't speak without his teleprompter at all. He had to use it to talk to a bunch of 6^th graders. They spent the entire time staring at his knees, he spent the entire time waving his hand like a conductor and swiveling his head like he was watching the world's slowest tennis match, and never made eye contact with the kids. Look it up on Youtube. But…I thought he was such a great speaker? Not only can Obama not speak without his teleprompter, but he can't speak well period. Have you realized the number of "uhhhhhhhh"'s he throws in to his speeches? Besides that, he doesn't realy seem to know what he's talking about. He's contradicted himslef numerous times as far as job production, and other key issues and predictions. The only thing he does do is talk and talk and talk, and not really communicate anything. He leaves people just as confused as when he came into the room. I would be fine with all this if he were a cashier at Wal-mart, but this guy's kind of running the country. Even I know how to run a country better than this guy. I've managed to do very well in all the Total War campaigns. Coragon '26 anyone?