Skyrim

One does not simply...beat Skyrim.

But you can certainly try; I am not one of those brave souls though. However, I have nearly hit one hundred hours of gameplay, with very little left to do. The main quest became my primary goal after a while, and it was conquered quickly, and easily. The other "guilds" in the game have been completed, save for the Thieves Guild. The reason I left it behind is because it was so terrible, time consuming and uninteresting. In fact, you could say that about most the game, but the main storyline brought things back to focus for me. The quests were mixed up a bit - they varied - and was actually interesting. But the main story line only accounts for a fraction of the total hours you spend in the game.

In reading that, you may think I have nothing to say but negative things for Skyrim, and to a degree it's easier to focus on those negatives. But while you read this, keep in mind that I just sunk one hundred hours into this game. Over the past few years I've learned to put things down that I'm not enjoying, which all started with Lost Planet. Decent concept, poor execution and I just wasn't up to it. Fast forward to Fable III, which was difficult to put down but I haven't missed it; I've become at peace knowing that I wasn't getting enjoyment from it, and there's no reason to grind away at these games while there are others to try (and enjoy). It's all about maximizing your enjoyment per hour, right?

Skyrim is an interesting beast. There are many negatives that would lead you to conclude that it's not a good game, but here you (or I) are, playing it every day, for hours at a time. They've managed to pull it all together and appeal directly to our senses, and in the end I can say I had a good run. What happens is that you burn yourself out. For me, there is so much I want to do - and it doesn't help that I lean slightly towards completionism, a task that is not really possible in Elder Scrolls games. There is not enough time to do it all, and when I step back I have to realize there is no real point in doing it, it's not completely necessary. The developers have filled the world with so many little nuggets of creativity and neat things that you want to experience them all - but you can't, and probably shouldn't. Which is why I approached the game differently after a bit.

At first, I wanted to collect everything, keep every item I found for future display and enjoyment. But therein lies a problem, and one of the reasons I burnt out. When I came back to the game I took a different approach - or role, you could say - by only keeping the things that I really found interesting. What happened is my enjoyment increased, as I didn't have to search every bookshelf, or every chest for loot. I was happy just getting the special items from the big chests at the end of a dungeon, or the various rewards for completing quests. Doing this sped things up quickly, and maximized my enjoyment out of each hour of the game. I also turned on subtitles, so I could read ahead and skip dialogue. Listening to someone speak takes too long, and when you realize most of what they have to say is useless, it's easy to jump ahead. But when something interesting struck me, I would spend more time with it.

It's all about your attitude, and you realize that you are indeed playing a role playing game. It's meant to be played in any number of ways, and that no one is watching. Yes, it's great to show off your character to someone else, but it's more about sharing stories of your experience and your journey than having a chest full of wolf pelts or two hundred soul gems that will never be used. My attitude changed around fifty hours into the game, so that the last half was more enjoyable than the first. Although, there was quite a bit of grinding, and less actual role-playing. See, I discovered some dwarven armour fairly early on in the game, and was very eager to learn more about the culture and species. I raided all sorts of their ancient cities, and I would say for the majority of the game, I was in that armour. But I wanted better stuff, so I grinded away until I got the best, and was let down. Looking back, it went against my character, which may explain why it just didn't feel right.

All that being said, I enjoyed Oblivion much more. Perhaps it's because it was the first of it's kind that I played. Perhaps I just enjoyed the world more. Perhaps it's because I just came off Fallout 3 (another seventy hour game) and not enough time had passed before tackling Skyrim. Perhaps Oblivion was a bit of a surprise, and Skyrim wasn't: you know exactly what you're getting into when you start your journey here. The only thing left now are various achievements, something that I'll be a sucker for I'm sure, and will truly test my resolve.

The Cabin in the Woods

On opening weekend, I was visited by my friend from the south - a friend who was once of the north but abandoned the harsh winters for the quizzically lack of snow that is Southern Ontario, for presumably bigger and better things. At the very least, he wins in a variety of categories, mostly commercial and not limited to just having better multiplexes. In North Bay, we struggled with flat theatres, boasting not one but two screens, and it did the job: I saw a lot of movies in those theatres, but the opening of a modern multiplex was a blessing. Although small (pitifully so) by today's standards, the seven screens featured surround sound and stadium seating, and all the other amenities that a modern theatre could bring at the time. But over time, the establishment shows its age.

I can get past the comparatively small screens, the throwback to the past arcade and the space motif. What I can't get past is the lack of proper, new releases. My friend texts me earlier in the week, not with news of his journey but a statement: we need to see LOCKOUT this weekend. It wasn't so much a question as an imperative that deserved only one word in response: definitely. I replied, knowing now that he was coming up for the visit and that we would indeed have a night to go to the movies, something we haven't done in ages - perhaps not since he moved. It was exciting, except that I had no idea what Lockout was, but it's irrelevant.

Voices would arrive on Friday in the early evening, where we would watch a little television, play a little Rock Band and prepare for the movie adventure. Keeping up with modern technology, I look up the showtimes on my iPhone. I scroll down, then back up. I check the date to ensure it's loaded properly, then make the announcement: Lockout isn't playing here. The news is not even jarring at this point - it's almost expected. I guess Lockout wasn't big enough to get released here, amongst our seven screens. I read out what's actually playing, which includes things like Titanic, Wrath of the Titans and The Three Stooges. We're not impressed, to say the least, but as I read out The Cabin the Woods, my friend marks it as a possibility. For me, I'm actually looking forward to this release, and understanding that my knowledge on the movie is limited, could be construed as misguided or uninformed. Perhaps I've only seen the trailer, which promises a standard horror film with a sci-fi twist. But more than likely, it's the Internet to blame. I frequent various blogs and news sites, some of which fall in love with certain writers/creators/directors and will do nothing but get excited about it. Typically I scan over those headlines but they have their effect: my desire to see the movie for whatever reason has been incepted into my brain.

I think my friend was weary of the movie, but I was ready to fully embrace it. I was not disappointed. The movie opens on two main characters in lab coats, working at a non-descrip high tech yet generic workplace, then quickly jumps to the main cast. And by main cast I mean your very stereotypical horror movie cast. Cabin then proceeds to tease us with another generic horror movie, set conveniently in the woods, then turns it upside down. What we get is some originality, and a take on the slasher-in-the-woods genre film that is altogether refreshing. It's also quite intelligent, I suppose, and appeases all my senses.

Before writing this, I was worried. How could I talk about the movie without giving away the ending, or for that matter, the general concept. I can't even drop references to how the movie combines some of my interests: horror, science fiction, monsters, myths and what have you. But this movie nailed it all on the head for me. Certainly, there were quite a few holes spread about, and my friend and I explored them a bit. And as we did, I could sense that we had already moved beyond them: the problems in no way hindered our enjoyment for the film. I'm not even sure that the talking professor behind us really disturbed the film that much: certainly, it was annoying, but just about unavoidable in today's movie-going audience.

People keep asking me if the movie is scary, and I shrug it off. For me, it's the possibility of scares that gets me going; and the actual medium is nothing near as "scary" as I propped it up to me. If anything, I was more interested in finding out the mystery and lore than anything else. Sold, right from the beginning.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Wow, it's finally over. Last December I undertook the task of watching The Next Generation in it's entirety, a task which is both daunting and insignificant at the same time. It's not often an entire series is consumed like this; perhaps a season or two to get caught up, but nothing of this magnitude. 178 episodes in total, spread over seven seasons. I won't go into much detail with my history of the show, as I did in a previous post (well worth the read, by the way). Think of this post as more of a braggart taking his dues, a badge of accomplishment that I bathe in. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't difficult either. Almost every episode brought back memories of watching it randomly over the past twenty years, either when I was a child, or on a business trip and catching it on the hotel television. Or the period of time a few years back where I would rush home every day from the office to catch (at least) the last half of the episode.

What can I walk away with from this adventure? Star Trek TNG had its ups and downs, and there are definitely episodes that were very poor. There are great episodes, of course, and memorable scenes. But most of the show is just filler, as is any other hour long drama. Every time an episode that revolved around Crusher came along, I cringed and sat through it, although I kept myself distracted for the most part. The worst would be one of the last, where Beverly goes back home and finds her family has been haunted by a "ghost" throughout generations. All the Data episodes are great, of course, as is anything else. Poor Geordi is always trying to find love in all the wrong places, and Worf takes hold of perhaps the longest and most far reaching storyline through the series. Worf's journey through dishonour and regaining his family name went on much longer than I thought, and of all the characters, perhaps showed the most depth and growth overall. Riker was being teased with promotion so long that it was absurd he gave it up so many times. They make for interesting episodes but leave the character flat in the long run.

All the enemies were relatively top-notch, aside from the Cardassians, who I felt just showed up randomly and were weird throughout. But I have to keep in mind that DS9 premiered during this time, and that there were two Star Trek's out there for us to enjoy. With no Trek on at all right now, that seems like a weird and glorious time. There was also a lot less Borg than I remember, perhaps because they're so memorable. Lor even brings them back, and they feel like an afterthought - and quite weak.

Would I recommend doing what I did? I'm not that big of a fan of Star Trek that I ate each episode up. In truth, I watched them with my laptop in play, surfing the internet during dull moments. Things got out of hand when the show was on a roll, taking in three or four episodes a day. It was the perfect show to unwind to after coming home from work, and to wind down (further) just before bed. And now, a few days later I find a great void in my viewing, as I browse my collection of shows. TNG was this perfect blend of lightness and interesting content that it fit in all kinds of scenarios, where other, heavier shows would not. I loved the self contained episodes, which is a break now from our mega serials and unnecessary cliffhangers.

Is Deep Space Nine next? Definitely, although I will take a short breather.

The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence)

The first Centipede was a bit of a surprise, and will forever live on in a sort of cult favourite. The concept is so twisted and bizarre, that I'm surprised it turned out to be a decent movie. And decent may be a bit of a stretch, but it looks like a masterpiece compared to the sequel, although it's not without its own charms, I suppose. I was fully aware when the first movie came out, but had no idea the sequel was released, until a friend mentioned having seen it. He gave me fair warning, and I wasn't eager to take it in. But on a late Friday night, there was not much else to do, and Full Sequence beckoned from the depths of Netflix.

So it was done: I watched, in terror, and ninety minutes later I emerged scarred for life. I'm not so sure I watched a movie as opposed to a twisted snuff film: the grime and dirt of this movie had to be mentally cleansed from my mind by taking in some Star Trek or anything at all. It's best not to dwell on the subject matter and the horrors you've just watched, but I guess that's the point of the movie, right? Where the first Centipede was a polished movie, and didn't actually show much (more hints and obscurities), this movie showed it all, and it was not pretty. The realistic look of it all is presented to us in black and white, which I'm sure made the scenes that much worse. There are moments where the camera idles on a scene of carnage, just long enough to make you question your sanity. I really did feel as though I was looking at crime scene photos during those moments. It was horrible.

All that being said, you have to applaud the director to illicit such response from his audience. He directed the first as well, and went in a completely different direction here. The focus is on a mentally disturbed, obsessed fan of the original movie. His intense urge to create his own centipede leads us down a brutal path of gore and violence the likes you don't want to see again, and the journey there is uncomfortable. He attacks, maims and in some cases kills his victims, then when he has enough, begins putting the pieces together. The macabre surgery process takes forever to come across, and I consider leaving the room for a time until the horribleness starts. It looks realistic, and the detached feeling you get from the first film is no longer there. All of this is further "enhanced" with his home life, where he is abused by his mother and neighbours. Suffice to say things don't end well, although that could hardly be called a spoiler. This isn't so much a movie as an experiment, just like the first, and for that, I have a certain appreciation. It should be interesting - to say the least - to find out what happens in the third incarnation.

The Divide

The Divide has a fairly decent premise, a thin promise - at the very least - and jumps right into it. There's no screwing around here, be that as a result of a low budget or a focused director. It doesn't matter. New York is under attack, explosions are everywhere and building are crumbling. We follow a group of survivors in an apartment building escaping to the basement, where they bar the door behind them and survive. There's a bit of food and water to survive with, and some added mystery, but the most important part the survivors have is tension - and cabin fever.

It's a nuclear attack, and their biggest fear is radiation. Just as they get settled in, their hole in the ground is intruded upon by (government) soldiers dressed in shining white armour and gear, with gigantic guns. They steal the only child and leave, understandably upsetting everyone. I won't get into many more spoilers, but you should be aware that this movie finishes with many unanswered questions. In fact, it's fairly gloomy and a bit of a let down, although it's a welcome escape as I grew pretty tired of the movie near the end.

It's cabin fever through and through, and the drama is forced by putting contrasting characters in a tight space and let them go wild. Things go too far, and really, too far with weirdness and violence. The movie lacks a certain polish, the actors a certain skill, and a story to adhere to whatsoever. I feel as though these people quickly degenerate into savages, with a quick turn to torture and sexual deviance that must have pre-existed in these people. There is no good indication of the passage of time, which doesn't help: for all I know these people were in this area for a week, before they started going crazy and chopping people's fingers off. Or I may have missed all that, as I was casually playing Scrabble on my iPhone throughout. I'm not sure if that's the fault of the movie, or my ability to pay attention to movies in general anymore. Overall, relatively disappointing, and completely forgettable.

A Game of Thrones - Kindle Edition

Ah, Christmas morning. It was beginning to look like a green Christmas, until the day of, when the snow begun falling and resting outside. It would provide for a brief afternoon of testing my snowman making skills (which are poor, as it turns out) and my patience as I spend an inordinate amount of time with family. But there was a special gift under the tree this year: the Kindle. We had bought one for my dad earlier that year for his birthday, and he promptly fell in love with it. I tried reading a few pages and gave it my seal of approval - it was really my first experience with e-ink in any form, aside from the screen savers on the display models in stores, which I would never fully trust. Everyone at work was getting them too - not necessarily the Kindle, but other models - and they all got nothing but praise. It was time for me to take the plunge, and there it was.

Setting up the Kindle was a breeze and quite convenient. I had to look up my crazy password, and once I had that I punched my information in and I was surfing the Kindle store in no time, through the wireless at my parents house. The Kindle I have has no keyboard, and I don't miss it. I'm thinking that it's the lifetime of punching in initials and names on video game displays that makes the process a breeze, but the rare time that I do use the keyboard are just that: rare. Why take up all that real estate and weight of a hardware keyboard when I don't use it 99% of the time? Not to mention that search engines are scary-smart these days and just know what you want: if I type in game on the Kindle store, it knows I want either the Game of Thrones series or the Hunger Games. Likewise, just punching in martin is going to bring up the author. In any event, I eagerly wanted to read something, so I purchased A Game of Thrones, the first book in George R R Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. The reason I'm excited for this book is because of the television series, which is no doubt why so many people are getting into it now.

Purchasing the book was too easy, click the buy option and you literally have bought it, only being given the option to quickly reverse your decision immediately afterword, so it's really a two click system, which is fine by me. But you definitely don't want to leave this device unlocked around people you don't trust: they can rake up quite a few dollars on your Amazon account. In any event, I started reading the book and couldn't stop for quite some time. When I was reaching around 50% of the novel though, I began to doubt my resolve.

The primary reason: the show is exactly like the book, which is pretty rare for any adaptation, and something I never expected. Literally, the scenes in the show mirrored the book, and it was quite easy to play it all out in my head. So when I reached the halfway point I begun to wonder if it was worth finishing, after all, I had seen the show already. Well, I put the book away for a bit, reading tiny bits here and there. Last weekend I would go all out and blast through the last half in a few days. It got that good. It also varied a bit from the show, or perhaps my memory was getting a bit fuzzy. The show was quite addictive and gripping: the book is no different. And after taking in both, you have to wonder if Martin wrote the book with an adaptation in mind, or else we can thank HBO and its staff  for recognizing great material and doing a bang-up job bringing it to the small screen. It makes me happy that they didn't try and compress them into movies released every four years or so.

Now it's time for the second season to start, and I find myself with a small dilemma: read the second novel first or watch the show, then read the book afterward. Not an easy decision, and I think I've already come to the solution: take a break from reading A Game of Thrones and take in something else instead - something a bit shorter, then, when the show is over read the second book. After that I can't guarantee I would wait for the third: the game is on, and I look forward to reading the entire series on the Kindle (and perhaps buy a nice hardcover set of the books, if ever a deal comes up).

Attack the Block

After trying to play this movie a few times over the past little while and encountering nothing but sound problems (the audio would just quit after a few minutes), it's perhaps ironic - if I'm using the word appropriately - that the movie would be so acoustically involved. It's certainly not something I would have expected, as the main draw to the film would be the promise of aliens, attacking and something about a block. I read a slight blurb comparing Attack the Block to another great film, District 9. I don't think the comparison is fair, so I'll leave it there.

Perhaps you would like a brief plot synopsis. Basically, some aliens start crashing down to Earth around this block and it's up to a small group of unruly teenagers to put an end to them. Or at the very least, run around scared out of their wits by these monster/alien creatures, providing many opportunities for surprise, gore and - to top it all off - humour. The gang is led by Moses, and they start off fairly despicable, by mugging a poor helpless woman. This immediately forms a stereotype in my mind about England in general, and that would be to be very careful of kids. They are all out to mug you: they have a system that should be patented, and seems to be present in any movie coming out of the country. As the movie progresses though, it becomes clear that they're the heroes, and it doesn't become difficult to cheer them on.

Although it can be difficult to understand what in the world they're saying at times. In OAC English class (grade thirteen, for your information) we studied A Clockwork Orange, with the primary focus being on the slang and terminology. You don't have to understand each word in order to understand what's going on, and the same could be said about this movie - although to be clear, Attack the Block is no literary masterpiece. I was tempted to turn on the subtitles at times, but didn't want the distraction. If anything, it just pulled me further in.

In addition to the dialect discussion, it occurred to me about halfway through the film just what the block was. Here, a block is essentially an island of buildings enclosed by roadway. When I'm watching a movie based in New York and the characters say they must travel, for example, nine blocks, I have absolutely no idea what distance that is. Nine blocks in my neighborhood could get me across the entire city, or in some areas, just a few hundred feet. When I'm in Toronto and we're walking to the comic book store, I anticipate a short distance "just a few blocks" and I feel as though I just walked a half marathon. So I was pleased to find out that in Attack, the titular block refers to an apartment building, and nothing else. The movie takes place in the building and around it, but certainly not an entire neighborhood. What's possible is that the building takes up an entire city block, but I digress. I felt clever, and thought the movie was too.

Then there's the music, which is sharp and basically awesome throughout. It was non-stop too, which I thought might be distracting, but I realized how cool it is: these kids have a soundtrack to their lives. We joke about that every now and again, but here it's a reality - for at least the first half of the movie, I didn't notice the music as much in the second half. When "they" say that music makes a movie, this is case in point. It just fit perfectly.

Finally, there are the aliens themselves, which are infinitely black, with glowing teeth. They're blind, and rely upon sound and smell to get by, and by getting by I mean one of two actions: tearing people apart, or procreating. They look nearly cuddly, if they weren't so eager to kill you. The addition of their blackness was a nice touch that got the movie extra bonus points in my books, as that concept intrigues me. It probably saves them in animation and effects, but that's fine, because the effects were slick and well done, and most importantly not distracting or even detracting.

What I certainly wasn't expecting was a comparison to Super 8, a superb movie on it's own. I read it in the IMDB forum just now (just as I was content with this writeup) and felt it necessary to go back and add it. Super 8 focused on the small town, the people in it: the community. Attack the Block does the very same thing, and perhaps does it better. By restricting the physical space we're set in, we're treated with a more intimate experience and role. But more importantly, we get a true sense of what the community means to these people, and why it doesn't matter if they're just bad people attacking them or bad aliens: the community sticks together and looks out for one another. While Moses and his gang are doing bad things, they do good for the people they live with and near. Super 8 misses the small feeling - perhaps because it was a big Hollywood production - but Attack picks it up and runs with it. It's scored 90% on the Tomatometer, and deserves every point of it.

The Walking Dead, Season Two

The problem with having read six years worth of The Walking Dead comic series, then taking in the "new" television series is that you have a certain level of expectation. You know what happens to the characters; you know who lives, and who dies, and you know where they go. Or at least, you thought you knew, because the television series throws a lot of it out the window. They first ventured off the pioneered path wildly by not killing  Rick's buddy so immediately. This was a good decision, and would structure the entire second season. Shane is wild, unpredictable and angry. He's devious and has ulterior motives: he's the perfect antagonist to Rick and the group of survivors.

Indeed, the zombies take a back seat, just as they should. The zombies in the series are just like the comics; they impose a constant threat and define the world that these characters find themselves in. The show and comic has always been more about the characters, and this season did a great job. They find themselves on a farm, at odds with the farm's owner - Hershel - and his family, although they get along for the most part. The first half of the season is trying to find Sophia, the little girl in the group, then we jump to the second half of the season which deals with the group taking in another survivor - from another, dangerous group. They struggle with an ethical issue: kill the guy now, before he goes to his other group who could come back and kill our heroes, or let him live, perhaps integrate with their own or just simply take the chance that they won't lead the faceless baddies to themselves. I probably don't do it justice, but know that it's quite intriguing. And it's quite the contrast: the dilemma of spending time and resources on finding life, to arguing and debating taking life.

If the show continues to focus on these dilemmas, and stay character focused, it will have a good life. There are major events in the comics that I'm curious if they will have in the show (and the last shot certainly indicates that there will be). There is a whole wealth of material to draw from though, and where the show has gone off on its own has been rewarding and fits very well. I have a lot of hope after season two: there are certainly some spotty moments, but when the show gets rolling it really goes.