The Great Gatsby Book Review

History is not melodrama, even if it usually reads like that.
Robert Penn Warren

The Great Gatsby, a novel created by F. Scott Fitzgerald on April 10, 1925. This takes place after World War One in which American Society was doing well as the economy soared. This is call the “roaring” 1920’s.

The Great Gatsby has become a standard text in high school and university courses on American literature in countries around the world.

Nick Carraway, the narrator, is a young bachelor from a patrician Midwestern family, who graduates from Yale in 1915. After fighting in World War One, he returns to the Midwest before settling in New York City to "learn the bond business." Despite his wealthy upbringing, Nick lives very modestly.

While Nick is not wealthy to a full extent, his cousin, Daisy with her husband, Tom, gave a full description how money gives people power around that time.

There was an affair going on too being Tom and a person named Mytrle, that fiend!

Nick accompanies Tom and Myrtle to their Manhattan love-nest, where Myrtle presides over a pretentious party that includes her sister and several others. Nick learns that Tom and Myrtle began their affair following a chance encounter on a train. Though he finds the evening increasingly unbearable, he does not leave until Tom slaps Myrtle for speaking Daisy's name, which breaks her nose.

Nick did not seem to care, until he meets his neighbor, Gatsby. Gatsby has an interest with author’s cousin, Daisy. Gatsby knew the only was to get her attention was to become rich and become word on the town. Gatsby was a bootlegger, but it was the quickest way to get rich since people have money to spend.

All this happened during a huge economic boom yet people in the middle of two cities were poor, what the heck. Second, why did Tom not just stick to one of the women he was dating? It caused serious problems at the end for all of them since Daisy runs over Mytrle and, Gatsby pays the price with his own life because The husband of Mytrle thought it was him.

My perspective:

This is indeed a classic book for keeping everything mysterious and confusing for me. I remember reading this book in the 11^th grade as an assignment. I never really took interests in books that I am forced to read *ahem Twilight* serious since I found them ended up being boring.

That was my perspective of every book assigned, but I ended up liking this book. I am going to admit this book can be confusing to people since how he describe certain objects, location seemed confusing, but analyzing the descriptions will fix that problem.

The location of the book is the main course seeing how the rich people lived after World War One.

Overall

This was a good book if a person takes their time to analyze what the author tired to say in the book. The concept was good and I would gladly reread this book, if I can find my own copy somewhere in the dorm I am currently in. I take my books, that is not a bad idea in my view.

9.5/10

Bambi: Movie Review

A country without a memory is a country of madmen.
George Santayana

This movie was actually based on a novel created by Felix Salten. He is known by his famous novel that became a film and is known as a classic.

The main characters are Bambi, the child of the Great Prince of the forest and his unnamed mother (yes I tried looking for the moms name and no luck), his friends Thumper (rabbit), Flower (skunk), and his childhood friend and future mate, Faline.

 Around this time, producers avoid anything that relates to another culture that Americans have not seen before. When a production was made, they did what they can to “Americanize” any piece of information that will help the production look different, but stay accurate as much as possible. Nowadays people accept other cultures due to experiences that help

My perspective:

A book had fallen into the hand of the company Disney, ready to be used as a moral lesson in life that little kids will not understand. I saw this movie around seven years old. It seemed to be a simple film that I believed will not have a scene of a person (mainly a parent) dying and son or daughter tries to get revenge. I was wrong of course for the fact that a dear ends up dying and bambi became a deer looking for revenge (not really since he had never saw how a human looks like).

After seeing the movie again,

The movie was actually stable on what it showed to kids, good and simple characters having fun. All that happiness went away due to one scene that still makes no sense!

The mother clearly states that the meadow is a dangerous place to be and they have to be careful. Okay, why would an animal, which clearly knew that the meadow is dangerous but still risked it, with her only child, go into the meadow? I understand that there is not any grass, but being out in the open was a horrible idea. I swear if an animal can talk its own language with others by intelligence, they should use that intelligence and give them common sense!

I was originally put the proper version of this scene. Sadly, this is the only video I can find honestly.

Deer are the kind that likes to sacrifice them self, so I am assuming the mother had that “pride”

The mom gets shot, somehow and bambi escapes, only to find out that she died by his father. Where the heck is the father all this time? This guy sure is mean leaving his family to “protect the forest”, lies! Or that is what dears do, I will look into that.

Nostalgic:

Overall, I liked this movie, even though it lacked common sense with the animals, this is a kids film after all, so I am giving it the pass factor just for now since it gave me a chuckle. I still cannot believe the mother died still baffles my mind. I thought she ran away and got separated by her only child. It gave a moral of the circle of life at the end. As adult Bambi sees his mate gave birth to two other deer.

I recommend this movie and give it some common sense into it; it will make a person laugh

Rating:

Good movie overall, but the moral would be better handed if some common sense was involved,
*ahem* Loin King.

8/10 

Retro Game Review: Metal Gear

History consists of a series of accumulated imaginative inventions.
Voltaire




Good Old Metal Gear, it has come from a long way as we see it today. Nowadays, people play it because you have the option to do the following: would you kill to continue or would you sneak around and keep thier name as a pacifist? a true question only a snake would know.


Metal Gear is an stealth action game involving a protagenist, Solid Snake, through various locations, while avoiding visual contact and direct confrontation with patrolling guards.
This was the first game to give a player the opportunity to aviod his enimies instead of running and gunning like an American would do (I would).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCzuDNIKua8


If the player is seen, the game enters the "Alert Mode." In this situation, Snake must escape from enemy's sight in order to resume infiltration. The method of escaping varies depending on the situation. If a person sees you, get out of the room, and go back in (nes low capability for the win), or defeat the enemy (the purpose is to be stealthy, but sometimes people may not have a choice).


Occasionally if the player defeats a guard with punches without alerting anyone, the defeated guard will yield a single unit of rations or an ammo box that can be picked up. Do not think it is over yet until the player will also be confronted by mercenaries who will challenge the you to combat, serving as the game's boss characters


In case you have no idea what you are doing, I recommend using the transiver that the game has to offer that will point you into the right direction. However, there is a huge problem with the system that I will talk about later in my experience.


 my perspective:
I can explain this game in one world: interesting. I remember this game, it came in a hacked controller that lets me pay over 300 Nes games (I hope this is legal). This was one of the games I continue to play because my friend told me this game play was different than what he had ever played. He told me to try to sneak by my enemies instead of killing them (blame Contra on this one). The games gives you guns, but I rarely use them (only to kill dogs. No, I am not a animal hater, they just want to eat my face). The game is solid for what it is trying to do, but there are some major issues that the game that could be improved on. The first problem are the cards I need to access doors. I thought it was not going to be a problem, but after playing this game with bottemless pits everywhere, it gets real old, fast. You keep your guns after you die, but you must do everything all over again as if you somehow found the important parts.


Nostalgic:
This game, once again brought me to my knees on how many times I died because of cheap deaths (I guess I like them, a lot). The game play was pretty much straight foward, go into the bad guys base and invade/kill enemies to contiue the games. Some people did not like this game


Rating: I'll give it an 8/10. To me, this game had potential, but some parts had some problems and the original creator should have been part of this release. At least the snake we know now-a-days is cool.

Book Review: Of Mice and Men

History does not repeat itself. The historians repeat one another. 
-Max Beerbohm

Before I begin, I first must state that I was not forced to read this book. I actually picked this book up and actually started reading it around the ninth grade. Many people liked it so I thought I should do a quick review. Warning, this contains spoilers that might cause you not to read this book. Please do not look for  me to get revenge.
Book: Of Mice and Men
Author: John Steinbeck
Published: 1937



The book is about two immigrant working trying to look for a job during the great depression. There was a person by the name of George Milton who was known as "an intelligent and cynical man". George's friend, Lennie Small, had immense strength, but had mental abilities. George manage to find out that a ranch near Soledad (southeast of Salinas, California) were hiring people. Both of them went and they hope to one day to own their own piece of land. Lennie wanted the land  to merely tend to (and touch) soft rabbits on the farm.

Both of them got a job at the ranch.

Both had thier own reasons to get this far, but the actions they perform cause them a huge amount of trouble.

Lennie likes to pet soft animals, so George bought him one. Lennie acidently kills it, but it was not a problem (unless your a huge animal lover, then I can see the other reason).

This is only half of thier problems, Lennie just got into a bad crowd.

Thier boss by the name of Curley, had a wife that somehow got attracted to Lennie. This was the good old affiars between husbands and wifes. If only she knew Lennie freaks out when people scream at him or if he is pressured to do something.

 Curley's wife enters and tries to speak to Lennie, admitting that she is lonely, how her dreams of becoming a movie star crashed, and the reason she flirts with the ranch hands is finally understood. After finding out that Lennie loves stroking soft things, she offers to let him stroke her hair. she feels his strength and begins to panic.

Lennie becomes frightened, and in the scuffle, unintentionally breaks her neck.

Okay, this is alreaady looking bad, the great drepression I can understand, but this is indeed a hole that he cannot escape.

 When the other ranchers found the body, George realizes this had to be Lennie's doing, and hurries away to find him, hoping he will be at the meeting place they designated at the start of the novel in case Lennie got into trouble, knowing that there is only one thing he can do to save Lennie from the painful death that Curley's lynch mob intends to deliver.

Memomies:
As a young boy, I did not understnad half  of the content I was reading, I was more confused how they manage to get that far and got a job during the great depression. I liked the fact tht George tired his best to defend Lennie when people are talking bad about him, that is what freinds do. I personally found the ending to be a horrible one, however, given the circumstances , there was not much to do and I would just tell him to run away and not look back. This book gives me the chills how a person can show thier emotions to anothher person.

Nostalgic:
I still have the same book I read in the ninth grade. My teacher gave it to me since he knew I got hooked into that book. I took care of it and it still looks like I just got it since yestersday.
I am going to give it to my cousin and let him read it and see what is his opinion on this book. It is a great story and I recommend people to read it. This author is known for other books so this book had the same vibe.

Rating:
Although I wish the ending was a tad better, it gave the lesson on what would a person do to protect someone else they care about, even though some show thier love through the weirdest actions.

I will give this book an 8.5/10. Good, but it had some delay moments and the ending could have been a bit more about memories then justing ending with a thump at the end.

My next reivew: Possibly a movie, but I will think about it.

Until then, keep reading Nostalgic!

sites used:
http://classiclit.about.com/od/ofmiceandmensteinbeck/fr/aa_ofmice.htm

Contra 3 Review

If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday.  ~Pearl Buck

Review

Contra 3

Publisher: Konami

Year Release: 1992

Contra 3, by far the most difficult Super Nintendo game I have ever played.

If you were a NES (Nintendo Enterainment System) player or today's generation of gaming, there was a good chance you heard about Contra.

If you have not, Contra is a 2-D run and gun shooter involving 2 guys, Jimbo and Sully (the real names are Bill and Lance, but it is never explained why the name change) fighting off aleins that are known as the "Red Falcons" 

History

The series debuted in 1987 as a coin-operated arcade game simply titled Contra, which was followed by the release of Super Contra (or super C because of a war that was going on at the same time that also had the word "Contra" on its name)  in 1988 and several sequels produced for various home platforms. 

The arcade version of Contra was released on February 1987

At first it sounds simple, go in there and shoot the bad guys. 

I also thought it would be easy, until you play the game that is

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMhK-tSHopY

You will be thanking the creator that the guns do not run out of bullets, literally.

As you can see this game has no mercy. Tons and I mean TONS of enimes to kill, the way I like the odds, but not to that extent!

Game-Play 

The game-play was solid for its time. I only had to worry about what was coming from my left and right unlike nowadays people have this 3-D perspective point of view.

The power-ups are a must have in this game to improve your gun! Power-ups include a machine gun, flamethrower, laser, and the famouse spread gun.  If you want to survive, get the spread gun, trust me! The bosses, how can I explain them, oh yes, the bosses always seem to be an action scene! They will kick your butt so hard that your tv will combust inside because it is descrace on how bad you lose. The bosses will keep you on your toes, here is an example

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIHn_LqbKDg

If you saw the video, then you are wondering if there a way to get more lives? One was is to stay on one section on the stage and keep killing enemies  until you a chime that gives you a hint you got an extra life.

Is there an easier way? No, why? because Japan thinks we are hardcore and adding extra lives will insult us Americans (and Europe)

It turns out that Japan had a 30 live cheat code with unlimited continues. In the original Contra

What do I think? Those sneaky jerks, they just want little kids to get mad and throw their snes out the window!

I would have used the famous Konami Code (a popular code if they did not get rid of it for the US shores and kept it in Japan).Why do they think we are, Rambo?

My perspective 

You got to start doing some yoga lessons with your fingers because it is going to be a bumpy ride. My uncle was the first one to show me contra and of course, I ended up dying multiple times while he easily made me look like a little kid who does not know how to properly press the a button (I was six back then). Such a difficult task ahead of me, but we manage to beat it, somehow.

By ignoring this fact, I decided to beat this game by myself on easy (weak).

What memories this game brings? 

Well, after getting over the fact that most of deaths were cheap, this games brought my gaming family and friends together to beat this game. All of us can only beat this game on normal but 

what about hard mode? well this is where it gets complicated and up to this day I have never seen this screen as I played as a kid.

Does it bring the nostalgic moment?

Yes, through the harsh time, but my determination to see the ending and beating the game kept me hooked. Yes I would call this game a classic by getting me angry, in a good way

Rating: If your looking for a game that is a classic then will make you want to break something, give this game a try.

I'll give this game a 9/10. Superb, but the extra content I wish they left the konami code, I could have use the 30 lives! Why Konami, why!?

One game review down, my next review will be of Mice and Men, a classic book that I was not forced to read!

Until then, nostalgic lives on!


I take comments on how to make my reviews better. Just say the word and I will improve them! Thanks!




sites used:
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=contra3_owns

Introduction to the Nostalgic

People seem to get nostalgic about a lot of things they weren't so crazy about the first time around.  ~Author Unknown

Description:
Hello, my name is Steven Hernandez, a freshman at Cal State Long Beach.
Everyone remembers the good old days?  The days when video games were epic in 16 bit, books that actually had a good plot that does not involve vampires that shine in the sunlight, and movies that had originality and not half-made? Well I do and this is what my blog is about!

Just like what the Bio said, I am going to review everything I have seen, read or played and give my opinion about them.

I am going review based on a specific criteria and then I will give my experience about the concept.
The specifics will include the following:

 The history of the concept
Any impacts it made to the world
Did it overall impress me to give it the name of nostalgic
A rating system from 1-10 if I would recommend it to anyone.

How I will continue to review concepts will be updated in time.
I am the Nostalgic Reviewer, I look into the past so you do not have to.