Quick Reviews on a number of topics and a life achievement

Lately I have been a little short of ideas for things to post about. Part of it is because I have been reading something I can't talk about. It is really good, but since I am an alpha reader and can be killed if I saying anything - I have probably said too much. What it does mean is that books are out as I haven't any to discuss.

I have also found that I don't have much patience for movies or TV that just doesn't catch my interest very quickly. Recently I have turned off (without finishing) Cavemen starring Skylar Astin (Pitch Perfect) and Saving Mr. Banks. In the case of Cavemen it was because the story was just so predictable and there wasn't much that I found funny over all. Which is pretty sad since I typically will like a romantic comedy - yep I am sappy like that. As for Saving Mr. Banks, I remember Mary Poppins from the one time I read it and if I liked it more I would probably have pushed through. Unfortunately, they made Mrs. Travers (I don't want to be chastised for calling her P.L.) really annoying. There you have it, two movies I can't review because I didn't watch them.

So what can I review? How about some video games?

If you act quickly and have an Xbox Gold membership on your Xbox 360, you can still download Deadlight for free until April 30. Deadlight is a puzzle, action, platformer based in Seattle after some disaster has hit. Most of humanity has been turned into Shadows (Zombies) out to kill all the living. You are Wayne and trying to get back to your friends and family. The game has a lot in common with Shadow Complex (a great platformer on the 360). You will die a lot and there are some times when you have to hit the controls just right, but you do get a number of interesting puzzles along the way. Plus it is free right now (for 3 more days). Deadlight gets 4 Mick Happies.

I have also been playing a lot of Blizzard's Hearthstone on my first gen iPad mini. It runs great and the touch controls seem like they were how the game was intended to be played. I have found a couple times where my hand was in the way of the pop up details on a card (you press and hold on a minion to have the card details appear), but that may just be because I am too lazy to use my left hand to tap the minions. Hearthstone is free for iPad and is still 5 Mick Happies.

I also recently took a flight and was lucky enough that for the 5 hour Delta flight they had video screens in the back of every seat. This may have been a happy repayment for the delays I had on my last flights with Delta. Anyway, I was able to watch two movies on the flight, both of which I had seen before. I watch About a Boy starring Hugh Grant and Nicholas Hoult. I remembered liking the movie but honestly had forgotten the depression and attempted suicide that were part of the story. It was interesting to see the movie again since I have been watching the US TV adaptation "About a Boy" starring David Walton (Dr. Rick from Fired Up!). Both the movie and the TV show are based on the book of the same name by Nick Hornby. Anyway in the US TV show, the characters all have the same names and generally the same personalities but the Marcus' (the kid) mom, Fiona (played by Minnie Driver), is less depressed. I think I like the TV show better than I liked the movie this time around. About a Boy the movie gets 3 Mick Happies. About a Boy the TV show gets 3.5 Mick Happies.

The other movie I watched on the flight was Wimbledon. It is a romantic-comedy set in the world of tennis during the Wimbledon tournament. Where a nearly over-the-hill British journeyman tennis player (played by Paul Bettany) becomes entangled with a young American tennis star (Kirsten Dunst) while playing in his last tournament before retirement. It is the usual sappy fare for a rom-com, but the supporting characters are interesting and help elevate the movie about average. The brother who bets against Bettany during the tournament and the parents who are having their own issues are all great sub-plots. The parts in Bettany's head where he is hoping not to screw up when it is all on the line in his matches are also good. Plus there is a younger Nicolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones) as Bettany's sparring partner. Wimbledon hits all the right beats as a rom-com and gets 4 Mick Happies.

That is pretty much everything I have seen or played in the last two weeks. The last thing I leave you with is this life achievement for my wife. See we have moved about 10 times over the course of our relationship and she is a fantastic organizer. Everything goes way more smoothly with her leading the charge than if I planned our moves. Since we are due out of the apartment we rent by the end of May, the packing has begun. Good thing she is fantastic at it - seriously should go professional.

And since we are packing, my wife found an Xbox game she had given me as a gift years ago but I had never opened. So today I cracked open Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War (2007) and gave it a go. It is an action war game where you control small squads of units (swordsmen, horsemen or archers) to fight as mercenaries for the English or French in battlegrounds of the Hundred Years' War. The controls are a bit dodgy and I wasn't sure exactly how I was doing in my first mission. But after 30 minutes I had completed the mission and had 3 achievements for 150 gamerscore. Not sure how that happened…Bladestorm gets 2 Mick Happies. Maybe you'll see my copy at the local Goodwill store soon.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Review

The Eye is Watching You, Thief

If you are like me, you grew up with The Hobbit being one of the first books you can remember reading. J.R.R. Tolkien's "young adult" fantasy (before there was a thing like a young adult fantasy genre) takes us on a journey with a bunch of Dwarves hoping to restore their mountain home (or possibly just to take back some of their wealth from the dragon there). Going along with them is Bilbo Baggins, the Hobbit of the title. The story also exposes the reader to the world of Middle Earth, the setting for one of the most-famous fantasy stories of all time, The Lord of the Rings (mostly known in movie form these days). Due to the success of The Lord of the Rings movies, it was no surprise that the studio and all involved in translating The Hobbit to film would try to do the source material "justice" by adapting the novel to multiple films.

In Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, we see the meeting of Bilbo and Gandalf the Wizard and the Dwarves who follow Thorin Oakenshield (head dwarf) on his quest. That film takes us through the early part of the journey over the Misty Mountains and leaves our companions just rescued from their pursuers. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was a disappointment for many who watched it as it remained, possibly, too close to the source material and drew out the first third of the novel too much - resulting in a slower paced and not very tension-filled story (except the parts with Gollum, of course).

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug seems to address nearly any complaints a film-goer may have had with the first movie. Tension, real danger for our heroes, character development are all there while still keeping the sweeping grandeur of Middle Earth with eye-popping visuals. Oh yeah, and we finally get to see Smaug the Magnificent (and boy is Smaug, Magnificent). It was also nice to see a little grit in Middle Earth via Lake-town cause it is hard to imagine a place more edgy to live in than a town close to a dragon's mountain. Plus there are some cool characters in Lake-town (well one cool and one you want to slap).

There are a few little issues that I had with the film. First, the film doesn't quite help those unfamiliar with the broader Middle Earth source material understand everything going on with Dol Guldur and the Necromancer. Second is the elves, yes I know they are magical creatures of grace and beauty…okay I get it. But the ninja-like skill used in dispatching enemies left me wondering if any of the "named" elves like Tauriel or Legolas can even be killed in this story. It took me out of the story a little bit.

At the end of the day, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is a good fantasy film and a strong, action-packed middle movie in the trilogy. Luckily, knowing the source material, there is more epic action and awesomeness to come in the final movie. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug gets 4 Mick Happies. After seeing this, I am glad I haven't angered any dragons recently.

Catching up on news and releases

Not quite a set of reviews this time. Instead I wanted to share some of the very cool deals and updates that have been released lately. Some of these may not still be active (deals) if you are coming to this post after the first half of April 2014. On with the news items.

Hey! Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft has started its release on mobile with an iPad version releasing in Australia, New Zealand and Canada (with other regions to follow soon). If you read my original beta review (here) of this collectible virtual card game, you know I like it and can't wait to have it in my hand on the go. This is an immediate download for me and should be for you as well.

Flick Kick Football Legends (review here) has been updated to add Infinity Cup play. In the Infinity Cup, you play in basically a single-elimination tournament where you start in tier 1 against 3 opponents. Beat them and you get a small cash reward and get to move to the next tier (against slightly harder opponents). You are also given a points score for each match based on how you did: number of goals, saves, etc. with bonuses for hat-tricks and clean sheets. The points go toward your Infinity Cup total for that attempt and you are shown your ranking on a leaderboard to allow you to see how you compare to other players' attempts. All-in-all this is nice addition to the game with a new way to earn a little cash and since it comes in 3 game tiers, you can play a tier without running out your stamina bottle. I did notice the game lags a bit more and sometimes hangs up on my original iPad mini but I imagine that will be corrected soon.

Like books? There have been some insane deals on e-books recently. If you are like me and just received your e-book settlement from Amazon and Apple, congratulations you have an opportunity to go and pick up these cheap omnibuses:

Terry Brooks' Magic Kingdom of Landover Volume 1, which includes the books Magic Kingdom For Sale SOLD!, The Black Unicorn and Wizard at Large is on sale for Kindle (or Kindle app) at Amazon for $1.99.

Not quite the deal it was before when it was on sale for $9.99, but still nice is the 5 book set of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, which is on sale at Amazon or in iTunes for $19.99. Worth a read and your time if you want to know what the fuss over Game of Thrones is all about.

Also, FTL - Faster Than Light has been released for iPad. I don't have a copy yet, but probably will have one soon. It is the same price as on Steam, $9.99, and early reviews say it is possibly the best version of the game.

Finally, in case you missed it, Path of Exile was updated over a month ago with the Sacrifice of the Vaal expansion. This added new game mechanics, secret areas, monsters - a lot of content. There are now Vaal versions of skill gems that have insane effects over the normal versions of those gems. Additionally there two new leagues going, Invasion and Ambush. I haven't tried Invasion where each map area is invaded by monsters from another part of Wraeclast. I have played Ambush, which is fun with treasure boxes that are found (typically 1 or more per area) that are defended by monsters who Ambush you when you open it. Plus you can use your Transmutation and Augmentation orbs on them to make the boxes magic or give them better magically properties, like this:

1,872% increased rarity!

Here is what was found in one:

Yep that's a Legendary item and a rare drop, oh yeah!

Insane, right? Path of Exile continues to be the best action RPG out there in my book - wish my PC was more powerful so I could enjoy all the effects and polish at their best. Try it again if you stepped away from the game.

Lots there for you to go check out and keep you busy until next time!

On Basilisk Station Review

I am familiar with David Weber's work through reading the Dahak and Safehold series (I have reviewed a few of the Safehold series here in the past). From that I know that he writes sweeping space opera and military science fiction. What I haven't done is go back and read any of his Honorverse books. Until now. Browsing through the books section of iTunes, I found the "first in a series" section where I ran across On Basilisk Station and it was available for free. Hmm, an author I like, a book that starts a 20+ book universe (including main and spin-off novels), military science fiction and free?? Sign me up.

On Basilisk Station is the story of Commander Honor Harrington taking command of a light cruiser, HMS Fearless for the Royal Manticore Navy. The story is set some 1900 years after mankind has left earth for other planets and centers on the Kingdom of Manticore and pressures from other star empires jealous of Manticore's wealth. Specifically the People's Republic of Haven, who are an expansive empire looking for additional conquests to keep their economy from imploding. Enter Honor and her crew who find themselves assigned to Basilisk Station, a star system that is the junction for several wormholes.

As wormhole junctions are economically very important to trade and Basilisk connects directly to the Manticore system, Honor and her crew need to protect the crown's interests in the system. Unfortunately, there is a sub-plot of politics back on Manticore make life difficult for Fearless and its crew. Not to mention the threat from person's unknown to Medusa, the only habitable planet in the Basilisk System. How can one light cruiser protect crown interests in the system? Read and find out.

On Basilisk Station is a fast-paced naval story with political and military science fiction backdrop. If you enjoy naval stories or military science fiction, there is no reason for you not to pick up this book. Especially since it is free and DRM-free thanks to Mr. Weber and his publisher, Baen Books. Honor Harrington is setup as a larger-than-life leader in On Basilisk Station  and I am looking forward to learning more about her story and where it leads in the subsequent novels. Be sure to give it a try. On Basilisk Station gets 4 Mick Happies. Get a copy for yourself here:

From Baen directly - here.
From Amazon - here.
From iTunes - here.

The Lone Ranger Movie Review

I debated for a long time about whether or not to invest the almost two and a half hours to watch The Lone Ranger movie from Disney and directed by Gore Verbinski. Finally I decided to get it from Netflix and give it a go. Now will begin a review where I tell you why it isn't as bad a movie as everyone made it out to be.

The Lone Ranger tells the story of a lawyer, John Reid (Armie Hammer), who upon returning to Colby, TX goes out with his brother, a Texas Ranger, to re-apprehend a notorious outlaw. Along the way all the rangers are killed leaving the lawyer (who was deputized) the only one alive. He is kept alive by a mysterious indian he met on the train, Tanto (played by Johnny Depp), and together they set out to stop the bad guy - each for their own reasons. The background plots of the movie include the building of the transcontinental railroad and the tensions between "the white man" and the Comanches. The entire movie is told in a flashback from 1933 at a carnival as an old Tanto tells a young boy, who is dressed like the Lone Ranger, the story.

I think that the movie suffered from a couple flaws, completely unrelated to the story that contributed to it being considered a flop. One, too much money was spent on a film that, while a remake of a beloved television property, was not in an established movie franchise. And two, the film was made after several films in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, which means it is considered a re-tread of those films rather than considered on its own merits.

Can't say much about flaw one, but I can comment a bit on flaw two. If Pirates didn't exist when this movie came out, we wouldn't be looking at Depp's portrayal of Tanto and thinking a face-painted Captain Jack Sparrow. Instead we would be thinking it was a quirky and layered portrayal of arguably the real hero in the Lone Ranger tales. Without Pirates, we would also look at The Lone Ranger as a fun and slightly campy romp through the old West mixing modern-ish references and dialogue seamlessly with the 1860s time period. They also do a good job of mixing in iconic Lone Ranger bits in a fun way. The only other thing I think the movie is challenged by is not having as recognizable star power in the making from the female lead. In Pirates, Keira Knightley was a strong character and poised to be a Hollywood star (she had been acting for a while before that) and here, Ruth Wilson is not given quite as much to work with as Rebecca Reid, John's sister-in-law, though she does ably wield her rifle.

If you like trains, explosions, over-the-top stunts and westerns, you should give The Lone Ranger a shot. Don't let the hype dissuade you. I have stopped watching many, many movies and watched this all the way through and wasn't disappointed (was my bar set low to start with? maybe). Overall, The Lone Ranger gets 3 Mick Happies. Hi-Ho, Silver,…well you get the idea.

Geekomancy Book Review

I have a list of books, TV shows and movies on my iPod that I add to whenever I find something that sounds interesting that I don't want to forget. For instance today my daughter and I were at the bookstore and I took about 7 pictures of book covers to check into later to see if they should be added to the list. I tend to find things by checking websites like Pat's Fantasy Hotlist or listening to the Empire Podcast or Adventures in Scifi Publishing. It is the latter that clued me in to Geekomancy by Michael R Underwood (see episodes 204 and 205).

Geekomancy is an urban fantasy book from Pocket Books starring Rhiannon "Ree" Reyes, a barrista in a game store/bakery/coffee house trying to make ends meet while trying to write and sell a screenplay to Hollywood. As the story starts, Ree is quickly drawn into an underground world of magic and mayhem where objects of geek culture are embued with power that some Geekomancers can tap into to fantastic effect. Out of her normal life, Ree is soon learning to cast spells and channel geek energies all while slinging pop culture references fast and furious.

This book is a fun and rampant ride through the college town of Pearson, Oregon. Ree knows her geek culture and uses it to great effect. Similar to the outstanding Ready Player One, Geekomancy has so many geek references in any given paragraph at times it is impossible to catch them all. What I really liked about the book was the breadth of magic hiding in plain sight (behind the plot device of The Doubt that keeps normal people from believing/remembering weird stuff they see). Particularly amusing was the reference to Bromancy, which we see in action at one point - I dare you to think of preppy fraternity guys the same way again.

In Geekomancy, Michael R Underwood gives us a contemporary urban fantasy with a strong, though a bit relationship-focused, lead character in Ree. I don't want to ruin the plot, but suffice it to say there are lightsabers and steam-punky elements all mixed in this story. I am looking forward to the sequel Celebromancy (and the soon to be released novella - side-quest - Attack the Geek). There is even another novel optioned in the series, Hexomancy, coming probably in 2015. Geekomancy gets 4 Mick Happies and can be found on most ebook platforms (not available in paper form). Go grab a copy and enjoy.

Dallas Buyers Club Review

I typically do not see Oscar-nominated best film candidates. They just aren't what I would call fun. All good movies I am sure, but not what I want when I look to escape my day-to-day with a some entertainment. At our house we are definitely more comedy and action than drama. So it was a bit of a departure for us to settle in to watch Dallas Buyers Club last night.

Dallas Buyers Club is the story of Ron Woodruff (Matthew McConaughey), an electrician who contracted HIV in the early/mid 1980s and was given 30 days to live. The movie chronicles how Woodruff found a way to survive and bring help to other HIV-positive people through the creation of a buyer's club. A buyer's club is an organization where the members pay dues to get access to the club's resources, in this case non-FDA approved drugs to treat HIV and/or the symptoms of AIDS.

The movie gives a pretty stark portrayal of the drugs and unprotected sex that was (likely) rampant back in the early 80s and the impact of that destructive lifestyle on the characters. It is also critical of the drug trial/FDA approval process, making you question whether policy and the process of approving drugs should be given precedence over letting terminally ill patients get access to the medicine they need to make their lives comfortable.

I personally feel that doctors can help patients and the drug approval process can help protect people from negligence to a point. However, neither are infallible and it is important that individuals research and look out for themselves to ensure that they get the best care for themselves. In the movie that is what many of the characters are doing. Searching for options to make their lives better while dealing with a serious medical condition. The movie also shows some of the conflict of interest where physicians are running trials sponsored by the drug companies that are seeking FDA approval that will earn them a hefty return on their investment (which they are entitled to when they solve a medical problem - maybe not quite so much, but that is a different issue). Dallas Buyers Club is also very critical of AZT, a failed cancer drug candidate that has later been used in conjunction with other drugs to manage health of HIV-infected individuals.

As with any biographical movie, there are differences between reality and the film. The movie is takes some extremes for some characters, introduces others, like Rayon (Jared Leto) and Dr. Eve Saks (Jennifer Garner), that are composites of people the writers interviewed and completely fictional. Dallas Buyers Club  does not say that it is a true story, so you have to look past things like that in the effort to make a compelling and commercially viable movie.

It is understandable why Leto and McConaughey have both won Academy Awards for their work in the film where they both give raw and emaciated performances. What was most interesting for me was the conversation that the film prompted with my wife and daughter (who is in her late teens) after we finished it. A discussion on health care, how HIV infections started and spread and about AIDS. We normally don't have those types of conversations started because of a movie we watched.

For an interesting (and frustrating because of the things the characters go through) movie, Dallas Buyers Club is worth a look. If you have problems with racism and drug use and language and sex, you will have difficulty sitting through this one as they are rampant. Dallas Buyers Club gets 4 Mick Happies. Now I need to go watch a comedy to cleanse my brain.