Was at the Khans of Tarkir PreRelease today.

And it rocked. I played Mardu. I was skeptical before as I usually prefer mono-coloured decks and now here we have three coloured ones! But with my clan-specfific booster I was given some nice multi mana lands and a banner (however, I learned in the later matches, that two can already be one too much in a 40 cards deck). I went with my brother and a friend. We had a good time and I came out 9th of 18 in the end. And we spend a lot of time afterwards trading cards with each other because now I have all the sweet multi-lands I need for my Mardu-deck. Can't wait to try this out soon in full strength! 25 Euro was a lot, but I think it was worth it. Hope you enjoyed the prerelease weekend as much as I did.


http://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/2h1wey/was_at_the_khans_of_tarkir_prerelease_today/

Reflecting Darksiders 2 on Zelda and Skyrim

Currently playing Darksiders 2 on 360 and enjoying it, despite its flaws which are both technical and game design-wise. Darksiders 2, much like its predecessor, draws heavily from Zelda games, but probably achieves it much more than the first. This is due to the larger overworld and the dungeons that can be freely traversed. Still it remains an empty overworld. It's too small to be big and too big to be small, but worst of all filled with nothing than some random enemies and a few treasure chests. The dungeons are fun so far, including some puzzles that sometimes even take a few minutes to solve. The last Zelda game I played was Twilight Princess, which I must've played 2006-7. Liked this Zelda a lot and I am happy that Darksiders can so well emulate the Zelda dungeon crawl feeling. However, the first half of this year I played Skyrim and this game puts action-adventure-rpgs on a whole different level. Darksiders and Zelda (even Skyward Sword which I played briefly) are nice and fun games for "inbetween" a patientgamer can look forward to. But compared with Skyrim, which is so massive it can be played hundreds of hours and still delivers a fresh experience, they are rather small, limited, linear and lack depth. Do you think the next Zelda game (and I hope there will be two more Darksiders games for the remaining riders) will adapt in the Skyrim direction? Would you even welcome that?

 http://www.reddit.com/r/patientgamers/comments/2gwgab/reflecting_darksiders_2_on_zelda_and_skyrim/

I just can't motivate myself to watch the movie adapations of books I read.

The imagery in my head, the power of imagination will always be superior to the movie adaptations. For example I read Stephen King's Desperation recently, but can't force myself to watch the movie. Same with Dune. I feel like the simplifications of litetary material turned into movies just can't keep up with the complexity of books.

 http://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/2gox5b/i_just_cant_motivate_myself_to_watch_the_movie/

Life after Dead Space 3

EDIT: Thanks for your feedback, r/patientgamers. I analyzed your recommendations below and worked them into the list. I now started to play Darksiders II and tried Alan Wake: AN and FC3: BloodDragon as some of you advised I'd be easier to first play something short. Your recommendations were profound and I will consider them when playing through the back log! Yet I wonder how games like NiNoKuni could get such little love and MGS4 not even one. Didn't they stood the test of time? I'll put my feedback into the subreddit once I'm finished with them. ;)

Finished Dead Space 3 today (found it to be good overall, just not as great as 1 and 2) and wondering which game of my backlog to play next. Help me out, your suggestions are very welcome! Keep in mind that I'm mostly a single player. Thanks in advance. The backlog:

Resident Evil Revelations (360)

Gears of War Judgment (360 - already played a few chapters, seems okay, weird narration, not a must play like previous GOWs) (1 recommendation)

Dirt 2 (360 - loved the first one back in the day, Dirt 2 seems to be decent) (1 recommendation)

Fallout: New Vegas (360 - in 20 hours, gave up then as it just didn't click for me like Fallout 3 did) (2 recommendations)

Dishonored (360 - played the first half hour, very promising) (4 recommendations)

Ridge Racer Unbounded (360 - seems pretty bad)

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (360 - first one was cool, this one a little outdated nowadays maybe?)

Tomb Raider Collection (360) (1 recommendation)

Resident Evil 6 (360 - played a little, how can RE have become this bad??)

Darksiders II (360 - absolutely loved the first one and looking forward to this since a long time) (1 recommendation)

LA Noire (360 - played a little, slow pace, not like GTA) (3 recommendations)

Dark Souls ( 360 - played a little, very hard, ugly characters, unique atmosphere, not insta-addicting) (5 recommendations)

GTA IV: Ballad of Gay Tony (360 - in the middle, didn't like it as much as The Lost and The Damned) (1 recommendation)

Borderlands 2 (360 - still need to go through some of the Add Ons)

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Future Soldier (360 - played a few hours campaign with a friend, fun Tom Clancy game)

X-Com Enemy Unknown (360 - stuck in the first alien base, great game)

Assassin's Creed III + Add Ons (360 - loved the ACs with Ezio) (2 recommendations)

Skyrim Legendary (360 - love this game, finished the main story line and still need to go for the add ons)

Diablo 3 (360 - played a little, not as great as Diablo II back in the day) (1 recommendation)

Alan Wake: American Nightmare (360 - liked the original game a lot)

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (360) (4 recommendations)

Need for Speed Most Wanted 2 (360 - the first from 2006 is still my favorite racing game, curious if this one can catch up)

Injustice Gods Among Us (PS3)

Killzone 2 (PS3 - was hyped back in the day, curious) (1 recommendation)

The Last of Us (PS3 - legendary reputation) (2 recommendations)

NiNoKuni (PS3 - played the first three hours, only good JRPG last gen, very nice game) (1 recommendation)

Uncharted 3 (PS3 - played 1 and 2, very entertaining, Drake is cool) (1 recommendation)

God of War Ascension (PS3 - watched a few minutes when my sister played, the focus seems to be on gore, not gameplay)

Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3 - loved MGS1 and 3)

Finished "Children of Dune" and enjoyed it a lot!

Sunday I finished Frank Herbert's third Dune book "Children of Dune" and it kept my imagination working afterwards, indicating what a great read it was. I really like how Dune is such veiled reflection of Arab history. Muad'dib's tragedy as he saw how "his" religion caused billions of people to die in the Jihad. Then his reappearance as the preacher, critizising the cult around his (former) personality. Then the story of his twins and Leto losing his humanity due to becoming one with the Shai Hulud, giving him superpowers and an unnatural long life span. There's many layers and perspectives on Dune: religion, politics, technology, philosophy, etc. Great read and I'm looking forward to the next book!

Favorite Games of PS360 Gen List (by Elder-Geek)

I should do a list like that myself but I need to finish the gen first and that will take some more time.

What's going in the first half of August 2014?

I'm feeling bad about this blog as I am too busy to update it as much as I would love to. Just very briefly:

Read:

I'm reading Dune 3 "Kinder des Wüstenplaneten". I really began to enjoy Frank Herbert's Dune series. It introduces a deep, aristocratic sci-fi universe with the story focussed on what is happening on Dune, the desert planet Arrakis. Paul "Usul Muad'dib" Atreides got the throne as emperor of the known galaxy, leading the Fremen into a jihad, a holy war to conquer the universe. He's not particularly happy about his role as messiah and the billions of dead that result from the conquest, but he has incredibly powers to foresee the future. At the end of book two he's done. Blindly he walks into the desert and vanishes. Book three sees the introduction of his daughter and son: Leto III and Ghanima. Alia and Lady Jessica are also back and there's a conspiracy going on as usal. I highly recommend the Dune series. A sci-fi classic (from the 1960s and 1970s) one should have read.

I bought also some new books at the flea market, among them my first Terry Pratchet novel. Will upload some pics ASAP.

Watch:

I watched several movies in recent times. Among them:

Wacken 3D

- This was nostalgic for me as I was a constant visitor to the world's largest heavy metal festival from 2004 to 2009. Gladly I'll be able to return to the W:O:A next year. Running Wild has already been confirmed.

X-Men: Days of the future Past

- As much as I love Marvel, I'm not too much into X-Men and couldn't recognize every sidekick character. Nonetheless an enjoyable movie with a brilliant Michael Fassbender as Magneto.

Looking forward to see The Expendables 3 and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy in the cinema later this month!

Game:

I'm playing a lot of Magic: The Gathering these days, be it as trading card game in real life or on my 360 as Magic 2013 (has been free game of the month some short while ago). Also I began playing Dead Space 3 as I purchased it for cheap 16 Euro new at the loca GameStop). I consider Dead Space 1 and 2 as the best survival horror games of this past gen and as far superior as Resident Evil (every game RE5 onwards has been rather mediocre unless probably the 3DS one with Jill on the ship which I still have here unplayed). With Dead Space 3 I was less optimistic as the demo couldn't convince me too much. But having it played now I can see it's quality, a great beginning, then the necromorph outbreak at the lunar station and now Isaac's back in business in space as I yesterday reached Chapter 4. I'll be excited to continue!

Damn, I guess I'm a lot into sci-fi at the moment.

Real Life Assassin's Creed Unity: Paris Parcour

Impressive.

The Walking Dead Season 5 Comic Con 2014 Trailer

It's my favorite show! So excited it'll be back soon!

Reads of July 2014

Wow, seeing the lack of posts this month, I have to say I was really busy.

I finished Dune book 1: Der Wüstenplanet It was great. A little old school, but cool.

Also read: Utopia.

And watched a lot of Game of Thrones. Season 2 is nearly over!

On the gaming page of things I played through The Darkness II. Cool game, but it didn't flash me as much as the first one. Also it seemed to be rather short.

Portal Turrets sing Game of Thrones Theme

Title says it all.

A Nice Surprise

The German paperbacks of Misery and It.

 What a nice surprise. A few day agos my better half brought home these Stephen King books she picked up at a school's library for free. Nobody wanted them, it seems. Nobody knew the treasures they left behind is my view on it. I already read 'IT', of course, considering it one of King's best books. 'Misery', however, is new to me. So I'm looking forward to read through it.

But it will have to wait for quite some time as I finally began reading Frank Herbert's 'Dune' series. I'm now around 200 pages deep in the first volume 'Der Wüstenplanet' or whatever it is called in English. I am impressed by all the conspiracy between the different 'houses' (like in Game of Thrones or is that chronologically speaking inspired by Dune?), the length of the chapters, and the nice artworks scattered across the book. I feel that this book takes its time to introduce the characters until catastrophe appears as there's hints to an assassination of the Atreides family. But the first sand worm already appeared and it's super big, eating up a 'melange/spice' harvesting machine, which itself is described as hundred meters long. Also I really like it's 1960s Sci-Fi-approach to technology with these awesome desert suits that make you loose no water in the desert as even your excrements get recycled (damn...). So yes, finishing all six books might take until end of the year earliest.

Somehow I even managed to make the better half watch Game of Thrones. Surprisingly she really likes it. We're now close to finishing the first season and for me it's also a great re-watch as I now know the extended background story to each character and all the hidden alliances, being able to answer all her questions. We will then watch the fourth season together as I haven't seen it myself yet.

Gaming: Still wandering through the realms of Skyrim. But more oftenly I now find myself playing some matches of 'Magic: The Gathering' with a friend, such a great and fast game with unrivaled tactical depth. Looking forward to head to my first local Friday Night Magic event soon.

Reading The Regulators after Desperation

A few weeks earlier I finished Stephen King's Desperation, which has been one of his most addicting book I came across in a while. As I did a little research before, I found out Richard Bachman's The Regulators was published the exact same day, September 24th 1996. Both books are connected and so it was clear that I would do a complete reading of both. The Regulators, however, is not what I was expecting as it fundamentally differed from Desperation, in a way lacking all the epicness I was hoping for.

So this is what happens when you own hardcover editions of both books.

The stage of the play

Desperation played in Desperation, Nevada, a small mining town in the middle of nowhere. The Regulators is set in Wentworth, Ohio, in a more sub-urban environment. But Desperation, the town, is part of the story. Under mysterious circumstances Wentworth's Poplar Street becomes the desert of Desperation! Also Desperation hints already at The Regulators as there is written:

"But I'll tell you one thing, young man: it doesn't surprise me at all that the Land of the Dead should turn out to be located in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio." (Desperation, pp. 497)

Characters: Old and new faces

It's a different book, but most interestingly it features the same characters in a different role. Our beloved heroes from Desperation like David, the former ten year old pray boy, is now a family man with his children named Ellen and Peter (in Desperation his parents - you see what King did there).  Peter Carver dies in both books, however. Entragian, the big bad cop Tak inhabited in Desperation is now a different person: He's just a fat old unemployed ex-cop neighbor from down the street and not the sadistic killing machine anymore we met first in Desperation. A special role is given to Audrey Wyler this time, who in Desperation was just one of Tak's puppets. In The Regulators she is the aunt of autistic Seth, who serves as Tak's place to hide and grow. Seth did not appear in Desperation.

The villain: Tak

Tak is King's spook of the desert, a demon, thousands of years old. In both books Tak was set free through mining works when the open air pit 'Rattle Snake II' hits on the old and forgotten shaft of Rattle Snake I, where 50 Chinese workers were burried in the 19th century. The nature of Tak, or his conditions, differ in the two books. While Tak in Desperation wastes his host body in a few days at most - turning them into little more than bloody piles in the process - is he capable of living into Seth's body for well over two years. But only in Seth's body as we learn. In Desperation it is said that Tak is not 'god like' but a kind of demon. This leaves us to the conclusion that Tak is not one of The Great Ones like IT, the one that reigns from the Thinnies and from between the levels of the Dark Tower. It is arguable whether Tak is part of our world or sent from someplace else as both books do not answer this question - it's just been lurking to set free for a damn long time. Tak's character is memorable because it is an extremely sadistic being that enjoys brutally killing its victims. In The Regulators it actually shifts whole Poplar Street to another dimension and re-creates cartoon cars and old western stars that kill those unfortunate enough to be captured there.

The heroes: David the Prayboy vs. Seth the autist

I made it clear in my last review that even while I greatly enjoyed Desperation it was a little too much on the Christian side for my taste. I would've preferred the concept of purpose and random King introduced in Insomnia. Well, Desperation's David was nonetheless an acceptable hero, especially as he had a pragmatic approach to religion. Seth is of a different kind. I'm not exactly sure whether to call him a hero is to put it right, but he is the one that eventually battles Tak, in his mind, his consciousness, which both of them share:

Then he turned away, found one of the secret passages he had made for himself during Tak's reign, and disappeared quietly into it. Deeper into his own mind he went, the passage taking him ever downward. He walked at first, then began to jog. He didn't understand much more of this world than he did the one outside, but now it was the only world he had. (The Regulators, page 260) 

It's actually Harakiri he does to stop Tak in The Regulators, in my opinion. While this part is described by Bachman/King as a poker match I honestly found it a little lame, especially as the last letter (letters and diary entries are a constant narrative element in The Regulators) was written by an unkown, not previously appeared person, and was also set ten years earlier. Maybe it was just me, but I didn't get it. Seth, who possesses The Shining, as he is able to telepathically communicate with his aunt from time to time, is overall an interesting character and the sadder it is that he ends up with a bullet shot through his skull. I would've loved to see him 'win' and be alive, but it's Bachman after all.

Reading The Regulators after Desperation

I found that reading The Regulators after Desperation was a kind of let down. While both feature to great parts the same characters (that was a surprise to me) Desperation, which also is easily 300 pages longer, naturally evolves them, more believably also. In Desperation they just serve as cannon fodder. Entragian stays one dimensional as Bachmann hints at his troubled past only to put a bullet through his brain. There was tension and thrill to Desperation that I just could not rediscover in The Regulators. I hate to say it, but I had to force myself through The Regulators. While Tak is a memorable villain I just enjoyed him way more in Desperation when he yodellingly drives over fleeing townsfolk or wastes a body to bloody rags while pursuing fleeing victims. My advise would be to read Desperation (first) and probably try The Regulators if you feel that you can't get enough of Tak. Otherwise skip it.

Zelda: A Link to the Past Intro Game of Thrones Style

Title speaks for itself, enjoy.

Great Game Trailers From The Past: Bioshock X06 Trailer

To continue my new feature Great Game Trailers from the Past I decide for a real classic right in the second posting. Yep, it is the amazin Bioshock X06 trailer. As Bioshock is one of my favorite games of all time this trailer has a special place in my heart. Mind you, this was the year 2006 and - correct me if I'm wrong - the first video footage of a highly rumored game. Well, it's not ingame footage, but it gave you an introduction into the wet, mysterious and somehow twisted underwater world of Bioshock. And the trailer - like the game itself later - had a fantastic story twist where you actually were quite suprised that Big Daddy was there to protect the Little Sister. It instantly hooked me.

E3 2014: Zelda Trailer

I'm not much of  a Nintendo fan, but as a gamer for sure played a lot of their consoles and games in the years leading up to now. I always liked The Legend of Zelda, with Twilight Princess being my favorite from recent memory. So, good to know a new Zelda game is on its way. For whatever reasons it abandoned the 'realistic' look of the E3 2011 tech demo and presents itself now again in a cell shaded style. I guess this especially relates to the younger fans and even for long time players like myself it is acceptable as it is admittedly pretty. More importantly, the game is announced to have an open world and non-linear campaign now. That's a welcome change as the series nowadays has to compete with RPGs like Skyrim which offer ridiculously large worlds and hundreds of hours of gameplay. I don't need Zelda to become like this but I sure hope they introduce a lot of innovations that make me want to pick up a Zelda game again (and probably give me a reason to buy a WiiU).

Enjoy:

My E3 2014 Highlights

As a lifelong gamer of course I've been very excited for this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo. Not that in Germany we wouldn't have our own giant game show called GamesCom but all the relevant stuff and the biggest news are announced at E3, so that's the one show to watch as a gamer. So, given the time gap I watched the Microsoft and Electronic Arts press conferences live and catched up on Sony and Ubisoft today. This post is just to highlight the games that excited me most.

But of course some words have to spoken about the big companies' performances. Generally speaking I really liked Microsoft's approach this year a lot. Right in the beginning they said they'd focus on games and damn, they did. They showed close to forty games and even while there hasn't been that big must play title it was all in all a good press conference (a thousand times better than what Don Mattrick delivered yesteryear, I'm so happy he's gone). EA won me with their short update on the Mass Effect series and Dragon Age Inquisition also looked nice. Ubisoft had two games that I liked, Far Cry 4 and Assassin's Creed Unity. Also Valiant Hearts, a 2D sidescroller playing in World War I, is somehow unique. Sony's press conference I liked a lot. Far Cry 4 had an impressive gameplay but I was really surprised by two things: No Man's Sky, a SciFi-indie-space-exploration game, and the reveal that GTA V will come to next gen and PC later this year (nothing's sure Red Dead Redemption never made it to PC). And Batman: Arkham Knight, of course. So all in all a very nice E3 so far. No big surprises, but lots of games to look forward, too. Let's see what Nintendo has to announce later today, even though this admittedly doesn't interest me that much. Not sure who has "won" and who "lost" just yet.

In any case, here are my personal favorites of this year's E3 (in alphabetical order):


Assassin's Creed: Unity





Assassin's Creed is mostly a quality series. I still haven't made it into ACIII yet (lagging back due to real life), but this one looks far better than this pirate bullshit from last year.

Batman: Arkham Knight



I love Batman and avidly played Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. This gameplay here looks just incredible! Should become a real must play title.

Dead Island 2



I'm not really interested in this game, but the trailer is hilarious.

Dragon Age: Inquisition







This could be a cool fantasy RPG. Graphic is stunning here.

Far Cry 4





Really hot gameplay, very well done, Ubisoft!

Inside



I didn't play Limbo who knows if I will play this one, but I like it's 1984-ish feeling.

Lifeless Planet



Exploring in a space suite!

Mass Effect 4



I'm happy to know that Bioware is working on the next title in one of my favorite gaming series of all time!


No Man's Sky



This has been a real surprise as it is an indie title. I just like what this game is offering. To seamlessly travel from space into the atmosphere of any planet, just wow!

Ori and the Blind Forest



I found this 2D sidescroller a welcome change during the E3 press conference.

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt



The Witcher III: WRPG's highest hope. I'll try to get into all games (the second at least) and the books before playing this one, so it can very well take a long while.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End



The finisher of Sony's press conference. The game's title teases the death of Nathan Drake? Really?

Valiant Hearts



A story driven sidescroller about the First World War? Interesting for sure!

Great Game Trailers From The Past: Rage (Uprising Trailer)

Time for a new feature on my blog: Great Game Trailers From The Past.

I'd like to use this blog in a more personal way, to give space to the things I care about and love. So no need to post only up to date stuff. For example trailers. I love them, especially game trailers. In this new feature I'd like to present some trailers from my gaming carreer I found especially memorable. I'd like to open this with Rage.

Rage was an at the times (2011) probably overlooked new FPS game by the inventors of the FPS genre, id Software. Rage in a way was very conservative as it didn't reinvent the wheel but used proven concepts like the post apocalyptic setting everyone knew from Fallout 3 and was heavily inspired gameplay wise by Bioshock. I found that even when it didn't offer something fresh, all it did it did very well executed. The trailer here is in my humble opinion the best one for the game and a good trailer in itself. Enjoy.

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt E3 Trailer Is Mind Blowing

The first true next gen game, The Witcher III: Wild Hunt. The Witcher is  a game series based on a Polish literary origin and it looks just like the revelation for video games. I am highly excited to see more from this game at this year's E3 which will start just next week. Playing the The Witcher series is part of my long time To Play List as I own the first game on Steam, but lack a decent PC and, more importantly, the time (partly due to the time consuming beast Skyrim) needed for more gaming. In any case, this simply looks fantastic and CD Project Red is also a good guy company.

Let's see what E3 will bring. Hopefully some demos for The Witcher 3.

Terminator 2: Truck Chase Done in Grand Theft Auto V

It is just wonderful how people keep playing this game and do incredible things. Now an re-enactment of the famous truck chase in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Perhaps you also remember this one, the train scene from James Bond: Skyfall.

Godzilla 2014 vs. Pacific Rim?

As an old Godzilla fan of course I had to see the latest try to modernize Godzilla. It certainly worked better than Roland Emmerich's T-Rex Godzilla, that's for sure. I enjoyed this one a lot as I found that they got Godzilla right. Unfortunately neither the two 'Muto'-opponents were similarly interesting as they basically were overblown Starship Troopers bugs nor the human side story was convincing. I felt like this sideplot took too much time away from the much cooler Godzilla fights. Still, I felt well entertained by this movie.


However, I wonder whether Godzilla or Pacific Rim was the cooler giant monster movie. I guess storywise Kaiju was much more interesting as it introduece a whole new universe and interesting characters. But the new Godzilla (the character itself) was truly great, just it's surrounding story felt a bit artificial. I enjoyed both, but to me Pacific Rim was probably the better giant monster movie as it was rounder on the edges and had an interesting story beside the monster fights.



The only chance to find out for sure would be a cross over. Do it!

Stephen King's Most Brutal Book? Desperation

Stephen King's Desperation has been an intense read. There's some among his books that just grab you instantly and you can't put them down anymore. Not until you finished them. So that's what happened to me with Desperation, certainly, as I read day after day as much as I could.

The cover of Stephen King's Desperation already shows what to expect.

Unlike many of his works Desperation is a straight forward book. It begins with the Carver family stopped by a police car in the middle of Nevada's desert. A huling police officer asks them to join him as a 'very dangerous man' is out there and lurking bypassers. Turns out that's him. Likewise 'the cop' as it is referred to catches some more victims which he either kills on the spot or locks into a jail cell in 'Desperation' a seemingly empty mining town in Nevada's desert. That's how the group of characters is gathered together in Desperation - the Carver family with mom Ellen, dad Ralph, son David and daugther Pie (killed by the cop), Mary Jackson and her husband Peter Jackson (killed by the cop), writer Johnny Marinville, and local old guy Tom Billingsley.

As it turns out the diggings in Desperation woke something evil, an ancient demon with the name of Tak. Tak for me is one of King's most memorable foes as it is not only a body changing parasite, an outspoken enemy of god but also one with a loose mouth and always good for some defty one liners.

Religion is a central concept in Desperation as young boy David Carver soon establishes a more or less direct connection to 'god' through praying. David then acts as god's puppet to stop and banish Tak. Personally that was a little too much on the Christian side of things for me. I'd preferred if King had used his concept of Purpose and Random in Desperation instead of the Christian god. Nonetheless I had a very good time with Desperation and that's what counts.

And one more word to the level of violence in Desperation. It is outstandingly gruesome, even for King standards. Not only sets Tak a breakdown of its host body in progress until merely a pile of blood and flesh is left over once it possesses it, but there's also massacre, killing of women and children, golf clubs rammed down throats and dead bodies everywhere. Enough to wonder if this might not be King's most brutal book written.

Now I'm reading Richard Bachman's The Regulators, the inofficial sister book to Desperation. The backpage of my copy of the Desperation hard cover edition already hints at this. I will write my impressions on this in lenght once I finished it. The first impression is that it's weird to see seemingly the same (but not the same) characters in a different context and I'm not sure if it can be as good as 'Desperation'. But I'll judge once I did the reading, not before.

The back of the book already hints to Bachman's The Regulators.

Oh, and I found out there's a movie to Desperation, which I will have to see as soon as possible:

Street Fighter Done Right: Assassin's Fist

 
So, I'm excited for this one since I first heard about it: Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist, a 'by fans for fans' approach to a real life Street Fighter movie. And it works. I just saw the first seven episodes and I am very satisfied. So far my high expectations haven't been disappointed. How about you just tune in? It's highly entertaining as it shines some light into the Street Fighter back story and mythology, it's in FullHD and best of all, it's free on YouTube.

Thoughts on Under The Dome Novel/TV Differences

I read the book, I watched the show. The fellow Constant Reader might already guess what I'm hinting at. Indeed, I'm talking about Under The Dome, Stephen King's biggest book of the past years that has received a TV show treatment. I liked the book a lot as it had a wide variety of believable characters (I'm strongly drawn to King's epic dramas with huge casts), which is a surprise due to the fact that it plays in a single small town, Chester's Mill, and its surroundings, an area sealed off from the outside world by a mysterious dome - "unbreakable and inescapable" as the intro to the show proclaims. As long as the experience is still fresh I would like to blog about my opinion on the massive changes from book to show.

The book. Among King's longest works and starting point for the tv series.

 As a friend remarked weren't it for the dome "Under the Dome" the show would have nothing in common with the book. This is on purpose as Stephen King himself declared that those who dislike the changes in the show can still go back to the book: "Nothing between the covers has changed a bit." And the dome truly is the only common denominator in what can be seen as an alternative playthrough of the Chester's Mill drama:

"There’s only one element of my novel that absolutely had to be the same in the novel and the show, and that’s the Dome itself. It’s best to think of that novel and what you’re seeing week-to-week on CBS as a case of fraternal twins. Both started in the same creative womb, but you will be able to tell them apart. Or, if you’re of a sci-fi bent, think of them as alternate versions of the same reality."

Being a books-first kind of guy I read Under The Dome before beginning to watch the show. As I have a favor for King's long works I was excited for this one a long time. 1000+ pages, a real achievement of endurance to finish a brick of a book like this one. One you put on your shelf and afterwards think 'I finished that, yes, I did. Tak!'. Okay, forget about the Tak that slipped in, that's due to my current readthrough of Desperation about which I will blog soon as I'm on the brink of finishing it.

Big Jim, Julia Shumway, Angie, Barbie.

Under The Dome is a drama with a huge cast like The Stand and It, King's longest works beside the Dark Tower series. Due to the dome which suddenly materialized (you get the idea that it fell down from the sky, actually, compare "The airplane and the wood chuck" or the cow in the show) Under the Dome plays on a limited territory, a limit in playground which neither It nor The Stand have (even though It plays mostly in Derry, there are certain parts of the book leading to Derry). The story in its epicness is unharmed by this, probably there's even more room to character development to this as lengthy descriptions of the landscape are rare. Another point strengthening this argument surely is that in the book the source of the dome and the mysterious 'leather heads' play marginal roles and just towards the end get some more play time. That's why months after finishing Under The Dome I still have vivid memories of characteres like Dale 'Barbie' Barbara, Rusty Everett, Julia Shumway, Reverends Coggins and Libby, 'Chef' Phil Bushey and his poor wife Doodee Sanders. And of course the one to rule them all James 'Big Jim' Rennie, arguably King's most charismatic dictator. As I feel like I knew these characters once I finished the book I of course was very sensitive and at first even offended by all the changes made in the show. There's no Rusty, an important side kick in the book, there's no Libby, no Sanders. 'Chef' turned from a crystal meth smoking Christian fundamentalist hill billy into an African-American disc jockey. Thankfully they got Big Jim right as he is brilliantly played by Dean Norris, know to most as Hank from Breaking Bad. He is every bit as cunning, sinister and power lusting as in the literature. And it actually is exciting to see him react to situations that are as well unknown and unexpected to the Constant Reader. Barbie, our hero, on the other hand has a completely new background. He's still an Iraq veteran, but he's also some kind of insurance repo man. Even though he never was that kind of professional killer in the books, the producers still found an excellent actor for Barbie which is Mike Vogel.

Oh, Rusty, where are thou? Locked out in the show.

So much for the characters, or some of them at least, but what about the story? As said the only common denominator between book and TV show is the dome itself. There's a new source to it, there's no more armageddon like in the book and the whole plot is planned for a longer span of time. The astounding thing with the book was how fast - during the course of a few days - the dome (or Big Jim) altered everything from normal life to the solid establishment of a dictatorship. The show on the other hand plays in a time frame of weeks, probably months to come, what explains the sudden inner-dome eco system versus the scarcity of ressources in the book. Even though the first season ends with a prophetic Jim Rennie commanding hordes of town folks he doesn't have it as easy in the books as there are a couple of new characters competing with him: Some farmer sitting on Chester's Mill water ressources and a mysterious woman namend Maxime who - even by Big Jim - is refered to as the devil. The show gives her a few episodes to consolidate some kind of underground fight club in an abandoned factory before Big Jim shoots her in the head and blames it on Barbie. Also Junior Rennie plays a different role in the show. He's still loyal to his father but instead of getting mad by brain tumor he now is part of a group of chosen, a ka-tet if you will, who receives visions by the beings who brought the dome down on Chester's Mill. This forces him in the show to cooperate more with other characters like Scarecrow Joe, Norrie Calvert (let's not begin to talk about her change from skater girl (or 'riot grrrl' as called in the book) to some suburban interracial lesbian mothers' child) and Angy. The first mistery of 'The pink stars are falling' which was due to air pollution in the book is made into a cliffhanger on the end of the first season (the dome first blackens, blocking every light out and is then redeemed by mysterious pink stars coming from the remains of the 'mini dome'). On top of that the show adds another plot spin unknown to its literary archetype: 'The monarch will be crowned'. This is the message the ka-tet receives when collectively touching the mini-dome. The first assumption is that Barbie is the monarch and that the monarch is vital to bringing the dome down. Also there's a monarch butterfly hatching inside the mini dome, but once it hatches and gets out it is drawn to Julia Shumway, suggesting the she is the monarch. The last episode also features a short communication with the creator beings of the dome, who chose the physical appearence of Norrie's dead mother to not scare the stupid humans away (showing themselves as dead people, oh well). There it is revealed that Chester's Mill was sealed off to save it. The question to save it from what is postponed to the next seasons. Along with many others.

The TV invention of Under The Dome's Ka-Tet.

So what do I as Constant Reader make of all these changes? I'm one who always bashes 'Game of Thrones' for its many changes to the 'A Song of Ice and Fire' books, despising the sacrifizing decisions that take out a lot of complexity from the tv adaptation. Adaptation is the keyword here, I guess, as 'Under The Dome' the show is not a literary adaptation to the screen but rather something completely new. Other than with 'Game of Thrones' this re-vision, not re-telling, of  a book also changes my frame of perception for the TV show of 'Under The Dome'. Even though I miss a lot of the characters that should be under this dome, I still find it exciting to experience this new approach to a known King story I travelled through already in my mind, to live through a new reality, an alternate dimension, a contingency of Chester's Mill. Theres's one thing a Constant Reader should know and there's no better approach to the TV-Chester's Mill: "Go then, there are other worlds than these."

So yes, I'm certainly looking forward for season 2 of Under The Dome which starts very soon already, June 30th 2014.

Looking Forward to Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist

As a Street Fighter player back since Street Fighter II on the SNES I am very excited about the release of Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist. It's a movie done by fans for fans that delves deep into the Street Fighter back story and mythology. As it is a movie with real actors it has to convince us as the fans that it doesn't repeat the mistakes of former movies (the Jean Claude Van Damme one, Legend of Chun Li) and takes the mythology and execution serious. Based on watching the trailers it probably will be the first good Street Fighter movie with real actors. It will be released as a miniseries in episodic installments on Machinima beginning 23rd of May, which is next week already. I'm excited and looking forward to it already:

What's next to read: Dune - Der Wüstenplanet

After I saw that this old school science fiction series came out number one on a Top25 ranking of sci-fi works I just had to take it with me when I saw it at the local night time flea market (six Euro for all six books). First I'll have to finish some remaining King books and then I plan to get absorbed in the following titles. I'm already very excited.

What I read in April 2014

In April I've been on vacation for quite some time, but I tried to read whenever possible. Just very briefly, to not let the blog die down, here's what I read:

Jonas Jonasson: Der Hundertjährige, der aus dem Fenster stieg und verschwand

A nice little novel about the fascinating life of a hundred year old who broke out of his retirement home on his 100th birthday. Funny and written in a welcome easy style, so that it took only three days to finish the book.

Zygmunt Bauman: Dialektik der Ordnung

This was some academic reading I did. A more or less "shocking" class of the social sciences "Modernity and the Holocaust" (as the English title should be) argues that the Holocaust was not something extraordinarly unique but more of the "dark side of modernity" which theoretically could happen again. Enlightening.

Richard Bachman: Amok

This was my first (and his first) Richard Bachman novel. I read it in German as the original version "Rage" is banned in the US and UK (I suspect). Two hundred pages, nothing too special by King standards. It's about a teenager who shoots two of his teachers and locks himself in with his classmates. Interestingly most of them begin to symphasize with him and another co-student becomes the target of his classes' rage.

What's next? Currently I've begun to read Stephen King's Desperation and the first 50 or so pages were highly (cruel) and entertaining. I'm interested to see how the larger picture will look like. After that I'm reading its "twin novel" Richard Bachman's The Regulators. And yesterday I happened to buy the Dune saga books and Stephen King and Peter Straub's Black House, a novel I never knew existed, at the local night time flea market.

My Favorite The Dark Tower Covers

These one are from my own collection and will always have a special place in my heart. The first three books are from NEL - New English Library, the Dark Tower IV to VII are from Hodder. My copy of "A Wind Through the Keyhole" was also published by Hodder but is from a different volume as you can see (most likely it's newer than my Dark Towers and that's why there doesn't exist a paperback version that matches mine other seven books). Most unforunately some of these covers are scratched and scarred, but they have been through a lot of travelling and I didn't find these covers in another place. In any case, enjoy these beautiful covers. My favorite is "Wizard and Glass".

Thoughts on Stephen King's "The Breathing Method" Short Story

Finally finished the "Different Seasons" short story collection of Sai King today. Last story, novella or what ever one wants to call it was "The Breathing Method". It revolves around a man in the 1970s who is invited by his co-worker to The Club, a venue where senior folks meet to tell each other stories. Emlyn McCarrol, an eighty year old medical doctor takes it on him to tell the annual christmas story. He gives insight into a disturbing event of his professional carreer where a young single mother, at the times unheard of, was learning a special breathing method to ease the pains of giving childbirth. As she sits in a cab to the hospital to give a birth a traffic accident happens. She gets decapitated but her body nonetheless uses the breathing method to give birth and the child actually survives. A most disturbing fantasy. Remarkable was that this last short story had a link to King's opus magnum, The Dark Tower:

[...] and when the wind rose in another wild whoop, I felt momentarily sure that the front door would blow open, revealing not 35gh Street but an insane Clark Ashton Smith landscape where the bitter shapes of twisted trees stoos silhouetted on a sterile horizon below which double suns were setting in a gruesome red glare. [...] I opened my mouth. And the question that came out was: 'Are there many more rooms upstairs?' 'Oh, yes, sir,' he said, his eyes never leaving mine. 'A great many. A man could become lost. In fact, men have become lost. Sometimes it seems to me that they go on for miles. Rooms and corridors.' 'And entrances and exits?' His eyebrows went up slightly. 'Oh yes. Entrances and exits.'

I always find it most fascinating to stumble upon one of these subtle hints to the Dark Tower series in other King books. I'll also take Stephen King's advise from his afterword:

Okay. Gotta split. Until we see each other again, keep your head together, read some good books, be useful, and don't take any shit from anybody. Love and good wishes, Stephen King Januardy 4th, 1982 Bangor, Maine

We'll see each other (me and his books) again soon as I will go into some well earned holiday and vacation for the rest of the month and read some non-King-novels and academic stuff in the mean time. Then let's see where I will pick up again from as I still have some Richard Bachman and Desperation readily waiting to be read standing on my book shelf.

Skyrim Gets Game of Thrones Intro Treatment

This is truly fantastic. Especially as it gives me - the Dragonborn currently playing through Skyrim - a taste of what to expect in towns like Falkreath, Solitude or Markarth which I haven't seen yet (the game world is so super big, but I love this game).



Thrones from Brady Wold on Vimeo.

Dovahkiin - The Dragonborn Song

Lately I've become a real Skyrim nerd as this game takes me hostage nearly as much as Fallout 3 did previously. And it has a superb soundtrack. See here the reinterpretation of the main theme sung by a beautiful female voice and worked into in great trailer.
Original version here.

The Walking Dead S04E15 Season 4 Finale "A" Opinion

The episode was well narrated and made use of enlightening flash backs that showed where the season had come from.

So that was the season finale for the fourth season of The Walking Dead. It was a worthy finale for a great season. The episode made great use of the narrative tool of flash backs to remind its viewers the long way the characters traversed from episode 1 to episode 16. A good opportunity to bring back some of the most beloved - Hershel - and easiliest forgotten characters - Carls childhood friend with the glasses.

The Prison, a refuge the group deemed save, is gone for good after the Governors new band waged war against it, destroying all defence installations and flooding the complex with Walkers, rotten corpses. Had they not just survived a raging pestilence in one of The Prison's wings? The Governor just couldn't get enough. He had gotten what looked like a second chance and had wasted it just as lightheaded as the first. And he payed for it with his life. Our heroes however, were scattered and lost contact to each other, missingly wandering the woods. Eventually all of them came to signs promising them a safe haven in "Terminus". A bunch of events like surviving the attacks of a group of outlaws in a world without laws, discovering that one particular child is dead wrong in the head, and reuniting the lovers in a pitch black zombie infested train tunnel lead almost all our heroes to "Terminus". Having lost all their trust to anyone, being unable to bieleve in human good anymore they bring up all of Terminus subjects against them. The towns private military group eventually captures Rick, Carl, Michonne and Darryl in a train wagon where they are met with the rest of The Prison's survivors. All except one blond daugther of Hershel, Carol, Tyreese and Judith.

A group of bad guys tried to take out Rick. Didn't go so well for them.

That's how the season ends and leave us to a cliffhanger that will make us remember until the show returns in its fifth season, presumably later this year. I found it a good finale that connected some threads. The show always manages to build up hope, gives the group some place to live at for a while until it bloodily shatters the safe heavens and thins out the cast of characters. Remember the camping wagon town when the epidemic was still fresh, Hershel's farm in summer or The Prison, which had become a sort of kibbutz. Nothing stops the walkers and human tragedy in the long run and there wasn't even the slighted chance of it developing with Rick's uncompromising strategy as he saw these "peaceful" townspeople were carrying things that didn't belong to them. They had been right, but they can be glad to be still alive and shot to sieves. The Walking Dead's character development and tense story is what makes the show so great. May it be half a year of waiting, let it be worth the wait. In any case, it gives me some more time to catch up with the equally awesome comics that are as different to the show as is A Song of Ice and Fire to Game of Thrones.

Sneak Peak S04E16


The Making of S04E16


Inside S04E16

Star Wars Episodes I - VI in 20 Minutes

Stumbled upon this on YouTube. A great opportunity to bring more content to my blog. Give me some more time until I have figured out how this blog will evolve.

The Walking Dead S04E15 "Us" Opinion

Maggy and Glenn finally reunited.

It's been a busy day but what better incentive could there be for all hardships than rewarding yourself with a new episode of The Walking Dead? That's certainly my point of view as this show is constantly growing on me. Thinking about it, it really is an outstanding cross media phenomenon as the comic is super nice and the video game single handedly put the point and click genre back on the agenda.




But what about today's episode "Us"? Even though it showed all of the characters it put the spot light on Glenn and Darryl. Glenn travels with this female companion, the governors left over, through a dark, zombie infested tunnel and eventually reunites with his lover, Maggy. Certainly an emotional moment of joy in this dark age of zombies. I like how the two turn out to be the happy couple everybody wanted Rick and Laury to be in the first two seasons. Let's just hope they survive a little longer. Darryl, on the other hand, is the tough lone wolf again. He quickly worked up the hierarchy in the bandit group in this episode.

And all are heading towards Terminus. At the very end of the episode they arrived and everything looked very inviting and happy. But don't we know all is going to turn to hell? Too fresh are the memories of the governors little town which turned out to be a hell hole. Trouble is about to appear and it looks like Rick will find himself in a serious relation. As the next episode will conclude the season I am wondering more than ever in which direction the series is heading. I do hope that the Washington D.C. story line is followed in season 5. The break will give me time to catch up with the brilliant comics.