Glorious news, the zombie apocalypse is nigh!

If you are a fan of the Zombie genre in any way there are a few things which should get your attention, and if they haven’t already, then they really should. If we are talking movie’s then of course there’s Shaun of the Dead, the earlier Romero flicks and most recently Zombieland.

In Video Games we have Left 4 Dead, and it’s sequel, the Resident Evil series, and even the trip to the mall that is Dead Rising. In books, we have the recent Pride and Prejudice and Zombies making a big splash, and if you want to check something out that’s not on the radar, check the Torchwood Novel “Bay of the Dead” out, truly the best written bit of zombie terror I’ve encountered. 

But in Graphic Novels, or comic books if you prefer, the king is Robert Kirkman with his “continuing story of survival horror; The Walking Dead. After much critical acclaim, Kirkman’s opus is bringing one of my dreams to light, a television show. An ongoing series of life after the undead.

But it gets better, the adaptation was written and will be directed by Frank Darabont, the director behind the Shawshank Redemption. So far it’s just the pilot that AMC has given the green light to, but let’s keep our rotting fingers crossed, this should be legen-wait for it-dary!

For more visit the link where I read the good word at Techland

Not the Last Airbender…

Well, i finally saw it. It took three attempts to see it, but we finally made it in. The whole show sold out by the time we arrived  (with our tickets already in hand) and we ended up in the backrow with all the teenagers.

One girl, seated just to my left spent the whole film texting, and as near as I can tell half of the texts were to the girl just on the other side of her. At the end of the film she looked at her friend and said, “I didn’t understand any of that”, to which her friend responded, “I didn’t either till I saw it the second time.”

What the hell? 1) Avatar was a good movie, but it was hardly rocket science. Just take Pocahontas and add a little Robotech and you are halfway there! What’s not to understand?!?! get off the damn phone!!!! 2) Again, get off the damn phone . . . though I guess I should be at least glad they weren’t talking but that glowing light beside me was driving me nuts, I swear I almost grabbed it and threw it forward into the audience.

The movie though I enjoyed. I won’t go on and on about the plot, I hear the same thing from everyone. Good film, stunning visuals, basic plot, yadda yadda yadda….

Back to those teens beside me again for a second . . . why would you go see a film you don’t understand repeatedly? Is Avatar breaking 500 million dollars tonight because it’s visually that good, or as my nine year old wailed when she found out she might not get to go, “…but it’s the hottest movie in the world!” Is that really the motivation? Said nine year old isn’t even all that interested in Sci-Fi (blasphemy though it is she can take or leave Star Wars), she just wanted to see what everyone else was going to see. In the immortal words of Joss Whedon, “Grrrrr, Arrgh.”

Going Greek . . . wait, did that come out right?

After all that time spent on Dragonage I still had a hankering for rpgs, and so made the modest purchase of Rise of the Argonauts for about ten bucks. At that price, and since I had never heard anyone talk about it, I didn’t expect much. I was drawn in by the promise of roleplaying, based on Greek mythology, and better than just any old greek mythology, “Jason and the Argonauts”. Ever since the Harryhousen classic (1963) I have loved the story of the quest for the Golden Fleece.

But the game made my day, I played rapidly until the end, playing the character of  Jason, leading the likes of Pan, Hercules, Achilles and Medea against the forces of the Titan Hecate. The story was drastically different than the tale you might be familiar with, but the mythology and setting were quite well done. Which frankly is the way it should be, that way when mention of Medusa on an island of statues came up, it caught me quite by surprise, not to mention how all that played out, quite different. The inclusion of the greek gods, particularly Iocles patrons; Ares, Hermes, Apollo and Athena led to a great and different system of advancement, and all in all I enjoyed every minute. I’m sure to play it through one more time in the near future as well. Now, back to killing me some zombies…

Sucking my life away . . . in a good way.

So much of my life has been spent playing this game in the last month. My first character I finished after 40 hours of playing. Korben the Human Noble Warrior strode a virtuous path, until the end that is, when he made a Dark Pact to survive the final battle. After finishing the game that time I started to play a mage, and a Rogue, and then a Dwarven fighter, yes, three games at once, alternating as I went.

My own progress slowed down then, not because I was playing too many games, but because my fiancee started to play too. Yes, I’m a lucky guy – instead of being killed for playing too many video games, she joins in. Of course, that’s less play time for me, but we often do a collaborative, I hold the gamepad, she tells me what to do. It’s quality geek time.

I hit a snag when my internet stopped working though, apparently some of my downloadable content requires checking in with the dragonage servers. We couldn’t continue to play the game! So my lady started a new game and I started two more (that’s 9 ongoing games if you’re wondering) and still we play.

I was a huge Mass Effect fan, and KOTOR before that. So picking up the collector’s edition of Dragonage from Bioware was a no-brainer for me, and I haven’t regretted that choice for even a second. I have all the DLC that’s been put out so far, and I can’t wait for more…just like I can’t wait for ME2, only a few months away.

I highly recommend this game, the multiple Origins alone make the game great to replay, the stories are intricate and engaging. The graphics are great, although I think they went a little too far with the bloodspatter. The “mature” themes are not gratuitous, not as much as we see on TV these days even. All in all, a great game.

Although, just to spice things up a bit, I am going to go home and play Oblivion, jut for some variety.

Dead to the World . . . but alive to the universe.

Sookie Stackhouse…

…what a terrible name. I’ve recently powered my way through the entire Sookie Stackhouse series (excepting the collected shortstories and most recent instalment(still in hardcover)), and I have to say I enjoyed it immensely. Years ago I had read the first two books, long before there was an HBO series, and I can’t say I was really into it. The books at first had been a little more tongue in cheek, and a little less literature than i was keen on and I put them down as easily as I had picked them up.

Then came True Blood, as an HBO show I assumed it would be good, I loved Sopranos, Rome, and a half dozen other things they had produced, and I wanted a series to watch with my fiancee that I hadn’t seen before, so she couldn’t ask me what was going to happen next…of course I had read the book, so I could guess. Ironically, watching the show made me want to read the books again, and it made me want to not watch the show. What an overly dramatic pile of crap. I re-read the first few installments, and then I read the rest

The adventures of Sookie Stackhouse, telepathic barmaid from rural southern america, and her boyfriend Vampire Bill – sound foolish? No doubt. A guilty pleasure? To be sure, but once you get drawn into the funny twisted world of Stackhouse, it’s hard to get out. The drama, the heartbreaks, the unending variety of strange supernatural is way over the top, but harlaine harris treats it like the Olympic High Jump, getting “over the top” is the point, and she’s winning a gold.

It’s going to kill me to buy a couple hardcovers to have the rest of the stories, just because I hate to have a series in more than one format (a little OC about this sort of thing) but I doubt I can wait till they hit the softcover. After reading Dead Until Dark, Living Dead in Dallas, Club Dead, Dead to the World, Dead as a Doornail, Definately Dead, All Together Dead and From Dead to Worse, how can I wait for Dead and Gone?