Updates, Updates, Updates!

Well it's been a while since I posted anything here, I've been really really busy....lol Well anyway I've updated the stories section with the first chapter of an on-going TR and Indy fan fiction a friend and I have been writing. I'm going to be posting it chapter-by-chapter probably every week or every other week depending on how busy I am.

Anyway, TRA is being released here in the USA on June 5th, so my next post will be a review of the game and my take on it. I haven't really kept up-to-date on all the lastest happenings with TRA mostly because I didn't want my judgement of it to be swayed too far one way or another. Because from the trailers I was swept away in what appeared to be a truly awesome remake of the classic. But then on the other hand watching the gameplay video along with reading some other tid-bits about the game made things appear that this would become more like Legend, which made me angry because it wasn't a very good Tomb Raider game in my opinion.
My pal Tom has been playing it and so far he thinks it's living up to the original, some levels even surpassing the original levels, but he's not making a final descision on the game until after he's completed it. So I will definitely be looking forward to hearing his final opinion of the game, and then of course getting the chance to play it for myself to determine whether or not Crystal Dynamics has rekindled my flame for Tomb Raider or has forever put it out.

Go and boil your bottoms, you sons of silly persons!

The title is a quote from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, if you were wondering.....lol Oh and you've probably noticed the lovely picture beside this post. Yes there's few occasions where you see Miss Croft giving anyone the finger, but like some of us, I think she's had enough.

Recently a video had been released of the gameplay for Tomb Raider: Anniversary, shocking some with how "Legend" it was. Now starting debates throughout the Tomb Raider community as to whether or not Crystal Dynamics will make or break Tomb Raider as we know it. Since the firing of Core Design and the Eidos/SCi merger, things for Miss Croft and the Tomb Raider series have become somewhat shameful in the eyes of old fans. Bringing on a team of new developers was risky business and had fans nervous. The main fear was that Crystal Dynamics would ruin the series. Now depending on who you talk to the answer to that is a bit mixed. Some people believe they saved the series, while others think they have indeed ruined it.

During the development of Tomb Raider: Legend, fans had been promised all sorts of things, most not even coming to light in the final product. Along with empty promises we had to witness the shear unprofessionalism of Eidos Interactive, Toby Gard, and members of the Crystal Dynamics team. They bashed Core Design every chance they got during interviews in regards
to the new Tomb Raider game. Out of spite they erased the Lara we all fell in love with and replaced her with a cheery impersonation that needed help accomplishing her tomb raiding duties through a headset. Not only was the new Lara lacking in personality but the game itself lacked in substance as well. Every Tomb Raider game in the past was challenging and interesting, this game was easy and boring. The storyline was well thought out and definitely made for a good Tomb Raider game, but the way it had been executed left many fans disappointed. Legend was no more a Tomb Raider game as it was a superficial rip off. The unlockable outfits is a testament to the shear shallowness of the game. Tomb Raider wasn't meant for playing dress-up, it's about raiding tombs and shooting things. Which may not sound like much to Crystal Dynamics but that's who Lara Croft is, she shoots first and asks questions later. She doesn't spend her time trying on different outfits to see which one exposes more flesh so then she can run around like wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen. The dress she wore in the Japan level was aweful, it was a "Janet Jackson at the Superbowl" waiting to happen (reference: During the halftime show of the Superbowl one of Janet Jackson's breasts had been exposed after a wardrobe malfunction).

Legend also lacked in originality, stealing many of Lara's "new moves" from the Prince of Persia games. With the recent leak of the Tomb Raider: Anniversary gameplay video, it seems Crystal

Dynamics is still lacking any originality, continuing to take the moves from the Prince. In the second trailer, along with the gameplay footage, Lara can now run along walls. Of course she needs the help of her grapple, but running along walls nonetheless. From the gameplay footage it also shows that pole swinging is going to be playing a big part in how Lara gets from one place to another. Dangerous long jumps are a thing of the past, now Lara can just push a button with her magnetic grapple to make a handy pole pop out of the wall. Clearly the Ancient Egyptians were quite adept in pole swinging, since the featured Egyptian level in the gamplay video shows a hell of a lot of poles. It's in no way realistic either, at least in Prince of Persia the poles were realistically placed as either lantern holders or flag poles. This is just silly.

Since it is still a bit early to pass a final judgement on whether or not Tomb Raider: Anniversary is going to be any good or not, none of us can really say for sure that this will turn into a disaster. The only thing we can really do is hope and pray, but until then it will be a continued debate on what the future of the series will be. Old fans are being forgotten and the developers are looking towards the future and towards gamers in general. So will the "Legend-Lara" phase out the real Lara Croft forever? Or will the sarcastic sociopath we know and love gain the upper hand?

Unfortunately if Tomb Raider: Anniversary doesn't deliver, and rekindal the flame, I think there will be less old fans buying any future Tomb Raider games made by Crystal Dynamics. I know I will be one of them. Some people say they'd rather have any Tomb Raider than no Tomb Raider at all. I say I'd rather enjoy the games that made me love the series and the character than have that feeling and the series be ruined for me forever.

Long live Core Design! And to Eidos and Crystal Dynamics, "You don't frighten us, English pig dogs. Go and boil your bottoms, you sons of a silly person. I blow my nose at you, so-called "Arthur King," you and all your silly English K-nig-hts."

Picture Credits go to Ashka and Lara's Album.tk. Quotes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Technology - I hate it but can't live without it!

Ok I am the official queen of computer troubles...lol For the last year or so my laptop's battery hasn't been able to stay charged for more than 10 minutes, so when I use it I have to keep it on AC power. Well in the last two or three months my AC adapter has decided to start shorting out. Well I looked into buying a new battery and adapter for my laptop, only to find out that both are over priced. So I waited a month before making a decision. Well I decided to buy the battery (the most expensive) because I'd rather have a battery that lasts 4 hours than one that doesn't. It gives me a bit more freedom as to where I can use my laptop. So I order the battery and it arrived yesterday. I change out the batteries, turn on my computer, and discover that the battery wasn't fully charged (it had about 30 minutes left of life). Well I was a little PO'ed but I figured I'd just charge it and then all would be well. How wrong was I! My adapter decided that it was going to completely short out and not work at all. It worked for a little while but then just stopped working all together. So guess what, the brand new battery I spent a lot of money on died and now I have two batteries that are dead along with an adapter that doesn't work. So I've been forced to use my sister's computer, which sucks. I've ordered another adapter but it probably won't get here until some time next week. So I probably won't be around for the next couple of days unless my sister is willing to lend her laptop to me that long, which I don't think she is....lol

New Blog Section

As a writer and story teller I've decided to create another blog besides this one dedicated to any writing I feel like doing. This blog is basically just that a blog, for me to post things related to my life, my opinions, etc. This new blog will be purely a creative endeavor, for me to post short stories, among other things related to my story telling efforts. :)

Click Here to check it out.

Blog Updates & New Layout

I've added some new features to my blog. I've added a new playlist, I use to have one on my first blog so I decided to put one up on here. I've placed it in the side column so you don't have to scroll all the way to the bottom to either change songs or turn the music off if you don't want to listen to it. Which would end up being a lot of scrolling before you'd reach the bottom because I tend to make really long posts...lol
I've also added a news feed for IndyCroft.com in the side bar, so I don't really have to repost any news or updates from IndyCroft here, it will just automatically show up on the side bar. :)

And as you can see I've changed the layout for my blog! It needs a bit more work but I think it turned out pretty cool for the most part. Let me know what you think.

Anyway enjoy!

Oath to Enlightenment

Enlighten - Give greater knowledge and understanding to.

I've been reading a book I picked up recently titled The Secret. You may or may not have heard about this book, which is also a movie, but apparently it's swept across the world leaving all sorts of life-changing miracles in its wake. Well the curious person I am, I decided to buy this book on my last trip to the bookstore. I've been reading it for the last couple of nights, before going to bed, and the concept of it is rather interesting.

According to this book, thought controls the Universe, more importantly our thoughts control our universe. Quantum Physics has taught us that basically all of existance was created by thought. It's a little weird, and kind of hard to understand. But like all things involving Creation, we aren't really meant to understand it. Anyway, the idea of this book is about thoughts, the thoughts we have and the effects those thoughts cause in our world.

You're wondering what is the "secret"? Well it's basically the law of attraction. Our mind is like a radio, we can send out and receive signals with it. Our thoughts are those signals, and when we think, we're sending out signals to the Universe, and then whatever we're thinking about the Universe sends back. So for example, if you've been thinking about that nice new car you're saving up to buy, the more you think about how much you want that car, the Universe will give it to you. Why? Because you're sending out signals saying that this is what you want, and so the Universe will give it to you. Don't ask how, but it does...lol The same goes for bad things though too. If you've been worrying about having too much homework, and how hard life is, you're sending out a signal to the Universe that says, "Hey give me more homework to worry about, and make life hard!". So the Universe gives it to you.

So now you're thinking I must be joking, there's no way life could be that simple. How could I just think about something and then have it given to me? I don't really understand it myself, but I believe it works. The mind is a very powerful thing, perhaps this is why it was forbidden to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, you gain the ability to think then you can control what happens in your life.

I'm always telling my friends and family to think positively, it's a really hard thing to do, I know. I'm not always a positive thinker myself, but you'll be amazed how positive thinking affects your life. If you think positively and feel good all the time, just imagine the things you could accomplish. Of course it's hard to be positive all the time, but here's something to remember. Positive thoughts are 10 times stronger than negative thoughts, that means as soon as you start thinking negatively change the channel in your brain to something positive and the positive thoughts will cancel out the negative.

Also don't focus on what you don't want. Don't think about all the stuff you don't want, because you'll end up getting it. Try to only think about the things you do want, and when you think about them believe you already have them. The more you believe, the better your chances are of getting what you want.

The funny part about this is that before you actually become aware of this "secret", when things just pop up in front of you that you had been thinking about, you say: "That was weird." You don't even realize that you attracted it to you. It's like when you've been thinking about a friend you haven't spoken to in a while and then suddenly they just call you out of the blue. Or when you're thinking of your favorite song and you wish the radio station you're listening to would play it and then they do. It occurs a lot, I've had it happen to me many times.

It happened a lot when I was writing my first book, The Final Crusade of the Holy Grail - the first volume to my Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider fan fic series, Tales of Prophecy. A lot of things that happened those last two years of writing it before I finally finished it in November of 2005, were filled with earth trembling revelations. At the time I attributed most of the events to the supernatural and divine intervention, which a lot of it was. 2003 was a pivotal year for spiritual awareness, and a lot of people will confirm that. Even the "Sleeping Prophet" Edgar Cayce said that in the new millennia there would be a polar shift, of course he was speaking metaphorically.

Anyway, as I read this book, I began to realize that perhaps some of the things that happened while writing The Final Crusade, I had actually attracted to myself, because I was so involved in it mentally and emotionally. All of the books I read just came to me. Everything I needed just appeared. And then, after I had completed this labor of love, I stumbled upon evidence, which I previously had not read as research, that some of the things in my book were in fact true. Things meant to be pure fiction, things I thought up in my head, were a reality. And it just gave me this outstanding feeling, I was both freaked out by this occurence and awed by it. So now as I sit here pondering these things and the idea of The Secret, I wonder that if I had not written The Final Crusade, if those things would've been discovered as truth. I mean honestly think about it. I read probably over 40 books about the Holy Grail and everything in relation to it, and not one of them mentioned a catacombs beneath the church in Rennes-le-Chateau, not one of them mentioned the possiblity of the Grail being hidden in a cave by the Dead Sea by the Templar Knights or by the Essenes of Qum'ran. I didn't find this out until several months after The Final Crusade had been published, when I watched an episode of Digging for the Truth. Supposedly they were suppose to be investigating the truths in The DaVinci Code, but as I watched the more I felt they were investigating my book, because half of the things they presented in that show had nothing to do with what happened in The DaVinci Code, it had to do with what happened in my book. There's just something about that show sometimes, I don't know what it is.

Well now that Book I is complete, I've begun working on Book II, and so begins a new phase of revelations. Already I'm receiving everything I need. When I was writing Book I, the History Channel always played stuff about the Holy Grail and the Knights Templar. Well now they've been playing tons of shows about Hitler and the Nazis, the Bermuda Triangle, Secret Societies (particularly the Illuminati, the Skull & Bones, and the Freemasons), Atlantis, and the Spear of Destiny. They've been playing shows following these themes going on almost a year now. Just today I watched an episode of Decoding the Past, which was covering the history of the Spear of Destiny. I found out something I didn't know about this artifact, there are a total of four known spearheads that are all considered to be the true Spear. The one in Vienna, Austria is the most well known. But there is also one in Krakow in Poland, Armenia, and in the Vatican (which isn't all that surprising). Supposedly there was another spearhead found in Antioch in 1097 AD during the First Crusade. Theorists suggest that the spear found in Antioch is the same spear that resides in Armenia. In 1492 another spear claiming to be the true Spear was brought to light, challenging the authenticity of the spearhead residing within the Vatican. This spearhead was found in 600 AD by a group of Muslims. The Vatican took possession of this spearhead hiding it away. No one has ever seen this spearhead, the Vatican has kept it under lock and key, allowing no one to photograph it or do any tests in regards to how old it may be. The only evidence of what this spear looks like is a sketch done by a French man.

What's interesting about all this is that I had wanted to include Poland into my story, but I couldn't figure out what significance it would old. Turns out Poland has some significance after all. The spearhead in Krakow was given to the King of Poland in the early 10th century by Otto the Third of Germany. Otto had defeated the Polish and gave them the spear in exchange for their alligence. The Krakow spear is almost identical to the Vienna spear, minus a few finer details. Perhaps instead of giving the real spear, which would've been the Vienna spear, to the Pols, Otto created a replica.

Also an interesting show I watched this past weekend was the new episode of Digging for the Truth. The most interesting part in the whole show was towards the last half hour where they were trying to scan the sea floor in the Eastern Mediterranian. Well just a matter of minutes after they lowered the "fish" into the water they ran into a problem, for some reason the "fish" stopped communicating with their computers, it just suddenly stopped sending them information. So they had to reel the thing back in and as they started to reel it in something weird came out of the water. The wire attached to the "fish" had been tied into a mess of a knot. What's weird about this is that no one knew how this happened. The men who have worked with this type of wire has never seen anything like that happen before. They had absolutely no idea what happened.

They finally managed to untangle the wire and get the "fish" back into the water. Things were going smoothly and they were just about to get their first glimpse of what was at the bottom of the sea when all of a sudden their computers just turn off. For absolutely no reason, they just turned themselves off. To quote Josh Bernstein (the host of Digging for the Truth), "it's almost as if someone or something doesn't want us to see what's down there." Of course at the last minute they finally gained the data they needed, which will go under a lot of scrutiny as far as whether it's man-made, or merely a natural anamoly. Anyway I thought that was pretty funny.

Another chapter in the life of L.E. Croft.

The Raiders Realm Back Online

I decided to bring IndyCroft.com's forum out of maintenance mode since it's pretty much updated. The rest of the site is still currently down. Some pages like the news page, gallery, and chatroom are still online because they run on the MySQL database, and if I were to remove them along with the other pages all the content on them would be lost. Anyway, so I just wanted to let ya know that the forum is back up, and I'm not sure of the exact day when the rest of the site will be back up so check the forum regularly because I'll be posting updates there.