Listen carefully.

Being a life long fan of Warhammer 40.000, I was interested to learn about a story called:

The Watcher in the Rain.

But I hit a snag. The Watcher in the Rain is an audiodrama only, it doesn't exist in written form. I became determined to listen to it so I went hunting.

You can get it from Games Workshop directly, but paying over €10 for a 75 minute drama felt a bit steep. It's not like an album that you can listen to several times a day if you want to, an audiodrama is a book, you might want to revisit it from time to time, but not as often as music.

Then I found it on Audible (not a sponsor), Amazon's audio book platform, and to my delight you can sign up for £0.99 and you get a credit with which I got The Watcher in the Rain. 

I had heard a couple of audiodramas 15+ years ago, dramatizations of a couple of Lovecraft stories,which were excellent.

The main differences between an audiodrama and an audiobook are sounds effects and multiple voices. An audiobook is normally read by one person, but an audiodrama has different people for all characters and the aforementioned sound effects. This creates a wonderful atmosphere that enhances the experience beyond mere narration.

So, I sat down, put on my headphones and enjoyed The Watcher in the Rain. I'm not going to go into detail about the story as such, it deserves to be experienced as it is, I'll only say that it was excellent both in writing and performances. If you like Warhammer 40.000 I highly recommend it. 

This experience has also rekindled my interest in audiodramas in general, and I'm going to go hunting for more. They were all the rage back before TV became a thing as something people could enjoy at home on the radio instead of going to the cinema, and they work well when playing a game that doesn't require too much audio, like World of Warcraft.

 

That's that and all that. Join me again nest time, and until then, have a great week!  

Top of the world, Ma!

I watched a video about movies Clint Eastwood loves and hates, and on that recommendation I watched:

White Heat (1949).

Directed by Raoul Walsh and starring James Cagney in the main role, White Heat is a black and white gangster thriller that never lets up.

Cody Jarrett, a veteran gangster and his gang commit a robbery that turns deadly. The feds are after him, but he is no one's fool, and supported by his devoted mother, has a plan. The feds manage to get an undercover specialist in Cody's gang to help corner the vicious and wily criminal, but Cody is not a man to go down the easy way.

White Heat is 114 minutes, but it felt like an hour. It didn't get boring for a minute even though there aren't that many scenes one would label as action. The tension is thick in scene after scene but it has balance and you also don't get overloaded.

Central to the movie is Cody himself. Devoted to his mother, a sufferer of brutal headaches and a man who'll gun down anyone who gets in his way, he is nevertheless a likable character somehow. He is a tormented soul which garners sympathy at the same time that his cruelty and careless attitude towards others makes you wish for his downfall.

The rest of the characters are good, in fact we have a surprising lack of cliches, but they all hang in orbit around Cody. From feds to gangsters, they all dance to Cody's tune one way or another.

The plot is excellent, White Heat is a really clever movie, even though the dialogue is nothing special. You have to remember that movies were made very differently back in those days. We're a long way from Tarantino's non stop clever conversations. In films like White Heat the dialogue is utilitarian, not necessarily witty, although there were a couple of good lines. The obvious one is “Made it, Ma! Top of the world!” which has become legendary, but “You wouldn't kill me in cold blood, would ya?” “No, I'll let you warm up a little.” is really good.

The cinematography is top notch. The whole movie is wonderful to look at, and it really makes me wish modern directors would look back and relearn what was common knowledge in film making. No blurry jump cuts, nothing hidden in needlessly dark scenes, just solid set ups and good blocking.

So, do I and Clint Eastwood recommend this movie? Absolutely! It's one of Eastwood's favorites, and although I won't go that far, I loved it. White Heat ranges from solid to brilliant from beginning to end, and demonstrates how important it is to have an intelligent villain. Tough and scary is good, but without brains the main villain looses too much. Yes, White Heat is old, but in no way decrepit, and if you like movies, do yourself a service and watch it as soon as possible.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!

 

Questionably Good.

I have had a very hectic week, but that does not mean I don't have something for you.

The Youtube channel Dungeon Soup makes bizarre animations centered on fantasy with a D&D-ish slant.

Recently their series, Chaotic Good Barbarian has taken the Youtube sphere by storm, and I thought I'd share it with you guys today.

Be aware that both the style and humor is pretty out there, and I don't think its for everyone, but I have enjoyed it a lot. Behind the oddball antics is some pretty smart writing, and if you pay close attention to episode 2, you are going to get some neat inside information.

I'm going to let the series speak for itself, overselling something is annoying at the best of times. I'll embed the first video and link the playlist below.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!   

 

Full Playlist

From War to Games.

I have a distinct memory that I have mentioned Kriegsspiel before, but I'm not sure so here we go.

A friend recommended a video about the subject, and it was so good I wanted to share it with you all.  

The video will explain it all in detail, but let me give you a bit of a teaser. Kriegsspiel or wargame in German, was a way to simulate battles on a table before actually fighting them in real life. Countries that adopted Kriegsspiel saw a marked increase in success on the battlefield compared to those who believed they didn't need such nonsense. 

In time, civilians got into it, and thanks to that, we eventually got things like Dungeons & Dragons, the Total War games, Warhammer and much much more. Kriegsspiel even in a sense invented hit points. A huge portion of modern gaming came from generals trying to rehearse battles in advance. 

I highly recommend this video if you've ever played any of the games I mentioned or indeed anything even remotely similar, or if you just like history. 

 

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!

All The Pieces Matter

A short while ago, my wife found a free game on Steam that I also had to get. This game is:

Jigsaw Puzzle Dreams

As the name suggests it's a jigsaw puzzle game. I immediately grabbed it as well, and I've been hooked ever since.

As I said, the game is free, but its DLC isn't, they are like 4 euros each. However, if you grab any DLC, which all contain more puzzles and stuff, you also unlock the ability to upload any picture you want and turn that into a jigsaw to solve. This is the part that really grabbed me by the neck and won't let go.

There is a room around you as you play, and you can customize it as well as the table beneath the puzzle. Once you're done, you can hang the completed puzzle on the wall in your room. This feature isn't really necessary, but it is a fun little extra to enjoy.

That's kind of all I got. Jigsaw Puzzle Dreams isn't some revolutionary game, it's just a solid fun jigsaw experience, and if you like that, you should probably get it. With that one DLC purchase, you have an endless amount of jigsaw puzzles to solve, and with the base price of free, it is safe to at least try.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a puzzle to finish.

That's that and all that. Join me again nest time and until then, have a great week!

Patty Hearst

More or less on a whim I watched:

Patty Hearst (1988).

This movie directed by Paul Schrader, stars Natasha Richardson, Ving Rhames and William Forsythe amongst many others, and tells the story of the kidnapping of Patty Hearst by the Symbionese Liberation Army, aka the SLA.

The movie is based on the true events and is mostly factually accurate. There are a few minor details that are made up, but in general, what happens in the movie happened for real.

So Patty, the granddaughter of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped by the SLA as leverage to get some comrades released from prison. While in captivity, Patty starts to sympathize with the radical left wing ideologies of the SLA. Whether she actually believed it or went along to not get killed is the big question, and that question has never been properly answered. She did however participate in several actions, or to be more blunt, crimes.

Her lawyers claimed she was brainwashed, but she was convicted of multiple charges which included bank robbery, and was sentenced to 35 years in prison. President Carter commuted her sentence in 1979, but she remained on probation until Bill Clinton pardoned her in 2001.

The movie is overall well shot. The early scenes of her captivity are very stylish and highlights her confusion and terror. This stylishness gradually goes away until the movie has a fairly dull feel to it. In a sense, the excitement goes away. I think this is deliberate to highlight her emotional state.

The actors are really good. Richardson is excellent, but it is Rhames that steal the early show. His deep voice adds gravitas to his rambling political speeches and helps you understand why she could have become a convert.

What struck me as odd while watching, but made sense later, is what a bunch of losers the SLA really were. They sit around spitting political rhetoric at each other and then go out to commit crimes “for the cause”, but they have no actual plan on how they could change society to become more just. From a movie or story perspective this is strange, but then I realized, why would they? They weren't geniuses. They were normal angry people with some guns and a will to do something. This will does not come with a plan attached.

Of course the real case caused a massive stir in the US. The very idea that a scion from one of the richest families in the country could willingly join 'communist terrorists' was almost unthinkable, but it happened.

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes and no. If you just want to watch a movie and relax for a couple of hours, then I suggest something else. If the real Patty Hearst case interests you, then it is absolutely worth watching. It's not bad, and I really don't know how I would do it better, but it isn't that great either.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!

 

Harry Brown

I learned of a revenge/vigilante movie in regards to other such movies like John Wick and Nobody. As the movie stars Michael Caine, I sat down and watched:

Harry Brown (2009).

Minor Spoilers ahead:

Harry (Michael Caine) is a pensioner who was once upon a time a Royal Marine, serving in Northern Ireland. He lives in a dismal, run down council estate that is ruled by drug dealing, drug addled and violent young thugs. Then his wife dies. And his only friend dies. It's all horrible, sad and depressing. Finally he snaps and the old marine wakes up and goes on the war path. The problem is, he's really old and suffers from emphysema, so he's not exactly fit anymore.

To begin with, this movie is really well made. It feels absolutely authentic, though I did read that the graffiti is actually American and not British, but what do I know?

The actors are phenomenal, heightening the already bleak and awful atmosphere. Harry Brown is filmed in that grim, pale way the British do so well. Dead Man's Shoes was the same way, but believe it or not, Harry Brown is much dirtier. That actually surprised me.

Seeing as Harry is old and unwell, there aren't really any action scenes, but there is a lot of violence, which appropriately enough is brutal and nasty. The sexuality on display is likewise dirty and grimy, the whole affair makes you feel like you need a shower afterwards. I don't however hold this against the movie. This subject matter isn't supposed to be glamorous or cool. The thugs are the way they are because they grew up in an environment that gave them few chances if any, not that it is any kind of an excuse. We all make choices in our lives, and we have to face the consequences of those choices. Sometimes that consequence is an old retired and very angry marine.

Michael Caine as the star of the show, does a phenomenal job. He tells his friend Len, that when he met his wife, he suppressed his previous self in order to be able to be a husband and father. Oh yeah, his daughter died as a child just to make all the tragedy just a bit worse. You actually see this in the way he moves and how he observes things. Early on, he sort of staggers forward with a confused look on his face, but later he moves with purpose.

The story isn't what you'd call groundbreaking, but I think a more complicated plot would have made it impossible to follow as well as dragging it out too much. The pacing is just right, and as compelling as it is, it would quickly outstay its welcome if it was any longer.

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes, I think so. Harry Brown like I said, is superbly crafted, but I can't say it was an enjoyable watching experience. Normally, vigilante movies have that moment when the protagonist starts getting even and lets face it, that moment is awesome. Whether it is John Wick, Nobody or Death Wish, that moment feels good, but in Harry Brown you don't get that. Sure the bad guys deserve it, but it's just more pain added on to the massive pile of suffering already there, and no one gets to be happy. If you're feeling down, watch something happier for your own sake.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!