tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68240636726122537782024-03-20T00:10:00.443-04:00The Pumpkin SocietyMy thoughts on movies, comics, games, and life.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.comBlogger298125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-46141185355296430662014-01-27T06:30:00.000-05:002014-01-27T06:30:02.523-05:00The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: The Tomorrow People Rumble<div style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: verdana, arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;">
Rumble is the newest episode of the Tomorrow People and it represents a return of some of the worst elements of the show.</div>
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We follow three story lines in this episode. We have the return of a person from Cara's past. He is a nihilist that sees humans as nothing but bumps in the road of his own ascension. On the Ultra front, we are introduced to a few trainees and get to see what happens if you are a Tomorrow Person and don't make the cut. Jedekiah makes the solemn pronouncement that they are all still being judged. Finally, we have the predicament of Charlotte. She was rescued from the Citadel and is having horrible dreams that hurt everyone around her.</div>
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On to the Review!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;"><a data-mce-href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/o-THE-TOMORROW-PEOPLE-570.jpg" href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/o-THE-TOMORROW-PEOPLE-570.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;"><img alt="o-THE-TOMORROW-PEOPLE-570" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-22779" data-mce-src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/o-THE-TOMORROW-PEOPLE-570-200x300.jpg" height="300" src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/o-THE-TOMORROW-PEOPLE-570-200x300.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; cursor: default; float: left; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;" width="200" /></a>The Good:</strong></div>
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The Charlotte story line is by far the best thing about this episode. She was rescued from a lab where she was kept prisoner and experimented on. This has caused great trauma that is being expressed through her powers. The rest of the group is ostracizing her for the pain that she is inadvertently causing them. It provides a good set up for the making it easier to connect with these characters. </div>
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John steps up and takes her under his wing and uses his past treatment by Ultra as a point of connection with Charlotte. He shows her how to take the pain and anguish and turn it around and make it something useful. I know that this is a trite convention but I really liked seeing it here. It made me like john more and this is something he could definitely use.</div>
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The expected finesse added to this story is still nice. The main villain of the piece has gathered a gang of thugs about him that are capable of fighting until the point of almost killing. The Tomorrow People confront his gang, hence the episode title Rumble, and the tide starts to turn against them. A few of the group gather around Tara while the rest teleport away. They then teleport away revealing Charlotte who then incapacitates most everyone present with her newly mastered ability. A nice cap to good story.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">The Bad:</strong></div>
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The whole trainee thing just didn't work for me. I think we are supposed to think that Stephen is really at risk of being de-powered if he fails but it never really fits. This same point is used for a driver of one of the other trainees as well. She confronts him with the fact that he isn't really at risk in this trial but then proceeds to find ways to get one over on him. This makes even less sense to me. There are multiple occasions where Stephen confronts both his Uncle and the Founder with almost no repercussions. If you are playing crafty to find an edge on Stephen, this would be a major red flag. When she sees him teleporting away with Astrid, I don't feel any tension. I just feel bad that she is being written so poorly.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">The Ugly:</strong></div>
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This episode mark the return of one of the ugliest things about this series, the flashback opening. Flashbacks aren't bad in and of themselves. They are just bad in how they are used in this show. We are always taken back to be shown something horrible. Each time this happens we are shown something horrible about one of the main characters that makes me like them a little less. </div>
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This time we are shown Cara falling in with the villain of the piece and his girlfriend. Yes, we get to see the bad guy being a bad guy but we get that throughout the episode. What we learn here is that most of how Cara and the Tomorrow People live is from how the bad guy lived. On top of this, we get to see Cara get someone killed for no good reason.</div>
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The trio has broken into a rich persons house and are robbing him. the resident stumbles upon them and they tie him up. They leave him with Cara as the continue to fleece the place of valuables. The bound man convinces a telepath that he has a heart condition and that they are going to kill him. She lets him go and then he kills the villain's girlfriend. </div>
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It just makes no sense. Cara knows she none of them can actually kill him and can read his mind to know that he is lying. The whole premise of the show is based on something that makes no sense whatsoever. It gives me a headache just thinking about it.</div>
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I have high hopes for the next episode that we will see more fall into the good category and nothing in the Ugly category. The show had been doing so much better that I hope this is just an anomaly.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-62353876899575263812014-01-20T07:00:00.000-05:002014-01-20T07:00:12.521-05:00The Good, The Bad, the Ugly: The Tomorrow People The Citadel<div style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: verdana, arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL.jpg" href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;"><img alt="The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-22811" data-mce-src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL-209x300.jpg" height="300" src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL-209x300.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; cursor: default; float: left; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;" width="209" /></a>The Citadel marks the mid-season premier of The Tomorrow People. The previous episode had ended with a tremendous cliffhanger. Stephen had asked John and Cara to help him get as close to death as possible to see if he could re-enter limbo and speak with his father again. We had faded to black as the group struggled to get his heart beating again.</div>
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The Citadel opens with Stephen in Limbo and having a conversation with his father. he learns that he needs to find his father's body and is given a lead in the name of Simon Plame. his investigation is interrupted on all fronts. In regards to the Tomorrow People, John reveals his perfidy to the group which provokes a challenge to his leadership. Ultra sees a breakout from their secret research facility and his family life is disrupted as his mother starts dating.</div>
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On to the review!</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">The Good:</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;"></strong>Watching the continued fallout from John's revelation is entertaining. He reveals everything that has happened to the group at large with predictable results. We get to see how the Tomorrow People deal with leadership changes. I'll talk more about this in the bad section, You'll see why. The doubts that he has created in everyone's mind insures that john is able to withstand any challenge to his leadership and Cara is given the reigns. I really liked seeing actions having consequences when this has not been the standard for this show.</div>
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The entire Citadel subplot of this episode is interesting. We have learned previously that Ultra does experiments on the breakouts that it takes in and that this research is not without collateral damage. It is very clear that this is not being done at their headquarters and the addition of the citadel clears up this mystery very neatly. Errol, the crazed escapee, givens an excellent performance as well. He has been tortured and experimented on and wants to find out what has happened to his wife. Unlike the rest of the one shot guests, He was a character I easily identified with and came to care about. I knew what was going to happen but it didn't diminish the effects a bit.</div>
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Cara begins her tenure as leader by leading an assault on the Citadel. This gives another cool combat sequence between the Tomorrow People and the powered agents of Ultra. I find that we do not get enough of these in this series so when they do happen I am overjoyed. When they get into the Citadel, things go pear shaped. They are unable to open any of the cells to free the prisoners and an Ultra team arrives. The team struggles to free the poor little girl that features prominently in Errol's memories. Cara is finally able to break Charlotte's cell open bot be confronted by Jedekiah. In this standoff, Errol interposes himself between the women and Jedekiah. He shoots him in the head and it is like a punch to the gut.</div>
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There are two little Easter eggs that were also cute as well. Errol is able to escape with the help of a fellow inmate. The giggling inmate, Miggs, has ripped off his hand so that Errol could escape. I know, I know, it is stupid. This is all kinds of wrong but I liked the joke that it engendered and that he was called Miggs. There is also a very Star Wars moment when they are in the Citadel and things are going wrong and Russell answers a radio call in the prison's control room.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">The Bad:</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;"></strong>Once again, we get another episode where Jedekiah is put in the power of John. He has just killed Errol and has Cara in his sights. John doesn't take the shot and the reason is the moral high ground. This just rings so false with all that has been revealed about John over the course of this season so far. Each time this type of scene occurs I just wonder why he just doesn't pull the trigger. There is no good reason for him not to take this action. We need to be given a more solid reason for Jedekiah to be kept alive or just quit putting him under the power of John.</div>
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We also get to see Stephen's mother dating in this episode. his reaction is the expected "What about Dad?" His brother has to point out that it has been ten years and it is time for mom to move on. Really, the little brother has to be the one to point this crap out? Stephen knows that his father is trapped in another dimension and had been hunted by his own brother prior. There is absolutely no reason for him to begrudge his mother some happiness. On top of this, Her new boyfriend is obviously a powerful telepath which is even more annoying.</div>
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Lest I forget, The Tomorrow People handle voting using candles. The candles are lit by telekinesis and then each person stand before the two people who are up for leadership. They announce telepathically whom they are voting for and telekinetically move a candle in front of them. I'm sure there is someone that thought that this looked good on paper but it just comes across as pretty lame on the screen. It ranks right up there with the trial by combat of an earlier episode.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">The Ugly:</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;"></strong>The whole limbo story line is pretty ugly. It requires a rare power to be able t o attempt to travel there. On top of the rare power, it requires the use of this rare power at right before death to enter. If you come back from limbo, there is no telepathic proof that you have even been there. It really seems like they are running with the idea that one can store their consciousness outside of the body under these freak circumstances hence the search for Stephen's Father's body. If it was just a side effect of the grief over losing his father, this wouldn't be quite so bad. Sadly it isn't playing out that way.</div>
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Still, I enjoyed the episode and think that it keeps getting better. I am looking forward to the next one.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-40641494014268248382014-01-17T10:19:00.000-05:002014-01-17T10:20:02.409-05:00The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Seeds<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
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Let me start off this post with an apology. I missed reviewing the episode entitled The Magical Place due to not being able to watch the episode. I'll touch on this in the Ugly part of the review for this week's episode. I'm working on making sure that this doesn't happen again.</div>
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Let's dive into this weeks episodes.</div>
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Seeds is very much a fallout episode. In the recap at the beginning of the episode we get to see that Coulson has learned what it took to bring him back from the dead. This has very much left him a shaken man with questions about who and what he is. The main thrust of this episode is the investigation of a series of attacks at S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy. While Skye, Ward, Fitz, and Simmons investigate the happenings at the academy, May and Coulson split off to follow a lead in regards to Skye's parents. Violence and revelations ensue.</div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo.jpg" href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo.jpg"><img alt="Agents_of_SHIELD_logo" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1765" data-mce-src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo-300x216.jpg" src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo-300x216.jpg" height="216" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; float: left;" width="300" /></a>The Good:</div>
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The best parts of this episode involve May and Coulson. Despite the programming that he has been given to strive to live and move forward, Coulson is mired in depression and doubt over his new self-awareness. Watching May struggle to get him back to some semblance of normalcy is touching. I especially like when she reveals the conflicted relationship she now has with Ward to Coulson while in Mexico City. It maintains the trajectory of making these well rounded characters instead of the cardboard cutouts which they were in the first few episodes to the show.</div>
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Since the beginning of the series, Skye's parents have been a continuing mystery that I didn't really care about. This changes in this episode. May and Coulson are able to track down an Agent that was presumed dead that was connected to the drop off of Skye at the orphanage. This is why they fly off to Mexico City in the middle of an investigation. They discover that Skye was the object being investigated when everything went wrong. The agent that died while placing her at the orphanage was just the first of a long line of agents killed to find Skye. He points out that those caring for Skye were instructed to keep her on the move to keep her safe from whomever was trying to capture her. At first, Coulson and May decide to keep this information secret as well for fear of what it might do to Skye. Upon reflection of what had been done to him and kept secret, Coulson reveals the information to Skye along with the apology for having kept it secret in the first place. This leads to the best part of the episode for me. Coulson is explaining to May why he revealed the information to Skye and her reaction. It is a voice-over a series of scenes showing her reaction and the clean up of the investigation at the Academy. He says that yes, she found the news painful. Instead of being angry and resentful of the information it gave her a new sense of belonging. She could view the past as it was instead of what she thought it was. Where she thought that she was never wanted, didn't fit in , and had no family, She was wrong. She did have a family that was working hard to keep her safe but she just didn't know this. This family was Shield.</div>
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I know, it sounds a bit hokey as I write it but I still found it damn touching.</div>
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The Bad:</div>
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The investigation aspect of this episode was pretty annoying. They are at the Academy which is filled with the best and brightest rising stars in Shield and yet nobody present can figure out this simple mystery. Really? It is a pretty thin plot line used to give us the origins of another super villain to be seen at a later date. I shouldn't be complaining as I am the one who wants more super powered individuals in the show. I would prefer to be getting super heroes as opposed to super villains.</div>
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It also felt like they were attempting to add depth to Fitz and Simmons with this story line but it fell flat due to the sheer transparency of everything that transpired.</div>
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The Ugly:</div>
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This really doesn't have to do with the show itself per se but more to do with the network. ABC changed how they handled watching their shows after their original air date. Prior to the first of thee year, You could go online and watch all the episodes of Shield on ABC.com. I missed the first episode of the second half of the season and had forgotten to DVR it. I went online to watch it and discovered that ABC had changed their website. Now you had to register on the site and your cable provider had to be listed on their site. I do have cable but it wasn't listed on their site so I couldn't watch the episode. I even checked on demand and the episode wasn't available there either. I assumed that there was some way that people with antennae could watch the episode but was sorely mistaken. If I was going to see the episode I was going to have to either pay Hulu Plus or Amazon Prime.</div>
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I was fucking pissed. </div>
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I understand the need for a subscription service like HBO or Showtime having a paywall or registration requirement as they make their money through subscribers. ABC is a broadcast network that makes it money through advertising. I don't complain about the commercial breaks on shows that I watch online as I understand this how the shows keep getting made. It has me frustrated enough that I am still on the fence about continuing on with watching Agents of Shield. There are plenty of other good shows out there that will allow me to watch how I want without having to jump through so many hoops. I think that if the show ends up with more bad than good I will find it easy to jump off and not come back.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-89893725213047959752014-01-16T06:00:00.000-05:002014-01-16T15:29:57.351-05:00Lone Survivor<div style="border: 0px currentColor; color: #111111; font-family: verdana, arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;">
One of the movies that released over the weekend which caught my interest was Lone Survivor.The main reason it interested me was that it is based on a true story. I am fully aware that movies like these are dramatizations of the events that have unfolded. I enjoy seeing these types of movies and pondering where the kernel of truth is within.</div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/LoneSurvivor.png" href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/LoneSurvivor.png" style="border: 0px currentColor; color: #333333; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;"><img alt="LoneSurvivor" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-23031" data-mce-src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/LoneSurvivor.png" src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/LoneSurvivor.png" height="275" style="border: 0px currentColor; color: #111111; cursor: default; float: left; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;" width="183" /></a>I will admit that I wasn't expecting much from this movies as the last movie by Mark Wahlberg, Contraband, had been terrible. I was surprised to find that this movies was the exact opposite of that experience. Where Contraband had been slow and laborious, Lone Survivor was intense, engaging and packed with wonderful performances from the four major cast members.</div>
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From the title of the movie, you know that only one person gets out of this operation alive. I thought that this would make for a slow movie overall but this is not the case. Peter Berg does an excellent job of making you care about every member of the four man team that heads out on Operation Red Wing. The opening credits do an incredible job of setting up the movie. We are treated to a montage of Navy Seals in training. We are shown some of the various trials that they are put through to toughen them up and bring them together as a group. The short scene of them being dropped into a pool with their hands bound and having to be resuscitated on the edge of the pool was chilling.</div>
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The beginning of the movie is dedicated to getting the audience acquainted with Marcus, Michael, Danny, and Axe. Instead of giving us caricatures of marines, they are treated as people. They have their ups and downs, hopes and desires which are displayed to get you invested in these men. The performances by Wahlberg, Kitsch, Hirsch, and Foster take these roles and make them realistic and easily connected with. It takes this ordinariness and layers it with the idea that these are hardened men so that knowing what is to come is much more intense.</div>
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The critical point in the movie is where the operation goes wrong. It is nothing large, as I expected from the Hollywood machine but something as simple as a goat. Berg keeps the simple parts of the story and lets us watch the moral dilemma play out between the four. The tension between the four over which course of action to take is palpable. You know that whatever they decide that it ends badly. The hope is that they make the correct decision and that they at least get to go to their graves knowing they made the right choice.</div>
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I was blown away by this movie. I am not a fan of war movies but this one does an excellent job of drawing you in and making you vested in these people. The main characters are believable and easy to identify with while avoiding stereotypes. The movie doesn't shy away from stereotypes but uses them as a way of adding depth to the main characters by their presence in the supporting cast.</div>
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I highly recommend seeing Lone Survivor at the theater if you get the chance.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-67393152343481897172014-01-15T18:10:00.000-05:002014-01-15T18:10:51.792-05:00The Legend of Hercules<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
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One of the new movies that released over the weekend was The Legend of Hercules. I had only seen one trailer for the movie and knew very little about it. It has Hercules as the main character so I decided it would be worth a trip to the movies.</div>
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I enjoyed the movie but it definitely falls into the bad movie category.</div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/hercules3d_2.jpg" href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/hercules3d_2.jpg"><img alt="hercules3d_2" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2082" data-mce-src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/hercules3d_2-209x300.jpg" height="300" src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/hercules3d_2-209x300.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; float: left;" width="209" /></a>It isn't any one thing in particular that makes this a bad movie. It is a lot of little things that take a mediocre movie and movie it into the bad category. Kellan Lutz does a good job as the hero of the piece. his Hercules is definitely on the clean cut good guy side of this legend. He comes across as earnest and open throughout the movie. His performance falls down when he seems to be taking the role to serious. There are several instances where he needed to just go all out and he reigns it in. The villains of the piece are both on the opposite end of the spectrum. They are chewing up the scenery almost every time they are on screen and don't have the chops to sustain the performance.</div>
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The films special effects are bad as well. First, there are not that many effects in a movie based on Greek mythology. The original story is filled with gods and monsters and there few of those in this adaptation. Second, the special effects that are used are just bad. In the requisite scene with the nemean lion, it looks like an animatronic lion that is on the fritz. Its movements are jerky and rubbery and its face is distorted. There are two tent pole fights where special effects figure heavily. One is a scene that reminds one of the Samson and Delilah story. Hercules is chained to two pillars and watches as his mentor, chiron, is murdered. He pulls the tops of the pillars off and uses the rocks on the end of the chains as weapons. What could have been cool was rendered laughable by the crappy graphics work. This happens again when he calls up on the power of Zeus to call down lightning and uses it as a whip. A little more effort would have made these scenes much more powerful.</div>
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Despite all this, I still enjoyed it. It does the one thing that I want with any property based on Greek Mythology which is play with the source material in an interesting fashion.The major change in this film is that Hercules is not hounded by Hera. His birth is approved by her and Zeus is given leave to be with Queen Alcmene. Instead of the twelve trials, there is a prophecy that Hercules will overthrow the godless king Amphitryon. The Director has taken the base myth and blended in the biblical story of Samson and added in a smidge of Romeo and Juliette to create a new take on an ancient tale. I liked how the romance aspect of the story worked as I never liked that Hercules always killed his family after being driven mad by Hera. I liked how Chiron was used here also. In Greek myth, he is the tutor to all the heroes and this is illustrated well in this one movie as he is the tutor to all the players in this piece.</div>
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If you aren't a a fan of Greek mythology like me, I would recommend waiting for Netflix to see The Legend of Hercules.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-79443787466148021502014-01-10T06:30:00.000-05:002014-01-10T06:30:02.956-05:00Justice League 3000 No 1<div style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: verdana, arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/JL3000.png" href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/JL3000.png" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;"><img alt="JL3000" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-23021" data-mce-src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/JL3000.png" height="278" src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/JL3000.png" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; cursor: default; float: left; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;" width="181" /></a>Wandering my local comic shop I recently spotted a new comic from DC that seemed interesting. The title itself caught my eye, Justice League 3000. I am a fan of the Justice League in any iteration so I stopped and picked it up. It turns out this book is plotted by Keith Giffen with dialogue done by J.M. Dematteis. These things tipped the scale in favor of picking up the book and it made it into the pile that made it to the checkout.</div>
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I was not disappointed with the purchase.</div>
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Justice League 3000 is set in the early 31st century. The galaxy is still reeling from coming of the five.Who they are is left a mystery but the results of their coming is not. Billions died that first day and entire planets went dark. A resistance began forming when the carnage finally stopped. This resistance wanted to see a return of the heroes of the past and did something about it.</div>
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The opening scenes of the book are intriguing. We follow the flight of Ariel Masters. She is the voice that providing the opening exposition. She shares with the reader that the resistance wanted heroes in the worst way and it is her fault that they got their wish. I like how it sets up a dark future where the answer was not necessarily the best response to what has happened.</div>
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The rest of the book is spent in introducing us to this new Justice League. They come from the floating planet Cadmusworld and are being overseen by the Wonder Twins. Luckily it isn't the Jan and Jace of Super Friends fame. These wonder twins have a definite hard edge to them and what their abilities are hinted at here but left to the imagination. They do explain that this new Justice League was made from archived genetic material of the original Justice League that Cadmus had some how acquired. The problem is that this is a group of heroes that are adrift. Superman never had the benefit of Ma and Pa Kent. Batman never had the driving trauma of his Parents murder and Wonder Woman was not raised by Amazons.</div>
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This has left the team both more brutal and less cooperative. Batman and Superman aren't friends. They are constantly taking potshots at one another. Wonder Woman is much more brutal and straight forward. The Flash and Green Lantern are the two that seem closer to their past counterparts and have concerns about this new life that the group has been given. The team, as a whole, is effective yet on the edge of disintegrating.</div>
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I picked up the book for the Giffen/DeMatteis story and this was a good choice. They present several good questions that I want to see played out across the title. They've also created a team that explores what these heroes would be without their origins to anchor them. The art is good as well. The style is reminiscent of the Legion of Super Heroes, which I also like. I plan on picking up the next issue and letting you know how it goes.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-79235159752990709522014-01-07T21:15:00.000-05:002014-01-07T21:15:26.042-05:00Forever Evil No 4<a data-mce-href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Deep-Thought.jpg" href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Deep-Thought.jpg"><img alt="Deep Thought" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1472" data-mce-src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Deep-Thought.jpg" src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Deep-Thought.jpg" height="175" width="690" /></a><br />
In the last issue of Forever Evil, our villains had come together in order to save the world. The nascent team was composed of an unconscious and bleeding Black Adam, Black Manta, Bizarro, Lex Luthor, and a weaponless Captain cold. A rather rag tag crew on which to pin humanity's last hope.<br />
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This issues opens up a little differently than the prior issues. Instead of starting off with more insight into Lex Luthor's character, we are treated to a look into the relationship between Batman and Catwoman. He is escorting a blindfolded Selina Kyle into the Batcave. Prior to the New 52, Catwoman was aware of Batman and most of the Bat family's identities and had spent considerable time at Wayne Manor. This opening lets the reader know that this is not the status quo for the New 52. Instead of being an impersonal moment, it actually shows a bit of a caring side to the dark knight. He explains that he is keeping the location a secret because the people he cares about get hurt. He illustrtates this by pointing out that Nightwing is in the predicament he is in due to his association with Batman. I like how it shows that he cares for Catwoman and is still a bit broken when it comes to relationships.<br />
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We do eventually return to Lex Luthor and the continuing exploration of his character. In this issue his introspection deals with the villains with which he has surrounded himself. Each provides a mirror which shows a part of himself. Bizarro shows his scientific genius. Though only a partially completed project, Bizarro is a significant accomplishment and credible threat. Black Manta and Black Adam show his shark like business acumen and his powerful leadership capabilities. It is Captain cold which shows a side of Luthor that people rarely see and never believe. He illustrates the humble man that is Lex Luthor. I just the love the rampant narcissism that is shown here and how these lesser villains are useful mostly in how they show facets of Lex. Just beautiful!<br />
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The paths of the heroes and villains finally coincide in this issue as both Lex's group and Batman head to Wayne Enterprises to complete their plans. As the villains trek through the sewers to avoid detection, there is another excellent scene between Luthor and Bizarro. Their paths takes them through a section where there is no light and Bizarro stops because he is afraid of the dark. This alone is funny but then Lex takes the time to give him a pep talk. It is an oddly touching scene which hits all the right buttons when Bizarro says he will try. The two groups meet and begin to argue when they are confronted by Power Ring. Batman takes out one of his fail safe measures that he had colelcted in case he had to take down his own team, a yellow power ring. he ends up being unable to stop Power ring but does usher in the arrival of Sinestro.<br />
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This was another great entry into the Forever Evil story line. The art, as always is top notch. There was no point in this issue where I wasn't just enthralled with the beauty that was on the page. I am really enjoying the different character developments that we are getting here, both for lex Luthor and the rest of the cast that struts across the stage of this mini-series. The interactions between Lex and Bizarro are more than worth the price of admission. I enjoyed this issue so much that I went and picked up a few of the tie-ins to see how the story played out in other titles. If I have one complaint, it would be that I have to wait for another month to get the next issue.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-50557981865859599072013-12-27T07:49:00.002-05:002013-12-27T07:49:42.431-05:0047 Ronin<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
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<a data-mce-href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/2013-47-Ronin-poster-2-e1383407168566.jpg" href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/2013-47-Ronin-poster-2-e1383407168566.jpg"><img alt="2013-47-Ronin-poster-2-e1383407168566" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2062" data-mce-src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/2013-47-Ronin-poster-2-e1383407168566-202x300.jpg" height="300" src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/2013-47-Ronin-poster-2-e1383407168566-202x300.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; float: left;" width="202" /></a>One of the new movies released on Christmas Day was 47 Ronin. It stars Keanu Reeves. I have been seeing tings about this movie for quite some time and I was looking forward to seeing it and dreading it at the same time. Any movie that gets delayed for so long is going to be...problematic.</div>
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It falls into the category of things that I enjoy that are bad.</div>
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The story of the 47 Ronin is fairly simple. There is a minor lord in feudal Japan who is manipulated into drawing his weapon against another, higher ranking minor lord. His punishment for this affront is to commit seppuku. His men are made ronin and forbidden to seek revenge. Over the next two years, they plot and plan and exact revenge against the offending lord. They are rewarded for their tenacity and capabilities with the restoration of their rank and being allowed to commit seppuku instead of being hanged as criminals.</div>
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I like this story and I enjoy the mystique that surrounds the samurai. This movie still has the bare bones of this story but it is hidden under a layer of a western fairy tale lifted from a Disney cartoon. This is is what makes it a bad movie but also what makes me enjoy it. </div>
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Yes, I know that makes no sense.</div>
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The addition of Keanu Reeves as the biracial foundling is where the western fairy tale comes into play. He is found fleeing from a mystical forest where he had been raised by, what the people in this movie consider, demons. Lord Asano sees something special and keeps him alive. He forms a special bond with Asano's daughter, Princess Mika. This couple is very much your standard fairy tale couple. The unassuming peasant that is more than what he seems and Princess that wants to follow her heart instead of her fate.</div>
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This story's presence makes for a muddled picture if you are only passingly familiar with the Samurai trope. You expect to see talk of honor, loyalty, and duty from people struggling to keep their emotions in check. Instead we get a wooden performance from Keanu and an openly emotional princess that is to be the inheritor of her father's prefecture. It felt a bit discordant for me at first as well until I realized what purpose this main story line served. It serves to provide a contrast to all the bits and pieces of the aforementioned samurai trope that are spread throughout the movie.</div>
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Kai and Mika provide a stark contrast to the relationship between Oishi and his wife. Mika is emotional and takes risk that put her and her family's honor in constant jeopardy. Oishi's wife is the flip side of this coin. She shows the decorum that one would expect from a woman of station in feudal Japan and does it while showing a deep love for her husband and family. This was a very subtle distinction which is easily overwhelmed by the focus on men's struggle to extract their revenge. When the story ends with both women losing the one they love, the western fairy tale is the story that rings hollow and the samurai story stands strong.</div>
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In the end, this iteration of the 47 Ronin ends up in the bad category due to this focus on the western fairy tale. It forgets the samurai culture that is the root of the story. It has the bits and pieces that are necessary but never presents them center stage which is necessary for any movie caring this title. The fairy tale is pretty and entertaining but not why one would come to see the 47 Ronin. Yet, I enjoyed it for the contrast that I could find between the two story lines and the little nods to samurai culture that were done well just not done loud enough.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-77443077121531592602013-12-23T07:00:00.000-05:002013-12-23T07:00:03.882-05:00The Mice Templar Vol 4: Icarus The God<div style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: verdana, arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/TMTVol48.jpg" href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/TMTVol48.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;"><img alt="TMTVol48" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-22960" data-mce-src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/TMTVol48-195x300.jpg" height="300" src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/TMTVol48-195x300.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; cursor: default; float: left; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;" width="195" /></a>You may not have noticed, but I really love the Mice Templar. Since Aron introduced me to this book, I have been an ardent fan. Due to personal exigencies that I will not bore you with here, I had picked up the 8th issue when it came out but was unable to read it for some time. Despite the hectic holiday schedule, I have finally been able to sit down and truly enjoy this latest issue and the wait was well worth it.</div>
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Icarus The God has the feeling of an climactic ending to a series and yet this is nowhere near the end of this volume.</div>
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In this issue, we get to see the culmination of the mad king's plans. The war machines he had constructed in secret underneath the capital are on the move. He has called in his rat armies for this, his greatest hour. He is going to strike at Wotan by sacking the sacred ash tree.</div>
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The assault begins and the Triumvirate look on with disdain. They are confident in the protection of the death owls and Wotan's blessing. They are blind as Micah has stated before and do not see the writing on the wall. The strange beetle like contraptions provide shelter for the rat soldiers. As the owls descend to take out the intruders, the crude tanks do their jobs preventing most of the losses that the owls would have created on their first pass. This is when the carnage begins.</div>
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Emboldened by their initial success and the charismatic power of Icarus, the rats begin the assault in earnest. Owls are struck by fiery bolts from ballista or taken down by the rain of arrows. The rat's losses are smaller but no less brutal.</div>
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My favorite part of this issue is Micah. He has been exiled to wander the fields of gold surrounding the sacred ash. A rat falls to his death after killing an owl. His corpse provides a means of escape for Micah but he chooses a different course. He takes up the fallen combatants weapon and heads back to the tree. He runs into the acolytes as they are trying to figure out what to do and he orders them to flee. He comes across his protege and charges him with taking up the sacred duty that the Triumvirate has eschewed. Instead of fleeing with Seamus, he stays behind to ensure that these priests that have brought this calamity about will not leave the fields alive. He then proceeds to kill the guards that are preparing to evacuate the priests and inevitably, the priests as well.</div>
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This was an action packed issue. The battle was sprawling and brutal showcasing the wonderful pencils of Santos and the depth of Guerra's coloring capabilities. This issue is a feast for the eyes and I've read it three more times just to take in the art again.</div>
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The only thing that pains me with this issue is that it is the last one we will get until March. I will have to satisfy myself with rereading the prior volumes of this story while waiting on the next issue.</div>
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As an aside, the hardback collection of the first few issues of this volume is available <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Mice-Templar-4-1-Bryan-Glass/dp/1607068222/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387655807&sr=1-2&keywords=the+mice+templar" href="http://www.amazon.com/Mice-Templar-4-1-Bryan-Glass/dp/1607068222/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387655807&sr=1-2&keywords=the+mice+templar" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;" title="The Mice Templar Vol 4.1">here</a>.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-70983389973132280642013-12-19T09:34:00.000-05:002013-12-19T09:34:03.151-05:00The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Deep-Thought.jpg" href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Deep-Thought.jpg"><img alt="Deep Thought" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2017" data-mce-src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Deep-Thought.jpg" height="175" src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Deep-Thought.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default;" width="690" /></a></div>
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I was looking over my posts and realized it had been awhile since I had posted a movie review. The honest truth is that there has not been much that I have wanted to see until recently.</div>
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The second part of The Hobbit trilogy, The Desolation of Smaug, released over the weekend. I was finally able to see and I was not disappointed.</div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/hobbit-desolation-of-smaug-richard-armitage-thorin.jpg" href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/hobbit-desolation-of-smaug-richard-armitage-thorin.jpg"><img alt="hobbit-desolation-of-smaug-richard-armitage-thorin" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2056" data-mce-src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/hobbit-desolation-of-smaug-richard-armitage-thorin-205x300.jpg" height="300" src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/hobbit-desolation-of-smaug-richard-armitage-thorin-205x300.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; float: left;" width="205" /></a>First off, let me say that if you are a stickler for a movie following a book you will be very upset with this movie. Really you were upset with the first movie as the book is rather short and could have been handled in one movie. Peter Jackson and the studios involved in the production saw both the narrative and monetary rewards available if you interleaved background material into the story and made it longer.</div>
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This bridge movie deals with the dwarves and hobbit's journey to arrive at the lonely mountain before the last light fades on Durin's day. It picks up on the chase that was begun in the first movie and ramps up the pace. The movie opens up with a scene giving us the actual beginning of this adventure in Bree at the Prancing Pony. I know that this is not where it began but I was very happy to see it show up and really liked the link to the Lord of the Rings.</div>
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Throughout the movie there were all the little bits and pieces that I wanted out of this part of the Hobbit. We get to see Beorn in all his Ursine glory. There are ponies very reminiscent of Bill. The Mirkwood is both regal and creepy at the same time. The spiders even talk which was something that I really missed in Lord of the Rings.</div>
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The thing I enjoyed most about this movie was how the extension of the story was handled this time around. In the first Hobbit, the chase was used heavily to stretch out the narrative and there were point where it just felt thin to me. In Desolation, the chase is established so that the tension is already there. What we are given are little peeks into middle earth that are both useful to forwarding to the story and damn entertaining in their own right.</div>
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By far my favorite part is the addition of Tauriel. She is a sylvan elf ranger that takes part in the rescue of the dwarves from the spiders. She checks on the prisoners after a tense conversation with the king. There is a conversation between her and Kili about the nature of the light that the different elves value that is both touching and romantic. This connection formed between the two then spins out into its own minor story throughout this movie. I enjoyed it just as much as the main plot and look forward to seeing it to is conclusion.</div>
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There can be no discussion of this movie without mentioning Smaug. The dragon is hinted at heavily in the first book and teased with fleeting glimpses in trailers. When he rises up out of the treasure hoard to track down Bilbo, it is a sight to behold. Every moment he is on the screen is a spectacle that is difficult to tear your eyes away from. I only have one quibble with Smaug and that is the use of Benedict Cumberbatch. If you are going to use someone with a distinct voice, do not hide the voice with so many effects. I only knew it was Cumberbatch because I was told so in the credits. Such a waste of a wonderful, cultured voice.</div>
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This second installment of the Hobbit was wonderful. It hits all the points I want from the book and adds plenty of interesting new bits as well. I am looking forward to seeing it again!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-67098539618574252842013-12-16T09:08:00.000-05:002013-12-16T09:08:09.043-05:00The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: The Tomorrow People Death's Door<div style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: verdana, arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;">
The Tomorrow People are certainly a resilient bunch. Last episode was good but left me frustrated. This episode begins to eliminate these issues and once again steps on the path of making these characters more human.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;"><a data-mce-href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL.jpg" href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;"><img alt="The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-22811" data-mce-src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL-209x300.jpg" height="300" src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL-209x300.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; cursor: default; float: left; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;" width="209" /></a>The Good:</strong></div>
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This is a small thing but this episode does not begin with a flashback illustrating the horribleness that is part of the past of one of the characters in the show. This alone is a coup to me. Every time it has happened before it has driven me crazy and undermines my ability to give a damn about what happens in the episode. In Death's Door, we pick up the story a little bit from where we left off. John is in the custody of Ultra and is being tortured to reveal the location of the Tomorrow People.</div>
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By virtue of leaving off this conceit, It was easier to identify with the characters and their plight. In addition, we are shown our cast to be more than just cardboard cutouts to used ti show us tired tropes. In particular, I loved how this episode explored the lengths that someone would go to protect the people that they love. </div>
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With John Held hostage, Cara is put in a corner. There is no way that Stephen can get him out without becoming compromised himself. The place is designed to keep out her kind as well. She decides that the best option is have Jedikiah get him out. She kidnaps his lover, Morgan. This gives her the object need to put pressure on him and threatens to turn her over to Ultra which is the lever upon which the whole episode turns. This allows us to see Jedikiah, not as the evil mustache-twirling villain, but as the frighteningly intelligent mastermind that he is.</div>
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He puts a plan into motion that not only frees John but ensures that Morgan is as safe as he can make her from the depredations of his own organization. All this while being watched by one of the most powerful telepaths we have seen on the show so far.</div>
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Continuing in the vein of humanizing the cast of characters in this show, we have the dinner with the Tomorrow People and Stephen's human friends and family. I loved this scene for two reasons. First, More Astrid! She is the only character that is consistently strong and it is a pity that she is not on screen more often. This scene focuses well on the humanity within these characters. Stephen is going to undertake an experiment that could possibly cost him his life. This gathering is his way of connecting the two important parts of his life so that his family and his best friend will not be left wondering what happened if things go wrong.</div>
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It is a surprisingly touching sentiment from the otherwise bumbling Stephen. It also provides another avenue to redemption for John if this endeavor does go south. He will be able to step forward and take care Astrid and John's mother thus expiating some of the guilt for being involved in the disappearance of Stephen's father.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">The Bad:</strong></div>
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There are really only two things that bothered me about this episode.</div>
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The first being the confession John about his involvement in Stephen's father's death. The end of last episode saw John being dragged into Ultra in front of Stephen. There was a flashback the assassination. It appeared to me more of a telepathic confession at the time especially with the expression on Stephen's face as the episode ended. This episode showed that this was an incorrect assumption on my part. The show needs to be clearer when images are being transferred telepathically. It didn't detract from the show but was annoying after the fact.</div>
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The founder is the other annoying piece of this episode. With Jedikiah becoming a more well-rounded character, the show felt the need to add another one dimensional villain. The only twist he brings to the role is that he is also a Tomorrow Person. I am a fan of the well-rounded villain and would very much appreciate the founder being shuffled off the stage or being more fleshed out. Otherwise he is just a distraction for me every time he is on the screen.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">The Ugly:</strong></div>
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Nothing really stuck out as ugly for me this episode. If they can keep up the good work on the FX and avoid the flashback intros we may be able to avoid and entry in the ugly category.</div>
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I am looking forward to the next episode!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-49777976176405359382013-12-13T09:22:00.000-05:002013-12-13T09:22:01.283-05:00The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The Bridge<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Deep-Thought.jpg" href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Deep-Thought.jpg"><img alt="Deep Thought" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2017" data-mce-src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Deep-Thought.jpg" height="175" src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Deep-Thought.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default;" width="690" /></a></div>
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The Bridge has to be my favorite episode of this show so far!</div>
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<strong>The Good:</strong></div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo.jpg" href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo.jpg"><img alt="Agents_of_SHIELD_logo" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1765" data-mce-src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo-300x216.jpg" height="216" src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo-300x216.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; float: left;" width="300" /></a>In the Bridge, our plucky team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents have to discover the whereabouts of an escaped prisoner. He was extricated from captivity by super-soldiers of similar design to Mike Peterson. Facing an enemy that has been one step ahead of them every time and in possession of super-soldiers, the team does the only thing that it can to compete and enlists the aid of Mike Peterson.</div>
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We are finally getting to see more superheroes in this marvel show and this is a good thing. Sure, they are just low-grade Captain America knock-offs but that is beside the point. When the team is hunting down technology, the show feels like a campy version of the X-Files. When we get characters with super powers, no matter how minor, it lifts the narrative up and makes it worthy of the Marvel that is hanging there at the beginning.</div>
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The reappearance of Project Centipede is a nice touch. The bits and pieces we have found out about them throughout the show so far has been intriguing. Watching them come out as the big bad here was both expected and handled well. The lead up to the climax of the episode focuses on the super-soldiers on both sides. For Shield, Mr. Peterson is an oddity. his abilities are nowhere near the level of Captain America but far beyond that of a peak human being. His motivation is atone for the monster he had become. The opposition's soldiers are stock mercenaries that do as they are told but suffer from an imperfect expression of the technology. We are led to believe that the entire operation that occurs this episode is to procure Mr. Peterson for Centipede so that they can fix the problem with their soldiers. When they take Agent Coulson at the end of the episode, it is just priceless.</div>
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The secondary and tertiary stories are pretty entertaining as well. We still have Skye working hard to discover the identity of her parents. Watching Coulson and May work to redirect her efforts was highly entertaining. I like the tension that it is creating for later in the show. Watching Grant and May work on redefining their relationship is pretty neat as well. The struggle for two damaged people to connect is very compelling to me and I hope they keep exploring it.</div>
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<strong>The Bad:</strong></div>
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As I mentioned, I really enjoyed this episode but it still had a few problems.</div>
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I really dislike the whole "I'm a monster" trope that gets played out in the comics. Seeing it here as well was a bit disheartening for me. When Petersen is explaining why he has spent so much time training at shield, we learn that he doesn't want his son to see him as a monster. It annoys me that he will not see his son now that he has everything under control which means the last time his son saw him was when he was out of control. It is a flimsy excuse for drama that could be handle better in every instance that it crops up.</div>
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The white knight trope gets trotted out in this episode as well. While May and Grant are working out how to proceed after their tryst, they are forced into a combat situation that goes south. Grant spends effort in combat trying to protect May from the super-soldiers only to pay for it later. It seems very out of character for Grant at this point. We have heard nothing from him about May that doesn't suggest that she is a superior combatant. His elementary school actions are at odds with how he has behaved through out the show so far. It was a lazy way of creating conflict between the two when there are plenty other avenues of attack with two character that are as broken as Grant and May.</div>
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As much as I am happy to see all the super-soldiers strutting across the screen, I am so not a fan of super-soldiers. I recognize that this is a personal preference but I would certainly love to see a superhuman that wasn't connected to the New York even would be nice. I was so happy when they had the Asgardian in a prior episode and hope we get more characters like that and less manufactured heroes.</div>
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There wasn't anything that I would consider ugly in this episode. </div>
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I am looking forward to seeing why the clairvoyant can not see Coulson and why centipede chose to take him instead of Peterson!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-85686047135598087062013-12-10T07:57:00.003-05:002013-12-10T07:57:59.625-05:00The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: The Tomorrow People Thanatos<div style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: verdana, arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;">
After the disappointing prior episode, thanatos is both steps above its predecessor While being just as frustrating.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;"><a data-mce-href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL.jpg" href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;"><img alt="The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-22811" data-mce-src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL-209x300.jpg" height="300" src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL-209x300.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; cursor: default; float: left; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;" width="209" /></a>The Good:</strong></div>
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This episode grabs you by the throat and doesn't ease up on the tension one iota. After his near death experience, Stephen is determined to figure out the word Thanatos. He has done some digging in Ultra files and found some vague references that have been covered up by his uncle. This leads to the plan to try and get into Jedekiah's head.</div>
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It is a poorly planned endeavor that goes wrong rather quickly. It ends up with Jedekiah being held captive in the lair of the Tomorrow People. They attempt to turn this setback to their advantage and try to wring the information out of their captive despite the risks that having him entails.</div>
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While He is missing, Ultra is on high alert and brings in the founder to direct the operation to recover Jedekiah. This puts Stephen in a tight spot as he has to report in and assist in the search while still keeping an eye on the interrogation. To delay the inevitable, he throws his uncle's mistress to the wolves. He then has to go on the mission to apprehend her only to discovery that she is in love with his uncle. He lets her go but just knowing of her existence provides the leverage necessary to get Jedekiah to open up and reveal the Doctor who is known as Thanatos.</div>
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The revelations come fast and furious at this point. We learn that Stephen's father could stop time, Ultra was started to protect the Tomorrow People, and that John killed Stephen's father. The show took off the breaks and let engine run wild and it was well worth it. I was glued to the set. When John spares Jedekiah's life and is taken captive I was taken aback. When he reveals to Stephen what he did as he is dragged into Ultra headquarters, I was all, "What the Fuck?!?"</div>
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It was a damn good episode.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">The Bad:</strong></div>
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I know I said it was a good episode, and I stand by that statement. The problem for me was that there were points where everybody is stupid and this annoys the shit out of me and makes me yell at the screen.</div>
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Once Jedekiah is in their base, All bets are off. Not only is he the main face of the people hunting and killing your people, he is responsible for at least two years of pain for everyone in this place. We have already been shown that they do not have the moral high ground so playing coy with how he is treated is bullshit. You get the information you need and then you eliminate the liability.</div>
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We get the manufactured tension of whether Cara will accidentally reveal that she still has her abilities. This is annoying as it is a given that this will occur and it is predictable in how it finally occurs. It also further pushes forward the idea that he can not leave this place alive. That there is any discussion about this is fucking annoying. That they allow John to teleport him away to "deal with him" is pretty shitty because a bullet in the brain is just as effective as teleporting away.</div>
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My frustration crests when John spares Jedekiah's life. We get the whole scene of why he is letting him live. It comes across all noble and transformational but the character has not been on this trajectory until this very moment. It takes what could be a powerful moment and makes it ring false. It just made me angry.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">The Ugly:</strong></div>
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The previous episode gives us the idea that Stephen's father is still alive. He just may be trapped in another dimension. The discussion with the professor in the cabin presents this as highly unlikely and then we get the confession from John in the end. It still feels like the show is going to make him be alive in some weird fashion which will be pretty ugly.</div>
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Stephen's father being dead changes the direction of the show and puts it on a track to be much more interesting. If he is alive in another dimension, It makes this episode pointless and wastes a shit tone of dramatic cachet.</div>
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Also, if you are going to put the only Tomorrow Person into a fight for his life where his powers don't work, He should at least kill a few agents. Him only roughing them up a bit is pretty shitty and another waste a good setup.</div>
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Despite the bad and Ugly, This was the best episode yet of The Tomorrow People. I am looking forward to the next episode to see which direction the show chooses.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-2559940542733461322013-12-06T07:00:00.000-05:002013-12-06T07:00:13.819-05:00Touchstone<div style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: verdana, arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/touchstone.jpg" href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/touchstone.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;"><img alt="touchstone" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-22928" data-mce-src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/touchstone-186x300.jpg" height="300" src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/touchstone-186x300.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; cursor: default; float: left; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;" width="186" /></a>My reading, of late has tended toward the urban fantasy and paranormal romance genre. I will admit that I have not read a purely fantasy novel in well over two years if my memory serves me right. I was perusing the bookstore looking for something to add to my "to read" pile at home earlier this year when I came across <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Touchstone-Glass-Thorns-Melanie-Rawn/dp/076536347X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386293869&sr=1-3&keywords=touchstone" href="http://www.amazon.com/Touchstone-Glass-Thorns-Melanie-Rawn/dp/076536347X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386293869&sr=1-3&keywords=touchstone" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">Touchstone </a>by Melanie Rawn. I picked it up and read the blurb on the back. It was fantasy story about a theater troupe that put on plays through combining their magical abilities to create lavish productions.</div>
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I was intrigued but I put the hardback back on the shelf. The funny thing is that the blurb stuck with me and kept turning about in my head. It even brought to mind the line from Hamlet, "The play's the thing wherein I will catch the conscience of the king." When I happened across the book in paperback form recently I had to satisfy my curiosity and pick up the book.</div>
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I was not disappointed.</div>
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Touchstone is the story of Cayden Silversun and his troupe of players as they begin their rise to prominence. Cayden, like the rest of his group, is of mixed heritage. This grants him magical abilities that can be put to various uses. Despite the desires of his family, her pursues the arts of the tregetour, one who channels his power to create plays and infuse them with power. he has two other members that represent take up the job of the fettler and the masker but lacks a Glisker to match the rest of the group. It is with the addition of Mieka, a quixotic part elven Glisker that the four young adults are able begin their rise to prominence in the realm.</div>
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From the beginning, this is not standard fantasy. There is no lowly farmer that has to rise to the occasion to defeat some ancient evil. Instead, Rawn creates a vibrant world filled with magic and gives us four characters with which to explore what it means to be an artist and trying to make it in the world. The world of Cayden and Mieka has all the hallmarks of a fantasy kingdom. There is a great war that still haunts the people that strut across the stage of the novel. There are elves, goblins, trolls, fae, and wizards that populate the world as well. Each of the races is distinct but has blended with the other races to create a multiracial population only takes a dim view of certain races based on their activities in the war.</div>
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It has the historical feel that one comes to expect from standard fantasy but feels thoroughly modern in how it deals with the arts, gender issues, politics, drug use, and self-determination. One of the major issues throughout the book is Cayden's ability to see the future. He is unable to control when he gets flashes of the future but he can try to take action to change the future he sees. He struggles with guilt over how much he should share with the others of what he sees as he doesn't want to take away from them that freedom that each one needs to be the creative individual that makes their troupe great.</div>
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This is a heavily character driven book. Cayden and Mieka's interaction distinctly push the narrative forward wit the other characters providing sounding boards for these two characters throughout. This isn't to discount the other characters that have time upon the stage. They are well written and given a depth one would not expect from minor characters in a regular fantasy novel. They not only have their own agendas but provide great insight into the character cayden and Mieka as well as the world in which they live.</div>
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I quickly fell in love with these characters and this world. I think the best analogy is that of a rock band. You get to see the group in it's nascent form and begin to blossom into something great. I am looking forward to picking up the next book in the series and watching all the threads laid out here play out further.</div>
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If you are looking for a unique twist on the fantasy novel or a contemplation of what it means to be an artist I would highly recommend picking up this book.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-89948514254635574342013-12-02T07:00:00.000-05:002013-12-02T07:00:15.987-05:00Lords of Waterdeep for iOS<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Deep-Thought.jpg" href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Deep-Thought.jpg"><img alt="Deep Thought" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2017" data-mce-src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Deep-Thought.jpg" height="175" src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Deep-Thought.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default;" width="690" /></a></div>
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A while back Playdek announced a collaboration with Wizards of the Coast to bring their board game, Lords of Waterdeep to iOS. I was very interested in this release as they are company that brought out my favorite iPhone game, <a data-mce-href="http://zerofortitude.com/?p=351" href="http://zerofortitude.com/?p=351">Ascension</a>. I had never played Lords of Waterdeep before and have only seen it played on <a data-mce-href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7DvEIfrP84" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7DvEIfrP84">Table Top</a>. It looked a like a fun game that was well within my wheelhouse so I downloaded it to my iPhone and iPad and gave it try.</div>
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Lords of Waterdeep is a board game that uses the worker placement mechanic. You and the other players are all enigmatic Lords of the largest city in the Forgotten Realms, Waterdeep. Your objective is to push forward the objective of your faction and score the most victory points. You do this by completing quests through out the city. Each quest requires a certain number of adventures and gold to accomplish and then provides victory points and other useful commodities. As with any large city, the is a certain amount of in-fighting and this is represented by intrigue cards. These are rewards for completing quests and certain buildings on the board. These cards allow you throw up road blocks to the other Lords, acquire much needed labor, and various other activities. The game is easy to learn but the strategies that you can use to win are varied and change each time you play as the lords are randomly determined at the beginning of a new game.</div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ku-xlarge.png" href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ku-xlarge.png"><img alt="ku-xlarge" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2025" data-mce-src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ku-xlarge-300x168.png" height="168" src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ku-xlarge-300x168.png" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; float: left;" width="300" /></a>The game itself is for two to five players and allows you to play with AI of easy moderate and hard difficulties. It also has both pass and play capability with a nice feature that allows you to keep the secrets that every Lord must keep. The prize here is asynchronous play as it allows you to play a game with group of people over a stretch of time so that those pesky little things like schedules don't get in the way of your gaming. There are several games I have that lack this feature which has led me to drop them from my mobile devices.</div>
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As I mentioned, I have never played the game and made full use of the tutorial. I was very impressed with how well it taught the game. It not only showcased the functions of the app but also gave a nice lesson the basic strategy of the game. I was off and playing in a matter of minutes. The drag and drop of worker placement was a little prickly on the iPhone. I would pick up a piece and drag it toward the target building and it would slide back to home unless it was on the building proper. It seems to be a product of the smaller screen as I did not have the issue with my iPad.</div>
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The music and sound effects are understated on this game and I quite enjoy them. I know that with Ascension I have muted both and it is quite refreshing to play a game with them on and not have them overwhelm game play.</div>
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the game combines the worker placement mechanic that I have come to love from other games with a the fun fantasy setting of The Forgotten Realms. It was pretty neat to see quests like Domesticate Owlbears and Infiltrate Halaster's Circle. They not only hearken back to old gaming stories but play on the rpg culture as well. A game that very much speaks to me.</div>
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Overall I am really pleased with this game. It is fun and quick to play. I think a game against the computer only took about thirty minutes and one against people about forty-five minutes. The price point of $6.99 is very reasonable for a game with so much replay potential. I think it may even pass Ascension as my favorite iOS game.</div>
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You can find the game <a data-mce-href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lords-of-waterdeep/id648019675" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lords-of-waterdeep/id648019675">here</a>.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-24773468181731802602013-11-29T06:37:00.000-05:002013-11-29T06:37:20.793-05:00The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Repairs<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
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After the progress made by the last few episodes, Repairs feels more like a slide backwards for the show. It isn't bad but it feels like it has lost the momentum which is disappointing.</div>
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<strong>The Good:</strong></div>
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<strong><br /></strong></div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo.jpg" href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo.jpg"><img alt="Agents_of_SHIELD_logo" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1765" data-mce-src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo-300x216.jpg" height="216" src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo-300x216.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; float: left;" width="300" /></a>The best thing about this episode is the May story line that runs throughout it. It starts off simply. Fitz & Simmons realize that Skye has not had the pleasure of being pranked during her training. They begin this process by spinning a fabulous story about how May earned the nickname of Cavalry. We revisit the tale while Skye and Ward are discussing the case and why Coulson would let May take point. Ward clarifies the story told by the two scientists. He ratchets down a few notches but it still seems fairly incredible. It takes the story out of the fantasy realm and puts it into the realm of possibility for this world. It also makes you doubt that it is just a prank and that their may be some truth to it as well. Toward the end of the episode we get the core of the story. Coulson shares with Skye that it wasn't a rescue mission but an operation that had went wrong. Up until this point, May had been the fun loving prankster. She had to make decisions and take actions that changed her. When she walked away from the mission she was a very different person and had never been the same since.</div>
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With all the hints from earlier, I loved this story showing us a glimpse of what happened to make May who she is today. I enjoyed how it was done through a short little aside throughout the main plot of the show. It meshed well with who May is and who may is becoming.</div>
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<strong>The Bad:</strong></div>
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The main plot of show was transparent. The girl being persecuted by an invisible force is a rather overdone trope in comics and feels stale and tired here. We learn that she is the safety inspector for the plant is being held responsible for the explosion that killed several workers. The accidents that seem to plague her are not caused by her but in response to some threat to her. The investigation turns up that there was a worker that was generating most of the complaints and that he had been causing the problems so that she would have to come and check on the issues. In the explosion, he was trapped between worlds and had taken it upon himself to protect her from the problems that he had caused.</div>
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The surprise that we are supposed to take from this is that Coulson is grooming Skye for a position similar to his. Which came as no surprise to me. This has seemed to be one of the main points for her character since her introduction. It think we could have done without explicitly calling it out so soon and focused on the ramification of the end of the prior episode at some point in this one.</div>
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<strong>The Ugly:</strong></div>
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My favorite thing about this episode is composed of only of a few lines. It takes up only a bout five minutes of show time. The rest of the episode is just kind of boring and that is pretty ugly to me.</div>
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I hope that we can return to the energy we had in the prior two episodes because I would hate to see that great momentum lost.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-10749313992024483012013-11-25T10:23:00.003-05:002013-11-25T10:24:33.608-05:00The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: The Tomorrow People Limbo<div style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: verdana, arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL.jpg" href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;"><img alt="The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-22811" data-mce-src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL-209x300.jpg" height="300" src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL-209x300.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; cursor: default; float: left; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;" width="209" /></a>Limbo is an apt title for this episode of The Tomorrow People. Once again we seem to cover ground that we have tread before without very much movement forward. The main mystery of this episode is the breakout that is a serial rapist. How is he doing it and not getting caught by Ultra or The Tomorrow People. The meat of the episode is dedicated to dealing with the love polyhedron between four of the main characters.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">The Good:</strong></div>
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The best thing about this episode is more Astrid. There is all this guilt and recrimination flying about in this episode. There is no way that she isn't drawn into this cyclone of love, hate, doubt, and guilt. The thing is that Madeleine Mantock does an excellent job of portraying real emotion. She takes Astrid and makes her something more than a caricature. The entire mixed up love story that permeates this episode is very reminsicent of an 80's teen movie. Which is my favorite scene in this episode where Astrid calls it that as well. She then explains to those to young to understand that the plot is spoiled as the boy already knows how the girl feels because he read her mind. An excellent line. funny and poignant.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">The Bad:</strong></div>
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The rest of the love story just falls flat. The morning after we are presented with Stephen in post-coital bliss and Cara in full on retreat. The yo-yo nature of Stephen's naivete is neck snapping. We are watching him have to go step out of being a self-absorbed teenager a third time and it is even more painful in this instance.</div>
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John's reaction to the revelation of Cara's infidelity is damn annoying as well. She is his second in command for all intents and purposes. She is portrayed as a strong woman who make her own choices and is proactive. When it comes down to it though, John blames Stephen. This leads to the inevitable fight over the woman that is then broken up by said woman. the cliches are flying fast and furious and without any real reason for them. The set up is there for this to be handled in a much better manner and yet the show chose the cheesy path,</div>
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Very disappointing.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">The Ugly:</strong></div>
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Ultra waltzes in to give us the random plot device to make our hero seem special. When Stephen's use of his powers gets him on the basketball team, all hell breaks lose. Jedikiah shows up after the party is busted to slap a null band onto Stephen. I understand that Ultra's job is to track and eliminate breakouts. It seems well out of line that an out-of-control high school party is reason enough to null band an agent. Which begs the question of why it works any way. The pilot has Stephen escaping from the section of Ultra that powers do not work in. That this one small band is capable of something that a building couldn't do is pretty crappy.</div>
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When he shows up at the secret headquarters with the band on we are given no explanation how he got there since you have to teleport to get there and he has to have help to get out as well. Then, after randomly deducing where the serial rapist was hiding, he is finally able to breach the bands nullifying effect to contact Cara. If you are going to give a character special abilities then at least take the time to take them into consideration. Which is something that this sow doesn't do well.</div>
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A very disappointing episode. If it weren't for Astrid I would call it a complete loss. I'm hoping the next episode returns to the</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-54891071966228054542013-11-22T08:32:00.001-05:002013-11-22T08:32:56.847-05:00The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The Well<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Deep-Thought.jpg" href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Deep-Thought.jpg"><img alt="Deep Thought" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2017" data-mce-src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Deep-Thought.jpg" height="175" src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Deep-Thought.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default;" width="690" /></a></div>
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In my last review, I mentioned that there would be an episode that tied in with Thor: The Dark World. This is that episode.</div>
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It opens with our team cleaning up the mess left behind by the Svartalfar ship falling apart in Britain.</div>
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This was an excellent episode, so lets dive in!</div>
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<strong><a data-mce-href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo.jpg" href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo.jpg"><img alt="Agents_of_SHIELD_logo" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1765" data-mce-src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo-300x216.jpg" height="216" src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo-300x216.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; float: left;" width="300" /></a>The Good:</strong></div>
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<strong><br /></strong></div>
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Finally, We have a direct connection to the wider Marvel universe! Watching the team deal with the debris left behind by Thor and Malekith was entertaining. In particular, I enjoyed Skye processing the information in regards to Thor and the rest of the asgardian pantheon being an alien race. I know that this is something that was dealt with tangentially in Avengers, but it was nice hearing being discussed with a bit of awe and reverence. I kinda like that the clean up job is really unimportant to the rest of the episode as well. Instead of driving the action, It provides a link to the wider universe and makes the revelations occur later more compelling.</div>
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I love that the main thrust of the episode is tied into Norse mythology. The artifact that is ripped from the heart of the tree in the ancient forest is part of a berserker staff. The couple looking for it are following the lines of a poem written hundreds of years prior. They then go on a spree of violence. This episode takes the idea of a significantly advanced technology appears like magic and runs with it. It ties in neatly with the descriptions we are given of asgardian technology from both Thor movies and yet has the touch of the fantastic about it. We get a super powered problem without it being overwhelming as well as continuing to tie us to the universe with which we are already familiar. This is something the earlier episodes lacked and really shines here.</div>
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I love the reveal of an asgardian ex-patriot having resided here for over a thousand years. It meshes well with the story we are given at the beginning of the first Thor. When we find out that he was just a mason on Asgard, it makes even more sense why he stayed. I also love love Peter MacNicol who plays the asgardian in this episode. I remember him from Ally McBeal and Ghostbusters II and have a soft spot for any character he plays. I liked how he talks about being a mason on Asgard and how boring cutting rocks for a millennium could be. He took up the call to be a berserker to travel but found the rage that the staff engendered to be distasteful. Hence he broke it and hid the pieces. Fascinating!</div>
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By far the best ting about this episode is the depths that get added to both Ward and May. When Ward tries to take the staff piece from Professor Randolf he is imbued with the power of the berserker which pulls upon the worst memory of the handler. We get to see Flashback throughout the episode of a boy in a well. Where the villains of the piece give in to the rage, even revel in it. We see that this is something that Ward fights against the entire time and tries to remove himself from the operation. It showed a side of the character that we hadn't seen before and I was glad to see for once. In the climactic battle, he uses two pieces of the staff to fight off most of the gang that had been infused with the power. He collapses at the end only to have the leader of the group walk in with the last piece of the staff. She picks up the two pieces and proceeds to lay down a beating. During a break in the action, the villains part of the staff attaches to one of May's and then the staff reassembles itself. The villain is easily dispatched.</div>
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As May and Ward sit there exhausted from the battle, he asks her how she handled dealing with the entire staff. Her answer is that she deals with her worst memory every day. I know it is cliche but I found this to be damn cool. When the team has a night at an up-scale European hotel, we get a bar scene. This is where one would expect Skye and Ward to finally connect but they do not. Ward heads up to his room and May walks by before he leaves the hallway. She leaves her door open. A few seconds later Ward enters. An excellent twist.</div>
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We also move forward with more about Coulson's past. As the operation raps up, he talks to the asgardian about being dead. During the discussion, he mentions how the time being dead and recovering is more of a blank. He has no dreams or memories of that period. Just getting back to work. The episode ends with a dream sequence. Coulson is in Tahiti getting a a massage from a gorgeous island maiden. He then wakes up in terror. It just reinforces the idea in my head that he is a life model decoy but doesn't rule out other possibilities!</div>
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<strong>The Bad:</strong></div>
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This really wasn't bad but confusing. The name of the episode comes from Ward's horrible memory. It is of child in a well screaming for help. When the scene is first introduced you are led to believe that he is the one in the well. When we get to see the memory in it's entirety it appears that he is actually watching from the top of the well. His brother threw the boy in the well and he is to watch and not lower a rope down. We then see him lower the rope. It left me more confused than anything else. I understand that they are leaving us more questions about Ward's past but the questions need to be a bit more straight forward. If it wasn't muddled to me I would have put this in the good category.</div>
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<strong>The Ugly.</strong></div>
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Nothing.</div>
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By far, the best episode yet. I hope the show keeps on this trajectory.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-23970008529265335222013-11-18T07:00:00.000-05:002013-11-18T07:00:07.656-05:00The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: The Tomorrow People Sorry For Your Loss<div style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: verdana, arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/o-THE-TOMORROW-PEOPLE-570.jpg" href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/o-THE-TOMORROW-PEOPLE-570.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;"><img alt="o-THE-TOMORROW-PEOPLE-570" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-22779" data-mce-src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/o-THE-TOMORROW-PEOPLE-570-200x300.jpg" height="300" src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/o-THE-TOMORROW-PEOPLE-570-200x300.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; cursor: default; float: left; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;" width="200" /></a>This episode of The Tomorrow People turns out to be another frustrating episode. It was enjoyable but highly frustrating in parts.</div>
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Sorry for your loss has two story lines. The primary one is the death of Russell's father and the trip across country to attend the funeral. The secondary is the mysterious new girl in town who turns out to be the sister of Stephen's new handler.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">The Good:</strong></div>
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John starts shaping up to be a real leader in this episode and this is good to see. Stephen and Russell are out hustling pool when they run into a mysterious woman that exhibits the abilities of a tomorrow person. They return, battered and bruised to learn from TIM of the death of Russell's father. He is going to attend despite the rules stating you leave your human life behind. John gives the OK and goes with him to ensure both his and the groups safety.</div>
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I like this because it shows that John can see what has been working prior may not be working anymore. To continue to keep his people safe, he has to adapt of they will all suffer. Yes, there is plenty of teen angst in the decision but you have to take that in stride as this is still a show about teenagers with powers. It is nice to see that they are going to let them grow up a little bit in this first season.</div>
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The best thing about this episode is the second story line. The mysterious girl presents a nice moral dilemma for the Cara and Stephen. She is obviously being hunted by ultra but she also needs to know that her sister is in the city and the dangers that this poses to her. We are given a scene early in the episode where Stephen's senior agent gives him a warning about Astrid. She lets it slid so that this doesn't complicate his human life but does caution him that he needs to get some separation from that life. This makes Stephen's suggestion to let the two sisters meet make sense. Instead of just blindly leaping to conclusions we have our hero actually thinking about his actions and this is a nice change of pace.</div>
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The meeting between the sisters goes predictably. The Ultra agent shows up and makes the plea to bring her sister in to be de-powered. Stephen makes the plea to spare her this fate when she knows the outcome. A pick-up squad is just moments away and she helps the two escape out the back. The squad arrives and begins questioning her about the minds that had been sensed as they arrived. We get see her resolve solidify and she makes the choice to buy them time to escape. She can't kill but badly incapacitates some of the squad and buys the duo escape time with her life. This was definitely not what I was expecting and illustrated the stakes that are in play here.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">The Bad:</strong></div>
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Once again the show opens up showing the horrible life of one of the characters in the episode. This time it is Russell's over-bearing father. Russell is at an audition and is performing admirably. The stress is so great that he begins his outbreak. When the audition is done, his father has nothing but criticism despite the auditors approbation. That Russell wants to attend the funeral makes little sense. When things degenerate on the trip and the two are being held by a local sheriff we get the rest of the story.</div>
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Russell used his abilities early on to cheat at gambling and took some very bad people's money. When the time came to pay for his crime, his father bore the pain and Russell ran away. The trip is in some fashion a way of apologizing. The thing is that Russell doesn't get enough screen time for me to care that much about him. He is treated mostly as stereotypical comedic relief. This whole story line makes me me like him a lot less. It also makes the tomorrow people seem to be a dumping ground for broken individuals who seem to not even be able to rise up when given a second chance by being given powers.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">The Ugly:</strong></div>
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This where I get frustrated. The whole story with the sisters is pretty damn good. It just breaks down when the older sister dies. Why do two teleporters run out the back door? Why isn't there a big chase scene across the city with the agent using the excuse that she lost the quarry somewhere in the city. The stand-off between the sister and the pick-up team in dramatic but loses something when you consider that this is just outside the bar and all three of these people can teleport. Arrggghhhh! If you are going to have a show where people have powers and remind us of these powers at the beginning of every show then damn well make sure you take them into account when you are writing.</div>
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Despite the bad and the ugly of this episode, I still enjoyed it. I hope that as the season progresses that we get writing that takes the powers into account more often rather than as a lazy plot device now and again.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-18187667725644828112013-11-18T06:30:00.000-05:002013-11-18T06:30:04.810-05:00Forever Evil No 3<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Deep-Thought.jpg" href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Deep-Thought.jpg"><img alt="Deep Thought" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1472" data-mce-src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Deep-Thought.jpg" height="175" src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Deep-Thought.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default;" width="690" /></a></div>
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This issue of Forever Evil continues telling an excellent story while putting the events that led up to this story in better perspective.</div>
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When I first started writing about Forever Evil, It seemed to me that the various Justice Leagues had ran into the Crime Syndicate in their own universe. I was unaware of the trinity war story that had preceded this. The three Justice Leagues had been fighting among themselves when the the Crime syndicate appeared on the scene. Their Cyborg analog separated the machine from the man in Cyborg leaving him crippled and dying. The remaining team members, outside of Batman and Catwoman, are then locked up within the matrix that powers Firestorm. </div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Forever_Evil_Vol_1-3_Cover-1.jpg" href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Forever_Evil_Vol_1-3_Cover-1.jpg"><img alt="Forever_Evil_Vol_1-3_Cover-1" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2003" data-mce-src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Forever_Evil_Vol_1-3_Cover-1-195x300.jpg" height="300" src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Forever_Evil_Vol_1-3_Cover-1-195x300.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; float: left;" width="195" /></a>While Cyborg's father tries to save his son, Batman learns that Nightwing has been captured and his identity revealed. Instead of staying safe in the Red Room, he and Catwoman head out to rescue Nightwing.</div>
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We once again rejoin Lex Luthor as he struggles to gain intelligence that will allow him to save his world. I really like that Bizarro is his assistant throughout all this. There is a scene where Lex contemplates the destroyed flowers outside one of his holdings. Bizarro interrupts his maudlin thoughts to offer him a dying flower very much like Frankenstein's monster. Luthor's exasperation is priceless. With Bizarro's help, Lex is able to reestablish communication with one of his satellites and gain information on Ultraman. We get to see Black Adam and Ultraman slug it out in the skies over Khandaq. It is nice to see that the power of Shazam's lightning still has the ability to hurt a Superman analog. It doesn't spare Black Adam from having his jaw broken and being left for dead.</div>
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We finally cut to the rogues in Central City. They have refused to level the city and Power Ring and the Crime Syndicate's Firestorm has come to make them tow the line. Everything goes pear shaped and ends with Captain cold losing his powers and the rogues being separated. Captain Cold is lead by Mirror Master to a gathering of Lex, Bizarro, Black Manta, and Black Adam. He lets Luthor know that he isn't with the Crime Syndicate and thus another team is born.</div>
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This issue is brimming with cool stuff. We get to see that the relationship between Batman and Catwoman is a bit different in The New 52. Prior to the reboot, Selena Kyle knew all the Bat Families identities and was friends with most of them. Here she is unaware and Batman only tells her that Nightwing is a friend. It was nice to learn the fate of the three teams of the Justice League. There was never a doubt in my mind that they were alive, I just didn't think that the answer would be a clever use of Firestorm. Watching as Lex Luthor puts the pieces together to take the Crime Syndicate apart is damn entertaining.</div>
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Geoff Johns storytelling is firing on all cylinders here. He takes the trope of villains as hero and takes makes it interesting again. Finch's pencils and Oback's colors create a wonderful page that is a joy to behold.</div>
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I don't think I can wait a whole month for the next issue!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-28735244989209380692013-11-15T07:00:00.000-05:002013-11-15T07:00:04.539-05:00The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The Hub<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Deep-Thought.jpg" href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Deep-Thought.jpg"><img alt="Deep Thought" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1472" data-mce-src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Deep-Thought.jpg" height="175" src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Deep-Thought.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default;" width="690" /></a></div>
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This episode makes progress on a lot of plot lines hanging out there. So, lets dive right in!</div>
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<strong>The Good:</strong></div>
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This episode continues down the road of adding a much more human layer to the characters in the show. The opening scene sets the hook. Agent Coulson is being taken to some unknown location to be interrogated. This scene plays very much like the interrogation scene from Avengers with the exception being that the interrogator is the package to be extracted. A good call back to the movie with a good twist to make it fit into the show. The literally extract the Intel from the agent and have to take it to The Hub, a Shield command center. Central command needs to send Wart and Fitz into South Ossetia to disarm a super-weapon that has came into the hands of a local army. The operation is done by the book which throws the entire team off kilter. being used to working together with an open exchange of information puts each person off balance.</div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo.jpg" href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo.jpg"><img alt="Agents_of_SHIELD_logo" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1765" data-mce-src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo-300x216.jpg" height="216" src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo-300x216.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; float: left;" width="300" /></a>This episode continues this humanization through the different pairings. Out in the field, we get to see a different side of both Ward and Fitz. Yes, the caricature of the bumbling scientist is still present within Fitz character but we are shown that he has been trained to be a field operative and is capable of thinking on his feet. Ward loses the wooden feel that has haunted his character for the entire season so far for me. He comes across like he actually cares about Fitz and wants to take care of him. In addition, you can see his admiration for Fitz' capabilities grow as the mission continues. Back at the Hub, Skye and Simmons bristle at not knowing what is happening to their compatriots and are worried for their safety. True to type, Skye convinces Simmons to help her hack the system to discover what is going on. Both characters are played to type at this point but it works. IT was nice to watch these two work together and then see how they interacted as things fell apart as they are wont to do. What they discover is that there never was an extraction plan for Ward and Fitz.</div>
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On top of these character interactions we get a nice glimpse into the inner workings of Shield. I know that this may not seem interesting to others but it is to me. I never read the comics about shield and didn't read any of the titles that involved them tangentially either. Getting to see how the operation works was very refreshing. This episode does a good job of showing them to being a monolithic and uncaring machine throughout the show. Only to flip the script at the end when we are informed that the outcome was exactly as expected because this is why the team was created. I liked that little twist at the end as it paints shield as less of a monster without totally closing the door on that possibility.</div>
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Finally we get movement on two mysteries that I am really interested in. The information that Skye is seeking about her parents is kept here at the Hub. During her hacking she comes across the redacted files and knows that the info is here. We later find out that she was delivered by a shield agent to an orphanage and that their are pictures of her parents murdered on a floor. We get one question answered which leads to more questions. Exciting! The episode ends with Coulson requesting information on his own recovery in Tahiti. The request is denied despite his having the clearance necessary to access the data. It throws into stark relief his earlier statement that Shield only keeps information from you that you aren't ready to handle. Pretty good stuff!</div>
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<strong>The Bad</strong></div>
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Once again we are treated to an X Files style procedural with plenty of references to the Avengers movies. What I am missing is the super hero aspect of the Marvel universe. The earlier episode with Scorch whetted my appetite for more in that vein and I am getting annoyed that we are not seeing much along those lines. Don't get me wrong, I love the super science and such. I'm just a much bigger fan of super heroes. Gadget heroes are not my forte.</div>
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<strong>The Ugly:</strong></div>
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For me, there was no ugly in this episode. Woo Hoo!</div>
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A good solid episode that actually picked up on the good from last episode and carried it forward. I am hoping for much more forward momentum from the rest of the season.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-37925358907453753282013-11-11T09:41:00.000-05:002013-11-11T09:41:11.345-05:00The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: The Tomorrow People All Tomorrow's Parties<div style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: verdana, arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL.jpg" href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;"><img alt="The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-22811" data-mce-src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL-209x300.jpg" height="300" src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/The-Tomorrow-People-Promotional-Cast_FULL-209x300.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; cursor: default; float: left; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;" width="209" /></a>Without Further Ado, I give you the fifth episode of the Tomorrow People. All Tomorrow's Parties.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">The Good:</strong></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;"></strong>In this episode we finally get to see this conflict between Ultra and the Tomorrow People that has been talked about since the first episode. Yes, we have seen several outbreaks being hunted down but not after it has been established that these individuals are pretty horrible in their own right.</div>
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If you couldn't tell from the title, the main thrust of this episode revolves around parties. Two in particular; A home coming dance and a party to blow off steam. Through some elaborate trickery, the location of the Tomorrow Peoples party has been discovered by Ultra. They allow the group to get settled in and complacent. This serves the secondary purpose of giving Jedekiah time to bring Stephen to the party and pontificate on fidelity. With spectators in place, Ultra opens fire and kills two and wounds one of Stephen's kind. Brutal and well executed.</div>
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For once, Ultra is shown to be a threat as opposed the old man trying to pull one over on Scooby-do and the gang.</div>
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We get Astrid in this episode which makes me very happy. She is one of the few characters that doesn't come off as broken. At the very outset she was set up as the confidant character. We get the pay off to that promise in this episode. She shows up to mend fences with Stephen and to ask him to the Home Coming Dance. He says yes. While trying on dresses for the party she questions him about how he disappeared from the train tracks that day and he dodges the questions badly. On the night of the party, she shows up as Stephen is being whisked away to watch the horror of the ambush and follows. She runs away before the action starts but not before she gets to see the enormity of what he has gotten mixed up in.</div>
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As the night ends, Stephen comes home a wreck. Astrid is waiting for him. It is at this point that he can no longer dodge the question. He takes the risk and teleports the two of them to were they met. Instead of fear or recrimination, Astrid silently takes his hand as a sign of acceptance. A very powerful moment for the show.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">The Bad:</strong></div>
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At every turn we get to see Stephen betraying Ultra to the Tomorrow People. We get see that they are aware of this even at the higher levels. Yet, they do nothing about it. It makes Ultra seem very cartoonish and incapable of doing their job. I would appreciate a villainous aside that shows us some hint of a large reason for letting Stephen be such a loose cannon. It would make them even more sinister in my own opinion. </div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">The Ugly:</strong></div>
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Stick Fighting!?! Really?</div>
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You are an advanced species that is, for the most part, incapable of killing. your method of settling disputes is stick fighting. Lame! This would have been a good time to illustrate both characters mastery of their powers and show it off to the audience. Instead, we get them teleporting around a stick beating the crap out of each other. I think Stephen's initial facial expression says it all. Horror and confusion. If you are going to steal from comics, please steal something better than the Morlocks style of leadership challenge.</div>
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Still, this was a good episode. It also lacked an opening illustrating the horrible past of someone in the cast which made this the best episode yet.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-46585402258793401652013-11-11T07:00:00.000-05:002013-11-11T07:00:07.491-05:00Thor: The Dark World<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Deep-Thought.jpg" href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Deep-Thought.jpg"><img alt="Deep Thought" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1472" data-mce-src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Deep-Thought.jpg" height="175" src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Deep-Thought.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default;" width="690" /></a></div>
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The holiday season for movies kicks of with a bang with Thor: the Dark World.</div>
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I have been looking forward to this movie since it was announced and went to see it on Thursday.</div>
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I was not disappointed.</div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Thor-2-Movie.jpg" href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Thor-2-Movie.jpg"><img alt="Thor-2-Movie" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1974" data-mce-src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Thor-2-Movie-300x205.jpg" height="205" src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Thor-2-Movie-300x205.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; float: left;" width="300" /></a>The movie begins by getting us caught up with Jane Foster. She was mysteriously absent during the events in The Avengers. We see that she is attempting to move on with her life and is out on a date. It is not going well.The disaster is interrupted to get her investigate an anomaly similar to the one that brought Thor to earth. During the investigation, she gets lost in another dimension and touches a mysterious artifact and passes out.</div>
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Cut to Asgard. Thor and the Warriors Three are busy putting down the unrest caused by Loki's meddling and the breaking of the Bifrost Bridge. He is the hero of the day but does not have what he truly wants, Jane. He turns down the throne and is told that he should seek love among his own kind as the lives of humans are brief and will only lead him to grief. He sneaks away from the revel celebrating the quelling of unrest to ask Heimdall to check on Jane. He can't see her.</div>
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We return to earth to discover that Jane has been gone for five hours and the police are on site when she returns to earth. As Thor appears, the police attempt to arrest her and are blasted back by the energy that has taken up residence in her body. Thor whisks her away to Asgard and we get the story of the Dark Elves and the darkness that existed before this universe. What resides in Jane is the weapon that was going to return the darkness.</div>
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I really enjoyed this movie. I actually liked it more than the first. With the first, we are given a ton of exposition to get the viewer on board with who these people are which was not something that I needed or wanted. In The Dark World, we not only get the action adventure that you expect from Thor but a love story thrown in as well. It plays with the tropes present within Romeo and Juliet without being sappy or sickeningly sweet. Loki plays a part throughout the story as well. With Asgard under attack and the course of action that Thor wants to undertaken forbidden by Odin, stealth is needed. Watching the byplay between Loki and the rest of the cast is a joy to behold and well worth the price of admission.</div>
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If I had to quibble, it would be the Warriors Three. I really enjoyed them in the first movie and wished they had a little more screen time in this one.</div>
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I highly recommend watching Thor: The Dark World. It is a big action popcorn movie with a nice love story layered throughout. Top all this off with a heaping helping of Tom Hiddleston as Loki and you have a wonderful theater-going experience.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-53481771256659930822013-11-08T09:02:00.000-05:002013-11-08T09:02:59.191-05:00The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. FZzT<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Deep-Thought.jpg" href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Deep-Thought.jpg"><img alt="Deep Thought" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1472" data-mce-src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Deep-Thought.jpg" height="175" src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Deep-Thought.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default;" width="690" /></a></div>
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The show took a week off, hence there was no review last week. The show returned this week with a super-science murder mystery. People are dying and leaving their corpse floating several feet off the ground. It is up to our spunky investigative team to get to the bottom of this before there are more bodies in the air.</div>
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<strong><a data-mce-href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo.jpg" href="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo.jpg"><img alt="Agents_of_SHIELD_logo" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1765" data-mce-src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo-300x216.jpg" height="216" src="http://zerofortitude.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Agents_of_SHIELD_logo-300x216.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: default; float: left;" width="300" /></a>The Good:</strong></div>
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We get a ton of Agent Coulson this episode and this is good. After the initiating event, we get to see him undergoing a stress test. The explanation is that this is simply a follow up by a request from his physical therapist from when he was dead. Everything comes up clean and he and the team head out into the field.</div>
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There is a very strong moment in this episode when Coulson talks with a firefighter that is about to die. The short conversation shows him as open and vulnerable when prior he has been shown to be more of the affable quipster that is hard to ruffle. It added some depth to the character that had been lacking. This culminates with a conversation between Coulson and May where he admits that he ordered the tests. This admission of feeling different and "off" to his confidant just reinforces the earlier moment of openness and vulnerability. I know that May's response is somewhat trite but I just loved it when she told him that dying, whether for eight seconds of forty, changes you. It humanizes her character and deepens the mystery around what happened to Coulson.</div>
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Continuing the the theme of humanizing characters in this show, We finally get to see more of Fitz & Simmons. In previous episodes they swoop in and put the pieces together for the team. In Fzzt, the mystery is solved within the first half hour. While struggling to discover the cure for the electromagnetic ailment that has afflicted Simmons, we get to learn a little about these two's relationship. No, we don't get a huge info dump about their past. Instead, we are given a glimpse into two people who seem to be paired off yet are not a pair. It is interesting to watch as you get to see the relationship deepen without ever really committing to them being a couple.</div>
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<strong>The Bad:</strong></div>
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As much as I enjoy the references to the Avengers movie, I'm getting tired of it. The earlier reference to the watch list of super powered individuals that required watching without actual intervention was intriguing. I would much rather watch the team explore this avenue than getting the random encounter from the Avengers movie over and over. Hell, I would appreciate a connection to the heroes more than the losers of the battle of New York.</div>
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<strong>The Ugly:</strong></div>
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Agent Ward is the stand out in this category for this episode. Once again he falls back into a wooden caricature of a secret agent. We had seen some movement towards a more likable character and that seems to have evaporated here. There are scenes where he engages in banter with the rest of the cast. We are supposed to believe that he is connected to the rest of the team and yet it just felt forced to me. I want to like Ward as he represents the by-the-book person in the team and yet he doesn't really provide the foil that any of the other characters need.</div>
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Once again, I was very happy with this episode. Watching the human element being picked up and explored through Coulson, Fitz, and Simmons made this a great episode in my estimation. I was also happy to learn that there is going to be a crossover between the show and Thor: The Dark World coming soon. You can read about it <a data-mce-href="http://www.tv.com/shows/marvels-agents-of-shield/community/post/news-briefs-marvels-agents-of-shield-is-crossing-over-with-thor-the-dark-world-138333851432/" href="http://www.tv.com/shows/marvels-agents-of-shield/community/post/news-briefs-marvels-agents-of-shield-is-crossing-over-with-thor-the-dark-world-138333851432/">here</a>.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11755141078439165309noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824063672612253778.post-44853612942271276492013-11-05T07:00:00.000-05:002013-11-05T07:00:16.316-05:00The Mice Templar Vol 4: Eye for an Eye<div style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: verdana, arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 5px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/mice-templar-legend-issue-7.jpg" href="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/mice-templar-legend-issue-7.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;"><img alt="mice-templar-legend-issue-7" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-22838" data-mce-src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/mice-templar-legend-issue-7-195x300.jpg" height="300" src="http://ideologyofmadness.spookyouthouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/mice-templar-legend-issue-7-195x300.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; cursor: default; float: left; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;" width="195" /></a>Eye for an eye is the seventh issue in this fourth volume of The Mice Templar.</div>
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This is a big issue for answering questions that I have had since starting this volume of The Mice Templar. The first page opens with King Icarus advancing from the shadows into the light. Despite the questions of his consort, he only states that he will free the shadow time from the bonds of tyranny. What follows is a two page spread showing the the machines of war that he has had created in secret beneath the capital.</div>
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It is a spectacular spread showing a wicked looking army on the move.</div>
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We then cut to the camp of Captain Tosk. A fight to the death between two cats is being held for the amusement of all present. After the fight is over, we learn that this army has been called upon to join the King's expedition. The caveat is made that if mice aren't slaughtered soon, then another regime change may be in order.</div>
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Leito, following a dream, has came here to begin his new life as a Templar. Despite the danger and Pilot's urging to turn back, He feels it necessary to free the poor cat being held captive. It is this act of kindness that puts him into a position to repay the rat responsible for the destruction of his home. Tosk has arrived to catch both mice and an epic battle between Leito and Tosk ensues.</div>
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Victor Santos does an excellent job on this battle. He shows the ferocity and cunning that is present in both combatants. The action is crisp and clean while still retaining the gritty feel of the book. I was torn as I wanted to fly through the pages to see what would happen next and I wanted to g o slowly and savor each panel. I especially appreciated the exchange between Tosk and Leito when it seems that Tosk has the upper hand. Tosk asks, "How would you like me to take your other arm?" Leito responds, "What if I take yours instead?!" Then promptly does so. Excellent!</div>
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Pilot intervenes, keeping Leito from killing Tosk. The pretense here is that this will lead him down a dark path but is really just to allow the pleasure of killing Tosk to be Pilot's. Now, Leito is prepared to do what Pilot has asked, become the chosen one.</div>
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The book ends with King Icarus revealing the target of his giant army, The Great Ash!</div>
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Once again Glass and Santos have outdone themselves. Watching as several of the seeds that have been planted in the earlier issues blossom with such effect was incredible. The most surprising part of this issue was the death of Tosk. After getting a whole issue about his story, I was expecting much more from his character going forward. I was happy to see him die and disappointed that we would see no more of his villainy. Luckily, King Icarus more than fills in this spot.</div>
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The creative team on this book is putting out spectacular book that hasn't had a misstep yet. I can not wait to pick up the next issue. </div>
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