Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Thanksgiving Memories

Every year my mom would get a turkey from the local Car Service and make the best turkey dinner for thanksgiving. The complete dinner would consist of a Ham with pineapple slices and cherries, Potato Salad, Rice and Beans, Pernil, and Turkey with Stuffing. We would also have family over along with their significant other (my sisters and their boyfriends).

Thanksgiving was always a holiday that I looked forward to celebrating because it always meant spending time with family. It also meant eating my mom's delicious food. Before we ate though we would say to ourselves what we were thankful for. We wouldn't say it out loud in a circle like in the movies and TV specials but the meaning was there.

Speaking of TV specials I would watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and then after that came the National Dog Show. It was cool to see all the different types of dogs. The parade was cool too but it was mostly focused on broadway performances than the actual balloons.

Last year was a bit of a letdown because it consisted of just me and my mom, which is fine but I would have liked the usual family gathering. And we didn't get a turkey. But this year I'm hoping we'll get back on track. Whatever happens though will be ok because you just gotta be thankful for being alive.

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Blog Update #1

So I just wanna make this clear to everyone that reads my blog that this blog is as much mine as it is yours. What I mean by this is that if you have an idea for a post dont be afraid to let me know. I'll try my best to do it justice(if I can). I recently added a SmartChatBox (http://www.smartchatbox.com/) to the blog which will be used to suggest topics and for discussions on current blog posts. Help this ClubHouse thrive!

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Art In The ClubHouse #4: Halloween

Getting into the Halloween spirit, I drew a couple of pics that represent just that.

The Grim Reaper:

A Jack- o-Lantern(the cat got cut off):

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Growing Up On Halloween

It's almost Halloween. So that means your about to turn into 1 of 3 types of people. 1.The Trick-Or-Treaters 
           2. The Party People
                    3.The Scary Movie Watchers

And thats only if you celebrate the holiday at all. I used to be a Trick Or Treater. My go to costume was the vampire. But I was also a Graduate and Harry Potter and Batman. But mostly I was a Vampire. It was just the easiest costume that represented the holiday. But now I've out grown being a Trick Or Treater. And I have never really been a Party Person. So that leaves me with Scary Movies. Thats not a bad way to spend your halloween. Last year I spent my halloween watching The Conjuring. And other halloweens watching Paranormal Activity movies. So my point to all this is that even if you think you out grew halloween...you really havent. There still things you can do to celebrate. You have options.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

The Simpsons Guy

If you love The Simpsons and if you love Family Guy, then you probably watched the cross over event. After years of being just a dream of fans all around the world, it finally became a reality. So, did it match my expectations? Well in a way yes and in a way no.

 Let me explain. I did enjoy the episode. It was cool to see both families interacting with each other. The way they were compared to each other was fun to see. For example: The courtroom scene was cool because they had every type of character from one show sitting next to their counterpart from the other show. I also liked how they made Homer and Peter do a chicken fight scene. Like i said earlier though it wasn't all perfect. The way they revealed Homer and Bart to the Griffins was lame in my opinion. Also part of the reason why the Griffins were in springfield was because their car gets stolen. I was hoping that the two families would come together because of something bigger. I don't know, maybe I'm just being picky.

What did you think of the crossover event?

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Art In The Clubhouse #3: Trees

I think trees are a pretty cool subject to draw. Since there are many different types of trees in the world and so many different art styles, the results can turn out awesome. Here is one tree I drew by hand(Pencil and Pen)...
Tree Boulder
...and another tree I did using the program Paint...
The Square Tree
...and lastly two Oil Pastel drawings.
The Nest
...
Lightning Strikes

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2 (Spoilers)

Who would've thought that a game filled with Disney characters would do so well. That it would attract people of all ages and have a large fan base. A game called Kingdom Hearts.

When I first heard of this game I was skeptical. Don't get me wrong I love disney movies. But a game filled with Children's cartoon characters sounded like a game for babies. It took alot of convincing from my friends to get this game. But I'm glad that I gave it a chance. It would become my first real RPG and one of my favorites.

The game revolves around the main character named Sora and his journey through the different Disney themed worlds to find his childhood friends Riku and Kairi. But it becomes more than just a search and rescue mission as he encounters enemies called the Heartless and Nobodies as well as the Disney Princesses and their role in the bigger picture. All while locking the keyholes to the different worlds. The Heartless are creatures that have no heart. They will attack in order to gain one. The Nobodies are the empty shells of people who have lost their heart. And the Princesses are the key to opening the mysterious door to darkness. Later on in the series we meet Organization XIII and their goal to collect as much hearts as possible to open Kingdom Hearts.

In this game Sora uses a weapon called a keyblade to attack his enemies as well as locking keyholes to the many different worlds he travels to. Something that i thought was really cool was the effect of losing your heart to darkness creating the heartless and nobodies. Also how this works with the story and characters.

The Kingdom Hearts series will always be one of the coolest game series because of how unique it is. I can't wait for Kingdom Hearts 3 to be released! What were your thoughts about this series at first and how did it change or stay the same? What is your favorite thing about the series? What Disney movie do you think will appear in KH3?

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Throwback Thursday: Cardcaptors!

Oh Key Of Clow. Power Of Magic. Power Of Light. Serender The Wand. The Force Ignite!!!

Back when I was a little kid I used to get up early on saturday mornings (like most kids do) to watch cartoons. One of the cartoons I would always look forward to watching was Cardcaptors. Although the show looked girly it was a pretty cool show that both girls and boys enjoyed watching. The plot was about this girl named Sakura who accidently releases magical beings from this book called the Book Of Clow. She is then responsible to seal each being and turn them back into Clow Cards. So the adventure begins!

Cardcaptors was one of the first animes I ever watched. The show was structured in a Monster Of The Day kind of show. Each episode had Sakura chase after and battle a different Clow Card. Once a Clow Card was sealed it then could be used to fight a new Clow Card. There were many different Clow Cards with their own special power. The Clow Cards always caused some type of trouble in town. The mystery of what was happening in town that day along with the battle to seal the card was fun to watch. It was an awesome show back then and its still one of my favorites to this day. Its just that good of an anime.

Which anime was the first (or one of the first) animes that got you into anime?

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Puppeteer REVIEW

Imagine your in a theater. Your watching a puppet show. The characters are alive with their own unique personalities. The setting is colorful and the story is on a grand scale. This is no ordinary show. This is the game Puppeteer!

I've been playing this game called Puppeteer for the PS3. Its a visually unique game. Each character in the story is a marionette moving around in a constantly changing background. You play as Kutaro who is trying to find his stolen head and defeat the Moon Bear King.

 Along the way you come across different replacement heads that give him different abilities(For ex. the pirate head will give you a Hook Shot). Your main weapon though is a pair of golden scissors called Calibres which let you cut through almost anything in the environment. The way you cut through stuff though is what makes the game fun. You will cut through obstacles in your way or cut through steam clouds to reach certain spots and move forward. Each level contain a bonus stage and a boss. The bonus stages you unlock will have you collect as much moon shards as possible before you die. The bosses are fin because its a challenge to find its weak spot. Some bosses will end in a button trigger sequence in order to defeat the boss. The way these scenes unfold are really epic. Each world completed will earn you a story book which will help explain the story a little more.

Like I said earlier each character has their own unique personality which adds humor to the story. Also this game is a platformer which means your purpose is to get from point A to point B while solving puzzles along the way.This game is very different and fun to play. If you still have your PS3 then I suggest you get this game.

Monday, June 30, 2014

Art In The Clubhouse #2: The Other Red Dog

Here's a red dog drawn in the program Paint. This dog is not Clifford The Big Red Dog. I was just trying to draw a dog the best I can...it just ended up being red. It looks like it could be Clifford's long lost relative though.

The Other  Red Dog


Saturday, June 14, 2014

E3 Excitement

E3 came and it brought some REALLY cool looking games. Games that (for the most part) I wont be able to play even when they come out. Yeah thats right. I don't have a PS4 or an XBox One or even a Wii U. But that doesn't mean I can't be excited about these new games. Its not like I'll NEVER get a next-gen console...right? So right now I'll just gaze at them from afar.

Anyway what I saw in E3 was games that got my attention and also got me starting a mental wish list. Games like the open world Legend Of Zelda game and Super Smash Bros 4. Nintendo said it themselves that in the new Legend Of Zelda game you can reach different locations in multiple ways. So everyone's experience is gonna be different. As for Smash Bros 4 they revealed 3 new characters: Pac-Man, Palutena, and the Mii Fighters. And a release date of October 2014 for the 3DS version. I'm excited for this game because I actually HAVE a 3DS. They also announced Yoshi's Woolly World. This is in the style of Kirby's Epic Yarn. This to me is awesome except for the fact that they just released a yoshi game. I believe one of them is gonna be forgotten while the other finds success.

Then there are the Sony and Microsoft Press conferences. I'm not an xbox fan but they mentioned a game called The Witcher:Wild Hunt that looked fun. They showed gameplay of the main character taking down a griffin! But Sony took it home when they announced Little Big Planet 3 and Mortal Kombat X!!! Both with new playable characters.

These are the games that stood out to me the most. Did you watch E3? What were your highlights?

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

The Simpsons BRICK-TACULAR Special (SPOILERS)

Previously On This Dudes Club House:

                           ....LEGO Calendars...

                     ...ART...

                                                        ...LEGO videos...

                         ...My LEGO Childhood...

                                                                    ...And a SHOCKING Twist...

AND NOW:

I said I was gonna talk about The Simpsons BRICK-TACULAR Special so thats what I'm gonna do. It was AMAZING!!! To see all the simpsons characters as LEGO people. The whole town of Springfield was made out of LEGO Bricks. The water that came out of the sink and the beer that Homer and his friends drank were made out of those small LEGO studs. Also they had the simpsons LEGO Calendar box(I was talking about those type of LEGO boxes in my last post). And I bet every kid who had LEGOS mixed different box sets together to make something huge. Well as South Park once said "The Simpsons did it".It was very fleshed out...err...bricked out. Well it was both because this special was a mix of 2D animation and LEGO stop-motion. And it wasn't randomly done. It was incorporated in the story very well.

 Just gonna tell you that it was one of those Homer Lisa relationship episodes (which are the best ones). Homer builds a LEGO set with Lisa and realizes that hanging out with his kids is actually fun. So they kick it up a notch and enter a LEGO Building competition where they build the town of Springfield. But Lisa changes her mind when the popular girls want to hang out with her and watch The Survival Games. Homer ends up entering alone when Comic book guy's creation falls on Homer sending him into a subconscious LEGO town where everything is perfect...or so it seems. This episode was one of the best episodes I've seen in a while. It brought me back to my childhood. It was very nostalgic.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

LEGO Nostalgia

Remember those LEGO Calendars? You know those LEGO boxes that had you build something small for each day of the month. It was SOOO cool. I had December (cuz i got it for christmas). It had me building lots of different planes and copters. There was even a big christmas picture on the back of the box that you could color in. It was the first boxset of LEGOS I ever got. You could even combine the small vehicles to make a bigger, more cooler machine. I gotta say that box of LEGOS kept me entertained for a long time.

As I grew up I never really got anymore LEGOS. But that didn't mean I stopped loving them. In Middle School I joined the LEGO Robotics Club and we entered the Tournament. I would also always be interested in the news when the reporters talked about artist who did LEGO Art. All I could say was WOW. There were many different sculptures made with LEGOS. My favorite one was of the Statue Of Liberty. It was cool man. Yeah Im New York biased.

Then People did LEGO stop-motion videos on Youtube! I was like: This is AWESOME! They're ALIIIVE!!! From little movies to big fight scenes they were all pretty impressive. Finally Hollywood got in the game and made The Lego Movie. I gotta be honest though. I haven't exactly...uhh...seen it...yet.

READERS: WHAT!?!

ME: I don't always have movie theater money...

READERS: It's LEGOS first movie!!! And a ticket is only a couple bucks!!! What do you do with the money you do get? What about birthdays and christmas?

ME: My birthday and christmas money gets blown on video games. I have no social life. I'm a shut in.

READERS: So what were you building towards in this Blog Post? Are you even a Fan of LEGOS?

ME: YES. I SWEAR!!! In fact i was building you guys up to talk about The Simpsons Brick-Tacular Special!

                                          TO BE CONTINUED...

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Art In The ClubHouse #1

So a big part of my life is art. I have 2 sketchbooks (One in which is full) where I draw Cartoony Anime-ish type stuff. I use mostly Pencil as my medium but have used Charcoal, Pastels, Water Colors and the Paint Program too. In highschool whenever it came to choosing an elective I would always choose something art related. I've taken Art Appreciation (mandatory but I enjoyed it), Drawing 1, Ceramics, and even Guitar Class(I wish I still new how to play though... T-T). Yeah...so...where are you going with this? Well I'm an artistic guy. I love to doodle in my sketchbook. I even want to have a career in art. Its my passion. And if I'm gonna have a Blog then I want to incorporate my art into it as well. This doesn't mean that all my future post will be a piece of my art. But you will occasionally see a drawing here and there. You will still see posts about the topics I listed in the About Me section so don't worry. Like I explained in said section though this blog will have posts about my interests. And I'm VERY interested in art.

So to start...Here is the first one (done in the Paint Program):
Evil/Mischievous Mask Spirit

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

AdventureTime Meets Finn's Dad

THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS. After a long wait it came. IT FINALLY CAME!!! The BIG Half-Hour Special of AdventureTime. The episode where we finally meet Finn's dad! His human dad that abandoned him when he was just a baby. I (like everyone else) was excited to meet this guy and see how is he like Finn. How is he different? And why didnt he raise Finn? Hehehe...Sigh*...yeah we didnt get much answers. Just that he is alive and at The Citidel (Cosmic Prison). How did he end up there? Sigh*...yeah still no answers. But hey lets be realistic for a second. AdventureTime wasn't really gonna give us all the details about Finn's dad in one day. They gotta have us coming back and looking foreward for a new journey after this reveal. So what we do know is that Finn's dad's name is Martin. And when Finn asked him why he was abandoned Martin dodged the question. Plus he abandoned him AGAIN!!! But more on that later...

In this Special we also see The Lich again. He's been stuck in Prismo's Lair ever since his plan to destroy all life failed. So what is a Lich to do man? Wait for the right moment to kill Prismo...Get captured by The Cititdel...And somehow release all its prisoners. Yup. And while all the Cosmic Criminals are escaping Martin makes a run for it. Some dad he turned out to be. But the ending was the best. Finn trys so hard to reach Martin (Who is getting away) that his Grass Sword morphes his arm,stretches to its max, and suddenly breaks. Finn's arm is torn off as a flower sprouts in its place. The Foreshadowing of Finn losing his arm in past episodes finally comes to pass.

In Conclusion this special didnt give us all the answers but it created a foundation for the new season. And it was still Awesome.What did you think of this Special?What do you think will come from meeting Finn's dad? And how will Finn deal with the condition of his arm?