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zwolanerd

“I guess I just like liking things”

October 13, 2014 Movie Monday: Alien

alienMy wife had never seen the movie Alien, and since it’s October (Scary Movie Month) I talked her into watching it. It’s long been #1 on my Scariest Movies Ever list, so I thought she should give it a try. The short version is that she liked it, which surprised me. “It’s held up really well,” she said.

Weirdly, though, last night’s viewing of the movie might have changed my ranking of it, scary-wise. It’s still a good movie, certainly, but it didn’t creep me out near as much as it used to. Now, whether that’s due to my age or my familiarity with it, I don’t know, and there’s really no way to know. Honestly, though, being able to watch the movie without the overriding fear helped me watch it more objectively. Everything from the Star Wars-inspired pans of the ship to the in-your-face closeups of the crew helps build suspense and increases the eventual payoff. It’s just that, prior to last night’s viewing, a lot of that got lost on me while I was creeped out by the alien.

Viewing this one in light of the expanded Alien universe we now have actually works pretty well. A lot of that has to do with James Cameron’s work in the second film, since he established things like the Queen and more about how the Alien society functions. Alien 3 gave us the idea that the Aliens took on characteristics of the host body, which is a really neat addition (and is about the only cool thing Alien 3 gave us). Going on to Alien 4 and the Predator vs. Alien movies give us even more, and it says a lot about the concept of the Aliens that even sub-par movies can’t diminish the strength of it.

I told my wife going in that if she was going to watch the first one that she also had to watch the second one, but I wouldn’t make her watch the rest of them unless she wanted to. I haven’t seen Aliens in a long, long time, but it, too, has ranked very high on my Scariest Movies Ever list, so I’m curious to see how it does after I see it again.

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October 10, 2014 Q*bert Solves a Rubik’s Cube

As I’ve mentioned before, sometimes I just do searches for “Q*bert” and see what new things I haven’t seen before. Since most search engines recognize the * as a modifier, it can be tricky, but I persevere.

I can’t believe I hadn’t seen this comic before, especially since it’s dated 2007. It’s from Dueling Analogs, which used to be a straight-up comics site but now is more of a videogame humor aggregate site. We’re long overdue for a Q*bert something around here, so please enjoy this comic.

2007-08-23

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October 9, 2014 Ghostbusters 3

ghostbustersThe latest news on the Ghostbusters front is that Paul Feig and Katie Dippold are working on a script for a female-led Ghostbusters movie. They’re the team behind The Heat, which I liked well enough. Venkman himself, Bill Murray has gone on record as saying he thinks it’s a great idea, going so far as to suggest the team:

  • Melissa McCarthy
  • Kristen Wiig
  • Linda Cardellini
  • Emma Stone

I am 100% okay with all of that. That cast, that idea, let’s do this thing. In fact, if that isn’t the cast, don’t bother! Except let’s get Aisha Tyler or Yvette Nicole Brown (or both!) in there, too. We can have six Ghostbusters, that’s okay! I think the important thing is that we have more Ghostbusters.

One of the ideas that’s floated around for years is that Ghostbusters has become a franchise, so there’s locations all over the place. Cut to those here and there, so we see cameos maybe. There’s a small town in Canada, perhaps, and Jim Carrey’s the only Ghostbuster there, but that’s okay because there aren’t that many ghosts. Another team we see for two minutes is Ben Stiller and Luke Wilson. Maybe Mel Brooks could play a ghost?  I just think there’s plenty of room for some fun stuff here.

Let’s just be sure we have the following things, okay?

  • Actual humor – let’s not go full Bridesmaids here, though. Doesn’t need to be nasty.
  • Scary ghosts – remember when you saw that library ghost when you were 12? That thing was freaky!
  • A big, big threat.
  • Recognition of history – I know Bill Murray’s not going to star in this thing, but you can at least get him to show up, right? But I more mean things like established canon on how things work, and maybe even an Ivo Shandor mention or two.

I’m pretty excited about this possibility, more than I have been about any of the rumors prior to this. Let’s be sure to thank Dan Ackroyd for all of his work, while at the same time letting him know “hey, the new team’s got this.”

What are your wishes for a new Ghostbusters movie?

 

 

MORNING UPDATE: So now most of the news is that it’s more of a reboot thing, ignoring the first two movies. I’m not as excited about that, but I still have high hopes.

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October 8, 2014 Lyn Plays Settlers Online

 

Price: Free to play, premium stuff available
Client: Browser
Play it at: settlersonline.com

Settlers II Gold Edition ate my weekends for many many months back in the day. There was something oddly satisfying about watching my little blue guys run around and do my bidding, although combat was never my strong point. I just like building little roads and buildings and hearing the dove coo when I got mail. A series of “not quite up to it” PCs meant I had to leave the Settlers story, but I did have Paths to a Kingdom for a while (I still do, I’m just not sure this PC is up to it, frankly.)

Settlers Online is basically Settlers II with shinier graphics. There’s a network of players on your server I assume you can trade with or battle, and as you can see there’s a row of “Add Friend” slots which makes it feel a bit Facebooky. I know they did have a FB version of this or something like it (My Village I think it was called) but I don’t know if that’s still open or not and there’d be a whole new tab, search situation so I’m not really going to look for it for you. Sorry.

It’s graphically pretty, little bit shouty overall, but quite nice to play if you’re into the settlers as a concept.

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October 6, 2014 Staite Of Mind

I wasn’t planning to go to Awesome Con this past weekend, but my wife needed stuff picked up in Indianapolis, so I said I’d go get it for her if the house budget paid for my ticket. The use of budgets and envelopes in our house confuses me, but the short version is that I was able to go to the con without using my spending money. Score!

The main reason I wanted to go was that Alan Tudyk and Jewel Staite from Firefly (and a bunch of other things, I guess) were going to be there. I’ve always heard such good things about Firefly cast members’ Q&A sessions, and I knew I would enjoy it. There were a few other famous types there (Adam West, Burt Ward, Kevin Sorbo), but these two were the draw for me. I had seen Ron Glass earlier this summer at Indy PopCon, so I guess the Firefly actors are my personal Pokémon: I need to see them all.

Their session was at 12:15, and I got there early enough to poke around a little beforehand. I got to see and say hi to Tony and Lee, and I got to look at a bunch of toys that were too expensive for me to get. This con was smaller than the last one I went to by a good deal, but that was okay. I didn’t get panicky in a big crowd and I wasn’t tempted to spend quite as much money on stuff.  I got in line for the Q&A a little bit later than I should have, but I still ended up with a good seat in the center, about 10 rows back.

The short version is that it was one of my favorite things ever. The two of them are obviously good friends, and have obviously done many, many Q&A sessions. They were charming, funny, and interesting. Plus, Alan brought a whole bunch of random junk that he and Jewel would sign and give to anyone who asked a question:

  • a hat
  • a crew T-shirt from Transformers 3 (which Alan said was a lousy movie)
  • buttons from a Prada suit
  • a call sheet from a movie he’s been filming
  • a piece of stationery from the set of I, Robot
  • his badge from Comic Con in Salt Lake
  • his itinerary for Sunday
  • a map from his hotel
  • …and a 1/2″ socket wrench

It was a hoot.

They did impressions of other cast members and told great behind-the-scenes stories, but what impressed me the most was how gracious they were to everyone. Firefly was 14 episodes 11 years ago and a movie and a movie five years after that. They’ve both been involved in plenty of other things. But here they were, not only taking the time to come to a con and do the Q&A session, but to do it enthusiastically. Not once did they poke fun at someone for a question, even though you know they’ve heard literally every question ever.

I made the decision to pay to get my picture with one of them. I couldn’t afford to get the picture with both, and I had to choose between the two. I made the decision to do the picture rather than the autograph, because I felt like that would be the better memory to keep. Please keep in mind: I had never done anything like this before. It felt weird signing up for it. It felt weird going through with it. It feels weird having the picture. I can’t explain why all these things felt weird, but they did and do.

Ultimately I chose to get a picture with Jewel. Not only was she in Firefly, but she was also in Wonderfalls, which I love. Granted, her character in Wonderfalls was mean and unlikable, but she was in it nevertheless.

The process was very fast. Each person in line walked in, got the picture, and walked out. When I walked in she shook my hand, smiled, and asked how I was doing. Then they took the picture and I barely had a chance to stammer out how much I appreciated how she and Alan treated the fans before I had to leave. All told, it was less than a 30-second process. Again, it was weird, but it was also very neat.

Now I want to watch through Firefly again.

Jewel Staite & I starring this fall in Awkward Yearbook Photo

Jewel Staite & I starring this fall in Awkward Yearbook Photo

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