Movie Review: Doctor Strange & Fantastic Beasts; Blog Update

In case you needed one...

Cause, you know, movie reviews.

Doctor Strange Review

• Benedict Cumberbatch is perfect as the cocky, self-important master surgeon turned world saving sorcerer.  But he's perfect as anything so that's no surprise.
• Mads Mikkelsen has been busy lately.  As the disillusioned former apprentice of the Sorcerer Supreme, Kaecilius, he gives a good performance considering the minor role the character played in the comics.
• Tilda Swinton works as the Ancient One!  In the comics, the Sorcerer Supreme is your generic, cliche Chinese/Asian Mystic with the fu-manchu mustache.  While one might consider it a white-wash using an English woman to play the role of a mystic in Tibet/Nepal, the fact they address her origin in the movie placates me.  Besides, her performance is great.  You will leave the theatre wanting more.
• The movie's central theme of Time is so well done it did not become obvious to me until after I thought about it for a while (and watched this Youtube video).  Honestly, it was so obvious in retrospect that I was embarrassed it took me that long to figure out.  Especially considering what the Eye of Agamotto does and contains.
• Baron Mordo in the house!  The adaptation of one of Strange's chief villains into an ally is great considering we saw his turn coming.  But how and why works so well that you are ready for Strange to square off with him in the inevitable sequels, especially once Strange becomes Sorcerer Supreme.
• The movie surprised me with its climax.  I expected some magical slugfest with Kaecilius (which you get) but instead its a test of sheer will between a mortal and a cosmic deity trapped in a time loop.  All I have to say is, "How does Strange remember what happens after the loop resets each time?"  Props to the Doctor for diagnosing Dormammu's ills.
• By the way, the movie has a strong 'time heals all wounds' theme beside the much stronger theme of time itself.  Pay attention to Strange's watch.  If you don't get it by the end, watch that video I linked.
• Overall a good movie, clearly linked to the others.  Thor makes a guest appearance to set up Thor: Ragnarok during the credits.  Also, the Infinity Stone name drop at the end connects it squarely to the Avengers: Infinity War movie(s) as well.  Expect to see Cumberbatch slinging spells alongside Chris Evans slinging shield at some point.  

Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them Review

• More Harry Potter related movies?  Shut up and take my money!  (Wish I had the Eye of Agamotto so I could watch it a few times...)
• Before I looked up their names, I enjoyed all the performances despite not knowing any of the cast besides Colin Farrell (I didn't realize Ezra Miller was in the movie until the credits).  Johnny Depp, too, though he's part of the plot twist at the end.
• Eddie Redmayne is adorable as Newt Scamander.  I loved the conservationist trying desperately to preserve creatures that early 20th Century wizards disregarded and wanted to destroy.  
• The backdrop of pre-Depression era US alongside the spectre of Grindelwald spreading terror in Europe is the real meat of the movie.  While the beasts stole the show for the second act, the third act connected Newt's story to the larger conflict presented by Grindelwald which will undoubtedly be the focus of the series, since Fantastic Beasts is reportedly getting five sequels.  How and if Newt will remain a part of the story is up in the air, but this all excites me.  Though I can't help but feel like Rowling is stretching out a prequel for Harry Potter much like Peter Jackson/Warner Brothers stretched out The Hobbit movies.  We shall see if Rowling and Co. are better at pacing and storytelling than whoever thought turning one short novel into three epic movies was the way to go.  
• Speaking of the Depression, I wonder if we'll see a Wizard World War II?  I mean it's coming.  They're both coming!  While we never saw 9/11 get woven into the books (having taken place in England and having the only US reference be during the Quidditch World Cup at the beginning of Goblet of Fire), if Fantastic Beasts remains historically grounded in our timeline, these two events/eras could provide interesting flavor to the Wizard World.  Guess I'll be waiting on a lot from this series.
• I think Rowling may have bent her own world's rules somewhere in this movie.  Not sure if it has to do with the Obscurial/Obscurus business of killing young wizards or how almost none of the adult wizards need to utter 'the magic words' for most of their spells but, hey, who am I to judge?  I never got my letter to.... uh... What's the American Magic Academy called?
• Great movie.  Welcome addition to the Wizard World on the silver screen.  Novels would be stellar but I'd rather Rowling enjoy making the movies instead of having to fast track novelizations.  Would see again.

Blog Update

Hey, everyone!  I'm still alive, still trying to blog, and mostly failing!  My list of unpublished drafts grows as I get new ideas I have no time to do anything with!  But not this time.  Got a spark of 'get stuff done' and not wasting it!

A lot is going on for me right now.  I am getting married on the 17th of this month and my fiance and I recently had a co-bachelor/bachelorette party with our wedding party playing D&D, but apart from that, my two jobs have me pinned to a cycle of work-eat-sleep-eat-work-sleep every day.  Barely have an hour to myself or to get anything done, which makes blogging impossible when you have other more pressing matters to attend to.  That won't stop me, though, as you can see.  

That said, NaNoWriMo was a failure last month.  I believe I eked out less that 100 words all month, though I wrote novels on my Facebook page about the American Presidential Election.  Won't drag that here, though, so don't worry.  But since it wasn't novel related, all those word counts went to waste.  That said, this recent spark has me adding to my book, even if only in drips.  I shall not be deterred!  I will be a novelist!  Someday (TM).

My plans for the new year of blogging is going to be posting at least once a month, and try to work a decent amount into that one post.  I'll prefer to keep posts about related topics, instead of a bunch of disparate ones.  For December, I'm anticipating posts about football and Star Wars: Rogue One.  January will probably be more football if the Dallas Cowboys have a playoff run.  And maybe someday I'll actually finish the backlogged posts I have lurking around.

Keep an eye out for a story I am going to post, based on the D&D adventure we played as our bachelor/ette party.  Til then, take care and best wishes!

Lovable Losers Losers No More! - Why we create story lines in Professional Sports

Congratulations, Cubs!

In the tenth inning of what some are calling the best Game 7 in World Series history, the long-maligned Chicago Cubs brought their amazing season to an end.  Billy Goat Curse be damned, the Cubbies are World Series Champions for the first time since. . .

Wait for it . . .                   (The Cubs Fans sure did)

1908.

This has been the narrative of the entire playoffs, and World Series: Will the Cubs break the curse?  "But Shane, curses aren't real, and sports aren't [supposed to be] scripted." (Looking at you, Black Sox).  Tell that to Joe Buck!  Because a huge trend in sports is, and has been, the narrative.

Anyone who watches professional sports has seen how narratives are worked into sporting events.  When my 6-1 Dallas Cowboys played the Philadelphia Eagles this past weekend, the narrative was about the battle between two rookie stars, Dak Prescott and Carson Wentz.  When Payton Manning, former Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos quarterback, played his replacement on the Colts, people made up a narrative about revenge or redemption.  When the Red Sox beat the Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series to decide who would go to the World Series, another story about curses and overcoming them was what everyone talked about, and the Sox eventual Championship that same year reminded us all of how the Curse of Babe Ruth was finally lifted from Boston's baseball team.

So why do we attribute plot to events determined by skill and luck, not scripts and plots?  Because humans love stories!  In the same way that we like to attribute heroism to people who save lives because it's their job, or because they just made a split second choice that made a difference, fans like to have reasons to root for their teams.  I'm a much bigger football fan than I am a baseball fan, and this current season started off like a horror flick for my Cowboys:  MRI Reveals Fractured Bone in Romo’s Back.  2015 was a nightmare with Dallas's Star QB under center, going 4-12.  Every fan was wondering what would happen with their team.  Could the rookie Dak Prescott handle the spotlight, where so many veterans failed last year?  It was worthy of a movie the likes of Remember the Titans (minus the Civil Rights Movement setting and the racial undertones).  Six wins and an opening day loss to the Giants later, the story is now, Will Dak remain the starter, or will Jerry Jones (the owner of the team) insist on his favored son (Tony) returning to the throne?

These are the stories we tell ourselves with sports.  They make the game more interesting and draws even the those with no emotional investment to partake of the event.  Otherwise, I would have had no interest in the Series unless the Mets were involved like last year.  Because let's be honest.  These games have no effect on our lives beside the rush of endorphins we receive during the excitement of the game.  Sorry, but that's just a reality.  That said, LET'S GO COWBOYS!

It's been a Year!

Happy (Belated) Anniversary!

So a little over a year ago, I started writing in this blog.  It began as a flood of content and quickly became a slow drip, but it's here and I'm glad I started this.

Lately, my two jobs have left me unmotivated to write much, as it has turned into a chore.  I have stared at my screen wanting to review movies and felt very uninspired.  I've tried to work on my novel and just felt unable to think of anything I'd want to read.  I know that drafts aren't meant to be readable but I can't even get myself to write out a scene that I literally blocked out in bullet points.  

That said, I haven't been completely unproductive, you guys just haven't been able to see any of it.  I'm trying to get myself set up to record myself playing video games (the one activity I am motivated to do these days) so I can review them or show off fun things and so on.  I have this idea to play XCOM 2 with all my soldiers being made in the likeness of friends, or by recreating notable SPARTANs from the Halo universe as XCOM soldiers, because fighting a superior force of aliens is what they do (and because mods make anything possible).  The problem with this is that my desktop does not have the power supply to run the game and render the video at the same time, and so the PC just crashes less than a minute into the recording.  So for the moment this project is on the shelf until I can shell out the dough for the parts I need.  I'm also going to get another hard drive to store the videos on and at the same time get some parts to repair my laptop (it needs a new hard drive as well).  Once that is settled, I'll be recording and posting here and on Youtube.

So ta-ta for now.  NaNoWriMo is coming up and I do want to get some writing done.  It got me going last year so hopefully I can write more this time around.  I may not be writing a brand new book in a month, but it's a great time to find motivation to write.  See ya next time.

Unity Kickstarter Update!

UPDATE!  

The Pledge manager for Unity is up!  For a limited time, you can pledge for the Core Rule Book and select bonuses like the World Map and GM Screen.  Follow this link!  Don't miss your chance to be one of the first to play this exciting new system from Zensara Studios.

Game Review: Unity Table-Top RPG (In Development)

 A look at an In-Development Tabletop RPG that focuses on story

Back at the beginning of August, I found an intriguing link on Facebook about a tabletop role-playing game in development that was raising funds on Kickstarter.  Curious, as I am about any new RPG, I clicked to see what it was about.  Going by the title Unity, the game is an interesting blend of the fantasy, Steampunk, and post-apocalypse genres.  Set in the titular world, Unity is a realm devastated by the very deity who so lovingly created it.  Once a paradise among the stars for the Children of the Skyfather and Ivory Queen, the deities who created it, it is now a shattered world where the material world and the spiritual world are open to one another in devastating ways.  Now four factions must find a way to unite once again to save their world.

The game sets you in this world to do as you will.  As either Human, Afflicted, Furian, or Valla, you must chase destiny and make your way in the world.  But what will you do in a world of murky morals where surviving outweighs compassion? Do you seek to make the world whole again and heal the wounds of the past?  Do you seek to amass your own small empire to live in luxury as the world burns?  Unity leaves these choices up to the Game Master and his players, and with a focus on story more than strict rules, the game is designed to reward players for being actively engaged in the storytelling, and not just rolling the dice, and where even failure can mean moving both combat and the story forward.

The themes of Unity are part of what makes me want to delve into it.  The first is Murky Morales, which I mentioned above.  Unity throws you into the world where the worst has and is happening, and being 'good' isn't always as important or even as desired as simply surviving.  Then there is the Culture Clash of four (or more) different cultures that are forced to work together even when they'd rather kill each other.  Another is finding the surviving Technological Wonders of Unity's Golden Age, when the world was indeed united in common purpose and rose to challenge their creators.  And of course Discovery and Exploration plays an important part of this game world, as many mysterious, treasures, and safe places await those daring enough to search for them.

The Kickstarter

As the Kickstarter progressed, and more money was raised, I become more and more interested in what the final product would be.  The team at Zensara Studios provided a preview of their core rule book, and after reading through it, I was sold.  Their philosophy of design looks to resolve many of the issues I've always had with the typical D&D style games that reward shrewd character creation over inventiveness and experimentation.  While I have yet to get the playtest for Unity (which should be available in November) the system offers a surprising amount of options for each of the game's nine original classes.  Some of these design choices are similar to what D&D 4th Edition tried to do by offering different tiers of powers that had different effects as well as catch names to make using them feel more empowering than just, "I swing my +2 Sword of Shocking."  Some, though, were different than what I've experienced, such as these same powers having synergy with certain others.  Have a power that stuns enemies, and your friend has one that does extra damage to stunned enemies?  What about a charge power with limited range, but your friend can throw you farther so you can reach your target AND have added momentum (damage) when you land?  You can do things like that.

From Left to Right: Driftwalker, Berserker, Phantom, Sentinel, Primalist, Priest, Fell Hunter, Mystic, Judge

My favorite aspect of their system is how instead of a strict and either limited or far too comprehensive list of skills that your character can use (for instance, just how many things count as Acrobatics?) your character instead gets Core Paths.  As an example, you may have three core paths, one worth 3 points and two worth 1 point each.  These paths each cover some aspect of your character.  Continuing the example, if your 3 point Path is called A Warrior's Heart, it might cover any skill a warrior might have, from running long distances to climbing to breaking down a door.  So, if your character wants to do any of those things and get the full 3 point bonus, the player would tell an anecdote about how that aspect of their life resulted in them being able to bust down that door, or climb that wall, etc.  The DM would then decide how well it applies, and also if the story telling deserves the bonus.  For a better idea of the total character creation process, as well as the team's more succinct explanation of Core Paths, check out their video at the break.

Unity's Character Creation Demo Video

Since this system focuses on the story a good deal, one of the other interesting aspects of this system is how the Game Master (GM), or the person managing the game for the group of players, can do so without having to rely on the constant rolling of dice to determine outcomes.  While most of the specifics of the rules have not been released yet, the idea is that the system will have structures in place to allow the GM to make decisions on the fly so as to keep the narrative going and not interrupting it with mechanics.  One such structure was the Core Paths mentioned before, which allows players to relate their characters experiences to things they are attempting to achieve in order to gain a bonus.  Another will be Honor Points.  These points are rewarded for describing what your character is doing in an interesting or highly detailed way.  The idea is to encourage people to say more than, "I hit the goblin with my sword," and instead embellish their role-playing with, "I draw my katana, waiting for the monster to raise his club.  Then, in one swift stroke, I slice the beast across its abdomen."  Combined with the descriptions given to the Powers available to characters, players will have springboards from which to give great descriptions of their actions.  These points can then be used to receive bonuses to actions to create those epic moments players of such games play for.  And to prevent this system from unfairly punishing the less imaginative or creative, the points can be used by any player in the group, promoting cooperation.

I wish I had the foresight to get a blog post out there before their campaign ended on August 14.  That said, the managed to raise $70,736 CAD which not only funded their base product but unlocked this list of extras which will be developed after the original goal of releasing their core rulebook is met.

So close to getting the Monk!

One of the stretch goals, Unity Extended: Allies, introduces a new playable race, the Sarathi.  When I realized they were lizard people, I was sold.  While originally one of the antagonistic NPC races originally designed for the base game, this stretch goal (which unlocked after I had already pledged) made this project so much more meaningful to me, considering my own goal of publishing.  

For those interested in the game, please check out Unity-RPG.com or their Kickstarter Page for more previews of classes and creatures.  As of this posting, their post-campaign pledge manager is not finished yet.  Anyone interested in picking up either the book and/or any other extras they make available should sign up for their mailing list here.

WIP Shot of the cover of the Core Rule Book

I will be writing further on this game, so check back here in the future for more news about the Unity RPG.  I encourage anyone looking for a more story focused version of some of the classic table top RPG games to try Unity!

9/21 UPDATE!  The Pledge manager for Unity is up!  For a limited time, you can pledge for the Core Rule Book and select bonuses like the World Map and GM Screen.  Follow this link!

A Short Review of Suicide Squad

Remember, we're the bad guys...

• Suicide Squad was about a C+/B- Movie that had potential left on the cutting room floor
• Needed more Joker, or no Joker.  You don't make the Joker a plot device that's only relevant for like 20 mintes of a 2 hour movie.  He's the most famous DC villain there is.
• Also, jokes?  I didn't expect nor desire a Mark Hamill style performance, but he's the JOKER!  Joke is in his damn moniker.  Sarcastic isn't the same as funny...  
• That said, I did like Jared Leto's take, but again, not enough.
• Harley was great.  Appreciated the nods to her origins with the harlequin costume and the "Batman: Harley Quinn" cover reference.
• Deadshot teased us with the worst decision a movie studio trying to compete with Marvel could make.  Thank God he missed.
• Yay Set-up for Justice League!  But why?  I mean we knew it was coming...  No where near as 'cool' as it was seeing Nick Fury in Stark's house at the end of Iron Man when we didn't even know what we would get yet.
• El Diablo is my new favorite villain, if only because of like 5 minutes of movie.
• Will Smith as Deadshot was good.  I'd see another movie.  Kinda want a Katana movie though...
• The woman who sets up the Team-X?  Cold....  Like, William Lord Kelvin would have found her too cold for him...  Absolute ZERO!
• I am starting to just want a Batfleck movie.  And he better be as cool as he was in BvS...

My short review!  :)

The Truth Comes Out (A micro post)

I need deadlines!

Short story:  I don't write without deadlines.  And on top of that, I need a damn list of goals for myself.  I just skimmed my blog and realized I said I would do reviews of movies that aren't even in theaters anymore, of games that may have had sequels announced already, and have not continued either of the 'series' of posts I wanted to do regularly: Questions Authors Ask and World Building...

On top of that, the only 'writing' I've done lately is rewriting, and before you say, "But Shane, all writing is rewriting," this had been the worst slate of rewriting I've had to do.  I'm frustrated with a scene I feel I need but hate how I've written it and I can't bring myself to move on.  So I'm basically erasing the last two chapters I wrote (more like saved and put in an archive folder) and trying to change things to get me beyond it.  And of course now I'm just not motivated so it's taking a long time.

So blegh.  Any ideas?  Suggestions?  This really hurts to admit but I have to get it off my shoulders and chest and brain...