Pacific Rim

Posted on by Mattias Lehman

GENTLEMAN-GUSTAF-FUCK-YEAHIf I made a top 5 list of things I think are cool, it would look something like this:

  1. Dinosaurs
  2. Dinosaurs
  3. Robots
  4. Dinosaurs
  5. Dinosaurs

But I don’t really think the above captures how much I like dinosaurs. My parents swear that my first real word was ‘dinosaur’, I still know the names of far-too-many dinosaur species, I can give you a compelling argument as to why the T-Rex was likely a scavenger, not a hunter, I have practiced several dinosaur noises, although I remain jealous that my phone makes this noise when texted, as I doubt I could ever be trained to replicate it, and I once nicknamed a lady I dated ‘raptor girl’ to my friends because she did a raptor impression on the internet and gave me a dinosaur head (cut out of a magazine) attached to a popsicle stick on our first date — boy was that a good move! — and we remain close friends to this day. Basically, I want to be a dinosaur when I grow up. When Jurassic Park was re-released recently… let’s just say that the number of times I saw it is shameful, or would be if I were capable of feeling shame about my love for dinosaurs. So you can imagine when I saw this trailer for Pacific Rim, I all but soiled myself. IT’S DINOSAURS FIGHTING ROBOTS! But having seen it, I must admit to a mixed reaction.

WARNING: with most media, I feel obligated to introduce a complicated system of spoiler tags. But there is no plot of which to speak in this movie. So if you fear the spoilers, don’t read on, but know that I’m judging you.

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By Schism Rent Asunder, by David Weber

Posted on by Henry

In By Schism Rent Asunder, Weber continues the Safehold series that he started with Off Armageddon Reef.  He returns to his burgeoning Age of Sail adventure that pits a lovable and clearly heroic pseudo-England against a corrupt and controlling Mother Church, in what will soon become a holy war.  This recipe has been tried before, and it turns out that it tastes just fine.

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DEFCON: How about a nice game of chess?

Posted on by Henry

DEFCON

Just kidding.  We all know you just want to play Global Thermonuclear War.  Poor Theaterwide Biotoxic and Chemical Warfare never gets any love.  DEFCON, developed by Introversion Software, offers all the Global Thermonuclear War you could ever want.  Its spartan and elegant graphics looks just as appropriate today as they did on release in 2006, with clean glowing lines showing up beautifully on the dark background of the world; Introversion took the design aesthetics of the global tactical displays from various Cold War nuclear war thrillers, and created a game that perfectly delivers their inhuman reductionism.  It is a cold, hard, unfeeling game that leaves you feeling challenged, rewarded, and maybe a little bit broken inside as you watch the megadeaths pile up and desperately hope that you can kill a few more people than you lose.

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RED brings comedy to a knife-fight, wins

Posted on by Henry

I suppose it would be more accurate that they bring guns to a knife-fight and then laugh about it.  RED is none other than Retired, Extremely Dangerous, a movie about aging covert operatives who appear to be targeted for forceful extra-retirement by some very well connected people.  Loosely inspired by Warren Ellis’ graphic novels of the same name, this movie takes those books’ themes and runs with them, delivering in a huge way.  A few names you’ll recognize own the movie’s screen with their presence: Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Brian Cox, Karl Urban, and Mary-Louise Parker.  They’re maybe kind of a big deal, and they totally make the movie.

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What is Steampunk?

Posted on by Mattias Lehman

GENTLEMAN-GUSTAF-FUCK-YEAH

Those who know me will know of my love for steampunk. So are many others; steampunk has been a bit of a buzzword in recent years. But what exactly IS steampunk?

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Artemis Bridge Simulator Offers Arch Entertainment

Posted on by Henry

Pun aside, this game is not about building bridges.  It is about being on bridges.  Spaceship bridges.  While it can be legitimately panned for its exceedingly high computer requirements (it isn’t demanding about system specs, it demands many systems), this game is a multiplayer gem of excellent quality.  I played it for the first time this weekend, and now…

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Science Fiction vs Fantasy

Posted on by Mattias Lehman

GENTLEMAN-GUSTAF-FUCK-YEAH

These two genres are considered largely similarly, despite vast differences between them. They’re both kept in the same section of book stores, they’re both definitely ‘nerd’ books, and they’ve both been a part of the explosion of recent sci-fi/fantasy movies, between LotR/Harry Potter, superhero movies, or Star Trek.

They have one thing in common, that distinguishes them from typical literature; whereas fiction describes events that occur in a world that is largely our own, these genres tend to describe events in a world that is significantly different from our own. That is, science-fiction and fantasy are both speculative fiction: they answer questions of the form “what if…?” This is why we consider novels like Brave New World, 1984, and Harrison Bergeron to be science-fiction of a sort (they are typically referred to as ‘speculative fiction’). But from there, they diverge wildly. To sum it up, with a quote from Miriam Allen de Ford: Science fiction deals with improbable possibilities, fantasy with plausible impossibilities.

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Off Armageddon Reef, by David Weber

Posted on by Henry

Do you like Arthurian legend, religious war motivated by politics, and the burgeoning Age of Sail?  If yes, then try Off Armageddon Reef.  This book will feel abundantly familiar to anyone who has read a moderate number of David Weber‘s other works.  Not only is he recognizable by his language (and especially by his descriptions of violence in naval combat, which bear a striking resemblance to those used in the Honor Harrington series), but the story itself is often assembled from elements which he has already used in other books.  It speaks well for him that he’s found another way to combine those pieces, and used them to explore new topics and themes.  With naval battles and wonderful Arthurian parallels, I’m sold on this series.  Maybe I’ll change my mind six books from now, but I suspect that much like with the Honor Harrington series I’ll continue to be drawn in by the story being told here.  I happily anticipate gorging myself on the next book posthaste.

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Movie Review: World War Z

Posted on by Jason "Zeeblee" Leonard

Zeeblee

I recently saw World War Z at a local Carmike theater, and while it was fun I ended up feeling like I had just watched a generic zombie film, and not a World War Z film.  Where the book is one of the greatest pieces of zombie media ever made, the film instead missed the mark on what makes the whole zombie genre interesting.  In a way this will be a double review as I will discuss what features made the book special, and how the loss of those features made the film feel generic.

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Goddess of the Ice Realm, by David Drake

Posted on by Henry

Once again I have grabbed hold of a David Drake book by the lapels, roughed it up, and shaken it until all the delicious story-bits come out.  Goddess of the Ice Realm continues the formula that David Drake has found so successful previously, returning to his excellently conceived Roman / Greek / Atlantean setting and pitting the heroes against multiple enemies serving one greater terrifying threat.  There are few innovations in this addition to the series, and most of the storylines will feel familiar to those who have read the previous books of the series, but if you like the characters and enjoyed the previous books you’ll almost certainly like this one too.

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