There has been a small shift in my hosting environment. I will detail more once the changes have been made solid.

Let us suffice it to say This blog, and shortly the TravelersMug will have much better homes. The CaffiNation Podcast needs to wait for a bit to make sure everything transfered correctly and Puzzlepiecepro.com may be an issue.

On the plus side of things. Paul Rj Muller now owns PaulRjMuller.com

This site has also slipped in the past couple of months into disrepair. This will change once all of my hosting needs is on the same Server again

Current Mood Concerning Hosting Situation

I love Beowulf, the story not the movie. Beowulf is western Literature’s oldest tale. A tale very much changed from its Norse roots, to include Christianity as that became more dominant but usually remains true to its Nordic origins. The movie had great promise, and I wish I could have seen it in 3D, but that was not in the cards. Overall this was a dead on accurate portrayal of a common translation of the epic story. Keeping the same pace, names and feel.

The decision to go with 100% animation still baffles me. On to the review, 8 points and it shall be yours. This movies gets the full 8 because of my love for the story not the movie. The story deserves more explanation, than the movie earns.

1. True to the story. Kept everything and omitted nothing that I can see. It took some interpretations and ran with them
2. Sound Editing was perfect and impressive. Score was beautifully accentual, did not interrupt the flow of the movie
3. Voice acting was very good be they needed to standardize on an accent
4. - They needed subtitles for Grendle’s pseudo German. I understood most of it but i might have been the only one
5. - Animation lends itself to a comic interpretation of the serious events, a definitely disjointed experiance.
6. - Animation seemed inconsistent. Angelina Jolie was a perfect likeness in one scene and in the next frame not so much.
7. - Animation was poor quality when compared to others out there, looked too much like a video game. Gears of War had better graphics.
8. -Uncanny valley strikes again. Almost but not quite exactly looks human, but the little things throw it off.

I argued with myself over this grade. On one hand this is the most accurate to a story movie I have even seen. And that alone earns a high mark. But the animation quality and consistency needs so much work that it ruined most of the movie for me. The Uncanny Valley lives on, little things like lack of muscle strain in the models when they are supposed to be dramatically straining, lack of texture & details on things like legs and backs gives the character models a cartoon look. It is with a heavy heart that i give my final verdict of a 4, this did not live up to my expectations. Should have been filmed like 300 instead they went with Shrek-drama.

Well its just past Halloween and that means its time for a Christmas Movie. Because Christmas time is for Horror, and Summer is for “Blockbusters”. I was dragged to this film kicking and screaming. I’m not a fan of Christmas film crowds mind you, Its the screaming kids that gets to me at all hour of the day and night. We went at 10pm and they were still up. I like Vince Vaughn, but up until recently I wasn’t a big fan of Paul Giamatti. Either way I knew what to expect and this flick didn’t disappoint. ^ / 7 points and the review shall be yours.

En.

1. Its a Christmas Movie with a older kid bend on it.
2. Kids will like the slapstick and there are some good lessons learned by the end.
3. I love Vince Vaughn, his character is pith, witty and wicked all at once.
4. Plot is a new twist on Christmas, and a welcome one at that
5. -Overdone characters, and overacted parts make some scene less enjoyable
6. Its a Christmas movie, you know what to expect happy ending and warm fuzzies
7. Bah Humbug? Nah this is a good use of you time.

If you like Vince Vaughn in Wedding rashers you get more of his quick draw wit in this one, concise and clean delivery on rapid fire commentary. Good christmas movie geared toward parents and kids around 12 I think. Any younger and some of the details may blur. Did not break the Cardinal Christmas Rule which is of the utmost import.

How do you stand up against the best and the brightest web sites in your field? How well does your current site fair when faced with the onslaught of robots scouring its every inch its every pixel for relevant data? But most importantly how well does your site rank in searches. If people can’t find you then what does it matter.

Enter www.Websitegrader.com. Website Grader allows you, through a blindly simple interface, glean a vast amount of data into how the world sees you. On to the review, 6 points and it shall be yours.

1. Free Analysis, can’t beat that with a stick.
2. Clean and simple layout, you intuitively know what to put where, no obtuse descriptions.
3. Constructive Criticism: ways to better yourself, point by point references to what is wrong.
4. Shows you how to Clear up errors and where to put the most effort in to get the most return.
5. Allows you to measure yourself up against any of your competitors.
6. Only detractor is that since it has gained in popularity it has slowed down, these are good problems to have.

How can you not want to check this site out by now? And the deal sealer for me is that the site works for the parent company as well. Website grader is a free service of Hubspot.com, an internet marketing company. It begs all the right questions, how can a company give this information away for free and still make money? They must be that good. It gets an 8 out of ten, because I was expecting to get what I paid for, not much. In return I received a clean interface and a hoard of information.

Book reviews are few and far between so far, so I review them as I read the. This book came highly recommended and it did not fail. Now i have never read anything by Terry Pratchett before and I have been recommended to do so for some time now. So as books go there was a fair amount of hype surrounding this on a personal level

1. An enjoyable world crafted with love unfols before you
2. A thick healthy vein of humor travels through the narrative
3. Plot follows a steady beat checking in the different threads of the tale periodically, without annoying
4. -Learning curve is definitely present for those who have not read this author before, but not too steep

The book and the author both stood up to the hype and delighted me with the level of humor in the writing. Read this Book, not much more I can Say. Given this and my predilection for liking Douglas Adams I’m tempted to try other British humorist. Any suggestions?

A game of this magnitude needs more than one review because there are so many different ways to enjoy it. You have the first impressions review, here you will find the Campaign review, where we will go over in a spoiler free manner the plot, the gameplay and the afterglow. Then as a bonus feature there will be a Halo 3 Extra Goodies review to come which goes over the new Theater and Forge areas of the game. Without further ado here is your full 8 on the Campaign, spoiler free.

1. Story pacing was very good, you never loose interest in the tasks at hand.
2. Not enough can be said about the stunning visuals & masterful music score.
3. Replay value is high due to 4 different difficulties and various easter eggs hidden throughout.
4. Campaign scoring, an awesome addition to add massive replay value.
5. 4 player Co-op adds an unprecedented human tactical environment to the game.
6. - Sound Levels, I had to keep fiddling with thevolume on my tv between explosions and dialog.
7. - Map Design, Different time
8. - Cut Scenes are fine in between chapters but to slow down the action for dialog in between breaths gets old quick. I’m talking to you Cortana & Gravemind…

Afterglow: After the ending Wait through the credits. Overall I feel it is a fitting conclusion.

This is a game which is greater than the sum of its parts. The campaign is what i feel is the weakest link in an otherwise strong chain. The cut scenes which interrupt the action get incredibly old quick. Often other co-op players and I heap abuse upon the fictional characters during these scenes to make the time pass… But that is not the game, the game is fast paced, engrossing story telling. Overall still worth the money and the time to play.

Full Halo 3 Review

1st Impressions | Campaign Breakdown | Extra Goodies

Greeting visitors from the CaffiNation Podcast and many others.

After a long Delay expect the updates to this site to start up once again.

Well its comes time to throw my hat in the ring once more on a very popular franchise. Halo 3 needs no lengthy introduction. My first impressions of the new game are a generally positive tone, the word awesome was used, at least once, in passing. But upon a further an deeper review we begin to see more clearly. Some things are to be expected in this version, and I’m not done the campaign yet, i know I’m a slacker, but here is what we see so far. So here we go I’ll give this Hype laden product the full 8 points to review it.

1. Graphics are predictably spectacular, even on an old AV system such as mine.
2. Music is at least on par with the last showing, if not improved. It only adds to the experiance of the game, without ever detracting or taking the focus away.
3. Weapon balance has shifted again to a much more neutral level. No one weapon is the be all and end all. (i.e. Hammer of Dawn in Gears)
4. Although i haven’t put it through its paces yet, the Forge is going to be huge. On Console Map / Session editing. This will get its own review down the line as well.
5. Multiplayer is awesome as it was expected to be, New menu systems should eventually make things much better
6. - As before in campaign I get told to head off someplace, without a map in a very expansive landscape. Its easy to get lost or stuck in a corner.
7. - So far the story has been a bit spotty, not that old information needs to be rehashed, but it feels a bit cut off.
8. - Cortana shows up during the slow periods of campaign play to impart bits of info, mildly irritating.

On whole the game was exactly what i expected it to be, and more. I found the new weapon balance much more enjoyable to play online with. The campaign seems to be flowing well, even if the story doesn’t give too much background. I give the game a 7 out of 10, mainly because there was no break from the pack, paradigm changing experience. What was good was great, and what was bad was only irritating. The Forge could truly be a boon to the content creation scene but we need to wait and see. Check back for the After I beat it edition for a full spoiler free story review.

Like I’ve said before here at Boilerpl8.com we don’t review old games, we savor them as if they were fine wine, we wait for the heady richness of the nostalgia to wash over us and take us back to the golden age of yesteryear. We do however review new takes on old IP. Bomberman Live lives up to that. The demo alone is worth downloading, even if you never buy. How many times can you say that? Now to the brass tacks.

1. Updated visuals and innovative Bomberman customization options (read costumes)
2. If you have a 360 you need the demo, its free and unlimited classic play w/ multiplayer
3. Awesome new gametypes and replayability
4. Fully configurable to suite any playing style
5. The entire family can play and learn this quickly, and enjoy for hours.

800 Points = 10 Dollars, US. Well worth it. Better than a good deal of the 50 - 60 dollar games out there. Completely blew my expectation out of the water. I was expecting a tired rehash of old IP, I was only going to download the demo. I played the demo for 3 weeks and still wanted more. I felt obligated to buy it just to see how deep the rabbit hole went. Excellent purchase on my part. I highly recommend.

I guess I better fess up to this small fact before I continue. I have never read the books. I’ve heard they are good, I might even pick them up eventually. However for some reason I have never felt compelled to read them. That being said I have seen all of the movies, because they appear entertaining.
At this point the cast, the script and the director are considered a known. You know exactly what to expect from a Harry Potter flick. Even if they do get darker as the story matures, that characters get older and the plot twists more. That being said on to the meat and potatoes of the review.

1. Acting steadily improving as the series and the actors mature.
2. Epic score and wonderfully placed audio landscape.
3. Beautiful visuals, wonderful texture to the film.
4. - Inconsistency in the application of CG, some characters looks “real” others look dropped in.

If you liked the other films, which I did, then you will enjoy this one. Slightly darker tone overall makes for a more adult viewing experiance. The differences in the CG effects actually jarred me out of the narrative. Specifically the difference in realism between the Centaurs and the Giant Gorp. Both are on the screen at the very same time but the Centaurs look real and the giant looks like someone dropped the incredible hulk into the flick. Overall pretty good.

This Review Uses the Full 8 From BoilerPl8!

Ok take one does of 25 year old Intellectual property which has reached cult status with a rabid fan base. Throw in one Iconic Father figure for a generations of kids who wished nothing more than to be able to “Roll Out” What do you get?

Well I must start this article off by admitting I had grave reservations about the outcome of this movie. There are two main reasons for this. First off the choice of director, who seemed to show no loyalty to the original material when asked about quarter century old precedents he might break, and a predilection for choppy jump cut cinematic which I didn’t think would honor the material they were treating. And secondly add in a slew of product endorsements and massive hype behind each choice. All of the Autobots decided to become GM machines? Couple both of those issues with changes in the fundamental Characters and their forms.

1. Breath taking visual effects, you feel the tension pulling at your chest as these massive monsters preform their deadly ballet on the screen
2. Surprisingly good acting both from the CG elements and the cast.
3. Humor , and lots of it. This movies makes you laugh and chortle throughout
4. Real emotion coming from Computer generated characters
5. Once you wrap your head around the plot the story si pretty entertaining
6. Peter Cullen is Optimus Prime, get that voice right and there shall be latitude granted with almost anything else
7. - Optimus Prime should not have had flame detailing it demeans him, Red, Blue & Proud
8. - Deceptecon Identity Crisis, Megatron should have been a gun, where for art though Soundwave?

In short I can’t see a reason not to see this movie, as it has not only decimated my low expectations but it also became almost everything it should have been. A couple of minor quibbles attempted to spoil the movie, Due to this movies I ended up going to work on less than two hours of sleep, I regret nothing.