History of Pokemon (Generation 4)

 

Just like in previous generations, the public was introduced to the newest generation by the revealing of a new Pokemon. Munchlax was revealed in the game Pokemon Dash and also was in the seventh movie and in the anime. After that other Pokemon were revealed such as Lucario, Bonsly, Mime Jr, and Weavile in the eighth movie and Mantyke, Buizel, and Chatot were introduced in the ninth movie. 

Diamond and Pearl were eventually released for the Nintendo DS on September 28, 2006. Western audiences would not be able to play it until April 22, 2007. These games introduced 107 new Pokemon and a new region, Sinnoh. This was also the first handheld game to give a 3D rendering to the beloved Pokemon world. This generation brought back the time system and introduced new ideas such as gender differences between Pokemon, splitting physical and special moves, and a new villain team known as Team Galactic. 

The anime coincided with the release of the games and it introduced a new female protagonist, Dawn. There were also three movies for this generation that were a part of a trilogy. They are The Rise of Darkrai, Giratina and the Sky Warrior, and Arceus and the Jewel of Life. A new trading card set was also released. 

Just like in previous generations there were quite a few spin-off games that were released. They were Pokemon Battle Revolution, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness, Pokemon Ranger: Shadow of Almia, and My Pokemon Ranch. A third version of the main Pokemon series, title Pokemon Platinum came out September 13, 2008 in Japan and March 22, 2009 in North America. Another Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game also came out titled Explorers of Sky.

Due to a high demand Nintendo revealed that it was releasing remakes of the favorite generation 2 games, Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver. They were released on September 12, 2009 in Japan and March 14, 2010 in North America. They were titled Pokemon HeartGold and Pokemon SoulSilver. 

After four remakes of rehashing the same old Pokemon formula with modifications for each generation, Nintendo decided that they were going to completely revamp the Pokemon world for their next generation...

Cards Against Humanity is My Favorite Thing

In 1999 a new card game was invented. It was awarded a Mensa Select prizewinner and 1999 Party Game of the Year. This game was Apples to Apples. Now this game is considered a classic family board (card) game up there with Monopoly, The Game of Life, and Scrabble. An issue I have had with my group of friends is that Apples to Apples can get very stale very quickly. You start to notice certain things about the game like, "no matter when you play Helen Keller, it will always be a win." Here is a disclaimer: this game is not Apples to Apples!

Cards Against Humanity took the formula for Apples to Apples and made it fun again. You first start the game by separating the black and white cards. Everyone is then dealt ten white cards. The judge for the first round, in this game they are called the Card Czar, will then flip over a black card. Each player will then throw in what they think is the best white card that fits the black card. The Card Czar then picks the one they like best and the game moves on to the next person to be the Card Czar.

Now, I know that you are thinking, "Man, this is just like Apples to Apples" and in a lot of ways it is. The only difference is that it is geared largely towards adults and the cards are more fun and creative. In Apples to Apples the green cards you flip over are always adjectives and you must find the correct noun that matches the adjective. In Cards Against Humanity the black cards can be fill in the blank or ask a question. Examples are "What is that smell?" and "Sorry professor, I couldn't turn in my homework because of _________." The white cards also are not always kid friendly. Examples of white cards are "Incest", "Hope", and "The Virginia Tech Massacre".

There are also cards that may have you play two cards. An example of this is "Step One:__________, Step Two:__________, Step Three: Profit". There are also two cards in the deck that have you draw two cards at the start of the round, and then you must play three cards. One of those cards say, "Make a Haiku". When this card is played, you must use three of your cards to make a haiku. The haiku does not have to follow 5, 7, 5 format.

The game also has many other rules that you can add. One says that you can sacrifice one of the black cards you won to play two cards into the pile. If you win, you get your card back plus the black card that you won. If you lose, you lose the black card you sacrificed. You can also give up a black card to get rid of any number of white cards in your hand. Also the rules clearly state that you may get rid of a white card if you do not understand what is on the card. The only downfall is that all of your friends may ridicule you for being so naive.

This game may only be bought online at www.cardsagainsthumanity.com. If you do not want to spend the $25 price tag for it, you can also print off all of the cards from the game on their site because the game is in the public domain. Along with the original game there are three expansion packs that cost $10 each.

Half Brother is my Favorite Thing

When I wrote the last post I did not expect that there would be two posts back-to-back that had to do with apes or monkeys, but I just finished reading this book and it was amazing.

This book takes place in 1970s Canada. It is about a 13 year-old boy named Ben Tomlin who must cope with his family bringing home a new baby. The difference is that this baby is not human, but a chimpanzee. Ben's father works for a university and they are trying to see if chimps can learn sign language and communicate with people. Ben must learn to cope with the issues of having a new family member that they are told to treat like a human and not like a chimp. 

At first Ben does not like the fact that they have this new family member, but eventually he starts to feel like Zan (the chimpanzee) is his little brother. Along with the issues of dealing with Zan at home he must also deal with other problems of being a teenaged boy such as girls, classes, and who his real friends are. 

The reason that I really enjoyed this book is that it got me to be emotionally attached to the characters, especially Zan. When the father is thinking of getting rid of him, I felt sorry for Ben and Zan and did not want to see the two brothers ripped apart. This is a book that I could not put down. It is around 340 pages, but they go by really quickly. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys science or just want to read a great coming-of-age story about a boy who must learn that the world does not revolve around him. This book has romance, comedy, and emotional scenes so everyone will enjoy it. If you want to read it, go check it out at your public library or buy it online. You can get it for around $5 on Amazon and I would definitely recommend it. I bought it at my school's book fair for $3 because it was on sale and I definitely do not regret it.