Category: Opinion

Game of Thrones Season 8 opinion so Far

I don’t normally talk about Game of Thrones, not for any particular reason, I just don’t really do it. I love the show tho and have for a while. I have to be honest tho, the first two episodes were a bit disappointing and I really don’t get why people were so upset by the  Arya Stark sex scene considering all the incest and hookers they were ok with. She was just a soldier that wanted to get laid the night before the biggest battle of her life and chose a friend she has known for years.

In contrast episode 3 of season 8 truly was one of the best episodes of the series. I won’t give away any spoilers because I want to give people more time to see it, but you never really knew how many of the dead they were fighting or exactly where the Night King and his dragon were. We knew SOMEONE was going to die, but who was always u in the air pretty much right up until the end which for anyone paying attention was hinted at throughout the series but was done very well. The action was great and while many are upset at how dark the episode was, it needed to be. It was a battle at night against the undead in winter. The idea that the people fighting can’t see exactly who was doing what and where is normal and would be pretty accurate. The final season for me was off to a slow start, but episode 3 has more than made up for it. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Obsessed

obsessed

There are times I watch things for the blog I love, sometimes laugh at, hate, or just once in a great while experiment with to fulfill a theory. I remembered the trailers for this movie a decade ago and thought meh; I heard reviews for this movie a decade ago that were basically meh. So one night, finding it on Netflix, I decided to see if its really meh or not…

A young, happy couple move into a new house with there newborn baby. Derrick is a successful business executive who meets a pretty temp girl named Lisa. She came prepared to be Derrick’s assistant and tries to get closer to him; Derrick is happily married to his wife Sharon and brushes off Lisa’s advances. Things don’t seem serious until the Christmas party when Lisa tries to seduce derrick after a few drinks, and that’s when he realizes she’ll destroy his marriage, his career, and his life to have him all to herself…

Basically the title says it all- this is pretty much a by the numbers stalker film. Because it’s PG-13, there is no crazy bat shit stuff like Fatal Attraction or Audition. Idris Elba and Beyonce are too good for this bland script and Ali Larter is fine as the crazy stalker but even she could have done better. It’s not terrible, just bland as hell with one really hilarious moment from Elba about halfway through. I can’t really recommend it, mostly because there are much better movies that did more with the premise. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Sticks:A tool in Time

sticks

I’m dedicating this post to a good friend of mine, Billy, who coincidentally wrote the book which is the topic of today’s blog. Sticks: A tool in time is exactly what the cover and title suggest: a book about sticks. Yes, sticks. No metaphors, no mysticism just ordinary sticks you break off a tree every day. Now, I know what many of you are thinking: “Torsten, why in the fuck do I want to read a book about sticks when I can read about distant fantasy landscapes, millionaires with kinky fetishes, or secret agents?” Well my friend, I have 2 reasons why you should. The first being a response to your thoughts, yes those are fun subjects to dive into but there are so many books about the same thing, but how many are about sticks? Also, its absurdly hilarious. Savior laughed himself silly and honestly I had a good many laughs too; the book is written to be self aware and laughs are intended. I’m well aware the humor won’t catch on everyone but it’s a fun, small read you can find cheap on Amazon ( link listed below) and I wish my friend the best and can’t wait for the next installment. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

Check Amazon to buy a copy.

Alien: Harvest

Harvest is the last of the 6 and I have to say the most action oriented, actually in a way I felt there was some Alien: Isolation vibes here. While the Alien looks pretty convincing, the biggest flaw I see is I don’t like the weird flashy editing. Other than that, it’s a pretty good fan film. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Alien: Alone

I’m nearly positive that of all 6 Alien shorts, Alone may be my favorite of the 6. Trapped aboard a dying, abandoned vessel in the middle of space, an android deals with the prospects of dying alone, but when she finds a “friend” of sorts, how far will she go to help her friend survive? I love the twists the story takes, especially putting the Alien in a role I admit we haven’t really seen before. There is a great moment at the end where you see her and her friend united that was really cool to see. The pacing is slower but I liked the final product so I didn’t mind much. I definitely recommend it for the fans and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Bye Bye Man

bye bye man

It’s been a long time since I saw a movie quite like the Bye Bye Man. Once in a great while I see a horror movie so bad it’s funny, which is why I’m regarding it as a comedy too. All the better is it’s not like Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn , which know it was goofy and this movie basically tries to be as serious as it can be with a hack premise. But the question is, how bad are we talking?

In typical horror cliche fashion, three college kids rent a old house near campus. While cleaning out the old furniture, they find a old nightstand with a bunch of deranged carvings on the the inside reading ” don’t say it, don’t think it.” and the words the Bye Bye Man. From there, the teens being seeing things and a tall man with a dog stalks there’s minds but they can’t stop the urge to spread the madness of the Bye Bye Man…

As a horror movie, Bye Bye Man is utter crap but as a ” so bad its good” movie its freaking awesome. The imagery behind Bye Bye man isn’t explored at all like the train images or what’s up with him and his dog. The acting was hilarious, especially from the lead actress and one particular scene from the lead character in a car that had me in stitches. The effects are laughably bad. The movie doesn’t really drag so that’s a positive. In the end, stay away if you are looking for scares but looking for unintentional laughs, step right up. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Avengers Endgame Review (Savior)

As usual, @torstenvblog an I went to check out the new Marvel movie, and I will, of course, this will be spoiler free.

I won’t say much about the story because I feel saying pretty much anything about it will be a spoiler. Obviously tho it covers what happens after the Thanos snap and how they all deal with it. Some of them obviously will deal with it far better than others. The general tone of the start of the movie as you can imagine has the team feeling pretty down. Admittedly this never changed.

For a three hour movie, it never felt like three hours, and even tho the first hours pacing felt a bit off to me and some of the decisions felt a bit odd at first by the end of the movie they all made much more sense. The end of the movie left me very satisfied and the final act was nothing if not extraordinary. It had everything you would want it to have, action, intrigue, explosions, and even a few tears.

I can’t say it was the best or even my favorite in the Marvel universe. It wasn’t even necessarily the ending I wanted to the whole Infinity War or what the last over a decade was building to. It was, however, the ending I needed. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Avengers: Endgame

avengers endgame

11 years have come down to one final bout against Thanos, the Mad Titan. If you paid attention to Age of Ultron, you’ll remember the line that inspired the title of a movie that is definitely the end of an era.

Beginning days after Thanos wiped 50% of the universe’s living creatures, the last remaining Avengers mourn for there fallen and there loss. After being reunited with Iron Man and Nebula, they plan a final attack on Thanos, but to no avail. All hope seems lost. Years go by and they try to live there new lives but then hope comes from an unlikely fellow that gives them an idea what to do, but there is no guarantee it will work and could destroy what little they were able to rebuild. Can the Avengers rise to face failure, loss, and fear and bring down Thanos one last time?

It takes a lot to make me speechless during a movie and even more to choke me up and I was choked up hard here, especially the ending. I’m not going to spoil anything but Savior and I agreed it closed the door to this particular saga while keeping some new doors open. The acting is fantastic and there is a very good mix of levity and sadness throughout. The pacing is slow for the first hour or so but it doesn’t feel 3 hours. There are minor story complaints I have, but sadly I can’t discuss them without spoiler territory. In the end, Endgame is a great end to an amazing saga that is long, but well worth the wait for an insanely epic climax and highly recommended. As is customary for my reviews for Avengers  and Avengers: Age of Ultron , here’s a list of phase 3 and it’s movies leading into Endgame. May the gaming gods bring you glory, whatever it takes…

Captain America: Civil War (Cap side) / Doctor Strange ( 2016) / Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) / Spider-man: Homecoming / Thor: Ragnarok / Black Panther / Avengers: Infinity War / Ant-Man and the Wasp / Captain Marvel / Avengers: Endgame.

Happy Alien day 2019

alien day 2019  Happy Alien day everyone and what a strange year it’s been for the Xenomorph, finding a new home with Disney ( a fact that still gets me to scratch my head now and then but laugh knowing the Queen is now a Disney princess). While we haven’t got any concrete news of a new movie, we have Fox helping to release some awesome fan films including Alien: Containment , Alien: Specimen , Alien: Night Shift , and Alien: Ore . This year is the 40th anniversary of the classic Alien , a icon of horror and science fiction that has nothing but my love and respect that proves in space, no one can hear you scream. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Happy Alien Day!

Imperator Rome First Impressions

There are a couple of things I want to get out of the way first. One, shout out to my friend @codyaparis for picking this up for me. I wouldn’t have been able to get this one without him. Second, this is in no way a full or even partial review. This is just my initial impressions after the first three or four hours for the people that may be on the fence about picking it up.

I have played my fair share of Paradox games and grand strategy games, I am by no means an expert but I have some experience. Enough experience to say while not the easiest one, this isn’t a bad place to start. The combat is easy enough to learn but deep enough that you will need to think before you act or build your army. I loved that unlike Victoria 2 if I took over an entire country I could simply take the whole thing rather than the original piece I wanted. There is a punishment for this tho. Do this too much and the countries around you will get pissed. It is a nice balance.

The tutorial was nice as well, better than most of the other paradox games in areas, in other areas tho it could have used some work. It has you build ships but it doesn’t do a very good job of telling you how to get on them. It works similar to other games so it wasn’t too big of a deal but there are other areas where they simply don’t explain things. Don’t worry tho, the Paradox community will happily help you out. I am writing this the day of release and there are already how-to videos, and I have watched them all week.

I will have a better review probably in a week or two, but as of now the game is fun and has very few problems and looks pretty damn good. If you are on the fence and have played other titles, the first few hours have convinced me it was worth the wait. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.