New shirt, new mutants, new (unintentional) vampiric horrors...
Since I like books a lot (even tomes of a questionable nature when it comes to the safety of our plane of existence) and have a sister who is a librarian, I thought there had to be an underrepresented segment of the literal "book keeping" specialists in certain institutions of learning. And the Latin is most likely incorrect grammatically, but that can be chalked up to slipping sanity (or Google's translation matrix). It says something along the lines of "We use fire only as a last resort," since these are professional page-preservers we're talking about. Hmmm... I wonder if there's such a thing as "Forbidden Book Week?"
I saw "X-Men First Class," just to see if it had any redeeming qualities. It's a mixed bag depending on your point of view. If, like me, you wanted something closer to the comic book continuity, it's got quite a pile of marks against it, as the writers basically saw the entire mutant population of the Marvel Universe as a giant grab-bag from which to pull its cast. While not new to Fox's X-movies, random character appearances were mostly done previously for the sake of fanservice cameos. On the one hand, fans do want to see a their favorite muties on screen, but on the other, the films they've put out have loads of contradictions (for example, the Emma Frost of "First Class" isn't the same one in the "Wolverine" movie). Xavier is Patrick Stewart light, apparently now hailing from England instead of New York, with students that are a mish-mash of acting skills and powers. Moira MacTaggert is now a CIA agent, not the scientist/advocate for mutants she's been in the past, which makes it wince-worthy to hear her say (after seeing her first evil mutants) that she needs to find an expert on genetic mutation (and in an American accent). If there's a reason to see this movie, it's Magneto; his journey to villainy is worth a rental when it hits DvD, but overall, this film reminded me of seeing a "good" episode of "Star Trek: Voyager" or one of the earlier episodes of "Heroes." That is, you'd occasionally see the germ of an interesting idea that would have been better if used in a different production. "First Class" has a few good bits: The aforementioned Magneto arc, and the portrayal of a younger Charles Xavier who's more cavalier about using his abilities in various ways. However, it still suffers from heavy-handedness, driving home the parallels between being a mutant and experiencing racism, even to the point where someone calls Erik/Magneto a "freak" while he's dressed in street clothes and before he's even evidenced any mutant power. Given that the name-caller is an ex-Nazi who probably saw Erik's concentration camp tattoo, that's an odd choice for the first insult to come out of his short-lived mouth. Anyway, Kevin Bacon's a good villain, there are some interesting effects sequences, but this movie will leave fans of the comic book divided over whether or not the film is worth embracing given the way the source material was handled (like Charles not being the one who built the prototype to his computer, Cerebro, and Emma Frost's diamond form being defeated by two normal-strength guys and a bedframe). Granted, comic book continuity isn't etched in stone, it's subject to retconning and often schizophrenic due to a myriad of writers being involved, but the way this movie was constructed, it's more of a reboot than a prequel. If nothing else, it would make for a good basis for a trivia game at a convention where players are awarded points for spotting differences between the comic book version of events and characters and those in this and other X-Men films.
For a more simple yardstick: It was easier to watch than X3. I think I was more disappointed with the portrayal of Phoenix than I am with "First Class" and its setup, since it can be the first in another alternate comic book universe instead of the supposed climax to a film trilogy. Besides, if the X-franchise ever reverts to Marvel/Disney, the entire X-movie line will be retooled to fit into their continuity, anyway.
And for those who really disliked the inclusion of the modern-day mutant Darwin, a rather predictable TV Trope fate awaits his character, which kind of makes me wonder why they included him at all.
While we're on the topic of imperfect films, here's the first trailer for "Twilight: Breaking Dawn," just in case you missed that other wedding of the century, you know. It's also a reminder that while werewolves cleverly discard their shirts before transforming, you can always tell one apart from mundane wolves because they're wearing pants. This is the film that could both send the fans into ecstatic glee while confirming the non-fan's worst nightmares about the books' content, which is quite an achievement.
Our final book-related item comes from alert reader Sangelia, who wants us to note the passing of author Joel Rosenberg, who passed away due to complications from a heart attack. I'm most familiar with his "Guardians of the Flame" series, which I recall as the first (and probably best) series that featured real-world people thrust into a role-playing game fantasy realm. They're especially fun to read if you've ever been a participant in a game where the DM and the players are trying to out-grief each other.
In the meantime, while working on various other projects (which are going to accelerate, thankfully, since I have Cristi home to help out with Josh during the day), I've been listening to a few more of the novels in the Charles Stross "Laundry Files" series. If you haven't read these books before, they appeal to computer geeks who are into the Lovecraft mythos, and they've even spawned a role-playing game. Stoss does occasionally overdo the name dropping of real-world video games, gadgets, and other computer-related things, but he's got some pretty convincing thaumaturgic techno-babble to go along with it, which amuses me to no end. Think of it as "The Dresden Files" meets "Bob from Her Majesty's Secret Service Tech Support." Now that I think about it, I wouldn't mind seeing a "Laundry Files" TV series from the BBC. It's the least they can do after the anxiety caused by having to wait for months for the next Doctor Who installment.
Here's a little pile of something to help ease the pain of Time Lord withdrawal:
- Vying with "Video Games Live" for the title of "what I most want to go see an orchestra for" is word that some select venues will have "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" presented with live music and choral accompaniment. You shall have my bow. And my violin...
- While we're on the subject of the arts, here's an article with lots of images of re-faced U.S. bills with pop culture visages that are being sold in an art gallery. The link has 30 in a nice, scrollable page with a link to the gallery's website that contains 20 more.
- Some footage of the Springfield, Massachusetts tornado as it stops for a refreshing drink on its way to town.
- Relax from that vision of destruction with another: Kamikaze Destruction 2, like its predecessor, has you launching explosive imp-things at blocks that you're trying to push off of platforms and into the maws of waiting monsters. Now with anti-gravity blocks!
- I'm 99% sure I've posted this commercial before, but it's still quite brilliant, as it plays on your emotions and then points out how you've been manipulated.
- Here are some posters and art that answer the question, what if Doctor Who were a Disney movie?
- Along the same lines, someone answers the question of what a trailer for Doctor Who would look like what if it were thirteen minutes on and an anime. Note: this video was removed from YouTube for some reason, and I've yet to find an explanation, so this is an alternate for the time being.
- Another post, another Minecraft video that shows how insignificant anything I might build is: a timelapse video of the construction of the City of Arches.
- Apple has filed a patent for an app that disables your phone camera if it thinks you don't have permission to record/take photos of something. Not that this will stop anyone after the hack is released, about an hour later. :)
- Much in the same way that those automatic doors that open at the press of a button (usually with my hip) are a boon to those of us who have their hands full, this Kinect-hacked grocery cart would sure come in handy lugging things around a convention hall.
- There are vintage arcade machines and then there are vintage arcade machines.
- If anyone out there needs a really unique organization that must be a cover for some super secret society, I give you the Holotypic Occlupanid Research Group. They study those little plastic squares that hold the bags closed on loaves of bread.
- Finally, at least a partial "no" to the question, will it blend?
- The hackers who have been making Sony's corporate life interesting gave Nintendo a little attention, though no customer data was compromised.
- So nothing bad can come of this sort of thing, can it? The sleuths at Reddit believe the vehicle is the work of this gentleman.
- It's a Monday, and what better way to finish than with a game that lets you vent frustration at a common source of annoyance? Here's Mike Shadow: I Paid For It, a game where you strategically invoke powers (kind of like cooldown-style MMO abilities) to get a rogue vending machine to cough up the soda you fed it money to receive.