My wife and I finally got to watch the third chapter in the X-men movie trilogy a couple of weeks ago, and I have to say that I found it to be a very satisfying ending for a successful comic-film run. Now, mind you, I’ve never read any of the comic books – never had the interest or the money. And I’ve heard a number of X-men comic book loyalists loudly complaining about what the film writers did to the X-men storyline in the third installment. As someone whose sole exposure to the X-men franchise has been through the movies, however, I really enjoyed the way they tied everything up (and left just enough loose ends to tease the audience with the potential for a fourth film).
In “The Last Stand” we finally get to the see the epic battle between mutants and humans and between mutants and mutants. Magneto finally puts together his Brotherhood to face-off with the X-men. Epic though it may have been, however, it was still less dramatic than one might have expected, considering the power of the mutants involved. But there are limitations to what can be done on the silver screen, both in the visual range and in the time allotted. Ultimately, the final product was more than acceptable, though the Phoenix’s ending was perhaps slightly cheesier and more simplistic than believability might allow.
The storyline for the third film was a logical progression of the first two and was, in my opinion, stronger than the second chapter. Put together, the three films make a highly entertaining and enjoyable series to add to the collections of comic book lovers and speculative fiction enthusiasts everywhere.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: comics, movie-reviews, movies, Reviews, science-fiction, Speculative Fiction, xmen
A while back, Tobias Buckell mentioned that he might have a few extra copies of his book Crystal Rain, if anyone wanted to put in a request for a copy to read and review. So I went ahead and put my name in and was pleasantly surprised to receive a copy a couple of weeks ago. I was amused that my wife, who claims that she’s not really a fan of science fiction, ‘kidnapped’ the book and wouldn’t let me have it back until she was done with it. Fortunately, she’s a pretty fast reader, and I had it back within a couple of days.
There are some spoilers beyond this point, so if you would rather keep things a surprise, this would be a good place to stop reading.
(more…)
Tags: book-reviews, crystal-rain, Reviews, science-fiction, Speculative Fiction, tobias-buckell
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary and Franklin Thesaurus Card
One of the best features in the Palm Tungsten T5 handheld is its memory slot. So far, I haven’t had a reason to use it for expandable memory cards, but one of the first accessories I purchased after acquiring my T5 was the Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary and Franklin Thesaurus Card. I had plans to write on the go, since the T5 has MS Word built right in. I had the wireless keyboard and the ability to compose stories whenever, wherever. And an author should never be too far from his dictionary and thesaurus.
Fortunately, there was this handy-dandy expansion card with an entire reference set available, so I bought it first chance I got. And I’ve never been sorry that I did. Last night, as I was putting the finishing touches on my story, I probably had my T5 turned on continuously for the better part of an hour, searching through the thesaurus for just the right word to add that much-needed flair to a sentence, switching to the dictionary when I needed to verify that the word I liked did, indeed, mean the same thing as the one I wanted to replace.
I use this expansion card so much, in fact, that it never leaves the slot in my Palm. I do have a little plastic storage container for it, but since I never remove the card, the container stores only dust.
Probably the thing I love most about this card, is the intergration of the dictionary with the thesaurus. If there is a word that just sounds like it would perfect for what I need, yet I’m not quite sure what the exact definition is, all I have to do is tap it with the stylus to bring up the option to get a definition, which, when selected, loads in a ‘pop-up’ screen for quick reference. No cumbersome switching to the dictionary to look the word up. Just tap-tap and there’s the definition of the word. Another quick tap when you’re done, and it’s right back to your place in the thesaurus. I just wish the thesaurus was so smoothly integrated into the dictionary.
The dictionary and thesaurus are the writer’s best friends, moreso now that they have gone digital.
Tags: dictionary-and-thesaurus, palm-pilot, software, Technology
Sage
I stumbled across a Firefox plugin for something called Sage yesterday. Sage is an extension that loads your RSS feeds right into one of your Firefox tabs. I figured I’d try it out and see if I could further centralize all the blogs I read into one application.
Unfortunately, I found Sage to be less useful and less user-friendly than Thunderbird for reading RSS feeds. Sage has the ability to automatically find RSS feeds in any webpage. You’d think this would be a good thing because it would eliminate the manual search-and-enter method of getting your feeds into your reader. The only problem is that Sage does not always find the available feeds, and to the best of my knowledge, there is no easy way to manually enter those feeds into Sage yourself. It’s either auto-detect or nothing at all.
The other thing about Sage that I dislike is that it doesn’t archive past blog posts, unlike Thunderbird, which keeps a running archive of every article it has ever downloaded. This makes it very difficult to go back to one of my favorite sites and browse through the history to find a particular article that I want to re-read, link to, or write about.
So, while Sage sounds like a good idea, it gets two thumbs down from me. To date, I still haven’t found a feedreader that I like better than Thunderbird.
Halo 2 Soundtrack, Vol. 1
One of the best things about the rise of video game technology, besides the beauty of the graphics, is the quality of some of the soundtracks that are coming out. Since the release of the Xbox, Halo and Halo 2 have remained consistently at the top of the popularity charts. Martin O’Donnell composed the score for both games, and the soundtracks are absolutely phenomenal! The music is well-written and inspiring, consisting of both orchestra and voice. Indeed, O’Donnell has set the bar high for all other video game developers to produce soundtracks of equal quality and richness.
The release of Volume 2 has just been announced, an event that has been greatly anticipated by all Halo fans. The beauty of the Halo soundtracks, however, is that you don’t necessarily have to be a fan of the games in order to enjoy the music, the quality is, in my opinion, that good. So, if you love good music, check out the soundtracks for these two games. I think you may find yourself pleasantly surprised.
Palm T2 Wireless Keyboard
I love my Palm T2. My entire life is on this handy little device – my address book, my calendar, and much of my short story writing. It’s extremely portable and extremely powerful. It also has the ability to create and edit Microsoft Word and Excel files, a feature that I frequently use when I get a story idea that I need to write down quickly so I don’t lose it forever. I simply pull out my handy-dandy wireless keyboard, pop it open, and plop my Palm down into the cradle and start typing. I have done quite a bit of writing on my Palm, synchronizing it with my PC at home later on for further editing and modification. In this respect the wireless keyboard is a lifesaver and a great tool to have on hand.
The only real problem I have had with the keyboard is that the wireless connection doesn’t always work properly. I’m not entirely sure if the problem is with the infrared signal itself or if the keyboard driver on the Palm periodically falters, but I will sometimes find myself typing – absolutely nothing at all. Sure, I’m hitting the keys, but nothing is appearing on the screen. So, I have to turn the Palm off and back on, sometimes several times, before reacquiring the signal between the two devices. Occasionally I even have to turn the keyboard off and back on, along with the Palm, for the two to work together properly. It’s a frustration and a hassle, but when the two work together, it does allow me to write, whenever and wherever, I want when the need arises. Until I can afford a laptop, this arrangement suffices.
Tags: firefox, halo-2, music, palm-pilot, plugins, Reviews, sage, software, soundtracks, tungsten-t5
I find myself in the ‘predicament’ where I am playing way too many different games right now. On the down side, sometimes it’s hard to decide which game to play. On the up side, I have plenty of variety and if I’m not in the mood for one game, I have several others to choose from. I’m finding that I am increasingly drawn toward games with story, a far cry from the days of Pong and Super Mario Brothers. The reviews below are only partial reviews, since every single one is a game in progress currently.
Advent Rising is the first in a trilogy under development. The game developers signed SF&F author Orson Scott Card onto the project to help develop both the story and the dialogue, and you can certainly see his imprint in various places (e.g. FTL communication, the ansible).
The storyline itself is captivating. Humanity is on the brink of total annihilation. A race of aliens who call themselves the Seekers have travelled the universe under the guise of peace in search of all human colonies. The Seekers see themselves as the most advanced race in the universe, and they want to keep it that way. However, certain religious prophecies have spoken of another race, humans, that will rise to a higher evolutionary plane, taking their place at the pinnacle of the evolutionary ladder. So, the Seekers are systematically hunting down and destroying all humans they find.
In Advent Rising you play the part of Gideon Wyeth, a human pilot who is fated to become the first human to trascend, acquiring the power to ultimately rid the universe of the Seeker pestilence. You fight with him through many battles and revel in the acquisition of new strength and power. The story drives forward at a breakneck pace, leaving hardly enough time to catch your breath. It is a pleasure to play a game that has a great plot. The dialogue and voiceacting is excellent. Gideon even has the ability to fire at two targets at once, if you switch back and forth between very quickly.
There are, however, a handful of downsides to the game. Some of the forward movement in the story, particularly at the beginning, is a little bit rushed. It is almost as if the writers simply want to get you to ‘the good stuff’ and so hurry past some of the key development points. The mechanics are also a little bit clunky, with the auto-targetting system forcing to look somewhere that may not be in the direction you want to go. Advent Rising also attempts to follow in Halo’s footsteps by rendering the gameplay and cutscene graphics as you go. This sometimes causes the game to slow down and stutter, an annoyance at the least and a fatal hindrace at the worst.
On a scale of 5, I give the story a 4.5 and the gameplay mechanics a 3.5. If you love science fiction and video games, I recommend it.
Ok, so I don’t go exclusively for the story-driven video games. Sometimes it’s just fun to get a fast-paced game to play purely for the fun of it. In Burnout 3 your only mission is to win as many races as possible and take out as many opponents as you can. The more gold medals you win, the more cars you earn. Races span the USA, Europe, and the Far East.
The more opponents you crash, the more cars you earn. The more points you acquire, the more cars you earn. Get the picture? It’s high-speed, high-action, and high-intensity paired with a diverse soundtrack. As the driver you get to race everything from coupes to muscle cars to circuit racers to semi trucks. If you want quick, mindless action that tests your reflexes, then Burnout 3 is the game for you.
On a scale of 5, I rate Burnout 3 as a solid 4.5 for both fun and mechanics.
A video game that features Disney characters. A kids’ game, you think, right? Not so. Kingdom Hearts has quickly become one of my favorite games.
Someone is unlocking the doors between worlds, causing each world to blink out of existence, one by one. It is up to Sora, as the wielder of the Keyblade, to figure out why as he searches for his friends Riku and Kairi. He teams up with Donald and Goofy as they search through numerous worlds to solve these riddles, meeting dozens of familiar Disney faces along the way. The voiceactors feature many of the same people who were cast in the original films.
The mechanics of the game are very simple to learn and use, and the story so far has been first-rate. Sora has been exiled from his island home and thrust into the heart of the action as the Keyblade has chosen him to be its master. Now, Sora must track down the keyholds on each world and lock them to prevent their total destruction. He makes many friends and enemies along the way to discovering the secrets of these strange circumstances.
Disney and Squaresoft have created a believeable world where Disney and Final Fantasy characters can co-exist. I am looking forward to seeing how this chapter ends and where Kingdom Hearts 2 (scheduled for distribution at the end of this month) picks up.
On a scale of 5, I rate the story a 5 and the mechanics a 4.5.
This is a bit of a blast from the past. The Legend of Dragoon is one of my favorite PSOne games. It was developed by the same people who brought us the Final Fantasy series. The story follows Dart as he strives to save the world from ultimate destruction. Along the way, he discovers his fate to become one of the legendary Dragoon, humans chosen to wield the power of the dragon in the fight against evil. He pairs up with six others, all who become Dragoon along the way, and together they move inexorably toward the final confrontation.
One of the things that I most love about this game is the ability affect the battle during the actual attack sequences. Dragoon is built around the turn-based style of gameplay that the Final Fantasy series is famous for. Your character comes up, you select the action for him (or her) to perform, and then sit back and watch as the character carries out that action. In Dragoon, you take an active part in helping reinforce each of your characters attacks by helping them complete their ‘Additions’. Each successful completion boosts the strength of the attack and unlocks more powerful additions.
The Legend of Dragoon is a strong game with a great story. The dialogue is a little stilted, as is typical of any Japanese game that has been translated into English. However, I think you will find that you can overlook the awkwardness and see a terrific game with an exciting story to drive it.
On a scale of 5, I rate the story at 4.5 and the mechanics at 4.5.
I have two other games currently in progress, Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, but I think I’ll call it quits here for now. I’ll likely review these two at a later date, after I have gotten a little further through them.
Tags: advent-rising, burnout-3, kingdom-hearts, orson-scott-card, playstation, ps2, ratchet-and-clank, Reviews, science-fiction, Speculative Fiction, splinter-cell-chaos-theory, the-legend-of-dragoon, video-game-reviews, video-games, xbox
Yes, I realize I’m a bit slow on the uptake. Blame it on extenuating circumstances. Blame it on global warming. Blame on the teddy bears’ picnic, but please don’t hold it against me. I finally got to watch M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village last night. And let me just say that I am fast becoming a fan of the man’s work.
I was first introduced to Shyamalan thought The Sixth Sense, a psychological thriller that shocked me with its startling ending twist. Then, I was disappointed with Signs, an abysmal alien invasion movie that smacked of V but without any of the interest or action that made the TV series so good. And finally, I discovered Unbreakable, an dark film about real-life comic book heroes.
Brief Spoilage: Consider Yourself Warned
The Village was brilliantly written. I was a bit wary of it for quite a while, having heard and read a number of reviews for the film that thrashed it soundly – poor plot, poor story, horrible development, bad lighting, too scary, etc. The premise of the story is a village that is nearly crippled by its fear of a group of mysterious creatures who live in the forest that surrounds the village. The people and the creatures abide by a tenuous truce – the people do not cross the borders into the forest, and the creatures do not cross into the village.
Shyamalan skillfully sets the stage to reveal a secret that has been kept for decades by the elders of the village, a secret that must now be passed on to the next generation if the village is to survive. Each piece of the puzzle is revealed with agonizing torpescence. From the significance of the color red to the punishment of the Quiet Room to the skinning of livestock, the portrait is painted of a village hobbled by fear. Visual clues dot the landscape of the village – utility poles with power transformers that line the perimeter of the village and porcupine quills on the backs of the creatures hint at the deceptions that have been effected to protect the village from the outside world. It is only in the final few minutes of the film, when the elders’ secrets are removed from black boxes and when the ranger casually reveals his secret that the totality of the plot is brought to light.
Shyamalan once agains writes a captivating story of fear and suspense that leaves his audience breathless as the mysteries of The Village are exposed. The artistry and beauty of the writing make The Village a thoroughly enjoyable experience, one that I highly recommend for anyone who thrills to psychological thrillers.
Tags: m.-night-shyamalan, movie-reviews, movies, Reviews, the-village
It’s been a while since I’ve written any reviews, so I guess I’d best get my act together:
Has Been
When I first heard that William Shatner had produced another music album, my first thought was, “Another?! What was his first?!” And my second was, “Shatner?! Music?!” All I could picture was Captain Kirk, and so I had a hard time seeing him as a sensational music star. Yet, here was his album, Has Been, and it is truly sensational.
To be fair Shatner didn’t actually compose the music for this album. Instead, he teamed up with Ben Folds of Ben Folds Five fame, who wrote the music to back the poetry of Shatner. I was skeptical when I first started to listen to the album. Few actors are able to make the transition into other mediums, and with the abysmal flop of Shatner’s Tek War series, I didn’t have high hopes for a music album. Yet, I was delighted and thrilled right from the first track all the way to the end. Ben Folds is on top of his game, and Shatner’s lyricism is catchy and engaging. It is a wholly different style from just about anything else in my collection and strikes a resonant chord with this musician and artist. I give the album two thumbs up and hope that Shatner produces another in the near future.
Armageddon & Glorious Appearing
This is probably more a review of the entire Left Behind series than of just these last two books in the series. Written by Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye, the series follows a massive cast of characters across the global landscape of a planet caught in the Tribulational judgments prophesied in Scripture. Based heavily in both Old and New Testament prophecy, the Left Behind series shows what these judgments might be like from the eyes of those who experience it firsthand.
The series was exceptionally well-written and very enjoyable as dramatic fiction. It is certain, however, that the books cannot do justice to the terror and destruction that will one day lay waste to the world as we know it and decimate its population to a fraction of what it is today. Jenkins and LaHaye did an exceptional job of covering all the relevant prophecies contained within Scripture, though it is certain that a fair amount of artistic license was taken with passages whose interpretation is symbolic and difficult to determine. Ultimately, though, the sequence of events is right on target and encompasses a sobering description of life between Rapture and Millenium.
Intergalactic Medicine Show
A relatively new online magazine for science fiction and fantasy aficionados can be discovered at Intergalactic Medicine Show. Founded by Orson Scott Card IGMS is an outlet for amateur SFF authors to display their wares. IGMS is a quarterly publication and features several short stories in each issue, plus a short story from the Ender’s Game universe penned by Card himself (also available in mp3 format). October’s issue also included Cards first novel Hot Sleep (later republished as The Worthing Chronicles) as a five-part series and the comic Fat Farm, adapted from one of Card’s short stories. Free content features movie and book reviews and columns by various writers. If you’re a sci-fi/fantasy buff, IGMS is well worth the $2.50 per issue fee.
Tags: books, has-been, intergalactic-medicine-show, left-behind-armageddon, left-behind-glorious-appearing, magazines, music, orson-scott-card, science-fiction, theological-fiction, william-shatner
I finally got to watch this movie tonight. I was expecting a cheesy ‘B’ movie and was, instead, pleasantly surprised to find myself laughing with a well-done action/comedy/romance. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie team up in this film to play assassins working for competing companies who discover each other’s secret. The ensuing action is fast-paced without being overdone and without destroying any semblance of plot. The dialogue is witty and hilarious, the scripting well-written, and the soundtrack outstanding. Acting is as much body language as delivering lines, and Pitt and Jolie are masters of their craft. Much of the communication between the two heroes was done through subtle facial expressions that left me either writhing with laughter or empathizing at their emotional plight, as they struggled to discover each other, even as they struggled for their lives.
Of course, with any shootout it is always amusing to note how little injury the heroes sustain. Hundreds of bullets fly through the air and nary a one inflicts any significant wound, either speeding past and around the heroes or impacting ‘harmlessly’ on their body armor. Pitt’s friend Eddie was also somewhat less than believable as a fellow assassin, providing only minimal comedy relief with his inane babbling about armchair psychology.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith was a wholly enjoyable film, one that I watched twice and laughed out loud in all the same places both times. Despite the irony of trained assassins working to save their marriage, the message of commitment in the face of adversity was strong and heart-warming. Now, if only Pitt and Jolie can make it work in real life…
Tags: Entertainment, movie-reviews, movies, Reviews
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
How do you condense a 734 page book into a 2.5-hour movie? The answer is that you don’t. Goblet was an exercise in thumbnail moviemaking. Each scene was little more than a visual sketch of each chapter in the book, jerking through the plot with all the grace of a wounded bird in flight. Each episode in the movie was clipped, transitions between abrupt. It was very obvious that the point was to get to the final graveyard scene, where more time and energy were spent on development and detail.
That said, I did enjoy the movie. It was interesting to see where the shortcuts were that made up for the lack of detail everywhere else. Character and relationship development were made more obvious, dropping subtlety in favor of the conspicuous to develop the storyline. The challenges were well-done, even if everything else was a bit shallow or gaudy. Most of the important parts of the story were brought out, and the things that were dropped or ignored were ultimately the bits that have no real effect on the final outcome of the story.
Tungsten T5 from Palm 
I recently purchased a Tungsten T5 from Palm. I probably wouldn’t have had I not received a bit of cash as a gift for the completion of my Master’s degree. Prior to owning the T5, my PDA had been the original Palm model—the M100, a monochromatic, 2 MB dinosaur that finally failed several months back. The upgrade from the M100 to the T5 was extreme, and I was exceptionally pleased the moment I got the battery charged and the device fired up.
The T5 has a color screen, optional Portrait or Landscape viewing, a new version of Graffiti®, and Documents To Go®. It plays mp3s and video, and you can create, carry, and move documents from your Palm to any PC with a USB port. The ability to add storage and functionality to your Palm via memory cards is another powerful feature.
The only problem I have had with my Palm is that Windows does not always recognize it when you plug into the USB port to perform a HotSync®. It has been very problematic, and as yet I still have no solution to the problem. But my T5 has been a workhorse already. Add the infrared keyboard, and I have the ability to write whatever whenever and wherever the urge strikes.
Empyrion I: The Search for Fierra
Stephen R. Lawhead’s Empyrion saga is science fiction with a Christian perspective. Orion Treet is sent on a mission to a colony world and, along with his companions, is quickly thrust into a world of mystery and intrigue. His mission requires him to seek out a lost colony of humans before the rigors of barren Empyrion can claim his life and those of his companions.
The Search for Fierra is the tale of a man on a journey, one that is as much spiritual as it is physical. His trek and transformation across the desert is symbolic of the rebirth of the Christian faith, and his discovery of a utopian culture of love is a glimpse of what the future could be for those who follow the Infinite Father. The story is strong, though perhaps a bit clichéd at times, and the characterizations are, for the most part, believable. Fierra is the first of two books and ends with a cliffhanger as Treet heads back to the cesspool of Dome to find a way to prevent the inevitable war that will destroy Fierra utterly. Treet, in essence, becomes a missionary of hope to a dark, dying land slowly being undone by its own selfishness and lack of vision.
Fierra is a good read—a little less than engaging at times, but the plot drives forward to the promise of an explosive confrontation with the leaders of Dome.
Tags: book-reviews, books, empyrion-i, harry-potter, harry-potter-and-the-goblet-of-fire, j.k.-rowling, movie-reviews, movies, palm-pilot, Reviews, stephen-lawhead, Technology, tungsten-t5
