Redwolf's Journal (continued)

I'm not sure why it took me so long to read the first of the Iron Druid books. It's urban fantasy set in Arizona centering on a 2100-year-old druid. I didn't exactly have an aversion to the series, but it somehow never really grabbed me, even though some others recommended it. I sort of like the Irish lore ties and depiction of those mythological figures, though that does trigger my 'eyes glaze over at foreign words and names' reflex. I really like Oberon, the wolfhound sidekick. The problem is, I don't really find myself liking Atticus, the main character, all that much. He's generally a good person, though not as morally upstanding as a lot of urban fantasy heroes (Dresden for example). His age and magic make him a little bit too much of a special snowflake for my liking, and he really feels too well adjusted for someone so old, in my opinion. Also, he seems to have relatively little concern for collateral damage, cutting glamoured enemies down in the st

So, I have gotten back to some reading lately, at least. Both recent books have been continuing parts of series. First up, is Magic Breaks , another Kate Daniels story about Atlanta in the topsy-turvy world of flopping magic and technology with shapeshifters and stuff. Some odd reactions to this one. Hugh makes a decent antagonist with his obsession with Kate, and that carries over from the previous book. Pack politics are phased out a little bit, and that's a touch disappointing. The big event, however, is meeting Roland. Here's a "big bad" who's been built up as perhaps the single most powerful being in the world, father of vampires, and tyrant who's taking over the world. So it's a little bit of a let down that at their first actual meeting, several obstacles are thrown out for Kate to cut down, but he's virtually passive himself. There is a secondary magical confrontation later where Kate opposes his claim to Atlanta, and there's something

Only a couple things to add at this point. First, the movie served as a reminder to me just how important characters really are to a good story. Heck, good characters and chemistry have made otherwise dull RPG campaigns fun to play in some cases in the past, too. And, I've been waiting to see "Film Critic Hulk's" comments on the movie . That columnist has a much more academic and lengthy approach to critiquing films than I ever will. While I may not always agree with every point, I have come to respect the analysis.

It is deeply frustrating to me to think in the afternoon about how I'm going to go home and do various things. I have several hours in the evening, that's plenty of time to pick up groceries on the way home, do some laundry, maybe even some vacuuming and clean up in the kitchen a bit, and there'll still be time to get online and roleplay, or so I think to myself. Then I leave work and decide I can get by another day or two without hitting the store, and I just feel like going home. And once home, I feel "bleh" about everything, put off the cleaning, flop/nap for about an hour, half-ass a light dinner, and log on with no real inspiration or direction to find friends there not greatly more inspired (or available) than I am. I wanted to accomplish something, dammit! It's pretty difficult to find motivation to do things. And, mind you, I'm saying this from an emotional state this is not exactly upbeat, but it's a looong way from the dark spiral of ap

I'm surprised at how little I remembered of the game - including pretty much the entirety of the Throne of Bhaal expansion. It really makes me wonder if I quit the game partway through back in the day. That isn't impossible, given it's a pretty long game (I think Steam clocked me at around 120 hours, though some portion of that would be paused while doing other things), and there are some pacing issues. The game holds up pretty well as a "classic," however, and a solid representative of that era. I'll try not to spoil too much, but really I feel the "statute of limitations" on the game's secrets is well expired, so there will be some. There are a lot of potential party member characters spanning a wide spectrum. I really probably only touched on half or slightly more, whether due to interest or alignment/class makeup for the party. Yoshimo's pretty cool, his traps are potentially powerful, but the way he gets yanked out from under you durin

Okay, so this one is gonna have spoilers... It really is a pretty great movie, holding an atmosphere of joyous adventure behind some big, cliché, sometimes tragic moments. Watching it the second time, I laughed aloud less, but still smiled just about as much. I'm convinced the music is a solid part of the experience. Coming into cosmic venues like Knowhere, it provides a grounding effect. When Quill is being roughed up at the jail, it provides a contrast to the brutality. That could be a dangerous thing in some cases, but I feel it's part of what makes the movie work. I wonder if it has the same effect on people who weren't around for the 80's... I've seen reviews about how the movie is "post-plot," yet not a good explanation of what that's even supposed to mean. That it doesn't have a plot? Well, that's untrue. Admittedly, I wouldn't call the plot particularly unique or especially awesome. Protagonists are drawn together around a Mc

Tashiro really ought to offer just a little more info when sharing links. ;) Still, I took his recommendation and watched through this 13 episode anime series. There's an interesting duality to it, I'll give it that. It takes two different manga/anime genres and does them both. Like oil and water, however, they don't end up mixing well. It's like at any given time, it's just one or the other The Harem Anime: Now, frankly I knock off a few points out the gate for any series that surrounds a young, questionably-alone male character with several females with (sometimes varying degrees of) romantic interest in him. Bynhildr is a little better than average in that the male lead actually has some degree of charisma and there's some moderately valid reasons he becomes a central figure in the group and even for some of the interest. But it isn't enough to overcome the negative in my book. It's still heavy on the fan service an onsen scenes. There's stil

Well that was pretty great. There's a lot of sci-fi action, and a bunch of people get blasted or blown up - albeit in non-graphic ways. There's a charming hero/point-of-view character who fits the likable rogue model. There's nothing that really took me out of the movie. All that would be enough for a good film in my book. This movie also has some good music that's well integrated and almost a character in its own right. And Rocket may be CG, but he gets plenty of lines and they almost steal the show. The atmosphere and attitude in general makes the whole thing a playful, thrilling adventure. All together, that makes this a great movie in my book. I laughed more than any movie I can recall in recent times, and yet it feels more like an action-adventure than a comedy - it's just got that many funny moments without breaking the story. I won't use the word "perfect" to describe it, but I had some pretty high expectations for this film, and the joyfu

This internal conversation happened: Huh, an article about FFXIV offering 14-day trials? That's neat. It's longer than I played at the beta. Maybe I'd find more to like about it. I should definitely look into that. I know one person always lamenting lack of friends playing. Maybe I would like it enough to get into it. * You must not have participated in the FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Beta Test. Fuuuu.... Well, I guess that's not happening then.