Far Harbor

Sometimes life takes a strange turn. I waited a year and a half, with baited breath, for the release of Dishonored 2, an yet Fallout 4 refuses to let go. This is made much worse due to Steam having an extra Autumn sale and allowing me to get my Lovecraft-loving claws on the Fallout 4 DLC, Far Harbor, on the cheap.

So since that's what been playing, that's what I'll be talking about. I have previously bought the all build DLC, except the robot workshop, that add extra stuff for you to putter around with in your bases, and they are a lot of fun. I can say this even though I have essentially only scratched the surface. If you're not a builder, they don't add much, but Far Harbor does.

Far Harbor is an island infested with radioactive fog and nasty terrors from the sea that happily walk on land just to eat you. It's a bit like taking Lovecraft's Innsmouth setting, adding a dash of Stephen King's The Mist, and serving it with a healthy dose of Fallout. In other words, it's great!

Content wise, apart from the large explorable map and the intriguing story, it adds lots of new weapons and clothes, though unfortunately no new pistols. Two excellent rifles, the wonderful Harpoon Gun heavy weapon and some really cool melee weapons round out the arsenal. New creatures, new everything really. Well, perhaps not everything, but it's a hefty DLC worth it's price without question.

If you like Fallout 4, you should definitely get Far Harbor at some point. I can't imagine why you wouldn't.

I got a lot to do today, so I'll see you next time. Until then, have a great week!

Bloody hell...

Some time ago I wrote about a couple of older crime movies that I had been watching. Well, I decided to again return to the shadowy halls of cinema history and watch:

The Bloody Pit of Horror (1965).

Some are of the opinion that it's a classic film that horror connoisseurs should watch, but my question is, why? It's terrible and I have a very good tolerance for terrible horror films.

Sure it shows it's age, but that's no excuse. Roger Corman's The Tomb of Ligeia and Masque of the Red Death are both from 1964 and they are awesome. Campy as hell, but in my opinion, very good. So the Bloody Pit can't hide behind age as an excuse.

The fact is that the acting is either non existent or completely over the top. The props are cheap and incredibly poorly made. The story is fine as it goes, but certainly nothing original. Of course it didn't help my viewing experience that the dubbing was atrocious. (The original language is Italian).

The biggest sin is the writing. If you and your friends are in mortal danger and a couple have been killed, why would you grab a member of your group who has no idea of what's going and repeatedly say “There's no time to explain” while leading her away? “What's going on?” and “There's no time to explain” repeats back and forth several times. Just say, “we're in danger, so and so is dead, we have to leave now.” is this so hard?

Bottom line: The Bloody Pit of Horror is in my opinion worth skipping. If you're going for some kind of completionist record, fine, otherwise skip it.

The one interesting bit is the only famous actor; Mickey Hargitay. In the bloody pit, he plays the villain, and seems to be the only one who really tries. But that's not the interesting part.

He was Mr. Universe in 1955 and his second wife was none other than Jayne Mansfield. One of their children is Mariska Hargitay, most famous for her role as Olivia Benson in Law&Order: Special Victims Unit.

His final screen appearance was on Law&Order: SVU with his daughter in 2003 before dying in 2006 at the age of 80.

In 1980 a TV movie, The Jayne Mansfield story was produced with fellow Mr. Universe alumni Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mickey.

Funny world we live in...

That's me until next time, so have a great week!

That was short

Shorter entry today since I'm pressed for time.

Originally it was my plan to review Dishonored 2 today, but I haven't played far enough in order to be properly critical.

I'm 17 hours into my first playthrough with Emily Kaldwin, and I'll just say this: I love it. I'll get back to the subject when I'm done with her story, probably next week.

Instead I have a really funny short film for you. It's about seven minutes long and narrated by Nick Offerman (Parks&Rec, Fargo etc).

I should warn you that it's strictly speaking not safe for work, so don't let your boss catch you watching this.

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXfltmzRG-g

That's me for now, so until next time, have a great week! 

Did you know?

Winter has struck and seized the land in it's icy grasp. Since I'm not the type to enjoy winter sports, I thought I'd enjoy some interesting facts instead. And since it's Monday I can share them with you. Enjoy!

The most expensive comic book ever sold is Action Comics Issue 1. This is the first appearance of Superman and it was sold at an eye watering 3.2 million dollars. The first appearance of Spiderman only went for 1.1 millions and Batman's premier clocks in at $1,075,000. Super prices for superheroes.

Speaking of money, the richest drug king on record was Pablo Escobar, who at the height of his power had an estimated net worth of $30 billion. He controlled 80% of the global cocaine trade and had to spend thousands of dollars a month on rubber bands to sort his money. He also lost hundreds of thousands to mold, moisture and rodents, due to his inability to properly store his mountain of cash.

Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev went up to the MIR station a Soviet citizen but came down a Russian. The Soviet union disappeared during the 313 days he was up in space.

In the UK, the British Film Board or BBFC has to rate movies before they can be released. If you make a movie you have to pay the BBFC to rate it or you can never release it. A man called Charles Lyne kickstarted a movie in protest of the BBFC's censorship powers. He raised £5,963 and sent in a ten hour film of paint drying on a wall. The kicker? The BBFC had to sit through every grueling hour of it.

Famous actor James “Jimmy” Stewart (1908-1997) was not only a Hollywood star but also a USAF reserve Brigadier General. He had a whole lot of stars.

Australia has a great many dangerous animals. Sharks, spiders, snakes, venomous octopuses etc. but the most dangerous animals in Australia are as follows: horses, cows, dogs, kangaroos, and bees.

One of the reasons the Beatles stopped touring was that the enormous crowds screamed louder than the loudspeakers. No one could actually hear them play.

Stress uses the same part of the brain as memory, which is why people with stress perform worse. Which leads to more stress.

The athletic brands Adidas and Puma were founded by two brothers who had a falling out and became competitors.

Birmingham, UK has more canals than Venice, but I doubt they are as romantic...

That's it for me and my odd facts for this time. Until next we meet, have a fun and interesting week!