Broadway is a major east-west thoroughfare in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In Vancouver’s numbered avenue grid system, it runs in place of a 9th Avenue, between 8th and 10th. The street has six lanes for most of its course. Portions of the street carry the British Columbia Highway 7 designation.

The route begins as “West Broadway” at the intersection of Wallace Crescent and 8th Avenue, in the affluent residential neighbourhood of West Point Grey, a few kilometres east of the University of British Columbia (UBC). Past Alma Street, Broadway takes over from 10th Avenue as one of Vancouver’s major thoroughfares, as it enters Greek West Broadway (or Greektown) section of Vancouver’s Kitsilano district. East of here are several blocks of generally trendy, upscale shops interspersed with low-rise apartment blocks and small supermarkets. The surrounding neighbourhoods generally consist of large, older homes dating from the early twentieth century, many of which have been subdivided into rental suites.

As Broadway approaches Arbutus Street, the commercial establishments become larger before transitioning into a mix of small to mid-size apartment blocks. East of Burrard Street, the apartment blocks get progressively taller, and commercial establishments larger and busier. Between Burrard and Main Street, Broadway can be considerably congested by vehicular traffic. Past Granville Street, Broadway yields completely to medium-to-large commercial structures and high-rise apartments and condominiums. Between Cambie and Main, the commercial establishments become smaller and somewhat more downscale.

At Ontario Street, two blocks west of Main, the route becomes “East Broadway.” After bisecting Main and Kingsway, traffic on Broadway eases somewhat, and the character returns to a mix of small-to-medium apartment buildings and commercial establishments, interspersed with older homes – all considerably less affluent than those to the west. At Commercial Drive, Broadway passes by the Commercial–Broadway SkyTrain Station. Past here for several blocks, the neighbourhood consists predominantly of older residential homes.

As Broadway travels east of Renfrew Street, the neighbourhood once again becomes mixed, with older homes to the north and larger industrial, commercial, and warehouse establishments to the south. Broadway finally ends at Cassiar Street, just short of the Vancouver-Burnaby boundary, where it becomes the Lougheed Highway.

Broadway was created at the turn of the 20th century, along with other gridded roads south of False Creek, to meet the needs of an expanding population in Vancouver. The name of the route was changed from 9th Avenue to Broadway in 1909, at the behest of merchants around Main Street (at that time the hub of Vancouver commerce), who felt that it bestowed a more cosmopolitan air. Commercial establishments originally spread out around the intersections of Cambie and Main Streets, while the character of the rest of the route remained predominantly single-family dwellings.

By the 1970s, the length of Broadway had become a major arterial route in Vancouver, conveying commuters from downtown to the neighbourhoods of the west and east sides. With the growth of UBC and the expansion of the Vancouver General Hospital (one block south of Broadway between approximately Oak and Cambie), traffic demands accelerated. In the 1990s, the agency then responsible for public transit in Greater Vancouver — BC Transit — introduced an express bus route, the 99 B-Line, to help reduce congestion. The Vancouver transportation plan for Broadway notes that congestion is such that the bus service is at capacity, and will not be eased until a new rapid transit line is built paralleling the street. It is anticipated that the SkyTrain’s Millennium Line will be extended to Central Broadway by 2021; the extension is expected to connect with Canada Line at Broadway-City Hall Station, at the intersection of Broadway and Cambie Street.

Is this assassin worth hiring?

The Last of Us, a 2013 survival horror roleplaying video game, is widely considered one of the best video games of this decade. Its developer, Naughty Dog, is known for several other video game franchises, notably Jak and Daxter, Crash Bandicoot, and Uncharted, but they shrivel in comparison to The Last of Us. Reasons for this judgment are plenty; not only is the story line beautifully deep and filled with fascinating verisimilitude, but the characters, gameplay, graphics, soundtrack, and all other features of the game make it an enjoyable, nearly perfect gaming experience.

Summary

The Last of Us is about a man named Joel smuggling a fourteen-year-old girl named Ellie across a post-apocalyptic United States. The world has been overrun by a virus that has turned people into zombie-like creatures dubbed “the infected”, and Ellie may hold the answer to a cure. At first, the two cannot stand each other but as the game progresses, so does their relationship as Ellie reminds Joel of his deceased daughter.

Story

To get right to it, this story is like a novel. In fact, it is often compared to Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. In a review for The Last of Us written for IGN, Colin Moriarty explains:

“The Last of Us is a near-perfect analog for The Road, a literary masterpiece written by Cormac McCarthy. Both present a hopeless, post-apocalyptic situation navigated by two characters – an adult and a child – with nothing but absolute despair surrounding them. Like The Road, The Last of Us is perpetually dangerous and unpredictable, and like The Road, what happened to get society to a point of rapid decay isn’t the focus. It’s the story of the characters at hand, and those characters alone, at the center of both plots. The beauty of The Last of Us when compared to The Road, however, is that it’s fully interactive, complete with all of the vulnerability, uncertainty and perpetual insecurity such a situation inherently provides.”

Clever jump scares balance the heart-wrenching emotional scenes and brutal fights in the game and at the end, the player is left feeling as if they were physically present for the entire experience. It helps that the characters are so dynamic; it is almost as if they are real people that the player is helping through this frightening situation, and the player becomes emotionally attached to them.

Characters

Ellie and Joel are very clearly fictional characters, but they are so realistic it is obvious that a large amount of time was put into their development. The same can be said for even the minor characters in the game; Tess, Marlene, and even Sam are given such fleshed-out personalities that are so realistic they can be attributed to a living person. In her review for Gamespot, Carolyn Petit describes the two main characters well:

“Perhaps nobody knows the dangers of loving others in this uncertain world better than Joel, the protagonist of The Last of Us. A hard, bitter man, Joel isn’t likable, but he is at least understandable, in large part because the dialogue in The Last of Us is so human and believable. And although that humanity comes through in all of the game’s major characters, it’s the teenager Ellie who is the game’s emotional heart. In contrast to Joel’s cynicism, Ellie is still capable of wide-eyed wonder. While Joel seems dead inside, Ellie is very much alive, and over the course of the game, neither Joel, nor you, can avoid growing attached to her.”

Having characters so realistic and so human makes the story that much more emotional for the player.

Gameplay

Gameplay is an important factor when reviewing any game, and The Last of Us handles it well. Choice-based gameplay allows for the player to have a more intense, interactive experience and the controls are basic enough for anyone to pick up a controller and learn to play. There are even choices when fighting; one can choose to sneak up on the infected and strangle them or stab them with a shiv, shoot them with a gun, shoot them with arrows, set them on fire, stun them with bricks, or simply sneak past them and avoid the confrontation completely. Minor puzzles that need to be solved and exploration of the numerous buildings in search of materials and weapons add even more variety to the mix, creating an overall fun and exciting experience.

Graphics

Graphics may not seem like a big deal, but imagine playing a game with a great story line and terrible picture quality. Fortunately, that is not a problem players of The Last of Us have to deal with. The graphics for this game are stunning, and it does not just stop with the characters and close environments. Unlike most roleplaying games, high graphics quality extends as far as the eye can see in any environment the player may be in. Not only does this make the game more realistic, but it makes it a more enjoyable experience; the art is beautiful to match the beautiful story line—and soundtrack.

Soundtrack

As if it is the icing on the cake, the music in The Last of Us (particularly the main theme) can make one emotional when they have not even played the game. The simple, acoustic guitar strums will remind any player of certain intense scenes and fill their heart with feelings of nostalgia and bittersweet sadness. The soundtrack alone can make a player want to replay the game, to experience the story one more time.

The Last of Us is a masterpiece in the video game world. Fans of The Road will find it an enjoyably interactive experience just as emotional as the novel it is often compared to, and will not regret spending their money on this game (or borrowing it from a friend). The Last of Us will rank high on lists for years to come and will forever hold a place in the hearts of players.

Neo-noir is a style often seen in modern motion pictures and other forms that prominently utilize elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in films noir of the 1940s and 1950s.

40. A Kiss Before Dying (1991) – James Dearden
39. Point Of No Return (1993) – John Badham
38. Unlawful Entry (1992) – Jonathan Kaplan
37. White Sands (1992) – Roger Donaldson
36. Narrow Margin (1990) – Peter Hyams
35. China Moon (1994) – John Bailey
34. Devil In A Blue Dress (1995) – Carl Franklin
33. The Game (1997) – David Fincher
32. Bad Influence (1990) – Curtis Hanson
31. Desperate Hours (1990) – Michael Cimino
30. This World, Then The Fireworks (1997) – Michael Oblowitz
29. New Jack City (1991) – Mario Van Peebles
28. Twilight (1998) – Robert Benton
27. Rush (1991) – Lili Fini Zanuck
26. Payback (1999) – Brian Helgeland
25. Best Laid Plans (1999) – Mike Barker
24. Miami Blues (1990) – George Armitage
23. Blink (1994) – Michael Apted
22. The Spanish Prisoner (1997) – David Mamet
21. State Of Grace (1990) – Phil Joanou
20. Deep Cover (1992) – Bill Duke
19. King Of New York (1990) – Abel Ferrara
18. Mulholland Falls (1996) – Lee Tamahori
17. Lost Highway (1997) – David Lynch
16. The Hot Spot (1990) – Dennis Hopper
15. Basic Instinct (1992) – Paul Verhoeven
14. Red Rock West (1993) – John Dahl
13. A Simple Plan (1998) – Sam Raimi
12. Homicide (1991) – David Mamet
11. One False Move (1992) – Carl Franklin
10. Fight Club (1999) – David Fincher
09. The Last Seduction (1994) – John Dahl
08. The Limey (1999) – Steven Soderbergh
07. Bad Lieutenant (1992) – Abel Ferrara
06. After Dark, My Sweet (1990) – James Foley
05. The Usual Suspects (1995) – Bryan Singer
04. Seven (1995) – David Fincher
03. L.A. Confidential (1997) – Curtis Hanson
02. The Silence Of The Lambs (1991) – Jonathan Demme
01. The Grifters (1990) – Stephen Frears

Marvel Studios has so far done a wonderful job with its movie properties, but some may not be aware of the “One Shot” series Marvel puts on DVD releases. Probably the more memorable One Shot was on the Iron Man 3 DVD, Agent Carter. This time around on the Thor: The Dark World DVD, we have the Marvel One-Shot: All Hail The King. Hit the jump to find out what I thought of this. A word of warning: here be some slight spoilers.

All Hail The King catches up with Trevor Slattery after the events of Iron Man 3 while he does time in Seagate Prison. Trevor is being interviewed by a documentary filmmaker in the aftermath of his being The Mandarin. The entirety of this short film takes place inside of said prison.

There are some great lines here. Trevor says things like “I’m not your meat puppet”, or his famous Mandarin line “You’ll never see… me… coming”. Or, the funny “Trevor Slattery, it’s a brand”. There are some great moments by the wonderful Sir Ben Kingsley. Sure, he’s hamming it up, but it’s just fantastic to watch. We even see Trevor’s theory on how an actor does research. Through all this, the loveable idiot Kingsley play has no clue what’s really going on.

The small vignette about Trevor’s failed CBS series titled Caged Heat is absolutely brilliant. There are so many gags here; from the note-for-note Magnum P.I. references to the 80’s aesthetic to the Mike Post music. It’s such a great little moment that just fits the overall funny atmosphere. If you look close, you’ll see a poster of Kingsley as King Lear in the background and the rather evenly stacked fan and hate mail boxes.

The thing is, Marvel packs so much into these short videos. All Hail The King is not much more than 11 minutes of actual runtime, but we get a nice beginning and ending. The plot device of Trevor being interviewed is a perfect fit for what takes place as the interview comes to a close. This might be worth the price of Thor: The Dark World alone. I sure do hope we see more of the character Trevor Slattery somewhere down the line. Perhaps in the next Avengers movie.

I won’t give anything away, but you’ll also get to see Sam Rockwell hilariously reprise his role as Justin Hammer. It seems clear he’s ad-libbing all the way, and the stuff is just great. You’ll also see some other inside references that feel like they might be taken up elsewhere in the Marvel Universe.

There are some small gripes I have about how freely a journalist might get a gun into any sort of prison, or how a gun without a silencer sounds like a gun with a silencer. But, those are small beans. This is fun. You’ll also want to know, “Who is Trevor Slattery?”

Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King is directed by Drew Pearce and stars Sir Ben Kingsley, Scoot McNairy, and Sam Rockwell. This short film is included as a special feature on the Thor: The Dark World DVD release, due February 25, 2014.

ASMR doctor relieves your facial congestion, massages your skin and calms you for a deep sleep. If you enjoy this ASMR massage video, please like, comment & subscribe to support me. ASMR medical videos are for sleepy entertainment purposes only and should not be taken as actual medical advice.