Last of 2015

Alright, it's the last Eccentric Sphere for 2015.

The Steam X-Mas sale has been nice, but I have to say I miss the flash and daily sales. Valve says that they got rid of them to be fairer, since a great sale might pop up when you are at work and thus you miss it.

OK, fair enough, but without these varying extras, the sales aren't as much fun. What you see is what you get, but that means that a great holiday sale is just a big weekend deal. The same deals are up from day one to the end. If they at least had some 48h extras it would be more interesting. And that's just it, it's not even about the money. It's less exciting to visit the Steam store when nothing changes, and I miss the thrill of hoping a game you've been waiting for shows up.

Oh well, here's hoping they bring the short sales back.

For all my complaining though, I have picked up some good ones.

My wife got me Pillars of Eternity for X-mas. A grand old-school RPG. Looking forward to getting deeper into it, but it does require that you really pay attention. It's not a game you play when you're tired or distracted.

SunlessSea is a game I've been eying lately. It's Victorian-Steampunk with Lovecraftian elements. Madness, monsters, and really weird stuff (sentient rat engineers) abounds in the seas around Fallen London. So far it's very good, but damn hard.

I bought Stranded Deep, but I haven't installed it yet. It is however shaping up to be one of the best survival games out there. So once winter hits properly, I'm escaping to my own paradise island. Coconuts, crabs and the risk of dehydration awaits. Oh, and sharks, lots of sharks.

Finally, as we're drawing towards New Years eve, I want to talk about PartyHard. Here you play as a man who just wants peace and quiet. But a huge party rages on and you can't sleep. So naturally you kill everyone there. In Party Hard you have to slaughter all the guests at party after party without getting caught. It's great fun but sometimes truly frustrating, like when you have three guys left to stab and the cops spot you near a body. If you're caught it's game over.

That's it for this year. I want to thank you all for reading my ramblings, and I hope you'll continue to do so in the coming year.

So until 2016, have a great week and a happy new year!

The Legend of Devil's Creek

Last night at 1.30 in the morning I finished The Legend of Devil's Creek by D.C. Alexander.

This is one of the most interesting murder mysteries I've read in a very long time. Not so much due to the actual murder mystery itself, but because of the philosophical examination of the nature of evil and what drives someone to murder.

We follow Riddley, a shy and introvert college kid and his new friends as they hike, party, fish and go to philosophy class. This in itself doesn't perhaps sound all that exciting but it's essential to the plot.

The rest of the book portraits some of the police officers who are struggling to find the killer, mainly Captain Marshall, a traumatized veteran.

It's difficult to explain why this book is so good without inadvertently spoiling anything, but the quality of the writing is top-notch. D.C. Alexander has a gift for letting you feel, not only the characters emotions, but also the atmosphere, all without rambling on and on. Maybe it doesn't sound like fun to read about a bunch of twenty-something-year-olds drinking and talking on a cold beach, but it was some of the best parts of the book.

Because all the talk of crappy childhoods, the philosophical discussions in class, the partying and the silly pranks they play on each other, helps you understand the killer as well as provides a strong sense of normalcy that makes the murders seem more real.

My biggest criticism of the book is Riddley. In the beginning of the book, his self-esteem is so incredibly bad that it's frustrating. He gets better but it takes time. Quite a lot of time. That said, it was never unrealistic. Annoying yes, but never unbelievable. Perhaps I shouldn't be lambasting the author about this. After all, it takes discipline to stay the course and not yield to the temptation of letting Riddley off the hook too quickly.

Anyway, I've been rambling on too long. I highly recommend this book. I loved it.

Finally, I'd like to wish you a Merry Christmas, or which ever equivalent you choose to celebrate. See you next week!

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

I recently got into Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Usually I'm not that fond of American comedy, instead preferring the British school, but Brooklyn Nine-Nine is awesome.

We follow the shenanigans of the 99^th precinct in Brooklyn and the craziness that goes on therein. And it is crazy. There are elements of slap-stick but surprisingly little. It's used more as a spice than the whole meal. This leaves us with a show that's clever, witty and warm-heated without being sappy.

The characters are naturally stereotypes. But they also have other characteristics that defy the typical cliches. Like Scully and Hitchcock, two lazy, old incompetent detectives that are pretty much just running out the clock, but on occasion show genuine police skills. They get a lot of abuse from the others which they take with grace and they actively discourage any praise since that would mean they might be takes seriously which would mean more responsibility.

No character is badly written.

I've seen seasons one and two, that's 45 episodes (they are only 22 minutes each) and I've laughed out loud at least once in almost every episode. That is, for me, very rare in with comedy show.

So if you need a pick-me-up for your mood in these stressful pre-christmas times, consider a dose of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

I'm going to bow out here. I was thinking of going into more detail about this wonderful show, but I have had maybe four hours of fitful sleep, and I fear I'm neither terribly coherent nor eloquent.

So until next time, have a funny week! 

 

Movie time

Last Saturday my wife and I watched a Chris Pratt double feature, namely Jurassic World (2015) and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).

Jurassic World may be the fourth movie in the Jurassic film line, but it is a fairly direct follow up to the first Jurassic Park (1993). Jurassic Park 2 &3 have their own plot-lines and have little to do with the actual amusement park.

First off, Jurassic World is a very pretty film, the effects are stellar. The acting is fine, and the sound is as good as ever. The real problem is the script. It relies heavily on the first movie, so much so that it felt smug at times.

The core of the story is that people are becoming bored with dinosaurs so InGen creates a new scarier hybrid dinosaur in order to boost attendance. Obviously dinos escape and eat people. Heroes do heroic stuff and the villains are mean and stupid. End story.

Jurassic World is not a good movie but it is spectacular. If you want to see an action filled romp with lots of cool effects and giant monsters rampaging about, then this is worth watching. If you want character development and a complex story, watch something else. I had fun, but almost more fun dissing it with my wife.

Guardians of the Galaxy is a Marvel movie, so it's based on a comic book series. It technically belongs in the Super Hero franchise, since as an example, Iron Man later becomes a Guardian, but the film is squarely Space Opera in my opinion.

This is a spectacle in every way. It's action and fantastic backdrops, witty one-liners and explosions. It's a fast two hour ride of fun. In fact, I have only two complaints; many scenes are really dark, making it hard to see what's going on and the fact that little is really explained. Actually the last point isn't really a bad thing, so scratch that.

My second complaint is that the villain is boring and pretty generic. Since the mettle of a hero is measured by the villain he fights, this detracts somewhat from the enjoyment. Sure, the villain is powerful, but since I haven't read the comics he made little sense to me.

The cast is absolutely dazzling, with big names every time the scene changes. I'm happily waiting for the sequel.

If you really want pizzazz and just a good time, see this movie, but it's not a “serious” film, so leave the intellectual part of your brain in a drawer and let your ten year old out.

That's my entry for today. Until next time, have a stellar week!

Truth is stranger than fiction

There's currently a storm here today, and I think the winds have blown away most of my brain, so this week's post will be trivial. Or to be more precise, about trivia.

All facts are taken from www.kickassfacts.com so if you disagree with something, take it up with them.

The following facts are in random order, and are just stuff I find amusing and interesting.

Here we go:

1. A snipers bullet can travel so far that the earth's rotation moves the target.
   
   
2. Haiti's and Lichtenstein's flags were originally identical, by mistake. No one knew until they both competed in the 1936 Olympics.
   
   
3. The Mongols tried to invade japan twice in seven years, and both times a typhoon stopped them
   
   
4. The sun and moon appear to be of same size because of an astonishing coincidence. The moon is 400 times smaller but 400 times closer, which makes the eclipses possible. 
    
5. Actress Anne Hathaway’s husband Adam Shulman has an uncanny resemblance to William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare had a wife called Anne Hathaway. 
    
6. A blurry photo of a man stealing a wallet in a store ran on the bottom of the front page of the December 14, 2007, edition of Idaho’s Lewiston Tribune. Above it was an unrelated photo of a man painting a business. Readers noticed both men were wearing the same clothes and could be the same man and he was, leading to his arrest. 
    
7. On the Christmas Eve 1994, two cars collided near Flitcham, England. The drivers were twin sisters who were delivering presents to each other. Their names were Lorraine and Lavinia Christmas. 
    
8. The oldest recorded British joke dates back to the 10th Century A.D. It is “What hangs at a man’s thigh and wants to poke the hole that it’s often poked before? Answer: A key.” 
    
9. The word ‘fuck’ was first used in 1568, but was most commonly used between 1700-1720. It disappeared from the English language for 150 years in the 1800s-1900s, but is now once again climbing in popularity. 
    
10. The terms “left” and “right” politics appeared during the French Revolution of 1789 when members of the National Assembly divided into supporters of the king to the president’s right and supporters of the revolution to his left. 
     
11. For 200 years tomatoes were considered poisonous in Europe. In reality, their acidity was dissolving poisonous metals like lead from plates. 
     
12. A Japanese anime named Sazae-san is more than 46 years old and has been airing since 1969 with a total of 2330 episodes. It is one of the biggest ratings grabber on Japanese TV following simple plot lines.
    
    
13. The Mayflower voyage ended in Plymouth instead of its intended Virginia Colony destination because the Pilgrims ran out of beer. 
     
14. In 1962, LIFE magazine published an article about Lauri Rapala and his fishing lures. The cover featured recently deceased Marilyn Monroe and it became the magazine’s best-selling issue. Consequently, Rapala received millions of orders and is today the leading lure manufacturer in the world. 
     
15. In the wake of WWII, the combination of inexpensive geothermal power and high prices for imported fruit led to Iceland using the warmth from lava to grow banana trees. 
     
16. “Bellydance” was not a dance of seduction, and wasn’t done by harem girls for the sultan. It is a community folk dance with a rich and long history done by both men and women during family celebrations and gatherings. The two piece costume was invented by early Hollywood, and adopted by Egyptian dancers in nightclubs to cater to Western tourists. The term “bellydance” was invented at the 1893 World’s Fair by Sol Bloom because it sounded salacious, would attract scandalized Victorian patrons, and sell a lot of tickets. 
     
17. Diamonds can in fact be shattered with a hammer. There is a difference between how strong something is and how hard it is. Diamonds are one of the hardest minerals (certainly the hardest gemstone), but their toughness is only middle of the road. The toughest gemstone is nephrite jade and that toughness is part of what makes it such a good carving material. 
     
18. The amount of times you need to push down per minute during CPR is the beat of Staying Alive or Another one Bites the Dust. 
     
19. The USSR was to first to launch a satellite into orbit, launch a man into space, launch a woman into space, the first spacewalk, put the first manmade object on the moon, made the first soft landing on the moon, the first landing on another planet, had several probes transmitting from Venus, had the first space station and the first long duration space station. For a country that supposedly lost the space race those are a lot of firsts. 
     
20. During the Civil War, upon being told General Grant was a drunkard who enjoyed Whiskey, President Lincoln said “I wish some of you would tell me the brand of whiskey that Grant drinks. I would like to send a barrel of it to my other generals.”

That's all for today, I hope you enjoyed it. Until next time, have an interesting week!

Did you know?

Most of the things that surround us on a daily basis have a specific use. But many of those things have surprising extra uses, like the time I opened a bottle of wine with a screwdriver, a loose screw from an office chair and a pair of pliers.

Today we're looking at the baffling originally intended uses of some common items.

Let's start with bubble wrap. This highly useful product is used to keep items safe and intact during transport. It's also a great stress reliever and toy. I mean, who hasn't spent a couple of hours of their lives popping those wonderful, satisfying bubbles?

But the inventors of bubble wrap, Alfred W. Fielding and Mark Chavannes envisioned it as wallpaper! They honestly thought that people would like to cover their walls in translucent plastic blisters. And then, twenty minutes later, popped translucent blisters...

Speaking of wallpaper, Play-Doh started as wallpaper cleaner before becoming that weird colorful edible toy. Who knew?

One of mankind's favorite hobbies is killing each other. That's not exactly anything new. But did you know that the corkscrew was invented for removing bullets from guns? Well it was. You see, back in the days of the musket, bullets were soft lead balls, and the manufacturing process wasn't always that exact. Thus, bullets could easily become jammed in the barrels, and a screw was the best way of popping them out of there. I just wonder how long it took until someone used it to open some wine...

Speaking of bullets, the originally intended use for tampons was for plugging bullet wounds. This was during the Great War, and it didn't take the nurses long to figure out the more commonly know use for these cotton tubes as a better alternative to rags that were used, washed and reused.

Finally, do you suffer from halitosis? The answer is no, no matter what you just said. Halitosis was made up by Johnson & Johnson in order to sell more Listerine, the worlds most common mouthwash. Back in the day, they desperately wanted to sell more floor cleaner which is exactly what Listerine was (and is) but people weren't buying more. So they invented halitosis and launched a massive ad campaign that preyed on peoples insecurities. And it worked. Just be aware that you're swilling floor cleaner in your mouth.

That's all for today, so until next time, have a popping week!

The Fourth Fallout

Fourty seven hours so far. Fourty seven glorious hours of Fallout 4 so far, with many more to come.

I've been playing since Tuesday morning and I have only scratched the surface of this magnificent game. It's not perfect no, but damn it's good.

Let's get the technical stuff out of the way first. It's beautiful. Simple as that. Graphics, music, voice acting, all spot on. And if for some reason you aren't satisfied with how it looks, you can mod it better.

Game-play is mostly awesome. The controls are responsive and the addition of a sprint button is a welcome change. Sure I have had to get used to a different key layout compared to F3 and New Vegas but that's no cause for complaint. The AI is mostly good, with the occasional silliness. Like a raider getting upset when I stealthily blow his friends head off, only for the raider to shrug and say “I guess it's my imagination”. But these things are more funny than anything to complain about.

What we have here is a wonderful sand box game in the best tradition of Bethesda. Fallout 4 stands proudly as their latest creation in the long line of Fallout and Elder Scrolls games. If you don't like action RPG's or sandboxes, this is not your game, but for me it's narcotic. Addicting and sweet.

There are several important changes from Bethesdas previous Fallout titles, some which are familiar to Skyrim players.

First off, the skills are gone. It's all been baked into the perks system, which not only preserves the immersion better but makes leveling up easier. When I say immersion, I mean that since you can't see exactly how good you are at a skill it feels more alive and less numeric. Not that it was ever a problem as such.

As I said, you can sprint now at the cost of action points. Very useful for getting out of trouble. Or into trouble if you prefer. And you can parry with melee weapons as well as pistol whip your enemies.

In the previous titles, radiation poisoning was fairly abstract. You had to get seriously irradiated before you felt any ill effects, but not any longer. Now rads eat up your health bar, so it's definitely in your best interest to keep those rads down.

I'm not going to go too deeply into all the details here, so I'll just quickly talk about base building. I have let's say, sampled it a bit. There are lots of pictures online of some really great fortresses people have built, but from what I have experienced, it's lots of fun, if a bit fiddly. I have grand plans though. Time will tell.

There is more, so much more, like armor and gun modding but I'll let you find out on your own. It's time to talk about the negative.

First off, yes there are bugs. Of course there are. Sometimes my guns become invisible. I have had a sound effect loop endlessly until I re logged. Small things like that. I haven't thankfully experienced any game breaking bugs so far, and most are things that will get fixed in time.

My biggest complaints personally have to do with story. The game predisposes you to be a good caring person. This is no issue if that is what you want to play, but if you want to play a villain, it's a big snag.

Likewise, and minor spoiler here, there is a quest where you support a Brotherhood of Steel paladin in combat. He then invites you to join the Brotherhood. I declined, but the quest won't go away until I accept. At least so far. And to make things worse, his brothers have actually tried to kill me, which doesn't really help either.

So with only 47 hours of gameplay behind me, I'll conclude that this is indeed a great game, a weird and wonderful Fallout game, and a game RPG fans really aught to play.

Until next time, may your week be radiation free! See ya.

John Wick and Mad Max

I rarely watch movies when they come out but I did recently catch up with two that have gotten a lot of positive reviews; John Wick and Mad Max: Fury Road.

John Wick, played by Keanu Reeves, is a retired assassin with legendary abilities that comes out of retirement in a quest for revenge.

The story is really nothing to brag about, but it's adequate. Visually the film is beautiful but a bit too dark, making some scenes hard to make out. The soundtrack, well basically I don't remember it. I assume it was fine.

What makes this movie are the action scenes and the actors. The action is great. I read somewhere, probably on Reddit or Imgur, that it's like a bullet ballet, but I wouldn't go quite that far although it's very enjoyable.

It is however the actors that make this film. Keanu is Keanu. He does what he usually does and it fits well in the narrative, but he's not the interesting part. In supporting roles we have both Willem Dafoe who is great as always and Ian McShane who is magnificent. I only wish he'd been around more. Fans of The Wire will also find both Lance Reddick (Lt. Daniels) and Clarke Peters (Lester Freamon) in minor roles.

Finally I really liked some of the odd details that the film has, like special gold coins that the criminals use to pay each other and the hotel that exclusively caters to assassins and their kind. It serves not only as a hotel but also as a sanctuary. Clever idea.

Over all, John Wick is a good solid action piece well worth your time if you're in the mood for something of that nature. Or you fancy seeing Keanu with a beard.

Mad Max: Fury Road is a weird one. I've been a Mad Max fan since I was a kid and although the movie has received extremely positive reviews I had my reservations. I finally sat down and watched it since Fallout 4 goes live tonight. In the middle of the night in fact. I therefore decided to re-watch Mad Max, Mad Max the Road Warrior and finally Fury Road for the first time. I skipped Thunderdome, since I can't stand it.

OK, first off, Fury Road is made by George Miller, the man behind all Mad Max films so I have to respect the mans vision. Mel Gibson is not playing the titular role, instead Max is played by Tom Hardy. In a fun “twist” the main villain Immortan Joe is played by none other than Hugh Keays-Byrne who also played the main villain in the first Mad Max, Toecutter. Charlize Theron is our female lead. There was no bad acting in this film, but Charlize stands out. She's really good.

What threw me off quite badly was how different this movie is compared to the earlier films. Immortan Joe has a huge fortress that could never have been built since society collapsed at least if you look at Max's age, but I was wrong. Fury Road is not Mad Max 4. It is in fact a reboot of the franchise. But rather than remake the first film, George Miller has elected to retell the story and make it new. This I can respect. After all, it is his vision and creation. Besides I'm sick of retooled origin stories. (Batman and Spiderman, I'm looking at you).

With this firmly in mind, I really like Fury Road. It is essentially a two hour car chase, but it never got boring or repetitive, which is no small feat. It is a visual masterpiece, a violent 120 minutes long metal video. And that's perhaps my biggest critique. The cinematography is very modern with quick cuts to zooms and popular sound effects. But after ten minutes you no longer care, seduced by the fantastic chaotic cornucopia of action.

Finally there are two interesting pieces of information that I would like to share. Mel Gibson gave his blessing to both Tom Hardy and George Miller. Not that is should matter, but for some reason that made me happy. Also, there is apparently a comic book that fills in some blanks in the story. This did not make me happy. I think it's silly to expect audiences to have to read a comic to understand parts of your movie. Just put it in there if it's important.

Like John Wick, this is is a great piece of entertainment if you're in the mood for such, but even more so. The time just flew by. Fans of the Road Warrior will not be disappointed.

That's what I have for you this time. I'm off to stare at the clock counting down the hours until I can play Fallout 4. So until we see each other again, have a great week!

World War Cthulhu

Today I want to talk about a collection of short stories I just finished reading.

WorldWar Cthulhu contains 22 short stories all with their own illustrations by M. Wayne Miller. The stories all share two points, a war of some sorts and the Lovecraft Mythos.

Over all, it's a mixed bag. Naturally another reviewer might like stories that left me cold and dislike the ones that I loved, but I feel confident when I say this is a good book.

Settings wise, the stories range from the Trojan war to the future. If I recall correctly there were two sci-fi stories, neither of which I liked very much and two Trojan tales that were both pretty OK.

My favorites were White Feather by T. E. Grau set in the American revolution, The Boonieman by Edward M. Erdelac set in Vietnam and Cold War, Yellow Fever by Pete Rawlik set in the Cold War, more specifically the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Most stories were solid and well worth reading if you are a Lovecraft fan. Unfortunately the majority of tales revolved around the Deep Ones and the Mi-Go, and I would have liked to see more variation, but it's not so much what you do but how you do it.

Surprisingly, there weren't more stories set in WWII, and in a pleasant twist there was one tale concerning the IRA which you don't see much of in books like this.

I won't go through all the stories as that would be insane, so I'll close by saying this: if you are a Mythos fan, read this book. The over all quality is very high, and even the stories I didn't really like were fine. Not great but decent. So I do recommend this anthology.

That's all I have for you this time so until we see each other again, have a great week!

Game news

Last week I talked about Vermintide, and now with the game live, I've played some more.

Although I haven't gotten even close to a complete playthrough I'm pretty confident in saying it's a great game. Well, it's great if you play with enough players. The AI is pretty dumb. I tested a map with a friend, letting the AI control the two remaining characters, and that did not go well at all. The AI would rather just stand there and look around, than pick you up if you've been beaten down. With three players out of four, the same map went just fine.

So if you have enough friends, or don't mind playing with randoms it's a really cool and intense game.

Total War Warhammer just made the news with pre-orders available six months in advance. Yeah, they want you to pre-order half a year before the game is released in April 2016... And as a pre-order bonus, they are giving you “for free” a fifth faction: Chaos Warriors. Come on now, really? We're not talking some cosmetic DLC here, but a whole fifth faction. They haven't even shown us anything about the Vampire Count faction yet and now they pull this. Just imagine how much love they would get if they had just said “Surprise, were adding a fifth faction. Here you go”. But instead they're pulling the whole pre-order garbage move. It wasn't even that long ago that Square Enix had to pull their ludicrous “augment your pre-order” crap because the players wouldn't stand for it. And now Sega goes and does this. Cutting out a whole faction that's already in the game just to push your product six months in advance? Not cool guys, not cool at all.

And show us the vampires already!

My third and final entry concerns the new expansion for Star Wars The Old Republic: Knights of the Fallen Empire that I got early access to due to being subscribed at a key point. Now the KotFE expansion is a pretty mixed bag.

It goes without saying that no mmo expansion goes off without a hitch, and there are bugs. Otherwise it's fine from a technical standpoint.

But (and minor spoilers ahead) you have to play the entire KotFE story alone! In an mmo! My main character has always hung out with my wife’s main, but now they are forcibly separated. It was bad enough in the last expansion, Shadow of Revan, where you could do all the side content together and they split you up in all the story parts, but in KotFE there are no side elements. They have turned an mmo into a single player corridor runner game. Very railroady.

The story is OK. It's only the first nine chapters out of sixteen. It's by no means great so far, I'd even go so far as to say it's cliched and predictable. But it's incomplete so I'll reserve final judgment until we know it all. However, they went on and on about how your choices matter, and so far I haven't seen anything that matters.

As a part of the story, your companions are gone and you have some new ones. You will apparently get the old ones back, (when the system is not broken) and you can even get some of the other classes companions if you work for it. As a part of the new changes, all companions can now heal/tank/dps according to your wishes, that's fine. But they no longer use gear for anything other than appearance. Instead they get their stats from you. What I found as a result is that all the combat in KotFE is absurdly easy. I died once and that's only because I fell off a ledge due to my own clumsiness. The boss fights are hideous though. Not because they are in any way dangerous. No, they are mind-numbingly dull. The bosses are immune to everything you do except damage, and worst of all, they lead no where. The most climactic fight in all nine chapters led to nothing.

Once you get through the story you get to manage your new base. But although all the NPC's are voiced, you are not! Instead they have opted for a “retro” style familiar to all players of the original Knights of the Old Republic, or Kotor. Personally I think it's just about cost cutting and that's fine, just admit it.

It's worth noting that I am having fun. It may sound as if I hate it, and that's not true. It is enjoyable, but it's so damn frustrating when the rest of the game is so good. You go from having an intense and personal story to a narrative that makes more or less sense depending on which class you're playing. Oh yeah, almost forgot. A lot of importance is laid on what happened on Ziost during Shadow of Revan. But it's not mandatory to that expansion. By the time you get to go there, you have already defeated Revan, and my main missed it. I just never got around to going there, but KotFE assumes I did. Please don't base a new story on something that is essentially extra content.

That's enough rambling and ranting for this week. So until next time, have a great week!

Vermintide

Today's subject is a new game on the market: Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide.

Although it is in pre-order status, it is in the final beta stage, otherwise I would have waited before buying. But I was curious and took the plunge. It paid off in spades.

For those who don't know, Warhammer is a fantasy setting created back in 1983 by Games Workshop, and I've been a huge fan ever since the late 80's myself. I practically grew up in the Warhammer world.

It's only relatively recently that we've started to see good Warhammer games on the PC. There have been some games before, but most weren't very good. The ones that were worth anything tended to be in the sci-fi sister setting, Warhammer 40.000. Now we seem to be getting them left and right. Total War Warhammer is out next year, or rather the first Total Warhammer game of three.

Vermintide take a lot of inspiration from the Left 4 Dead games. Let's be honest about that upfront. You could even go so far as to say Vermintide is a fantasy version of L4D. But it is also so much more. But basically, if you liked L4D, chances are high that you'll like Vermintide.

Now, Vermintide is a four player co-op game in which you and your team must battle hordes of Skaven in a gloomy and burning city in order to complete objectives. Skaven BTW, are human sized rat men. How cool is that?

Since the whole game isn't out yet, I can't give you a proper review, but I got to play the three first levels, and boy oh boy were they ever great.

The classes seem to work well together, I played as the Bright Wizard (fire wizard) and we had the Witch Hunter, Elf Wayfarer and the Dwarf Ranger. There is a fifth class; Empire Soldier, but we didn't really use him. Everyone has their own strengths that they bring to the table and no one felt out of place or useless.

The game so far plays great. Both the ranged and the melee aspects feel solid, and the game is gorgeous. Even on medium settings, it shines. The banter between the characters feels natural and the over all mood is wonderful.

When the whole game is out, I'll write up a full review, but so far, this game is amazing. Had it existed when I was a kid, I wouldn't have done much else.

Until next time, have a great week!

Sensible Horror

This week I want to share a wonderful little trailer for a movie that apparently doesn't exist.

It's called HELL NO, and briefly explores how horror would work if the protagonists were actually smart.

Have a look, and I'll see you next Monday, so until then, have a great week!

Link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olEbwhWDYwM

Seven Psychopaths

A couple of days ago I watched a cool movie called Seven Psychopaths (2012). I discovered this movie through Reddit, which was fortunate since I had never even heard if it.

It's written and directed by Martin McDonagh, the man who also wrote In Bruges.

Seven Psychopaths is an odd movie to say the least, and I'm struggling with trying to explain it without spoiling anything.

Essentially Colin Farrell plays Marty, a screenwriter with writers block and a drinking problem. All he has for his script is the title: Seven Psychopaths and a couple of loose ideas about said psychos. His best friend is Billy, who in turn “works” with Hans, played by Christopher Walken. We also get Woody Harrelson who plays Charlie, a violent and deranged gangster who wants his beloved shih tzu back. Weirdness and mayhem ensues.

This doesn't sound all that interesting in itself, and therein lies my problem. All the things that make this movie so good are things I can't tell you about or I ruin the film for you. But it's good. Almost great in fact. It's funny, sad and absurd, all at once. The balance in my opinion is excellent.

You know the saying “it's the journey, not the destination”? Seven Psychopaths is all about the journey. The dialog is king here, and the actors, most of them veterans, pull it off beautifully.

I went into this movie with pretty specific expectations, but what I found was both more and less than I figured. At the end I was really pleased. What I thought would be a cool crime/action drama turned out to be more of a dark comedy about life, love and serial killers. It's an imperfect description but it'll have to do.

I have no complaints about this film. I'm not sure I'll ever watch it again, but I do recommend it. It is truly worth watching. To make my point, I'm linking the scene that got me interested below. Make up your own mind.

Until next time, have a great week and stay out of trouble! 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsQq_w1jt5A

 

The sound of Doom

Yesterday I stumbled into retro alley. More specifically the corner where Doom lives.

Back in the day I played DOOM and DOOM 2 like crazy. They were great games by all standards, but today we're taking a short look at the soundtracks.

The soundtrack in both games always stood out to me. They were just magnificent, and remember, back in those days, a PC's sound card wasn't exactly what it is today. But the melodies were both haunting and exciting at the same time. They gave you a foreboding feeling of well, doom, and at the same time pumped you up for the fights ahead. What more could you ask of a games music?

The creator of the soundtracks is Robert (Bobby) Prince, a former lawyer turned composer. What really blew my mind is that apparently most – if not all – songs on the Doom and Doom 2 soundtracks were based heavily on famous metal songs. I've heard these songs countless times but I had no idea. The video below might contain some inaccuracies but most entries are more than close enough. Take a look.

That's this weeks eccentricity. I'll put some links below and until I see you again, have a great week!

Doom music sources
Doom 1 & 2 OST

Narcos

I am no fan of commercials, and I'll cheerfully admit to using adblocker in my browser, but these days I have it disabled on Youtube.

The reason for this is the fact that I subscribe to a couple of gaming channels, and since the owners of these channels get ad money, and indeed live on this money, I can't in good conscience deny them their hard earned cash.

Last week however, I actually found an ad that benefited me. I discovered a new Netflix show called Narcos.

Narcos chronicles the life and exploits of Pablo Escobar, the late Medellin Cartel king of Colombia.

Now in all fairness I have to point out that I've only watched the four first episodes, so this is not a review, merely an impression. However, I can' wait to finish it. Narcos is a really good show.

If you care about scores, Narcos has a 9.1 on IMDb and it really deserves it. It's unflinching in the face of drugs, murder and other assorted nastiness. But at the same time, it doesn't wallow in it either. It shows you just enough, and that to me is a good sign. A show that laps up all the filth and gleefully shows it to you, usually tries too hard. Narcos doesn't try, it merely does.

So far I have no complaints what so ever. Even the fact that easily half the show is in Spanish is enjoyable. It adds so much to the authenticity, and since those parts have subtitles, you can still follow the story, even without knowing Spanish, which I don't.

Since I haven't seen all of the show, I can't guarantee that the rest is any good, but I'd be very surprised if the quality dips in any way. Time will tell.

So for what it's worth so far, I heartily recommend this show if you want something hard hitting and realistic. You might even learn something of South American history, I have at any rate.

Until next time, have yourself a great week, I'm off to watch more Narcos. And remember, say no to drugs.

Is it a conspiracy?

Hello and welcome back to another edition of Eccentric Spheres.

I've written before about conspiracy theories, since it's one of my favourite subjects. Not that I believe in almost any of them, but they are essentially the modern myth. We don't believe in giant sea monsters sucking down ships anymore, but JFK's shooter(s) is another matter.

Today I want to show you a presentation by a man called Andy Thomas, and what he does is look at some of the more common conspiracies and how they work. He also discusses historical conspiracy theories, like emperor Nero and the burning of Rome.

If you are interested in conspiracy theories on a more intellectual level, do watch this video.  So until next time, Have a great week!

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kFmZFgGJug

Burn After Reading

A few days ago I saw a clip from the Coen brothers movie; Burn After Reading (2008). I thought it looked pretty good, so I sat down and watched it.

The cast is well loaded with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich and more, so no problem there.

Being a Coen film, it is very well made. It is absolutely beautiful on all fronts. But where I think it fails is in the balance.

On the surface it's a comedy, but it also tries to be a crime film with strong elements of relationship drama. And in my opinion it kind of fails to be any of those. Many scenes that I guess were ment to be funny felt more tragic, but to be fair there were some genuinely funny moments. I suppose I'd say it felt fragmented and chaotic when it wasn't supposed to be. It's hard to explain.

Now I've seen several Coen brothers films before; Millers Crossing, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men to name a few, and they always leave me feeling conflicted. I've never finished one of their films and thought to myself Now that was a great movie. Never. Some times it's taken a few days to digest the film in order to “get it”, other times it's taken a second viewing to understand it. They don't make easy movies, that's for sure.

Even though I might have gotten the films, I've not always liked them. I like Millers Crossing and Fargo but I don't like Lebowski and No Country. (I'm about to get stoned soon, I know). Burn after reading is in the second category more than the first. I liked a few of the scenes, but over all the movie depressed me. Particularly since the one character I really felt deserved a comeuppance didn't get one. I won't say more than that. You might feel differently.

Should you watch this film? Absolutely. It is good, I just really didn't like it. I can even say I've never seen a movie like it, but it still didn't appeal to me. Like American Hustle, this is a movie I can recommend, but you are going to have to make up your own mind about.

That's the load-out for today, so until next Monday, have great week!

Is it good?

Last week, I decided to watch a couple of films I've been meaning to watch for a while. You know how it is, something always comes up, and then you forget.

I started with American Hustle (2013).

To me this is a very interesting movie. It is extremely well done, capturing the 70's incredibly well. Cinematography, acting, story etc, are all satisfying, but for some reason I still don't like it. I don't know why though. I've tried to pin down the reason but I can't.

There is no one thing that I could point to and say “look at that, that's just terrible”. In fact, I really like many of the scenes, but over all... Not my movie. Which is weird, since I generally love heist/con movies.

So you need to give this one a shot yourself. I certainly recommend it, since I should love it, but I don't. Go see it.

Then I scratched a much older movie off my list with Boogie Nights (1997).

I've heard a lot about this movie, and being that it's about the adult movie scene in the late 70's and early 80's, it's not a child friendly movie in any way. Was it good? No, not really.

The acting is good though, and the cinematography is excellent, but the story is predictable and the balance is way off.

Spoiler Time

We follow a young man as he becomes a star in the world of adult cinema. He's a natural and quickly becomes rich and famous. But he gets into progressively harder drugs and looses his career. And my biggest problem is that his rise goes by pretty quickly and then the fall takes forever. An it's not only unpleasant to watch, it's tedious as well.

So I can't recommend Boogie Nights. Sure it wasn't a waste of time, but I could have been watching something better with out a doubt, and so can you.

I'm off to watch more movies, so until I see you again, have a great week!

True Detective 2

This winter past I blogged about the first season of True Detective. In order to save you some time I'll recap here: I absolutely loved it!

So when the second season rolled around, I was pretty exited to watch it. And that's what today's post is all about, season 2 of True Detective.

To start, I'd like to say that the two seasons have nothing to do with each other. Not a damn thing. So one mustn't compare them, if at all possible. For me, it wasn't entirely possible, but to be fair they really have to be judged alone. So here we go:

The acting is good, and I liked the choice of actors and the characters they play. Everyone did what they were supposed to do, no complaints. Well, one small complaint. Every one of the main characters in this season did several really dumb things. And at times these choices felt a bit forced. But to be fair, they were all under tremendous amounts of pressure, and you don't always make the right call when you're coming apart at the seams. You'll have to make up your own mind here.

The general atmosphere is amazing, easily in my mind the best thing about the season. Where season 1 wallowed in rural decay and isolation, season 2 is all about the urban hellscape. Dirty, harsh, noisy and brutal, it's a marvelous depiction of the urban jungle. Full points here, A+.

The main plot though, is extremely convoluted. Even while binge watching, I had a hard time following it at times. But the story is good, so hang in there. My biggest complaint is that originally the 2^nd season was to be about the occult history of the American transport system, or something like that. If you choose to view occult in it's original meaning i.e. hidden, then yeah, that's kind of what the season is about. I'm however more used to interpreting occult as supernatural and that this season isn't.

There were times when I thought we'd get something at least mystical, but if there was any, I missed it.

My biggest complaint over all, is the ending. The final episode clocks in at around 90 minutes and it ties up all the loose ends. But here more than anywhere else, characters make those silly decisions and I didn't like it. I even predicted several events way ahead of time, and was sadly correct.

It maybe that the creator Nic Pizzolatto was rushed for time. Nothing felt out of place and wrong, but I've come to expect so much more from him, and here's where I foolishly compare the two seasons with each other. The S1 had many moments that were true heavy hitters, something that was lacking in S2, even though there were a few. S1 was honed and polished until it shone lie an evil jewel, and S2 is more like an alternative, more brutal take on The Wire. Not that being compared to The Wire is in any way a bad thing, it's just that these are two different shows, and should remain so.

Over all, season 2 is absolutely worth watching as long as you are thoroughly aware that it is not season 1 and never will be. Had the two seasons been switched, with S1 as S2, I think the pressure on Mr. Pizzolatto to create season 3 would be inhuman. Season 1 is better, yes, but season 2 is good. Go watch it.

That's it good folks, until next time, have a truly nice week!

Zombie Fairy Tales

A couple of weeks ago, BookBub informed me that a book called Zombie Fairy Tales: TheComplete Collection was on sale.

My first reaction was: Really, it's zombie fairy tales now? But I also remembered how much I enjoyed both Pride, Prejudice & Zombies, as well as it's prequel Dawn of the Dreadfuls. So I decided that a dollar wasn't too much of gamble and I picked it up.

I can without hyperbole state that it is a fantastic book, really amazing. Kevin Richey has done an incredible job seamlessly weaving together all the different fairy tales into one open, shared world and then unleashing the zombies in the mix.

I'm by no means a stranger to zombie fiction, but I found things in this book that were new and interesting to me. What really caught my fancy though, was how so many of these over-familiar stories like Cinderella, Pinocchio, Red Riding Hood, Beauty and The Beast etc. are combined with characters like Bluebeard, The Headless Horseman and Countess Bathory, and it just works. Then when you add zombies and plague to the mix, all hell breaks loose.

When I say all hell, I truly mean it. This is the goriest book I've read in years. Even though it doesn't dwell too much on the grisly carnage, there's something gruesome on almost every page. If that's a problem for you, stay far away from Zombie Fairy Tales.

But to be fair, the gore is necessary. If Mr. Richey had left it out, the book would have been too dry and dull. Besides, the original versions of the classic fairy tales were brutal, sometimes in the extreme.

The way in which all these characters live (and die) in one shared world is wonderful. This means that as the book progresses, the story becomes more convoluted without ever becoming complicated. Each chapter is sort of stand alone, but most characters show up more frequently as the book continues, but never just for show. There's always a reason.

I really can't explain too much more without running into spoiler territory, but if any of what I just said sounds interesting, please read this book. You won't be sorry.

That's all he wrote for this time, so until we see each other again, have a great week!

Trailers pt. 2

Last week we talked a bit about the history of the movie trailer. This week we focus on different kinds of trailers.

First up we should separate them into three different camps; honest, misleading and dishonest trailers.

An honest trailer shows you what the movie is about, plain and simple. There's not much else to say, except that the biggest problem an honest trailer can have is when it shows too much. I still remember when I went to the movies back in 1996 and saw the trailer for The Rock. I turned to my friend and told him that this was either the whole movie or it would be the best action film of all time. As it turned out, it was pretty much the whole movie.

Misleading trailers don't outright lie, but they present a distorted version of the film. Like showing a scene with a famous actor, giving the impression that (s)he is prominently featured in the film, when in reality that is the only scene the actor is present.

There is a fine line between the misleading trailer and the dishonest trailer. But when it is crossed, you do not get to see the film you thought you were going to. Studios usually use these when a famous actor is riding high on a particular genre, but suddenly makes a movie that's very different. They know that audiences will flock to see a new movie like the previous ones so they shift the trailers focus and outright lie.

Studios also lie in the trailer if they become concerned that the audience won't like a movie, but since it's already made they can't shelve it without loosing all their money.

An example of when the trailer shows scenes that aren't in the film at all is Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988). The trailer shows Steve Martin pushing a small boy off a pier into the water, while Michael Caine shoves an ice-cream into a girls face, all while strolling down the street. This scene is not in the film.

Apart from these three categories we have the teaser trailer. The teaser is usually cut together from early footage and it's sole function is to give you a rough idea of the movie. Just enough to whet your appetite, or as the name implies, to tease you. Teasers can be misleading and dishonest, but they are usually so short and abstract that it's unfair to categorize them as such.

If you remember last weeks post, I mentioned that the Jazz Singer had a seven minute trailer. Now these days that's impossible, partially because no advertiser would make a commercial that long, but also because the MPAA forbids it. According to them, a trailer can be no longer than two and a half minutes long. Every major studio gets to exceed this once per year, and only if it is really necessary.

Apart from the length of the trailers, the MPAA also hands out the so called bands for the trailers. Not musical bands, mind you, but the usually green splash screen that appears before the trailer starts. The following preview has been approved... you know how they go. The green band denotes a trailer that conforms to all MPAA's rigid demands concerning content, including profanity, nudity, violence etc.

If the trailer does not conform, it gets a red band, denoting that it's for mature audiences only. You may have seen these though they are fairly rare, if not as rare as the yellow band, intended for internet only trailers. The yellow band is so rare, that I can't find more than screenshots of them.

Now I'm not saying that making a trailer is in any way easy, but it seems to me that Hollywood is getting worse at making them. It seems that the trailer for the newest Terminator film, Genisys, spoils the major twist in the movie. Yeah, that's smart... Sure I prefer an honest trailer above all, but don't spoil the twist, or even hint that there is a twist.

That's it for this subject and today's post. So until next time, have a great week!

Trailers pt.1

Trailers, we've all seen trailers. Love them or hate them, they are an essential part of the film industry. However you feel about them, trailers are as old as cinema itself, right? Or, in fact older, if you accept that the first trailer was for the theater.

In 1913, Nils Granlund handled advertising for the Loew Theater chain and in November that year he produced a short film as advertising for The pleasure seekers. It was made up of actual rehearsal footage, and it became a huge success, setting a trend for the cinema that's, still today, extremely active.

In those days, trailers were shown after the movie, thus the name trailer as they trailed after the feature presentation, but the problem was that the audience tended to leave after the film was done. Therefore they started showing them before the film, to what is essentially a captive audience.

Of course, the earliest days of cinema was the silent era, so it wasn't until the talkies came along, pioneered by The Jazz Singer (generally considered the first talkie) in 1927 that trailers started to bloom. The jazz singer had a whopping seven minute long trailer, something unthinkable by today's standards.

As the film makers got more used to making trailers, they added a new feature to them, or rather between them: cartoons. The perhaps greatest example of these were the old Looney Tunes shorts. If you ever wondered why Bugs, Daffy, etc. sometimes addresses the theater, it's for this reason. They were never intended to be seen at home.

From between approximately 1920 to the end of the 50's all trailers were made by National Screen Service, who had ironclad contracts with everyone on Hollywood. These trailers invariably show scenes from the film covered with huge letters like THE GREATEST LOVE STORY EVER TOLD and dramatic stuff like that, and they were accompanied by voice overs equally bombastic.

With the eventual demise of the NSS, trailers started to become more artistic and unpredictable. Stanley Kubrick led the way here with his trailer for Doctor Strangelove, but it wasn't until Spielberg’s Jaws in 1975 that the trailer starts to look modern in our eyes. Jaws is basically the first blockbuster, and it's only fitting that it's trailers were equally groundbreaking. Universal used $1.8 million promoting the film, including an incredible $700,000 on television advertising alone with two dozen 30-second advertisements airing each night on prime-time TV.

Other noteworthy trailers at the time were Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, George Lucas's Star Wars and Ridley Scott's Alien. The modern trailer was well and truly born.

Here the history of the trailer becomes a bit muddy, but standouts include Independence Day for showing a major spoiler (the white house being destroyed) and The Blair Witch Project for breaking open the door for the found footage genre, with the added bonus of using the internet as a part of the trailer campaign.

Naturally the scope of this post is woefully inadequate to properly analyze this subject, so I have to cut it short here. We'll continue next time, so until then, have a great week!

Party Time

This weekend past, I went to a LAN party. We barbequed, sipped drinks, laughed ourselves silly and most prominently, played games. After all, that's' what a LAN party is for. A great weekend all in all.

Naturally the best laid plans never work out as intended, and although we had a list of games to play, we spent way too much time trying to figure out exactly what to play.

The standout game for me has to be The Ship. Imagine a luxury cruise set in the 1920's, just like on Poirot. Now imagine everyone is trying to kill someone else. This is The Ship.

The tension comes from trying to find your target in an unobserved area, and then brutally exterminating them with a plethora of weapons from candlesticks to Tommy-guns.

Since everyone is hunting someone, it means you are also being hunted, and on several occasions, I was just about to murder my victim when I was viciously massacred from behind. Very tense and absolutely hilarious. Although if you are super competitive, I think you might find The Ship more frustrating than fun. I absolutely loved it.

I also tried Project Reality, a modern military shooter. Now, I'm not partial to this genre, but PR is free so I thought I'd try it anyway. I'm still not partial to the genre, but I get what this game is for. It's not a twitch reflex FPS, it's a slower paced tactical shooter, but even so, it's not for me. The learning curve on PR is very steep, and I lack the passion needed to mount the curve and get good at this game. For me it's running around for five minutes and then getting killed by an enemy I didn't even see. But if the modern military shooters are your cup of tea, go check it out.

Having stayed up way too late the entire weekend, I'm naturally pretty damn tired, so I'm cutting it short today.

Until next time, have a fantastic week!

I am not a crook...

OK, I bet you're wondering why I'm blogging on a Saturday, right?

Well the truth is, I'm going out of town for a couple of days, and I simply don't trust Blogger to publish my post if I put it on a timer. So, you're getting your weekly dose of Eccentricity and Spheres today.

I read yesterday that apparently all the official papers on the JFK assassination will be released in 2017. Of course, as one eloquent redditor put it, “I bet redacted did it”. Wouldn't surprise me...

But it got me thinking, and I remembered a great documentary series on Youtube concerning another fascinating event in American politics, the Watergate Scandal.

Since I'm pretty busy today (and my brain won't accept blogging on Saturdays) I thought you all might like to see it.

The really interesting aspect of this multi-part series are all the interviews with the actual people involved. This is not people talking about what other people did. Oh no, it's frank interviews with Nixon, Liddy, Halderman, Hunt etc...

So if that's your cup of tea, get ready for some amazing stuff.

I'm not embedding the videos here, just follow the links instead.

Until next Monday have a great week!

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmxyM7ptKq4

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIXFJVmdgEg

Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9R--FUOeM8

Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SWPNked0dQ

Part 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_RYJJWZOXE