She's a witch!

I finally watched:

The Witch (2015).

Written and directed by Robert Eggers (The Lighthouse, Nosferatu), this horror movie is more of an experience than a regular film.

Set in New England in the 1630's, a family leaves / is exiled from their community due to religious differences. The family consists of the father William, the mother Katherine, the eldest daughter Thomasin, her younger brother Caleb as well as the twins Jonas and Mercy and the infant Samuel. They set up a farm on the edge of a dark forest and try to survive. Things soon take a sinister turn.

The Witch or to be more exact The VVitch (since W wasn't a thing back then) was meticulously researched and is as much as possible based on books, letters and diaries from the period. Likewise the props department did an outstanding job getting the costumes as correct as possible.

The downside of this is that the dialogue is all thees and thous, which is fine, but I'm not used to listening to it and when a scene has pouring rain and someone screaming in the background, it becomes hard to follow the dialogue.

The Witch is one of the bleakest looking movies I have ever seen. It is shot in color, but it almost feels like black and white, as all the colors are washed out. This together with the excellent soundtrack creates an incredibly doom laden atmosphere, which is appropriate for the plot.

The actors deserve a special shout-out for their excellence. Ralph Ineson (William) and Kate Dickie (Katherine) are great, but they are veteran actors so no surprise there. The stand outs are Anya Taylor-Joy (Thomasin) and Harvey Scrimshaw (Caleb). Both were in the early stages of their careers and do an incredible job, particularly Scrimshaw who was only thirteen and the time. Caleb is a hard role for such a young actor, and he knocks it out of the park.

I think it's important to reiterate that The Witch is more an experience than a regular movie. Not only is it confusing at times, but I found it almost impossible to predict what would happen, something I love in a movie as long as things make sense.

What I do find weird is that it was apparently Eggers intent that the happenings would be ambiguous, in other words that it may be a real witch or that it could be superstition and religious hysteria. But since you see the witch, the uncertainty falls apart. I have seen movies that operate under the “is it / isn't it” method, and The Witch is in my opinion not one of those.

So, do I recommend The VVitch? Yes, it is incredible. Just as The Lighthouse, it left me both a bit bewildered and very impressed. I was afraid that it would have been too oppressive with accusations and denouncements together with lots of beatings in the vein of “spare the rod, spoil the child”, but I was pleasantly surprised. The characters are mostly likable which makes the tragedies hit harder. Make no mistake, this is a horror movie, but not what normally comes to mind when one says horror.

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

 

Too many options.

When you decide to play a new game that has too many options, whether of the video or tabletop variety, you may run into the problem of analysis paralysis.

I'll give you a couple of examples. In Blood Bowl you have to pick a team. In Total War you have to pick a faction/nation. In Cyberpunk 2077 you have to pick a life path and a character build. These are the games currently spinning around in my head, but there are so many others. In Magic the Gathering you have to pick a color or colors for your deck, in Warmachine you pick an army, in chess you pick... no there are only two choices in chess. I'm sure you get the idea by now.

So how do you pick a side? This is my system.

Step 1. The Rule of Cool.

What looks the coolest to you? Which style speaks to you the most?

In Total War Warhammer, I went with the Vampire Counts first, because I like fantasy Gothic and the undead, simple as that. In Blood Bowl I went with Dark Elves. On my first Cyberpunk 2077 character I went with a nomad and stealth and pistols.

In these examples I had an idea that it would work, because I knew a little about the games, but my choices were based mostly on style.

Step 2. Playstyle.

What kind of playstyle speaks to you the most?

In Blood Bowl, some teams are slow, tough and hit hard, some are fast, agile and dodge trouble and some are a hybrid. In Total War Warhammer, some factions are masters of ranged combat (usually the elves), some are slow and “indestructible” (dwarves) and some do both (Empire). In Cyberpunk 2077, you can't spec your character into everything, so you need to choose the style you need. Fast brutal frontal assault or sneaky precise infiltration? Quick hacks or a time slowing sandevistan?

Before making a choice try to look at how the faction you like the looks of, actually plays in reality. 

 

Step 3. Try Again.

Never be afraid to start over and try another team.

Sometimes Step 1 and 2 don't fit together at all. You may really like the aesthetics of a faction but hate the way they play. This is when you have to re-evaluate. In video games that is easy enough, just grab the next team/faction etc. and try again, but in tabletop that is harder. After all, if you have just put a couple of hundred monies on an army and you don't like it you can't switch just like that.

This is when research becomes important. Read some guides and watch some games before you decide, and you'll be in a better position. If you are talking about video games like I am, then starting over is completely valid. There is no point in forcing yourself to finish a game with a team you don't like just to be stubborn. Re-roll and be happy.

Step 4. Research.

This final rule may seem like a bit of an obvious point to make, but watch some videos before you decide, particularly with strategy games. Story driven games like RPG's can be spoiled, but strategy games are all about the experience. Then again, you should probably do a bit of research before you put down your hard earned money on any game.

Hopefully this is of some help to someone, your method may be different, but this is how I like to do it.

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

 

Who makes the blood flow?

When it comes to the wide world of horror and sci-fi movies, special effects are beyond important. Creepy aliens, gushing blood and dramatic fights would be nowhere without the creative geniuses who apply the makeup and the effects. 

Some names will live forever in this world, names like Rick Baker, Bud Westmore, Dick Smith and Stan Winston. Today I have a documentary about two others, Tom Savini and Greg Nicotero. 

Be advised that this video contains disturbing images, so if that's not your thing, stay away. There may also be some spoilers, well known spoilers but be aware.

That said, enjoy, and join me again next time. Until then, have a great week!

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOaqAVwFr5Y 

 

 

Too intimidated to try.

As a bit of a Christmas present to myself, I bought Total War: Warhammer One and Two together with some of the DLC. As an old school Warhammer Fantasy fan, I've been eyeing these games for years. So why haven't I gotten them before? A small part of the answer is money, huge games are expensive, and I hate paying a lot for something I'm not even sure I'll like, but the discounts on the Steam Winter Sale were really good.

The bigger part of the answer though, is intimidation. I'm not much of a strategy player to begin with, and the Total War games are in themselves a bit daunting. I did play Total War: Empire ten years ago, and it was fun but I never went back. Now I figured it was time to get back on the warhorse.

That is the topic for today, being too intimidated to try something you want. This can cover anything really, learning a new language, taking up sewing, joining a club etc, but I'm looking at it through the lens of gaming.

When I first fired up Cyberpunk 2077 it intimidated me in no time flat. Everything seemed threatening, and I had no idea what kind of consequences my actions would have. Then I did the tutorial which appears just before your first proper mission and wow that was a lot to take in! Sneaking, hacking, quickhacking, melee with parrying and dodging, cybernetics and so on and so on. I closed the game and it was over a year before I tried again, but now it is one of my all time favorite games. It is absolutely superb! What I came to eventually realize is that you can't do everything in Cyberpunk, you also don't need to even try to. Don't feel like melee? Stick to guns. Annoyed at hacking? Get a time slowing Sandevistan and kill your enemies in slow motion. Once I understood this, I was liberated and free to just have fun.

Back in 2010 I watched a Skyrim preview event and saw the hero dual wield weapons, sling spells and cause a storm that forced a dragon to land before killing said dragon. Epic stuff, but I wondered how I was ever going to manage all that. Turns out that none of it was difficult once you got a bit of practice, and certainly nothing you had to do immediately. I have over 1000 hours in Skyrim across several versions.

I have never been a Soulsborne player, in part because of the intimidation factor. FromSoft are geniuses at making their enemies terrifying. The most likely first boss in Bloodborne, The Cleric Beast is a perfect example. How it looks, how it moves and definitely how it sounds are all intended to scare you into screwing up and failing. But if you look at an experienced player you'll see that they are not intimidated. They know what they are doing and although you can never let down you guard in games like Bloodborne, they can kill The Cleric Beast with ease.

Getting over the intimidation factor isn't always easy, but at least in games you can ask “what do I have to loose?”. Time is the answer. Even if you screw up so badly that you have to restart the game, you have learned something, which is never a waste of time.

Applying this logic to other parts of our lives isn't an exact comparison. If you're learning to sew, the fabric can get ruined if you really mess up, but with all learning, you need to start small, start with raw materials you can sacrifice on the altar of knowledge and try. Theory and Practice are two different things.

This brings me back to Total War: Warhammer. I have watched a lot of lets play's from different creators. What they have in common is practice and lots of it which makes it looks so easy. Then I fire up the game and nothing works like what I saw, and of course it didn't. I haven't practiced yet, but I'm getting there.

I'm not sure I've made any sense today, this is just something I wanted to get off my chest. I guess I want to encourage you to do something you've wanted to, but haven't yet. Besides, if you mess up, you don't have to tell anyone.

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

 

The Odessa File

Over Christmas, I read:

The Odessa File (1972),

by Frederick Forsyth, the same author who wrote The Day of the Jackal. In The Odessa File, our hero is Peter Miller, a young German freelance reporter. He mainly works for picture magazines, and earns a good living doing so. He even drives a black Jaguar, which is his pride and joy.

One night, on a whim he follows an ambulance looking for a story. In the process he gets his hands on a journal written by a Jewish man who was in the Riga ghetto during WWII. The journal chronicles everything the man saw, including all the atrocities. Central to the journal is SS captain Eduard Roschmann, the commander of the ghetto, and when Miller finds out Roschmann is apparently both alive and free as a bird he sets out to take him down.

The Odessa File is written with Forsyth's usual smooth free flowing style. It never gets bogged down, even when laying down lots of information at once. A lesser author would have been info-dumping, but Forsyth is more than skilled enough to keep it going while never stumbling.

The subject matter is actually based on real facts. There was a real Odessa, which stands for Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen, meaning: Organization of Former SS Members. Likewise, several SS officers like Roschmann, Glücks, and a man known only as Werwolf but is likely supposed to have been Hans-Adolf Prützmann were real people. Forsyth details how these men got out of Europe and down to Argentina, and these escape methods were actually used, so despite being a fictional novel, you can learn a thing or two from reading The Odessa File.

From beginning to end, The Odessa File was a real good read. The pacing is excellent, with no boring parts, and there was only one part that annoyed me. Mild Spoiler: At one point, Miller gets help in order to infiltrate Odessa, which takes some time, and then he promptly ruins it by insisting on driving his Jaguar, meaning that whole part was sort of a waste of time. Forsyth does weave it all together so that the story doesn't suffer in the least, but it bothered me that it happened at all.

The Odessa File was made into a movie in 1974 starring Jon Voight as Miller, but I haven't had time to watch it. I do know that the novel and the movie together made enough of a stir, that the real Roschmann was suddenly found dead in Argentina. It is speculated that Odessa killed him to quiet things down, but this is unverified.

So, do I recommend The Odessa File? If you haven't figured it out yet, then yes, absolutely. I hate the term 'unputdownable' but The Odessa File was close to that. If The Day of the Jackal gave me the impression that Frederick Forsyth was a master author, The Odessa File absolutely confirmed it.

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

 

'Tis the Season

Hello and welcome to Eccentric Spheres.

The holidays are upon us, and fun as they are, sometimes we need a small break from the festivities. I still wanted to give you a laugh so I found some old (and I do mean old) but brilliant British comedy sketches. 

Hopefully you'll enjoy them and I wish you all a very Happy Holiday! Join me again next time for the last post of the year. Stay safe and have a great time!  

 

Argo

I just read:

Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood pulled off the most audacious rescue in history (2012).

This book is written by Anthony Mendez and Matt Baglio and is a true account of the events.

Some backstory: in 1979, Iranian militants stormed the US embassy in Tehran and took the staff hostage, demanding the return of the Shah who had fled to the US after being ousted from power. In the chaos, the militants forgot about the US consulate, and six individuals managed to escape. Desperate, they took refuge with the British, until they too were in hot water, but luckily the six managed to find refuge with the Canadians.

Anthony 'Tony' Mendez, was in charge of the Office of Technical Services in the CIA, and was tasked with getting the six, called the House Guests, out of Iran safely. Together with an old friend from Hollywood who did prosthetics and masks for both Mission Impossible and The Planet of the Apes, Tony comes up with and executes a magnificent operation to rescue the House Guests.

This book, being co-written by Tony himself is a joy to read. The language flows well and you never get bogged down in unnecessary details, all without sacrificing depth or detail. You get an interesting glimpse into parts of the CIA in the 70's, as well as parts of Hollywood and the world in general.

Now, I'm not naive enough to blindly believe everything a veteran officer of the CIA says, just because he says it. That out of the way, I don't think too much was left out or changed. The case became big news in time, and Tony was even interviewed by Walter Cronkite some years later. It is a fact that Tony, for some reason changed the name of his Hollywood friend. Why, I don't know. After all, his effects credits are common knowledge.

So, do I recommend this book? Yes, absolutely. Not only is it well written and the content interesting, but with world events being what they are, it gives some background into why some things are the way they are. I generally dislike terms like page-turner, but in the case of Argo, it is true. I stayed awake too long, too many nights because the book was too hard to put down.

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