Thursday, July 30, 2015

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

WC Reads- "LarryBoy and the Emperor of Envy" (Ch. 17)





We're getting close to the end... OF THIS BOOK.

(Sorry. No opening music this time. Youtube music edits were being stupid.)



Book:

Gaffney, Sean. LarryBoy and the Emperor of Envy. Grand Rapids, MI: Zonderkidz/Big Idea Productions, Inc., 2002. Print.

Sunday, July 26, 2015

The Wait for "Five Nights at Freddy's 4" (iOS version) Has Already Begun!

Hi, I'm the Whatsoever Critic. I review just about anything,
but right now, I find myself in a predicament again.

Ever since Five Nights at Freddy's 4 has been released on PC, it hasn't shown up on Android or iOS yet. And seeing that I don't want to get the PC versions yet until I get a new computer, I have to wait for the iOS version to come out, that way I can play it on my tablet.

Now this time, I won't do a video on me waiting for FNaF 4 (iOS version), but I might try to update y'all on the waiting process either by this blog or on my Twitter: @vygonza1

So far, Markiplier has played this game, other Youtubers have played it, WatchGirlsPlay have played it already... and I'm pissed that I, myself, can't play it yet! And I can't spoil it by watching Let's Plays at this time, because that would ruin the experience for me when I finally play.
-So no spoilers. All spoilers will be deleted from the comments section.

However, seeing that it took almost two weeks for FNaF 3 to come out on iOS after the PC version, will it take lesser time this time with FNaF 4, or take longer than last time? Only time will tell.

Whatsoever Critic

Saturday, July 18, 2015

"Lamb Chop's Play Along: United We Stand" TV Episode Review

Hi, I'm the Whatsoever Critic. I review just about anything.

Now, before tying in this blog post's title with a Camelot reference, let me say that this review involves a strike.
-I'm not the one striking.
Imagine a strike filled with hilarity. It may not go down like that in real life, but what if some of your childhood characters did that? I know that people go through hard times and want their piece of the pie, but here's a TV show that seems to stand the test of time by delivering a message saying that strikes aren't as dramatic as the media portrays them; and that people are overreacting. Then again, it's just kids being kids.

This is Lamb Chop's Play Along's "United We Stand."

Act 1

The segment opens with Lamb Chop, Charlie Horse, and Hush Puppy playing cards, until Shari interrupts their play by telling them to do chores. She assigns Lamb Chop to do the dishes, Hush Puppy to tend to the laundry, and Charlie Horse to mow the lawn.
-Is it weird to say that an eight-year-old shouldn't have to operate a lawnmower? To me, it's too young an age to be doing that. Then again, this was in the 80s and 90s; so...
But the characters try to bail out by saying that they've already made plans and that they want their allowance, but Shari doesn't budge from her instructing them to do chores.
Charlie Horse: "Yeah, but there's more and more chores, the same measly allowance... All in favor of fun now, say aye!"
The three (in unison): "Aye!"
-Now this should be a sign that things are gonna get silly here. As if this whole situation was a democracy type thing...

Shari: "Hey guys, this is not a democracy. You forget, I'm in charge here, and what I say goes..."
-Okay. just a recap: the kids don't want to do chores, and they expect an allowance; but Shari wants them to do chores, so that they can have an allowance. Where do politics fit into this? Where does the government fit into all this? Now before you answer "socialism" or "communism," just remember that this scenario is the Lamb Chop's Play Along equivalent of children refusing to do their chores for their parents in real life.
So, instead of doing the chores like they were being told to, Charlie Horse doesn't let up.

Hush Puppy: "Well, we've better get to work."
Charlie Horse: "No, not me. She's not gonna have this horse to kick around anymore."
-Uh... pun intended? If so, then I get the joke. : )
Then Charlie Horse suggests to his siblings to go on strike, so that they can work less and get a bigger allowance.
-This is starting to feel like a union strike in the form of a school play.
-And plus, you know how with Spongebob Squarepants, 

in one episode where he and Squidward are striking against the Krusty Krab?

Well, in that show, that was closer to how it is when it comes to unfairness in the workforce...

except for the half-assed antics from Spongebob. Here, it's just a parent telling her kids to do chores; but they treat it like it's a day in the life of the economy. Well, to be fair, this is supposed to be comedic. Just check out...

Act 2:

...where Lamb Chop, Charlie Horse, and Hush Puppy are holding up their so-called strike in the yard. It's friggin' hilarious!
Trio (in unison): "Shari is unfair! Shari doesn't care! So she can take a hike, 'cuz we're on strike!"
-I can almost see my two nephews and my niece throwing this parody of a strike years later with their mom. In today's day and age, stuff like this can piss off a parent.
Kids: Mommy is unfair! Mommy doesn't care!
Sister: (name), you three get your butt in this house...!
Me: All of this because of chores?
Sister: Yep. (name), the hell you three doing on strike?! Y'all aren't old enough to even have jobs, and yet y'all wanna strike! Get the fuck back in the house. you lazy pieces of-!
Me: Whoa! What if they were just pretending...?
Sister: Oh, ho! Pretend or not, I'll show them a strike...
Me (while in the background kids are crying, and mom is striking their behinds): [sigh] It's funny, because those kids aren't mine.
Then Charlie Horse gives a motivational speech to his "supporters":
Charlie Horse: "My fellow workers... let us unite against Shari... We will make our demands known! No more chores! More free time! Bigger allowances for everyone!... United we stand, divided we're punished."
-It's hard for me to take this seriously, because these characters are "on strike," and yet I'm laughing my ass off this whole scene.
Anyway, Shari comes over to see what all the commotion is about, and Hush Puppy goes and explains the situation to her.

Hush Puppy: "Oh! We is on strike, Shari. Would you care to join us?"
Lamb Chop: "No... We're striking against Shari. Hmph!"
Hush Puppy: "Oh, sorry Shari. Maybe you can strike with us next time."
-By the way, who made Hush Puppy the group's negotiator here? I'm curious, unless this was random.

Anyway, Hush Puppy tells Shari the situation; Shari tells them about collective bargaining, where they can come up with some kind of resolution. Great! A compromise. That'll help. When do we get on with that?
Hush Puppy: "Well, where will we have this meeting?"
Shari: "As soon as you guys finish your chores."
-Seriously,lay off on the chores and work something out with your kids. They aren't "on strike" for nothing!

Act 3:

Later on, the kids present Shari with a list of demands.
Charlie Horse: "We've made a list of all our rights."
Lamb Chop: "Yes. We've cut out all our wrongs."
-Don't you just love when people make fun of politics? People do that on talk shows, you know.
So the kids explain their declaration to Shari:
Lamb Chop: "Less work. More pay."
Hush Puppy: "Fewer chores. More time to play."
Lamb Chop: "Stay up late every night."
Hush Puppy: "Extra ice cream. That's alright!"
Lamb Chop: "No more dishes! More TV!"
Hush Puppy: "Later bedtimes. Yes sir-y!"
Lamb Chop: "Weekends at the shopping mall!"
Shari: "Is that it?"
Hush Puppy: "Yep, that's all."
-Well, that took some time to rehearse, since they've been at it all day. And what day are they on, Sunday? While people are at church or working, these kids are striking against doing their chores and getting less pay...
Shari: "Don't you guys realize that I have to do what I think is best for all of us. I am the grownup around here."
-Quick throwback thursday story (even though today is Saturday)... I used to get pissed off whenever my mom would say that, because I wasn't doing what she asked. Nowadays, she tries to wag a finger... there's no point, because I myself an adult.
Thus, Shari provides her own list of expectations...

-Yeah, spit on your kids' work after they've just finished telling you that you're being unfair to them. (sarcasm) Good work, Parent-of-the-Year.
Shari:
"No more whining,
talking back,
Right on time,
you hit the sack.
Do the dishes,
make your bed,
Take the time
to plan ahead.
Do your homework,
math and spelling.
No more fighting,
no more yelling.
That's my list
You'll find it pays.
You might even
get a raise."
-Here's the translation: Do your chores, and you'll get a raise on the allowance. Nothing's changed.
So it seems like everything is back to normal, until Shari refuses to make them dinner. Why?
Shari: "I'm on strike..."
(Pulls out a big picket sign)

"Less work! More play! Shari needs a holiday! Less work! More play! Shari needs a holiday!"
-Denying the kids their meal now?
-If possible, look out for the sequel where the kids go on a hunger strike, because they're now not being fed. Just call it "United We Stand- Part 2- Lamb Chop and her friends fight against hunger, because their parent is on strike... for no apparent reason."

And that was an episode of Lamb Chop's Play Along, and boy, did it make us laugh.
This had to be based on a "what-if." Like it's saying What if all union strikes went down like this? or What if kids' issues of doing chores were taken this seriously to where kids will strike? There was an episode of The Proud Family that did the same thing. Spongebob had an episode where the characters were on some kind of strike.
All I'm saying is that this was a good satirizing of what strikes are, because no one wants a strike to turn for the worst.

Whatsoever Critic
Sources:
Lamb Chop's Play Along
Spongebob Squarepants

Courtesy: Shari Lewis & Nickelodeon

WC Reads- "LarryBoy and the Emperor of Envy" (Ch. 15-16)





After a break from reading, we decide to read more.



In case you're wanting to know more about the book...



Gaffney, Sean. LarryBoy and the Emperor of Envy. Grand Rapids, MI: Zonderkidz/Big Idea Productions, Inc., 2002. Print.



(And, this is Part 10 of my reading video series on LarryBoy and the Emperor of Envy. That's a lot of videos for a series!)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After one or two more videos on this book, my next book will be either LarryBoy In Tip Top Cape Shape or LarryBoy in the Awful Ear Wacks Attack.


Thursday, July 16, 2015

Editorial: Who Killed Leah? (A.D. The Bible Continues)

Hi, I'm the Whatsoever Critic. I review just about anything.

Since the season finale of A.D. The Bible Continues on Father's Day (2015), many questions have gone unanswered. One of the questions being Who killed Leah?

Now, for those of you that haven't seen the show or this episode in particular, here's a warning: SPOILERS.

So the episode in question is, of course, the finale of Season 1 of A.D. The Bible Continues. There's a scene where Leah goes to answer a door, and we see her facial expression that something is going to happen; however, we don't see what happens to her, until towards the end. where her husband Caiaphas finds her dead on the floor with her throat slit.
Now, this is a mystery, because we don't know who did it. We don't know who killed Leah. However, I would like to propose some theories.

Theory #1: Eva

Eva is one of the rebels that Leah gets into contact with in some of the episodes. And when Eva learns about Leah telling about the Ethiopians secretly helping the rebels, she threatens Leah with a knife to the throat. But Leah makes up a lie saying that Caiaphas doesn't care about the rebels.
Now, the reason why Eva might have killed Leah, because the knife matches the murder, because to slit one's throat, one needs a knife. On the contrary, Eva gets killed during the chaos scene at the Temple where the statue of Caligula is being brought. However, it could've been possible for her to kill Leah between the scene with her holding a knife to Leah and the showdown at the Temple.

Theory #2: Annas and Jonathan
Annas is Leah's father, and Jonathan is her brother. There's a scene where Leah asks them for assistance with her husband Caiaphas after he sends her away in anger, but they don't listen to her. Instead, they tell to return to her husband in repentance. Now, after she leaves, they begin to question her motives and what to do with her. That speaks volumes, because Leah gets killed at the end. Maybe the two men conspired to get rid of her... by having her killed.
And what better reason to do so, because a few episodes before (Episode 6, I believe), Annas and Jonabathan were trying to remove Caiaphas by playing politics, until Pilate saw passed them and chastised them for lying about the High Priest. Maybe the only way to break Caiaphas somehow was to tear at his heart, which is his wife Leah. Then again, the two men seem to support Caiaphas' campaign to stop the Abomination from coming to the Temple. So...

So yeah, those were my two possible theories of who may have been responsible for Leah's death.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, on a sad note, I just found out that on July 3, 2015, there was a report that went out that A.D. The Bible Continues got cancelled from NBC after its first season. Well, that really sucks, because we may never know who killed Leah. Plus, there are other unanswered questions. So what does this say to the viewers? That things are usually left unanswered?
Then again, I can somehow see why this show would be cancelled. Many critics were hard on this show, despite the positive outlook of the audience. However, that shouldn't be an excuse to cancel this show.

Whatsoever Critic
Source: A.D. The Bible Continues

Courtesy: Lightworkers Media

Editorial: What Will Be FNaF's Fate?

Hi, I'm the Whatsoever Critic. I review just about anything.

Yes, ever since a few days ago (July 13, 2015), Scott Cawthon  gave us the Five Nights at Freddy's 4 trailer, which has been getting a lot of reaction by Youtubers. And now, people are making their own analyses on the trailer itself. Now here are some of the theories that I'm hearing:
1. We might be playing as either the "Victim of '87," or someone else. Either way, we won't be playing as a security guard this time around, like we've been doing for the first three games.
2. Seeing a purple fan, purple robot, and toy phone in the bedroom at one point in the trailer, there's speculation that the Phone Guy, the Purple Guy, and one of the security guards may be the same person. (Possibly, but I'm not too sure about that one.)
3. We don't have a camera system, telling by

the time display,

and the number 50 and 49 at the scene where Plushtrap is sitting back down in a chair.
4. (Going back to #1)

We might be playing as the green-shirt-blue-jeans kid from the minigame "Mangle's Quest." One piece of evidence would be the green shirt that's sticking out of the drawers in the bedroom in one scene. (I'm already starting to believe in that theory, because it makes sense. I was wondering about the significance of that kid running around in "Mangle's Quest."
5. Some people are speculating that this could be the Purple Guy's house, due to the symbolism found in the robot with a badge and the color of that and the other two items: the phone and the fan.
Anyways, those were some of the theories that keep hearing ever since this trailer came out. So, seeing that this is said to be the last game of the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise, what will happen to it afterwards.

Well, I can't really answer this question, because I keep hearing different sides to this: people say that it's going to be over soon; other people are saying no, it's not over.
Now, if we wind the clocks back to April 2015, word had gone out that there was going to be a movie adaptation of the video game, which is really cool to see happen. About a month later, it turns out that Scott Cawthon, the guy that conceived Five Nights at Freddy's, was going to be involved in the writing. So with that being said, there's so much concern to make the movie not suck, as most movie adaptations go when it comes to video games- people are literally trying to write the screenplay themselves by coming up with possibilities for the plot, ranging from

being in the Purple Guy's POV,

or that of the animatronics themselves.
-Personally, I would like to see the animatronics' perspectives.

Anyway, what would happen after Five Nights at Freddy's 4? And after the supposed movie adaptation? Would this game stand the test of time?

Well, for some people, they just want this franchise to die. But others defend the franchise, saying that it revolutionized the video game realm with its cleverness, uniqueness, and exploring what we people take advantage of every single day: places like Chuck E. Cheese, characters that kids would look up to as friendly, and... the list can go on, but that's just it. In fact, if you do a quick Google search on the franchise, you'll see that there are a lot of fan art, fanfiction, theories, and fan-made mumbo-jumbo. However, the franchise may run the risk of fading away, since it's been nearly a year old already, and some people are calling FNaF fans (and I quote) asshats for having such a fanbase.

If I had learned anything from the Nostalgia Critic in his review on The Lorax, he says that "FAD is one letter away from FADE... they fade away." He said that the movie was likely to fade away, because it was a product of the times, it tapped into the mainstream, and it seemed too modernism to be timeless and tasteless to have a strong message. Here, Five Nights at Freddy's may seem to people as a "fad," because it was creative. original, and it was something really good to come from the indie game developer industry; and it's only a year old, coming to a close with its 4th installment underway.

So, for the million-dollar question: what will be the fate of Five Nights at Freddy's?

I think the fate of this franchise can be determined by fate itself. I can't say "Oh, it'll last forever" or "Nope. Nope. It's dead after Game 4." I'm going to let God decide where this will go.Or perhaps, think of this as the Frozen of video games, where it's popular for over a year, and then it's still memorable... I don't know.
Also, let's not forget: this was what brought people together in social media- from the Let's Plays to the comments made on social networks.
So, whether you love the franchise or not, just go with it. Who is to legislate fandom? Who is to legislate what to like and dislike? Otherwise, legislation stuff like this would be a violation of the First Amendment. Again, just go with the flow, whether FNaF is or isn't for you.

Whatsoever Critic
Sources:
Five Nights at Freddy's franchise
Nostalgia Critic

Courtesy: Scott Cawthon & Channel Awesome

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Editorial: Are There Any LarryBoy Episodes NOT Worth Reviewing?

Hi, I'm the Whatsoever Critic. I review just about anything.

Sorry for being absent for a while.
-Scheduling, as well as working on videos on my Youtube channel (as you can tell since I put some more videos from my channel onto this blog).

Anyway, I've been debating on something, regarding LarryBoy. And that leads to the question posted in the title: are there any episodes NOT worth reviewing?

Well, ever since Veggietales In The House had spewed out alleged LarryBoy episodes in its series, I was eager to watch them all. And I did earlier this summer. At least three new episodes that were LarryBoy-related (or somewhat) were what I came across; and of the three, only one of them seemed like a legit LarryBoy episode. And since I'm into LarryBoy episodes that don't leave out LarryBoy for too long, I've decided to take that one into consideration, instead of the other two.
Now the "legit" LarryBoy episode I'm talking about is the episode called "Junior Jetpack," where Junior Asparagus once again decides to be a superhero.

-And by once again, I mean this wouldn't be the first time Junior gets to be a superhero in a LarryBoy story.

(Refer to The League of Incredible Vegetables)
But don't that get you down, because the episode manages to do us a solid and downgrade Junior, while keeping its focus on LarryBoy.

-As if Big Idea was trying to say: Uh, we still want to make up for the disappointments brought forth in The League of Incredible Vegetables; although we wanted to take one time shot at making Junior a superhero...

Now for the other two episodes in question: "Monster Manners"

and "Jenna Chive Live!"

I say they're NOT legit LarryBoy episodes, because "Monster Manners"

shows LarryBoy no more than 30% of the time, while in "Jenna Chive Live!",

he's only in it 10% of the time...
-...and Motato tries to sing again... and he sucks at songwriting... (SPOILERS)
-And besides, if I were to watch those two episodes again, then I would only fast-forward to the parts where LarryBoy is in it. (That's just how it is for me.)

So... are there an LarryBoy episodes NOT worth reviewing? Well, I can't speak for other reviewers and/bloggers... but in my case, I'm not going to bother with those two episode, but I will take into consideration the episode "Junior Jetpack,"

because it had more LarryBoy in it. I hope you guys understand.

Whatsoever Critic

Sources:
Veggietales In The House
Veggietales

Courtesy: Big Idea/DreamWorks

WC Reads- "LarryBoy and the Emperor of Envy" (Ch. 14)

WC Reads- "LarryBoy and the Emperor of Envy" (Ch. 12-13) (100th VIDEO SP...