Zephyrus of the Anemoi

On October 27, David Eick, Ronald D. Moore, Jane Espenson, and Edward James Olmos released upon the world Battlestar Galactica: The Plan. The film follows the story of the Cylons from just before the destruction of the colonies to just before they settle New Caprica. It deals with the reason for their attack on the colonies, what they had hoped to achieve through the destruction of the human race, and why they continuously failed to do so.

But that’s all beside the point. That’s cold, unfeeling words that describe what happens. That’s not what the movie is.

BSG: The Plan is a gorgeously crafted, perfectly choreographed new dance to the same old tune (the one that you kept hearing from the end of season 3 onward). It is a love letter, penned by a poet, and written as a tribute to the fans of the series. It is jaw-droppingly beautiful. It is gut-wrenchingly painful.

It is a testament to the world crafted during the course of this series that it could be tied so neatly together in one 2-hour package. Not only that, but by revisiting key scenes throughout the first two seasons with gaps filled in, you finally understand how certain characters could change so much by the end of the series. You even begin to see how the decision to work together first came to light.

I highly recommend that anyone that has seen the series to its end watch this. Twice.

Oh, and don’t turn it off when the credits roll. The music has to be heard to be believed.

Netflix has been eroding Blockbuster’s profit margins for quite some time, but it wasn’t until today that I saw confirmation that Blockbuster just doesn’t get it. I have been extolling the virtues of Blockbuster over Netflix for years, partially due to the in-store exchange option, and partially due to bonus free game rentals.

For example, when I started with Blockbuster, I could exchange my movies received by mail at the store for any free rental I wanted and the next movie in my queue would be sent immediately. However, after several months of this, Blockbuster decided to go beyond getting rid of late charges and instead decided that any rental by a TotalAccess subscriber could be kept indefinitely. The catch: no longer would Blockbuster send out the next DVD in your queue until you return the movie rented in-store.

This was something I could live with, as I still got to rent whatever I wanted, but it did increase the down time I had between movies. But, I was still able to rent two movies or games each month for free, thanks to the coupons given to me as a TotalAccess subscriber. This was great, because there were so many games out there that I wanted to try, but didn’t want to buy unless I knew they were worth it. This was an excellent feature of Blockbuster’s plan, but it recently fell apart.

Tonight, I returned a game to Blockbuster and rented another. During the checkout process, I was informed that I had late fees. This was news to me, as I haven’t had late fees since I started as a TotalAccess subscriber. It was then explained to me that about two weeks ago, Blockbuster changed the terms of their game rentals. Up to this point, every game I rented had no late fees unless kept 7 days beyond the return date, at which point it was converted into a purchase. However, now every day past the initial 5-day rental period is a dollar and then the rental is converted into a purchase.

Thankfully, I was told that I don’t have to pay the late fees, since I wasn’t told about the change, but it didn’t stop me from deciding to quit Blockbuster in exchange for Netflix. i don’t get to rent games, but it’s cheaper and I can have unlimited streaming to my computer and Xbox. It’s a shame that Blockbuster doesn’t get what makes Netflix so profitable. It’s not about finding new ways to charge the customer, but rather making the customer want to use your product more than the others. Let’s hope that Netflix never loses sight of that goal after Blockbuster is dead and gone.

This post is in direct response to a post by my friend MisterD on his tumblog. It concerns Star Trek and it is laden with spoilers. So, if you still haven’t seen it yet, don’t read this. Also, go out right now and see the movie. What’s wrong with you? Where are your priorities?

Now, on to the important stuff. But first, select episodes of Star Trek (the digitally remastered versions) are available on iTunes for $1.99 each. You can get there via this link here.

WARNING: Ahead there be spoilers!

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I hope you’re excited, because we’ve got a special treat for you this episode. jPar and I were so absolutely unimpressed by this movie, it was so completely unforgettable, that we could barely bring ourselves to talk about it at all. I’m not even joking. Maybe 15 minutes of this podcast is actually devoted to the movie.

This episode we watched Knowing, “featuring” Nicolas Cage and the end of the world. If any of you out there are actually deluded enough to believe that Nicolas Cage is talented, then you probably shouldn’t listen to this podcast. Actually, I take that back. You should listen so that perhaps your eyes will be opened.

Anyway, I apologize in advance for the rough nature of this particular episode. I promise that we’ll do much better next time, when the movie is at least entertaining in its horrendous badness. Despite how little time is devoted to the movie, it still turned out to be rather long. So, if you’d prefer to jump directly past the shitty movie talk and get to the really entertaining parts, listen to the intro and then skip to about the 20-25 minute mark and listen from there.

Anyway, you can subscribe via iTunes below or download it manually here.

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I went to go see Watchmen on Friday and have been digesting it ever since. I know that I have things to say about it, but I don’t have the words to describe the awesome that poured out of the screen into my face. There was a moment in the middle of the movie that I actually stepped outside of myself to realize I was sitting in a theater watching Dr. Manhattan on a 50-foot screen and I had a very meta moment.

I’m extremely disappointed in the reviews coming from the Internet, but I think that many reviewers are attacking the game to stand out from the rest, make a point, or garner attention. There are plenty of movies I’ve seen that I gave a free pass because of the source material, but in this case I didn’t need to do that. The movie was so wrought with the source material, it was almost as though the pages of the comic were woven into the fabric of the costumes and the celluloid it was filmed upon.

That’s not to say that the movie was perfect. The actress that plays Silk Spectre II is not nearly as talented as the rest of the actors on the screen and she’s on-screen a lot. But everyone else shows a great deal of understanding of their characters during the film.

A big thing about the movie that really made me happy was how the director was able to take a graphic novel that had very little action actually depicted (most action was resolved in a handful of frames and takes mere seconds to read), he managed to create a compelling action movie. The meaning of the novel is not lost in the struggle, either. The futility of war, the meaninglessness of death, the struggle for the human race to survive in the face of certain desolation is all there. But even better, most scenes in the film take something from the comic and make sure it’s visible on-screen as a frame of reference. Gorgeous pieces of artwork are placed up on-screen as still images set in motion.

As I said, i don’t have the appropriate words, so I hope that what little I could speak of here will encourage you to see the movie if you’ve read the graphic novel. And if you haven’t, then go see it anyway. If you can, borrow it from the library first and read it, or check out the motion comics on iTunes. Be warned. This film is NOT about heroes saving the day and being shiny and perfect. It’s gritty, it’s dark, it’s violent, and it’s brutal: just like life. There’s still a bit of romanticism to be found, but mostly it’s just a keen view of what our world might be like had the presence of a certain few influenced it.

Inspired by a recent list on episode 73 of Retroforce GO!, I decided to make a quick list of games that I’m waiting for on Virtual Console. Some are games that most everyone has heard of, but some are relatively unknown to a great many people, and that is a shame. So, without further ado, I present you with my Virtual Console wish list.

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Bionic Commando – This one is a no-brainer. You play as a soldier trying to take down Master-D and the Badds (Hitler and the Nazis in the Japanese release). Your character cannot jump, but instead has a bionic arm that lets him swing, climb, even smack around bad guys. Plus, the levels don’t have a specific order to be completed in. While some levels contain items that must be found before progressing, the order isn’t set in stone.

After its recent re-imagining into Bionic Commando: Rearmed, the Wii is the only system that can’t play Bionic Commando. While it’d be nice for Nintendo to get their “storage solution” into our hands in time for Capcom to feel that releasing Rearmed as a WiiWare title is a worthy proposal. However, in the meantime, the least that Capcom could do is release the original title on the Virtual Console. Easily one of the most amazing video games ever released for the original NES.

Blaster Master – No NES game had a more detailed world than this side-scrolling-birds-eye action-platformer. Similar in style to the Metroid series as areas of the game must be backtracked to access hidden items, new areas, and additional levels. What makes this game so much fun is you drive around a tank that can receive a variety of upgrades as the game progresses. But, in order to defeat the bosses that litter the world, you must exit your tank and use your very vulnerable driver to venture deeper into the underbelly of the world to face them. Plus, the story is about rescuing your frog from the clutches of the mutants that live under your hometown. How awesome is that?

Chip ‘N Dale: Rescue Rangers – Capcom made a number of great games using Disney’s licenses and this is one of the most popular. Two-player cooperative, smooth gameplay mechanics, and incredible level design (making the world around the characters huge was done here first and never better on the NES). Unfortunately, it seems that Disney doesn’t know how to capitalize on the greatness that is the Virtual Console, as none of their titles have hit the service, yet.

Clash at Demonhead – This is my personal favorite from this list. I assume that I got this game as a gift from my parents for some holiday or another. It’s possible that they even just picked it up at random one day because they love me. Anyway, the important thing is that the game is incredible. You play as Bang, a special operative on a mission to stop some terrorists from detonating a doomsday device that will destroy the world. Like Bionic Commando, the game has a fair amount of non-linearity to it. You start at the bottom of the mountain and have to make choices about which paths to take to reach the top. Not every path is required to complete the game, but many contain important items or objectives. This is likely to show up in a future edition of Classic Gaming Sporadically, so I’ll give more info to you then.

Double Dragon II – While the Interwebs is filled with people fawning all over the original Double Dragon, I was always disappointed in the lack of two-player coop in the NES release. Double Dragon II, on the other hand, did not make such an oversight and was one of the most entertaining gameplay experiences of my childhood. My brother and I spent countless hours working together to reach the final boss and get our collective asses kicked again and again. But it was always fun, even when it felt like work.

Duck Tales – Yet another Capcom game, and another Disney title at that. In this one, Scrooge McDuck’s fortune has been stolen and with the help of his nephews and friends, he’s on a quest to get it back. With some of the most unique gameplay elements of any licensed game, as well as incredible music and level design, this game should be at the top of many gamers’ wish lists. Perhaps one day, Capcom and Disney can get together with Nintendo and make those wishes come true.

The Goonies II – The Goonies was incredible and Konami was quick to cash in with a game loosely based on the movie. The game was pretty great, but the sequel was one of the most amazing platformers of all time. You play as Mikey on a quest to rescue the rest of his friends. They’ve been captured by the Fratelli family, freshly escaped from prison. Armed with a yo-yo and your wits, you set out to find them. The game world is one of the most complex I’ve ever seen, with doors everywhere: some which take you into to rooms full of items, secrets, and hidden pathways; others that lead directly to alternate areas of the game. It’s easy to get lost, but that’s part of the appeal. The world feels huge for an NES game, and indeed for many games made today. With a music soundtrack inspired by The Goonies theme from the movie and spot-on gameplay mechanics, I can’t wait to see this hit the Virtual Console.

Web

World Superhero Registry – Ever dreamed of putting on a costume and fighting crime? Actually put on a costume and go out to fight crime? Then this website is for you. While a large number of individuals on the site are actually poseurs, the purpose of the site is for vigilantes to see that they’re not alone and work together. I’m not even joking. Whether the creators intended for the site to be a legitimate crime-fighting social network or just a tongue-in-cheek way of poking fun, they certainly designed the website to take itself seriously.

Video

Dr. Horrible on DVD – Joss Whedon pimps it for me pretty well here, but if you’ve already seen it, you should just go ahead and buy it. The commentary is its own separate musical that must be heard to be believed.

9 – Trailer for the animated feature, produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, director of Night Watch (iTunes), Day Watch (iTunes), and Wanted (iTunes). Currently, the one movie I’m seriously excited about come autumn.

Games

Passage – Some of you that know me have heard me talk about this game before. It’s a simple, minimalistic, 5-minute, expressionist life-journey in game form. It recently became available for the iPhone for $0.99 and is an excellent buy if you like to help support true visionaries in the gaming genre.

Burn the Rope – Another minimalist game, this one is a simple Flash game that takes less than a minute to enjoy (but give it 5 minutes of your time and it’s even better). The art work and style of the game are very neo-retro and well worth brief distraction from productivity the game provides.

Warfare Incorporated – I’ve talked about this one on the blog before, so skip it if you read it already. While not as minimalist as the two games above, this game is incredible for the very simple reason that it is essentially Command & Conquer for the iPhone. It’s $5, but it’s totally worth it, especially as it has over 200 downloadable maps available for it beyond the built-in campaign. The devs are also hard at work adding in multiplayer support for future revisions, so check it out.

Watch the trailer first, full-screen if you can. Then, read on below for my take.

Direct link here.

ZOMG! Did you see that? Gambit portrayed as the greatest badass that ever assed bad! Emma Frost?! Seriously?!?! I don’t even know who half the people they portrayed were, because my eyes were glazed over by the awesome that is Gambit!

Okay, now that that’s out of the way, I want you all to think about what this movie means. It’s still in the hands of 20th Century Fox, so it’s unlikely to be as awesome as Iron Man or The Incredible Hulk. But hey, if it doesn’t frak it all up, then it should at least be fun.

Thanks to my buddy jPar for indirectly informing me of the legitimate release of the trailer. Be sure to check out the podcast thing that he and I do.

What will you be doing on May 8th, 2008?

I know I’m going to be at the movie theater watching Star Trek. I’ve been mildly excited for this movie since I first heard word of it. But I’ve been skeptical, too. Star Trek has always been such a hit and miss thing. The original series was something I watched quite often as a kid. I loved Star Wars more than anything. I wanted to be a Jedi, and fly the Millennium Falcon, and blow up the Death Star, and have a lightsaber duel, and, and, and…

But Star Trek was a different sort of beast for me. I didn’t get super-excited and bounce around the room like I did with Star Wars. I didn’t pretend to be Captain James T. Kirk or Mister Spock on an away mission to the surface of an unknown world. It just wasn’t my thing. But I enjoyed watching the show. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I loved it, but I certainly liked it.

And then something changed. Star Trek became something for nerds (a moniker I was given in junior high) and losers, as I aged. Star Wars received the same punishment but to a lesser degree. Many of the “cool kids” liked Star Wars also, just not to the extent that I did. But none of them liked Star Trek. And none of them would tolerate a “Trekkie” in their midst.

It was well enough then, that I stopped caring about the show before I entered junior high just because there were other things for me to focus on. And as a result, I gave Star Trek my own dash of vile and bile. Never mind the fact that my favorite “Choose-Your-Own-Adventure” book was a hand-me-down Star Trek-themed novella. Ignore the fact that I really enjoyed Star Trek: The Next Generation. Everyone hated Star Trek. I had to hate it as well.

It wasn’t until high school that I really started to like Star Trek again. A friend of mine named Larry started the process. In the beginning it was just him and I giving each other grief over which was better: Star Wars or Star Trek. Obviously, I had the Force on my side. His crummy show didn’t stand a chance. But it made me realize that there were other people that liked Star Trek, too. Popular people. Even semi-cool people. It was okay to like Star Trek again.

And like that, the flood gates opened. I started watching Star Trek: TNG reruns in secret. I gave a few episodes of Deep Space Nine my undivided attention (it didn’t stick). I even watched most of the first season of Voyager. But for some reason, I could never get back behind the original series. It was just too hokey and easy to humiliate. My interest waned. I watched the movies on VHS and the later ones on DVD. But when Enterprise came out, I didn’t even give it a shot. For whatever reason, Star Trek was over for me.

Then I saw this.

The first trailer was nothing to sneeze at. Just a small teaser with a brief glimpse of the Enterprise being constructed. Big deal. But the new trailer. Oh, baby, the new trailer.

If even one Star Trek project after this is as awesome as this one looks to be, Star Trek could finally be what the Star Wars prequels failed to be: a saga from my adulthood that I want to imagine myself into.

If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to go see the new James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. And yes, I used the term film and I stand by it. Quantum of Solace is not a movie, despite it’s blockbuster tendencies. With incredible action sequences, gorgeous vistas, and jaw-dropping stunts, it certainly has the trappings of a summer big screen smash. And yet, its the scenes between the action, where Daniel Craig interacts with the various other characters of the film, that truly make this a spectacular piece of cinema.

I found the most compelling moment in the entire film was a brief interlude in which Bond seeks out the aid of a former MI-6 member and sits on his veranda sharing a glass of wine. This presents us with a stunning swatch of the film that appears to have been stylistically lifted directly out of the classic Bond films starring Sean Connery. Costumes, settings, and dialogue all feel timeless and familiar.

Character development is a key factor in Quantum, as it was in Casino Royale. While in Casino, Bond shows quite a range of emotion that humanizes him in short bursts, dehumanization has become key in Quantum. Daniel Craig’s Bond seems to care very little for the lives of anyone he uses through the course of the movie to accomplish his goals. Grim determination is the only emotion portrayed, and it makes viewers care so much more about Bond, because he is something less than human, but still so incredibly interesting to watch.

By the end of the movie, I felt as though I could watch two or three more iterations of this saga and still feel like the character arc had further to go. I highly recommend that if you haven’t seen it yet, seeing it soon. And if you have, to go see it again. Take a friend or two and tell them that they can’t say they’ve seen a James Bond film if they haven’t seen this one. A movie, perhaps, but not a film.