Archive for April, 2008

I’m not entirely sure why I have a soft spot for this particular genre. 95% of the movies associated with it are, let’s face it, a disaster(no pun intended). They’re the kinds of films that populate late night television, and for most, require several ounces of liquor to “enjoy”. Why am I bringing this up? Well, I contemplated this question while watching Doomsday. In fact I was going to write a review on it, but I felt before I did, perhaps I should explain a small percentage of my persona first. Maybe I should journey back to the days of my youth. The days when I’d watch Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn and imagined myself riding along with Rhondes, fighting cyclopean baddies, and having one or more nightmares about the half cyborg Baal spraying me with his evil green goo. It sounds insane, and yeah, it’s not going to show up on AFI’s top 100 list anytime soon, but like the genre itself, it will always hold a special place in my heart. (more…)

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Recently, Gametrailers.com has begun a Star Wars Retrospective. They’re chronicling all Star Wars video games from the early 1980s through today. So far, they’ve done two episodes: one about the early arcade and Atari games, and the other about all games directly related to the plot of the Original Trilogy. Their plan appears to be to produce one episode every two weeks leading up to the release of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, a brand spanking new game from Lucasarts coming later this year.

If you want to reminisce about the old Star Wars games, check it out. Its also a great way to see the evolution of video games, in general. Its also good for a few laughs. I highly recommend seeing it, even if you’re not a Star Wars geek like me.

Check it out!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or rarely frequent the file sharing news/blogs, you’ve heard about NIN’s latest album, Ghosts. The album is an experiment in promotion and has been a standout success. There are a lot of options for getting the music, ranging in price from Free to $75. There was an option for a $300 set of goodies that sold out in two days. That’s right SOLD OUT in two days. This garnered a neat $750,000¹ from those alone. In the first week the bands total transactions were up to $1.6 million². Most of this is pure profit for Trent Rezner et al. The experiment moves beyond NIN releasing this album w/o any label support and still making money. It goes much further. (more…)

Warning! This review may contain spoilers!

Written by Karen Traviss and published in February 2008 by Del Rey Books, “Revelation” is the latest continuation of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. This is the eighth book in the nine-book Legacy of the Force series, which takes place 40 years after the events seen in the film Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope. This series was originally billed as a prelude to the events seen in the Dark Horse Comics Series “Star Wars: Legacy”. Although, it would seem that those claims are trivial as there have been only a couple of instances of allusion. So far, “Legacy of the Force” seems to have become its own stand alone series that continues to shape the EU. With one more book left in the series, we shall see what will come.

The book is decently written, but I must say that I am torn by Ms. Traviss’s writing style. I enjoy her take on Boba Fett and the Mandalorians, however I find it odd that someone with such an interest in writing about a warrior-people possesses such a poor ability to write action. Her style of writing is sufficient for the psychology of the characters, however combat feels abstract and unfocused. Its almost like applying the “shaky-cam” to the written word. Being that I already have a distinct hatred for Hollywood’s over-use of the “shaky-cam”, feeling like I’m being led to imagine in the same perspective irks me greatly. Since my only experience with her writing has been the Republic Commando and Legacy of the Force novels, I can only assume that this is how she always writes. (more…)