Zootopia is great and you should go see it

Zootopia is a great movie. It is fun, cute, touching, and clever, and it has some great messages as well. The animation, the voice acting, the writing, and the world design are all top-notch. Perhaps best of all, it is a hopeful, charming film, a welcome change from a lot of the unnecessarily grim stories we see so often.

(This review does not contain spoilers.)

DmC: Kill monsters and pose like a badass

When I first heard about DmC, the Devil May Cry reboot, my initial reaction was skepticism.  I had not played much of the original games, but I knew that Dante was a white-haired, red-jacketed, ultra-cool demon-slayer. Who was this punk kid they were calling Dante?

Well, I'm glad I got DmC, because I really enjoyed it. I ended up liking this new Dante a lot, and I found the gameplay hugely enjoyable. The game is designed to make Dante look like a badass at every chance, and as a result, the player feels like a badass, too. Every fight ends with a slow-mo shot of the final blow, inevitably ending with Dante in some awesome pose. That's why I came to think of DmC as a kill-monsters-and-pose-like-a-badass-simulator.

This review contains some spoilers, but you're probably not playing a game like DmC for the plot anyway!

Echoes in the Force: Some of the parallels between A New Hope and The Force Awakens

One of the most persistent criticisms of Star Wars Episode VII - The Force Awakens is that it borrows too heavily from the previous movies, especially A New Hope. Some of the parallels are obvious, to the point that some of the characters even comment on the Starkiller Base being similar to the Death Star. Personally I find the similarities to be interesting, and I think they add an extra layer to the film rather than detracting from it.

But just how many parallels are there? I thought it might be fun to see how many I can identify. I am sure that I am not the first to try this, but I'm not going to let that stop me!

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens initial thoughts

I think enough time has passed now that I can post this without worrying about spoiling the movie! That said, this post does contain spoilers, so if you have not seen The Force Awakens yet... go see it first!

Star Wars is pretty much the best thing ever. I have loved Star Wars all my life, so I approached The Force Awakens with a little trepidation. Could the new trilogy live up to the original trilogy in a way the prequel trilogy hadn't?

I must confess that, by the time the movie came out, I had utterly failed to keep my expectations low. I got hyped about the trailers and I loved the interviews with the actors as they promoted the movie. I went and saw the movie as soon as I could in order to avoid spoilers. As I waited in line with my wife, I was genuinely worried that some troll who had seen the movie already would pass by and shout out a spoiler. That was how worried I was that something would ruin the experience for me!

Our hours of waiting in line were rewarded when we got into the theater and sat down in our favorite seats. The movie began, the music kicked in, and I felt my heart pounding in my chest. This was it. I remember thinking that, no matter what, in the next two hours I would see the new Star Wars movie. After all those months of waiting and anticipation, it was finally happening. As the first scenes played, I was struck by the realization that I would no doubt rewatch these scenes through my life.

I was still worried about whether the movie would live up to my expectations. Things seemed pretty dark as the First Order attacked the village, and I hoped the film would not get too grim. Then Poe said, "So, who talks first?" and I couldn't help but laugh out loud. That moment was like J. J. Abrams telling me: Relax. Enjoy.

How voice acting made all the difference with two Mass Effect characters

A lot has been said about the different voice acting choices made by Mark Meer, who voices the male Shepard in Mass Effect, and Jennifer Hale, who voices the female Shepard. I like them both, but I wanted to share my thoughts on some other voice acting in the series. Specifically, I would like to share two occasions where a character who looks bland on paper became much more interesting thanks to the way the voice actor portrayed the character.

When I first read about a Zaeed Massani, a new DLC squad member in Mass Effect 2, I was not impressed. It sounded like his whole character was defined by being the galaxy's best bounty hunter, so I immediately wrote him off as a Boba Fett ripoff. The picture they provided didn't help much: scarred, tattooed, and wearing asymmetrical armor, his design was a mess. When I met the character in the game, he made a bad first impression. Shepard comes across Zaeed beating up his previous target, so it seemed like the game was trying too hard to make him look cool. When Zaeed immediately offered to join my party, without any sort of recruitment quest, I was even more let down. If Zaeed were worth having, I thought, he wouldn't be so easy to recruit.

Then I started talking to him.

Tales of Alethrion is back on Kickstarter for a full season!

As you know, I was a huge fan of The Reward, the short animation by Sun Creature Studio about two characters in a fantasy world who become friends over the course of their journey.

Then I got excited about the Kickstarter for the first episode of a series set in the same world.

Well, now that episode is done! You can watch the video right at the top of this page.

The folks at Sun Creature Studio now have a new Kickstarter, this time to fun a season of Tales of Alethrion. Each episode needs $80,000 to happen, so for every $80,000 they raise, they will make another episdoe! So far, they have already raised enough for one more episode, and they're on their way to the next.

If you like fantasy adventures, animation, and tales of friendship, I recommend checking out the Kickstarter.

Why I wish Wolverine--and only Wolverine--would appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

I've been meaning to write this post for a while, and recent news spurred me to action. Hugh Jackman posted this image to his Instagram today:

WOLVERINE ...ONE LAST TIME. HJ

A photo posted by Hugh Jackman (@thehughjackman) on Mar 28, 2015 at 10:40am PDT

It sounds like Hugh Jackman will only play Wolverine one more time, and I have to say, I hope it ain't so. Nobody else could ever play Wolverine like Hugh Jackman, and I dearly hope Wolverine can someday join the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Throne of the Crescent Moon: A Different Kind of Fantasy Adventure

I love fantasy adventures: brave heroes wielding magic and skill to face evil monsters and protect the land. I have read, watched, and played in countless such stories, but somehow it never really occurred to me how similar they tended to be. The heroes were almost always white men. The setting was almost always some variant of medieval Europe.

Throne of the Cresent Moon is different. In this novel, Saladin Ahmed creates a story set in a fantasy world inspired more by the Middle East than Europe. Instead of having a young man as the hero, the main character is a portly, older man who fights more with his knowledge than with brawn.

But don't worry. it has all of the excitement and adventure that you would want from a fantasy novel!

I'm beginning to like her: Thoughts on Princess Leia Organa

Ever since bluefish and I wrote posts about Han and Luke, I've been wanting to round out the trio of Original Trilogy stars by sharing some things that make Leia great, too. Today is International Women's Day, so I figured now was the time to do it!

Of all of the characters in the Original Trilogy, Leia may be the one who is the most complex. Some of her characteristics seem to be contradictions at first glance, so I will explore some of those contradictions to see how they make Leia a fantastic, well-rounded character.

I got Pandora to play Simple Man

Screenshot proof!

Pandora is one of those things that I can really get into. On the surface, it's an ad-supported way to discover new music. Beneath the surface, it's a way to explore how songs relate to each other, and to learn something about your musical tastes in the process. I tend to prune all of my Pandora stations carefully, thinking carefully about how giving a certain song the "thumbs-up" or another the "thumbs-down" might change the type of music that station plays.

I've got several stations, and the one I'm probably proudest of is my classic rock station, Rock of Marble and Gold. I created it several months ago, after my previous classic rock station skewed too far into heavy metal. When I created the new station, I decided, just for fun, to see if I could start with a single "seed," and get the station to play a specific song by another band only by giving songs "thumbs up" and "thumbs down," without adding any more "seeds." The "seed" I began with was the band Crosby, Stills, and Nash, and the song I was trying to get the station to play was "Simple Man," by Lynyrd Skynyrd.

When did we become too cool for Batman?

Evolution of Batman, from Comic Book Movie

I like Batman. I like reading Batman comics, watching Batman movies and cartoons, and playing Batman video games. Yes, he dresses like a bat. Yes, he fights criminals who all have some sort of gimmick. And, yes, his parents are dead, and he will brood about it.

And I love it.

But lately I've noticed a backlash against Batman. People seem to think either that Batman is a silly children's character, or that he's a joyless sociopath. What happened?

He does have his moments: Reasons why it's better to be Han than Luke

There are many ways to describe Han Solo: heroic, sarcastic, charming, skillful, and cocky all come to mind, but perhaps the word that best sums up the Corellian smuggler is "scoundrel." While Luke pursues his destiny and Leia fights for galactic freedom, Han is in it for the reward (or so he claims). Of course, we always knew there was more to him than money, but it's that devil-may-care swagger that makes Han so likable.

Personally, I can't say for sure whether I would rather be Luke or Han, but for the purposes of this post, Luke can keep his hokey religions and ancient weapons: here are the reasons why it's better to be Han Solo.

Would you rather be Han or Luke?

I know that nerds are supposed to debate whether they like Kirk or Picard more, but that's never been a hard question for me. Kirk is fine, but I like Picard better as a captain and I find him to be a more interesting character.

There is another question that has long plagued me, though, and I have never felt sure about my answer: would I rather be Han Solo or Luke Skywalker? I can argue for both sides, but to make things more interesting, I talked my to my co-blogger bluefish, and he will argue for Luke while I take Han's side. We'll post our thoughts in separate blog posts to keep things more manageable.

If you have an opinion one way or the other, feel free to share it as a comment!

István, a király: Hungary's answer to "Jesus Christ, Superstar"

Istvány: eleventh century ruler, 80's hairdo

The Hungarian rock opera István, a király was created in 1983, during the waning years of the Communist regime. The musical tells the story of the first king of Hungary, St. Stephen (Szent István in Hungarian). The best way to describe the rock opera is to say that it is like a Hungarian Jesus Christ, Superstar, complete with the juxtaposition of historical subject matter with 70's clothing and hairstyles (Hungary was a little behind when it came to fashion).

Mushi-shi: A Beautiful, Contemplative Anime Series

Mushi-shi is an anime series about a man named Ginko who travels the countryside to learn more about mushi, creatures that are neither animals nor plants that are invisible to most people. Ginko can see mushi and has studied them, so he can help those people whose lives have been affected by mushi. Ginko is a mushi-shi, part biologist and part doctor, who helps people learn to live in balance with mushi, curing the illnesses and other phenomena that mushi can cause when they come in conflict with humans.

It's time to get excited about The Legend of Korra again

I was already planning on writing a post with this title after Nickelodeon released the trailer to Book 3 of The Legend of Korra:

Then Nickelodeon announced that Book 3 will start to air on Friday (June 27), giving us even more reasons to get excited!

Contains spoilers for previous books!

One Epic Knight: A fun, hilarious endless runner

When was the last time you played a free mobile game that was genuinely fun, made you laugh out loud, and was endlessly enjoyable without spending a single cent? One Epic Knight is a free endless runner from Simutronics featuring a wise-cracking knight venturing forth into a dungeon to collect loot, fight monsters, and avoid traps before inevitably dying hilariously. If you own an iOS or Android device, there's really no reason not to check it out!

Lupita Nyong'o and Gwendoline Christie will be in Star Wars VII!

Photo from the starwars.com announcement

What a time to be alive!

The folks at starwars.com have announced Lupita Nyong'o will indeed be joining the cast of Star Wars Episode VII, and will be joined by Gwendoline Christie. Christie, known for playing Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones, will bring the total number of new women characters to three. When you add Carrie Fisher's return as Princess Leia to the number, you get four major roles for women, which is four times the number found in both the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy.

A New(er) Hope? Star Wars VII may still cast a woman of color

Lupita Nyong'o; image from Forbes

Maisie Richardson-Sellers; Image from The Hollywood Reporter

In the wake of the cast announcement for Star Wars Episode VII, the internet is up in arms about the single new woman and the single person of color in the cast. It sounds like there may still be hope, though: J. J. Abrams has announced that he is looking to cast one more woman for a major role, and rumors indicate that it may be a woman of color.

'Star Wars: Episode VII' Casting: It's Not Over Yet on The Hollywood Reporter

The EU is Dead, Long Live Star Wars

Probably the most reposted picture on the internet today

Today the Star Wars website announced some big news, ending months of rumors and speculation. In addition to the returning, original Star Wars actors Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford, the seventh Star Wars movie would star John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow. Also returning would be famous suit-wearers Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels, and Peter Mayhew.

In with the new, out with the old: today's announcement follows up on another announcement a few days ago that the Star Wars creators are setting aside the established "Expanded Universe" of Star Wars novels, comics, video games, etc, and relegating them to "Star Wars Legends."

I feel like I am still wrapping my brain around some of these changes, and clearly a lot is still left to be revealed, but I wanted to share some of my first thoughts.