Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (the Demo)

You know what I miss? Game demos. Back in the early 90s, when I was still in my formative years as a young gamer, entering into the age where my parents would finally trust me enough to let me on their computer for hours at a time to play computer games, I loved demos. I didn't have any real money to speak of, and what I did all went to Magic cards. So I spent a lot of time playing demos. I would either get them from my PCGamer demo disc or download them on my parents' 14.4 bps modem whenever no one was using the phone. It was a great time to be a new gamer. I could see if the game captured my interest long enough for me to at least want to spend money on it. Obviously my budget was limited, but I was able to buy games occasionally. Heck, my budget was so limited that I literally could not afford to buy a game without first playing the demo, to see if I liked it.
Unfortunately, it seems that the practice of giving demos has, by and large, gone by the wayside. Heck, most of the few paltry demos that are put out these days are put out after the game has already been released! What madness is that? (No...  I'm not going to make that joke. You know which one.)
So, suddenly here's this game from EA that I'd never heard anything about called Kingdoms of Amalur. I really hadn't any interest in it, but they were doing this interesting cross-promotional thing with Mass Effect 3 for some free DLC just for playing the demo. I figured: "it's a demo and it's free DLC... Win-win, as far as I'm concerned." So I downloaded it for the free DLC, because I LOVE the Mass Effect series... and I was duly impressed.

Watchdog Self Storage

So, I guess this review will be locating myself a bit, but I've been wanting to write this review for a bit now.
I've only had to use a paid storage closet a couple of times, though I have helped plenty of other people move in/out of one. But by far the best I've used, or even seen, was Watchdog Self Storage in Springville, UT. (The picture is taken from their website.)

Validation

Every once in a while, a film comes along that is, in all seriousness, important. I don't mean that it's just really good or entertaining or groundbreaking in some way. I mean really, honestly important. These are movies that you should watch because they say something necessary or they will make you a better person. Movies like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Shawshank Redemption, and The Incredibles. Validation, while short (it's under 20 minutes), is one of these films.

The Blackwell Deception

Now, I do my best not to be a fanboy, but every so often, something comes along that's so high-quality that I just can't help but get a little bit giddy over it. Wadjet Eye Games' games are like that. So of course I was excited to hear about The Blackwell Deception, the fourth game in the series. I mean, how could an adventure games enthusiast not be excited about it? I was, unfortunately, not able to buy it at the time of release, but it recently got a release on Steam and was on sale for the first week, so I picked it up right quick. Did it live up to my expectations?

Landau Eugene Murphy jr., That's Life

So I bought myself the debut album of Landau Eugene Murphy jr. In case you didn't watch it, he's the guy who won America's Got Talent last year singing crooner classics. Now, normally I don't watch "reality" shows, but I will occasionally watch AGT simply because it's usually not trying to be anything it's not and it offers such a wide variety of entertainment. So, I was watching an episode with some family when Landau came on and... I was blown away.

Hawk The Slayer

When most people think of good movies, usually they think of movies they enjoyed because of the great acting, the interesting story, or even just the cool special effects.
Then there are people like me, who love to watch terrible movies simply because they have the exact opposite of all of the above.
Why do people like me willingly submit ourselves to such torture? Why, because it's freaking hilarious, of course!
Hawk the Slayer is the epitome of bad movies. It is the Casablanca of bad movies. It is what every bad movie aspires to be. It is like the matrix in that it cannot be explained, but rather must be experienced. But I will try to explain it anyway.

The Gamers (the first one)

So, I finally got around to watching the first gamers movie. You may have noticed that I already reviewed its spiritual sequel earlier. So... I would say that it was worth watching, especially since it made me re-evaluate my opinion of Dorkness Rising. Somewhat.

You see, I still stand by my original conclusion that Dorkness Rising is a good film that approaches greatness, yet is too easy to forget. However, I now feel that I was a bit too harsh on the movie. I know I couched it all in terms of "it's not bad, but...", but I also understand that the "but" makes all the difference.
So... Let me tell you about The Gamers and how it simultaneously changed and reinforced my opinion of its sequel.

SOPA and PIPA

Instead of doing my regular thing, I want to talk very briefly about bad legislation. I don't normally like to talk politics. I'm rather cynical about the whole thing, in general and I have somewhat libertarian views.  Still I normally avoid talking politics because I get so frustrated at the rampant corruption that anymore is inherit in the system, and the even worse partisanship that prevents so many people from realizing how stupid they are for supporting one candidate or the other because of a letter attached to their name (D or R). But I digress...

Seven Samurai

Today, I am reviewing Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece Seven Samurai. This is easily one of the most well-known and influential movies not only in Japan but in the entire world. And while I normally balk at movies that hint of "classic" this is one of the few that in my opinion deserves the title. This movie is a classic in all the best meanings of the word.

Coraline

Coraline is a stop-motion animated film based on Neil Gaiman's book of the same name. It is a horror fantasy that can be genuinely creepy at times. Heck, at a couple scenes you might ask whether or not you'd want your kids watching it for fear they'd have nightmares. I think it is pretty safe for most kids, but it can be pretty creepy.

Genshiken

Genshiken (in Japanese it's short for "The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture") is a Manga (and anime adaptation) written by Kio Shimoku. It is the story of a college sci-fi/fantasy/anime/manga/videogames/nerd club in Japan.
More accurately, it's a slice-of-life manga/anime about an otaku club at a Univeristy in Japan. The main protagonist is Kanji Sasahara, who starts out his first year at college wondering if he should join the manga club or the anime club. He loves both, but is still so shy about admitting his otaku-hood that he can't bring himself to join either. Then he discovers Genshiken, the really hardcore otaku club. As they say, hilarity ensues as Sasahara discovers who he truely is through the exploration of his hobbies.

Freaks and Geeks

Freaks and geeks was an hour-long show that aired in the '99-2000 season. However, it got the FOX treatment, as NBC canceled the show after 12 episodes. (18 were filmed.) It's the story of Lindsey, a former honor student who decided to start hanging out with the slackers; and her younger brother, Sam, a kid that everyone at my college sci-fi/fantasy club can relate to. They attend high school in 1982 Michigan. And that's the basic set-up.

009-1

009-1 is a 13-episode, alternate-history, sci-fi, spy/espionage anime based on the manga of the same name by influential manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori. (Creator of such manga as Cyborg 009 [the title of this show is actually an allusion to Cyborg 009] and such TV shows as Kamen Rider). Think James Bond as an anime with a protagonist who’s a cross between 007 himself, Cate Archer from No One Lives Forever, and Cameron the “good” female terminator from The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

The first thing you need to know about this series is that its artwork is a much older style, dating from the 60s or earlier. For some reason (and I asked around, I’m not the only person that gets this impression) this makes it seem like the show is for a much younger audience. IT IS NOT. This is most definitely a show for an older audience. I’ll get to that later, though. Just keep this in mind.

Moving

I am not a big fan of moving. I tend to not like change in the first place. I often tell people that I have the heart of a crotchety old man. So moving is a big deal, and I do not enjoy it one whit.

Puss in Boots

So my wife and I went to watch Puss in Boots the other day. She's a big Shrek fan and she simply adores cats, so this was a no-brainer in terms of the date department. I'm not so big on cats, but Shrek is a decent movie series, so I didn't mind going either.

We saw it in 3-D, not because either of us are huge 3-D movie buffs, but because that was the only showing that fit into our schedule. As far as that goes it really wasn't worth the extra dollar. I kind of wish Hollywood would stop with the 3-D gimmick. In the few 3-D movies I've seen it's been kinda cool, but it really didn't add anything to the movie, and sometimes detracted from the experience. But that's a review for a different time. (Though I'll probably never get to it, since I don't watch many 3-D movies.)

Anyway...

Gnomeo and Juliet

So, the CGI animated movie Gnomeo & Juliet came out to DVD fairly recently. I actually saw it in theaters with my wife. I really hadn't been expecting much from it. I had seen some trailers and it looked like nothing more than a cheesy kids cartoon that made use of stupid jokes and a public domain story. And I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. Maybe I should lower my expectations for every movie I watch.

Anyway... Spoilers abound, but really there shouldn't be much to worry about, because I'm expecting you know the outline of the story, if nothing else.

Catching up.

Let me be frank here... Catching up sucks.

Hmmm... maybe I should specify. Procrastination sucks, because then you have to catch up. This is a big problem with me personally, mostly because I like keeping caught up, but once I get behind I have a hard time getting caught back up to where I should be. Then it spirals into a vicious cycle of wanting to do what I know I should but feeling too embarrassed about having fallen behind to catch up. It makes no sense, but I do it anyway. I'll often make token attempts at catching up, no matter what, but it usually takes me a bit longer than I want before I finally hold fast and actually catch up. Sometimes it's too late, but other times... It's... not.

Wow... that sounded a lot more pathetic than I meant it to.

Bottom Line: Catching up is no fun, but it is possible. Though it's always best not to fall behind in the first place. Moral of the story: Don't procrastinate!

The Smurfs promotional cereal.

So, even if you've been hiding under a rock, you've probably heard about the new Smurfs movie, what with all of the new promotion merchandise out there. Some of it is expected, like toys and whatnot; some of it is cool, like reprintings of the original comics; and some of it is... well, it's not uncommon merchandise for a kids movie, but I always scratch my head at it, like promotional cereal.

Dark and Stormy Night

I can't believe that I haven't reviewed any Larry Blamire movies yet. Shame on me.
So Dark and Stormy Night is a classic "Old Dark House" murder mystery movie made in 2009. Old Sinas Cavendar has died, and those closest to him have gathered on the old Cavendar estate for the reading of his will. He was an incredibly rich old man from a very wealthy old-money family. There are two people who are most likely to inherit the bulk of his estate: his nephew, Burling Famish Jr. and his ward, Sebasha Fanmoore. However, Burling's wife and her lover are scheming to get their hands on what they can as well, but the servants are hiding a dark secret related to it all. Into this volatile mix are thrust two intrepid reporters trying to out-scoop each other, as well as a few other poor souls stuck at the mansion. They all claim to be there by chance, but are any of them telling the truth?

Brimstone

Brimstone is a great, yet very little-known, short-lived TV series on FOX. (Wow a well-made, genre tv series on FOX that got axed after not quite a season. That never happens, does it?)
Facetiousness aside, this series was basically Firefly before there was Firefly, only with no DVD sales to provide a relatively happy ending.