Saturday, February 17, 2018

Encouragement for you Today: Mark 1:35-45


Encouragement for you Today:
Mark 1:35-45:
35 Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray. 36 Later Simon and the others went out to find him. 37 When they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.”
38 But Jesus replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too. That is why I came.” 39 So he traveled throughout the region of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons.
41 Moved with compassion,[i] Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” 42 Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed. 43 Then Jesus sent him on his way with a stern warning: 44 “Don’t tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy.[j] This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.”
45 But the man went and spread the word, proclaiming to everyone what had happened. As a result, large crowds soon surrounded Jesus, and he couldn’t publicly enter a town anywhere. He had to stay out in the secluded places, but people from everywhere kept coming to him.
Prayer is Important:
Jesus made prayer His top priority.  As a Christian, I need to pray and make it my top priority.  I’ve gotten into reading the Bible daily and it’s become part of my routine, but I’m not that great at remembering to pray.  I’m going to make prayer, even if it’s not that long, part of my daily routine, and not just praying over lunch and dinner.
Since prayer is just talking to God, it doesn’t have to be fancy, but it does have to be respectful since God isn’t a vending machine and prayer isn’t dollars or quarters.
Jesus is willing to heal You:
A lot of people who are Christians believe in healing, but sometimes they think that God’s too busy for them.  Jesus is willing to heal us, but we have to ask Him too.  He can’t give us the desires of our heart if we don’t ask Him for it.
Listen to what Jesus says:
The leper was healed, but he did not do what Jesus asked him to by not telling anyone.  It’s a very strange passage in the Bible because we’re so used to hearing people tell the stories where Jesus tells the person to go and tell other people the good news.  We don’t know what happened to the leper, but it’s an important scripture because sometimes Jesus will tell us not to say things.

I do hope you found this blog entry encouraging to you.  I’ll try to write more encouraging blog posts in the future!  Have a great day and God bless you!

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Fate/Stay Night Buyer's Guide

I wanted to make this quick buyer’s guide because Fate fans keep trying to purchase Fate/Stay Night: [Unlimited Blade Works (2014) and keep purchasing the original Fate route or UBW (2010) by mistake. The RightStufAnime affiliate links support me. Included are links and instructions to import from the UK I will update this when the Heaven's Feel trilogy comes out.

FAQ:
Why are Fate/Zero and Unlimited Blade Works (2014) so expensive compared to Fate/Stay Night (2006) and UBW (2010)?
Aniplex USA licensed the newer anime and they are geared towards the expensive collectors’ market and the price is similar to their Japanese counterpart.
Can I buy the Aniplex anime at a better price?
Only if you import the DVDs or blu-rays from the UK. I have made my old Windows XP DVD drive region free so I can play the Region 2 DVDs, but you will either need a region free DVD player or blu-ray player to play imported discs.
Has RightStufAnime ever put the Fate/Stay Night Series on Sale?
I bought the Fate/Stay Night (2006) DVDs on sale for $5.00, Aniplex USA has never put Fate/Zero or Unlimited Blade Works (2014) on sale since release.
I have Windows XP/2000/Vista 32-Bit, how do I make it region free?
You will need DVD43 Old Download
How can I force my blu-ray drive to play Region B blu-rays?
How do I reset my Blu-ray drive count on my PC?
Where can I get a Region Free DVD/Blu-ray Player?
Cheap All-Region Blu-ray/DVD Player Region free, costs $139.00.
I want the UK blu-rays should I get them now?
REGION B BLU-RAYS ARE LOW ON STOCK, IF YOU WANT THE COLLECTOR'S EDITIONS GET THEM NOW!
How Much will I save buying the blu-rays from the UK?
If you pay $100 for a region free Blu-Ray player, and [Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works] 2014 for $144.02 + shipping. You will pay $359.96 for Region A Aniplex blu-rays. You save $215.94 give or take $5-8.00 for shipping. I paid $5.32 for having my region 2 DVDs shipped.
Did the DVDs from the UK take a long time?
Mine was late but they still arrived. It took over a month.
Can I play these on my desktop/laptop?
You will need an external DVD or blu-ray drive, preferably with a program that lets you bypass region locking.
I hope this buyer’s guide is helpful to fans looking to purchase the series, feel free to ask any questions in the thread!
Fate/Stay Night (2006):
RightStufAnime:
Fate/Stay Night: [Unlimited Blade Works] 2010 Movie:
RightStufAnime
Fate/Zero (2011) (WARNING! THESE ARE EXPENSIVE!):
Part 1
RightStufAnime:
Part 2:
Fate/Stay Night: [Unlimited Blade Works] (2014) WARNING! THESE ARE EXPENSIVE!):
RightStufAnime: Part 1:
Part 2:
Fate/Stay Night: [Heaven's Feel]: Pressage Flower Part 1:
Fate/Stay Night: [Heaven's Feel]: Lost Butterfly Part 2:
UK DVD 2/Region B Import Guide:
REGON B BLU-RAYS ARE LOW ON STOCK, IF YOU WANT THE COLLECTOR'S EDITIONS GET THEM NOW!
Fate/Zero: Amazon.co.uk:
Part 2:
Fate/Stay Night: [Unlimited Blade Works] 2014: Amazon.co.uk:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Anime-Online-DVD:
Part 2:
Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade works (2014):
Part 1:
Part 2:
Fate/Grand Order: First Order:
Coming soon! MVM Entertainment has announced the aquisition recently!

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Anime Review: The Seven Deadly Sins Season 1


Quick Info

Director: Tensai Okamura
Distributor: Netflix for streaming, Funimation Entertainment for home video release
Runtime: 600 minutes
Release Date: May 16, 2017
Availability: On Blu-Ray and DVD, buy on RightStufAnime or Amazon

Story Summary

Elizabeth, the third Princess of Liones, sets out to find the Seven Deadly Sins, an order of knights composed of the most despicable knights in all the kingdom. She is searching for them to battle the Holy Knights that have taken over the kingdom.

Traveling in disguise, she stumbles across a tavern called the Boar Hat and meets the young owner after he helps her after she passes out. Pursued by the Holy Knights, she inadvertently gets him involved, only to learn that he is the Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins, Meliodas, the Dragon's Sin of Wrath. Together, they set out to find the other Sins: Diane, Ban, King, Merlin, Gowther, and Escanor.

The Story is Cliche

The story of The Seven Deadly Sins is very cliché on the outside. The Princess searches desperately for the rogues who supposedly did horrible things. The pervy male lead, the clingy, jealous giantess, the lazy but good fairy king, the greedy jerk with a heart of gold, the mysterious female mage, and the emotionless smart guy.

Even if many of these character tropes are cliché, they're still very interesting characters, and that's why I like them. The plot is also very well done, and even though some complained about how predictable it is, I still enjoyed the story overall, and I found it to be very entertaining, and it kept me watching, and I couldn't wait to see the next episode so I could find out what was going to happen to all the characters.

The Animation Looks Good

A-1 Pictures did an amazing job with this anime. The animation is very fluid, the fight scenes are very well done, and I like the character designs. The animation looks especially good during the one-on-one fight scenes between various characters. It looks good throughout the entire anime, and the world designs and art style are very appealing, and I can clearly remember various characters because of how they look.


I Enjoyed The English Dub


The Japanese voice track is great, but I'm primarily focusing on the English dub of the anime, and it's terrific. Bang Zoom picked an excellent voice cast for the characters, and the actors did a fantastic job as their characters.

Bryce Papenbrook does a great job as Meliodas. I will admit, I'm on Brice Papenbrook overload because I'm currently watching voice acting in him in Durarara!! X2, Fate/Stay Night, and Attack on Titan, but he brings his A-game to this role, giving Meliodas both comedic and serious to his character, and he's mastered the art of very loud screaming, as can be seen from other roles he's played.

Cristina Vee is delightful as Hawk, the animal sidekick. Being a pig, the character can't do much, but Hawk is still an important member of the group and gets his chance to shine much later in the series, and Christina Vee is also excellent in this role as she's great at portraying the character in the anime.

Erika Harlacher does a great job as Elizabeth Liones, but the fact that her character's main job is to be the damsel in distress is cliched and annoying. Fortunately, she goes through a lot of character development and is a much stronger character by the end of the first season, but the cliche is still annoying.

Ben Diskin portrays all the different sides of his character when he voices Ban. Ban is a character that embodies the jerk with a heart of gold trope, and he gives an excellent performance. I like how Ban and Meliodas play off each other, and their dynamic is really fun to watch.

Erica Mendez does a great job as Diane, portraying her character's jealousy over Meliodas and Elizabeth's relationship. I also love her interactions with Max Mittlerman's King. I think their relationship is really adorable and fun to watch.

Max Mittelman's portrayal is interesting when it comes to King. There are multiple facets to his personality and character, and I like that even though he may seem lazy, there's a lot more to him than just one trait, and his relationship with Diane and the fact that he just can't spit it out make the two of them adorable.

Erik Kimerer is very interesting in his role as the aloof and eerily emotionless Gowther. What makes his character so interesting is that he's very different and more aloof than the others, and his powers are very different than the others.

Lauren Landa is excellent as Merlin. She doesn't appear until much later in the series, but she did a great job, and I like her character a lot.

Robbie Daymond voices the primary antagonist Gilthunder, and like the other characters, there's more to him than just being the cliched evil villain. And Robbie is very good in his role, and he makes a great antagonist.

Kaiji Tang is also very good as Hendrickson. He's also another important character on the antagonist's side, and he did a great job in this anime.


Soundtrack, Openings, and Endings

Hiroyuki Sawano's musical soundtrack is good, but it doesn't exactly stand out. But the music does sound good and fits the tone and mood of the story, but unfortunately, I can't recall any particular musical themes outside of the opening and ending songs of the anime.

The first opening for The Seven Deadly Sins is "Netsujō no Spectrum" (熱情のスペクトラム) by Ikimono-gakari. It's a very good opening that sounds really good and gives you that sense of adventure.

"Seven Deadly Sins" by MAN WITH A MISSION gets you really pumped up for the episode and gives off the exciting vibe that, yes, this episode is going to be awesome.

"7-seven-" by FLOW x GRANRODEO gets you all excited and pumped up for the next episode. Season" by Alisa Takigawa has a very soothing and hopeful tone, and you'll need it for the latter half of the anime.

The Perv Jokes Get Old Really Fast

One main criticism I have of the anime is that Melodas is a perv, and not just that he talks about girls in a pervy fashion, he tends to grope them, a lot, not that I get "offended" by this as a female fan of anime, I'm used to fanservice, and so I expect it. In fact, Melodas' perverted behavior is a running gag that becomes annoying because it's funny the first few times, and then it's like, "Okay, I get the joke, now it's old!" and now
 it's unfunny.

Unfortunately, it can also reinforce the perception that anime is just a bunch of pervy jokes and that every single anime is always like this when it comes to fanservice and gag jokes, and it could possibly turn off new viewers from what is a very fun and enjoyable anime to watch.

Not Everything Is Explained

Another flaw of the anime is that not everything is explained, such as how the Seven Deadly Sins got their powers and how magic works in the world. But with a second season coming, there should be more explanations.

It's also too bad we don't even see Escanor, and I was hoping we'd see all Seven Sins. Fortunately, he'll be in season 2, so I have that to look forward to.

Parental Warning

There is violence, but it's mainly fantasy-style violence, and it's not too bloody or gory. It's mainly magic spells.

There isn't too much profanity, but characters do swear sometimes.

Meliodas being a pervert towards Elizabeth is annoying, and there is fan service, as in, Meliodas trying to look up her skirt and being a pervert around her.

My Rating: A-

With a stellar story based on Arthurian legends with a fun and engaging cast, excellent animation from A-1 Pictures, and another great English dub from Bang Zoom Entertainment, The Seven Deadly Sins is a series that is so much fun, especially if you love fantasy anime like I do. It does, however, have a lot of anime cliches that might turn off some people and the Meliodas is a perv gag wears out his welcome. Fortunately, it does stop after a while, and not everything is explained completely, but I had a fun time watching this anime, and I recommend it to anyone who has a Netflix streaming account.

If you watched the fansubs already, please support the official Netflix stream since the Japanese do look at the viewing numbers from official sources and not fansub sites. I found this out by listening to a Funimation podcast on Anime News Network, so even if you just get a free trial of Netflix just to watch this show, the official creators are paying attention. The viewing numbers are enough right now that they've already started making season 2, so officially support the stream.

There are also multiple language tracks and subtitles to choose from.

Seven Deadly Sins: Signs of Holy War, the four-episode OVA, has been uploaded to Netflix on February 17, 2017. The second season comes out this year.

Funimation has licensed Seven Deadly Sins for home video release.


© 2015 ReViewMeMedia

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Website Review: Amazon.com


What is Amazon.com?

Amazon.com is a website that is a very large online store. You can buy electronics, books, movies, video games, and clothes and shoes. You can browse through products, read reviews, ask questions, engage in discussions on the forums, and order products from the website. You can either have them shipped to a P.O. Box or have them shipped directly to your house. Some products can only be shipped to your house, so keep that in mind when placing an order.

 Shopping at Amazon.com

Another great thing about Amazon.com is that they offer free shipping, called Super Saver Shipping, for products that cost over $35.00; it used to be $49.00, but since they have to pay taxes in my state, they lowered the minimum free shipping cost.

Although I do not shop for other items as much as I used to, it's still cheap to buy books from Amazon, as it offers free shipping on books if you buy over $25.00 worth of them.

I have had a great experience shipping on and the only times that an order has not arrived are when it wasn’t available, and they emailed me telling me that it wasn’t available.

 Buying Through Third Parties at Amazon.com

I have purchased items used on Amazon.com. I’ve never had a problem with any used products, but I would definitely only recommend sellers that have a 99%-100% seller rate, that way you know that the product you purchased will actually work when it arrives. I bought Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Special Edition DVDs, and they work like they’re brand new, even though they were used. I still prefer to buy new over used if I can help it.

 Amazon's Verified Customer Reviews

Amazon reviews have a label called “Verified Customer Reviews”, and it proves that the person reviewing the item purchased it because anyone can submit a review to the site. When it comes to video games, I did hear that Amazon was removing low ratings of verified customer reviews and people noticed it.

 User Reviews

Amazon.com is a very helpful website because users can leave reviews about their experiences with the products they’ve purchased from the website. I find that these reviews are informative, most of the time, and have convinced me to either buy a product or not buy it.

 Amazon Forums

Amazon has forums, and they can be very helpful if you want to ask about a product before buying it. There are also all sorts of discussion forums, and it’s pretty entertaining to look at the forums.

Flaws in Amazon Customer Reviews

If there are any flaws with Amazon.com, it would be that you have to be careful when buying used items from sellers; you have to look at their feedback percentage and what buyers have said about them. I only buy from sellers that I know are good and have sent me items I’ve ordered. I haven’t had any problems with buying used, and I’ve always received items I’ve ordered.



Retruns


I have only ever had to return a few things to Amazon, and I did get a refund, but not a full refund, but it was easy to return them.

Buying eBooks for Kindle

I recently got a free Amazon Kindle Touch, and I find it very easy to purchase books on Amazon for it. It's easy, you just touch the buy button, and it purchases the e-book. It also accepts Amazon gift cards as payment, so you can get free books using Amazon gift cards.

Just the other day, I bought a book by accident while browsing through the Kindle Store. I was able to cancel my accidental purchase, and they refunded my money the same day.

My Rating: A

Overall, Amazon.com is a great website that lets you buy anything you want and has a lot to offer its customers. I’d recommend using this website since it’s easy to find and purchase items from the store. Just be careful when buying new or used from 3rd party sellers. I’ve never had a problem but I’m very careful when choosing a 3rd party seller to purchase from. I try to buy straight from Amazon when possible. You can’t go wrong with this website and I buy a lot from Amazon.com. If you want a good online shopping experience, I’d recommend Amazon.com.





Friday, February 21, 2014

Video Game Review: Banished

 


Quick Info

Developer: Shining Rock Software
Released: February 18, 2014
Platform: Windows PC, Steam, GOG.com. If you buy from their website, you will get a Steam Key if you buy it there, too.

What is "Banished"?

Banished is a city-building game set in the Medieval period. On the surface, it appears to be just your average city-building game. You build resource buildings, keep your citizens happy, and trade goods your citizens create. But Banished is different from other city-building games because of a few major differences; you do not have to worry about money in this game. Instead, this city-building game does what others haven’t: it kills your population, your citizens arrive in the city, work, get married, have kids, grow old, and die.

It is very fun and challenging to play on hard mode.


Gameplay

Gameplay involves the settlers gathering up different materials to build buildings, such as wood chopping, forestry, fishing, blacksmiths, mines, quarries, hunting lodges, and herbal medicine to help keep your village up and running.

You can also build trading posts, hospitals, and a town hall to bring more villagers and trade with other villages for items you don't have at the start of the village.

The difficulty is the amount of materials you start with; depending on your settings, you'll start with more or fewer materials at the beginning of the game. The game never "ends" unless all your villagers die off.

This game is a lot of fun, especially if you enjoy city-building games. It doesn’t have a lot of depth, but if you know how to play city-building games, this will be a challenge.

The gameplay is complex when it comes to managing everything, but the game has really good tutorials, and it shows you how to play the game. The tutorial is easy to understand and explains almost everything very well.

Graphics

The graphics look nice; it’s not outstanding, but that’s not the point of the game. It does look very good, though. It’s fun to watch people go throughout your town as they go to work and live life in your village.

It doesn't look like the most amazing game graphically, but it has a nice art style that I really like, and it looks good, but not mind-blowing or cutting-edge like a game from a triple-A publisher.

The UI

The user interface is really easy to use, and you can customize it so you can choose what you want to see. You can see everything, but it has the bare minimum and it's very convenient to keep track of everything going on in your village.





Strategy is the Key

The key to surviving in Banished is the strategy, and that's what makes the game so much fun. Do I focus on food, or do I need to get the houses up as fast as possible? What about firewood?

Trying to think of the best strategy so that people don't die during the winter is a fun challenge, and why I play this game for hours and hours.

You'll have to choose between the blacksmith shop, because you need tools, or if you want to build a tailor shop. Every decision counts, and that's why I love this game!

Soundtrack

The music for the game’s soundtrack is also very well done, and it sounds very nice. The soundtrack has very pleasant music, and it's very soothing. And I like the music, but it does get a little repetitive, but it's all very pleasant to listen to.

You'll Feel Great When You Succeed

You'll feel a huge sense of accomplishment if you can take your small group of survivors and turn your tiny village into a large, bustling city. I think that it's really neat that you can make it happen, and since there's an added element of having your people build your buildings, it just becomes more challenging since you can't just click on a spot and then a building appears.

There's also a resource management element to the game that makes it challenging, but if you can get enough resources, you can survive; you just have to have a good strategy to do it.

The AI Is Weird

The major flaw of the game is that when you’re trying to select things to trade, the arrow sliders are very small on the trade menu, and I keep choosing the wrong item. Also, some people have had problems trying to get the game to start after buying it on Steam. Check the Steam community forums for help.

The AI will also let your villagers starve to death sometimes, even when you have plenty of food nearby. It can become frustrating when villagers take too long to go get food and die for no reason at all.


Final Thoughts

I highly recommend this game; it’s not perfect, but for being developed by one person, it’s excellent. It’s not the greatest-looking city-building game, but it’s challenging and fun. I’ve played for hours, and I’ve really enjoyed it. If you don’t like slow-paced games, this isn’t for you, but if city-building games are your thing, check it out. It’s not too expensive, and it’s a lot of fun.

Overall Grade: A-

Banished is a lot of fun and provides hours and hours of fun and challenging city-building and management. It looks nice and has a great soundtrack and decent AI. The gameplay is fun, but the AI will sometimes do some weird things. The game is still a lot of fun.

I really loved this game, and I will definitely recommend it to anyone who loves city-building games. You'll enjoy playing this game, but it can be repetitive if you play it a lot.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Website Review: eBay.com

 

Website: eBay.com

eBay.com is a website that lets users buy and sell items on the internet. Users can either buy auction style, where they bid for the item, and the user who has the highest bid wins the item. You can also buy items for a set price with the “buy it now” option. The buyer has to pay for the item using PayPal or their credit card.

Selling  on eBay

Selling on eBay is a tricky thing. You might not get the price that you actually want for your item because either other listings are less expensive, or no one is interested in your item. If your item has a lot of listings, the best plan of action is to list your item at the lowest price you are willing to take for your item.

If your listed item sells, try to get it out to your buyer as quickly as possible. Also, communicate with them if you’re not able to get it to them if you’re gone on vacation while it's sold. Communicate with your buyer when necessary, as it helps strengthen your relationship with them. They may continue to buy from you if you provide them with good service. Ship your package in a good, strong envelope if it’s small or in a box if it’s bigger.

Buying and selling on eBay can be a great way for you to find a great deal or sell some unwanted items for extra money. If you are careful in choosing good sellers and give buyers a good experience, you won’t have any problems on eBay. Be cautious of scammers and verify the user’s feedback score. It’s a great website for buying and selling, so use eBay if you want to sell your items, or if you’re looking for a really good online deal.

Buying on eBay

Buying on eBay is an interesting experience; you can either bid or buy the item at a set price. Sometimes you’ll win items and sometimes you won’t. It depends on the item you’re bidding for. Sometimes the buyer will pay shipping, sometimes the shipping is free.



Ask the Sellers Questions Before Buying

In order not to be scammed by a buyer or a seller, you should look at their feedback from other eBay users to see if they’re a trustworthy buyer or seller. I have never had any problems buying or selling on eBay, and if you want to have a good experience, it is recommended to only buy from sellers who have at least 99% feedback. The best way to have a good experience on eBay is to go with sellers who have 100% feedback on eBay.

Make sure you ask the seller any important questions before purchasing an item; that way, they can answer any questions you need answered before you pay them money.

Also, contact them if you need to return an item to get a refund.

Returning an Item to eBay

I have had to return two items to eBay sellers, one was a pair of shoes that I had placed the wrong order for when I bought them for someone else. The other one was a Star Wars book with a misprint; the seller gave me a refund and let me keep the book.

Even though I haven't had to return items to eBay often, the sellers have been willing to refund my money. When my Star Wars Prequel Trilogy book arrived with missing pages, a massive misprint on the part of Random House, the eBay seller refunded my purchase and let me keep the defective book.




eBay Bucks Help You Pay For Items


Every time you spend money on eBay, eBay will give you a discount in "eBay Bucks' which lets you save a little extra on your purchases. Unfortunately, they don't stack, and they have an expiration date.

eBay does have gift cards that can stack, and they don't expire, but they do have a limit on how many gift cards you can use on an item.

Should You Buy or Sell on eBay?


Should you buy and sell on eBay? I'd say you should, but always take a look at seller feedback before you purchase from them. And make sure to communicate with them if you have questions, so they can help you solve any problems you have with your purchase.

If you're selling on eBay, just make sure to pack your packages very well and send them away as soon as you can. That way, you can get a positive rating with the buyer.


© 2014 ReViewMeMedia

Monday, December 16, 2013

Let's Play The Walking Dead Blind Episode 4 Part 3, Searching for a Boat



Let's Play The Walking Dead Blind Episode 4 Part 3, Searching for a Boat.

My blind run of  The Walking Dead Season 1 on YouTube.

Part 4 here
Part 2 here
Playlist here

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