Starbuck Review

Last night we watched a Canadian film by director Ken Scott called Starbuck. It is the story of David Wozniak, a habitual screw up, who finds out his sperm donations as a younger man were used to father over 500 children. Those children now want to know who their biological father is and are suing the fertility clinic to find out David's identity.

The rest of the movie is a load of laughs as David, played by Patrick Huard, decides if he wants to reveal who he is while trying to prove he is worth being in his girlfriend's life. David is a sympathetic character and his efforts to learn more about these children he fathered and his interactions with his best friend lawyer are hilarious. The lawyer, portrayed by Antione Bertrand, practically steals every scene he is in. In all, Starbuck is amusing and fun without sex and with relatively few cringe-worthy moments.

The film is in French, so if you don't care for subtitles you may want to wait for the English-language remake starring Vince Vaughan, Delivery Man, coming in November 2013 and also directed by Ken Scott. Additionally, it can be a little odd to see people speaking French while wearing clothes depicting American sports teams. I, however, liked the old school San Diego Padres baseball cap.

This is a feel good movie right up there with The Intouchables. It is out on DVD through Netflix and other sources and you should see it. I imagine that it will be the better of the two versions when the remake comes out (the remake will likely be more slap-stick than Starbuck). Well worth your time, Starbuck gets 5 Mick Happies. To quote my wife, "It is so nice to watch a good movie".

A Kingdom for Keflings (Xbox 360 - XBLA) Review

For this review of A Kingdom for Keflings from NinjaBee on the Xbox 360, I have to start by stating that I have never played the game. However, I have watched my daughter play for hours and as such feel I can provide a good indication on how good the game is.

A Kingdom for Keflings is a kingdom (city) building simulation where you play a giant (either a character from the game or your own Xbox Live Avatar) help a small race of people, Keflings, build their kingdom in a peaceful little valley. The game revolves around assigning the Keflings to various tasks of collecting resources or working in the various buildings that you make for them.

In A Kingdom for Keflings, you are responsible for assigning each Kefling to their particular role and training them on how you want it performed. Want them to cut wood and take it to the lumber mill, you can do that. Training is done through picking up the Keflings (they sometimes scream when you do) and carrying them to where you want them to work. You also have the option of drop kicking them there too. Once placed, a light bulb comes up over their head indicating that they get the training and then begin performing their task.

A well developed Kingdom

The goal of the game is to create a castle and set one Kefling up as King or Queen. To get there, you will need lots of resources and will have to complete a sizeable building tree (think technology tree). To get some buildings built, you will need the output of others, creating a large infrastructure of resource movements and Kefling activity to get to the later buildings.

The game is cute and straightforward and fun. My daughter has spent hours building up her little village and getting closer to the castle. For her, this is the first Xbox game she thinks she will be able to complete all of the achievements. The base game isn't hard and there is a sandbox mode for those who just want to build the perfect kingdom for their people. There is also downloadable content for more kingdoms to build (some intending to provide a harder challenge).

For those who like building simulations and placing their homes and industry in all the right places or just bossing around people smaller than yourself, A Kingdom for Keflings is a great way to relax. I almost forgot to mention that the soundtrack is very nice, upbeat and takes a long time to get repetitive (at which point it will be stuck in your head). This is also a good entry point for those with younger children that you would like to expose to the real-time building strategy genre.

A Kingdom for Keflings has been around for a while, released for Xbox in 2008 and on Windows in 2010, but still fun. It is regularly $10 (800 MS points) on Xbox Live Arcade. If that is too much, it will probably be on sale on and off in the future. There is also a sequel available, A World for Keflings. Having watched my daughter enjoy herself with the Keflings, I can easily give A Kingdom for Keflings 4 Mick Happies. Go out there an get yourself from Keflings.

PC Trailer

Happy 4th of July

Independence Day here in the United States. A day off for most to spend time out of doors, usually with Fireworks. Our 4th has been spent walking a local cemetery full of veterans and others, many of whom died more than a hundred years ago. Some of the people buried there were even born before or during the fight for independence in the US. Quite an interesting experience.

Tonight we will watch National Treasure. You may argue whether or not it is a great film, but it is fun and one of those movies that when it is on you have to watch. It was the best holiday themed movie idea and with some popcorn and family, what could be better.

Here's hoping you have a good day wherever you are.

Agent of Change Review

Agent of Change is a Liaden Universe novel by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. The book is one of two free entry points into Lee and Miller's science fiction universe where mankind (in three main forms) has spread throughout the stars and shares the universe with several space-faring alien species.

Agent of Change is the story of Val Con, a spy whom the reader is introduced to as Terrence O'Grady, a disguise he uses to complete the mission he is on. Following that mission, Val Con comes into contact with Miri Robertson, a former mercenary who is under attack from members of an organized crime group called the Juntavas. What follows is a chase story as Val Con and Miri try to escape those after them while not quite trusting each other.

Along the way, Lee and Miller continue to peel back the layers on a broader Universe that the reader gets the sense has a lot of depth and history waiting to be explored. In that Universe the various human factions (Terran, Liaden and the Yxtrang) are consipiring (or in outright conflict) with each other and non-humans like the Clutch (a sentient turtle-like alien race) of which Edger (above) is a member. Behind this is the organized crime group, Juntavas, which is looking out for its own interests even to the detriment of our main characters. All in all this is a fast-paced story with tense moments and several humorous interactions as we get to know Val Con and Miri and follow them on their race to escape their enemies.

Once you are done with Agent of Change, you will be happy to find that there are (at least) an additional 15 novels, several chapter books and short stories to learn more about the Liaden Universe. The series has been published for over 20 years going through several publishers (and being saved early on by the persistence and loyalty of fans) and is currently published by Baen Books. Baen offers two of the books in the series as free ebooks and others are available individually or as omnibus editions. There are several entry points into the Universe and the books often do not follow chronologically, so it is recommended that after picking one of the free entry points that you check out Lee and Miller's website where they cover the order to the books here.

I found Agent of Change, written in the 1980s, to be fun and quite enjoyable. It didn't suffer from some of the challenges of earlier science fiction novels where the technology of today makes what was written feel outdated or obsolete. Plus the books is free. Well worth your time, I give Agent of Change 3 and a half Mick Happies. Go get a copy for yourself here.

The Secret World Chronicle Review

For those who don't know, there is a whole world of podcast audiobooks out there. These are books, either published or not that authors have decided to have read or performed for your listening enjoyment. The most famous of these may be those by Scott Sigler - see here. But right about the same time Scott was giving us audio horror, Mercedes Lackey (well-known author in her own right) got a group of writers together to start a shared world story akin to Wild Cards called the Secret World Chronicle.

The Secret World Chronicle is based in an alternate version of our world where superheroes called metahumans exist and many work to maintain law and order throughout the world. This is thrown into chaos when a mysterious group of armored soldiers and metahumans attack all over the world causing devastation. The story focused mainly in Atlanta, where one of the metahuman groups, Echo, works to understand who has attacked and how to stop them from doing so again. Each book of the series expands on the story of the metahuman and regular human men and women of Echo and other groups as they deal with a world at war fighting to determine how to stop a menace no one knew was coming.

This is the start to the Secret World Chronicle, which has been podcasted (available for free on iTunes) since 2006 and is currently "airing" its sixth book in the series. Each book is a single narrative brought together through a set of stories by different authors. The authors working with Mercedes Lackey are Steve Libbey (books 1 & 2), Larry Dixon, Dennis Lee, Cody Martin and Veronica Giguere. Veronica also pulls double-duty as the producer and voice for the podcast version of the books. The podcast has also successfully led to the first few books in the series being published by Baen books - more here. As a side note, many of the characters in the story started life as characters of the authors in the City of Heroes MMO.

If you like Super Heroes, big battles, strong characters and well performed audio books, then you should give the Secret World Chronicles a try. The characters are not all good, with many that are broken or damaged from their past and we get to see how they deal with the situation the authors have placed them in. One of my favorite things about the series is how well Veronica Giguere does in giving each character a distinct voice, making it easy for the listener to fall into the story.

I started listening to the Secret World Chronicle in 2006 when I had a long commute to work and it was a great way to pass the trip. I recently started back listening again and have been rapidly consuming books 3 and 4. The story keeps up the adrenaline and doesn't pull any punches. If you have a long drive or just want a fun story with Super Heroes, go out and download the Secret World Chronicle, a 4 Mick Happies podcast novel series. I know I will be listening to more tomorrow on the way to work.

2012-2013 TV Wrap-Up

Not too long after the 2012-2013 TV season started, I posted my thoughts on a few of the shows that my family was watching. Now at the end of the season, I thought I would revisit those thoughts with the benefit of the whole picture.

Those that didn't make it:
There were a few shows that we watched and the dropped over the course of the year. Those included Suburgatory, Revolution and regrettably Suits. Suburgatory was dropped after one episode due to the lack of funny story lines and the seemingly too-hard trying to be quirky. Revolution made it much farther, but after the long hiatus and weak story lines, I have dropped to reading synopses online and haven't bothered to see how it ended. I would have preferred not to know how the power went out and have the story lines about rebuilding civilization and dealing with the difficulties of living without power. Lastly is Suits, which came back for the second part of Season two just after the holidays and really lost the two against difficult cases vibe that had worked for the show throughout Season one. Just haven't been able to get through the last four or five episodes yet.

Those that won't be picked up for next year (by us):
When I say picked up, I mean buying a season pass on iTunes so that I can see the episodes the day after they air. This list includes shows like Hart of Dixie (wife and daughter were watching this one) and The Big Bang Theory (BBT). We have enjoyed BBT for years and own every season so far on DVD or digitally. This season saw many stale jokes and situations, short episode times and a major lack of character growth. Some of the characters are made too "bitchy", some never learn from their mistakes and others aren't allowed to have enough screen time eventhough they are most of what made this last season even partially watchable. The Penny character has become lame with her dealing with everything with either snide comments or drinking heavily. Sheldon on the other hand continues to be the most consistently funny character but the lack of growth until the very last few episodes was disappointing as well. Maybe we'll pick up the 2013 - 2014 season on DVD in Fall 2014.

Show that was okay, but has been cancelled:
Go On. They really should make that group session video on YouTube lamenting the show being cancelled that I tweeted about after the cancellation. I will miss John Cho's character the most of any on the show.

Shows we will be glad to see back next year:
This list is pretty small, but the main one here is Elementary. The show was good and the chemistry between the lead actors is as well. We (my wife and I watch this one) also liked that they didn't fall into the "must have a cliffhanger" finale trap and gave some resolution while there definitely being more stories to tell. Lost Girl also is in this category eventhough the ending did have a cliffhanger that really wasn't necessary. See the review for the season here.

Shows I am having to wait for, but will be watching when they hit DVD:
This list covers shows that either we caught the pilot episode but weren't able to get the others or we didn't want to get the season pass. Vikings from the History Channel, Game of Thrones season 3 (naturally), Orphan Black from the BBC and Supernatural. We have been hearing good things about all of these and were surprised by the resurgence of Supernatural since we gave up after the Leviathan story line had been so annoying. Be interesting to see if it as good as the "buzz" is saying. I am also looking forward to giving Defiance a try too.

Best show of the year: Elementary

Runner up: Lost Girl

Update: Honorable Mentions: Grimm and Continuum

That's it. The year over and a couple months to wait for shows to come back. Maybe I can get caught up on older shows I didn't get to when they aired like Fringe, Eureka, Warehouse 13, etc.

Be back soon with new reviews.

Free Comic Book Day and Mother's Day

 

For those who don't know, the first Saturday in May is Free Comic Book Day. The event is a partnership between publishers, distributors and retailers to give out specially produced free comics to anyone coming to a participating store on Free Comic Book Day. What could be better than free comics?

When I was growing up, there was a local comic book shop near my house. It was literally a few miles away and accessible by bicycle. I ask myself now why I didn't go there more often before they moved to another location. When I did go, I was introduced to other worlds like ElfQuest (which you can read online), Green Arrow, Groo the Wanderer, the Green Lantern Corps and Arion Lord of Atlantis to name a few. I have long since sold those comics but oh how I enjoyed them back in the day.

This year I woke up to Twitter blowing up about Free Comic Book Day and I took a look at what was being offered, a special Grimm comic based on the TV show that my family likes. Knowing that, I decided to go to the local store and check it out. Needless to say, I was late to the party. By the time I reached a local shop, literally hundreds of people had already been there and received their free comics (No Grimm). I took the opportunity to get a few of the comics offered as prizes for my daughter (who unfortunately couldn't go with me this year). She likes Japanese Anime and Manga but I thought I might lure her toward some other comics if there was something fun around. I also looked around for some Wonder Woman merchandise. You see, Wonder Woman is probably my wife's favorite Super Hero - she grew up watching the Linda Carter series. I was on a mission to find her something Wonder Woman for Mother's Day while looking for free comics. Here are some of the Wonder Woman items I saw:

 Not exactly Wonder Woman, it's Wonder Girl

 

This is Wonder Woman, but how do you take her away from her friends? 

This Wonder Woman is a really nice statue

 

 

None of these quite catptured what I was looking for as a Mother's Day gift. Birthday maybe but not Mother's Day. You see at our house we tend to think of Mother's Day and Father's Day as made up holidays. You should treat moms great all the time - you don't need a special day for it. Plus moms really don't like to get stuff that they later have to dust. Just sayin'.

 

What I did find (by the time I had hit three comic book stores and a Target) was this:

 

 

 

Oh and this of which the Legos go to my daughter and the Wonder Woman to my wife:



How did Free Comic Book Day turn out? Thanks to Dark Tower Comics in Newburgh, NY (the third store I went to), it went great. Grimm was obtained along with some Pippi Longstocking, Spongebob Squarepants, Simpsons, Archie and others. A good haul. Free Comic Book Day had to be a success any way you look at it. I saw tons of families and kids at the shops I went to and people were buying loads of stuff after getting their freebies. Great for the store and good for kids. I give Free Comic Book Day five Mick Happies. All these comics will come in handy for the road trip coming up next week.