[Games] Black & White (PC)

Continuing the Holy Week theme of entries, today we're going to revisit one of my favorite computer games of all time that also happens to have religious connections. Perfect!

God games are not new in the computer gaming world. One of the earliest games that I ever got into back in the day was Populous, which put you in the role of a classical Greek / Roman god controlling a group of followers dedicated to you. The game allowed you to do pretty much whatever was needed to inspire your followers to success and to eventually defeat the forces of an opposing deity. The game was wonderfully fun and helped feed anyone's latent thirst for power and godhood quite well.

There was never a game quite like it for many years and with the fall of Bullfrog as a gaming company, I doubted that there ever would be a game that could compare to how fun it was. Of course all this changed in 2001.

[Books] Small Gods

Continuing my week Holy Week theme of entries, today we're venturing to the Discworld for our literary religious fix. What better place to go to for spiritual enlightenment than the divinely-blessed Disworld. Well, by blessed I mean it's overflowing with gods, deities, and other spiritually-inclined individuals. And don't even get me started on the arcane beings like the witches, the wizards and the brownies and the like. The list goes on and on and on.

I love the concepts that define the Discworld. Terry Pratchett did an amazing job of defining the lost set of "rules" that help explain how things work in this crazy, kooky world. One of the most interesting aspects of the Disc in connection with our Holy Week musings is how belief truly shapes their gods. This is not a new concept and we've seen it in other storylines, book series and even movie franchises but he really takes things quite literally in terms of their effects on the gods.

And this is the book that really brings that point home for in a a most creative way.

[Movies] Legion (2010)

Welcome to the Holy Week! So I guess it seems almost fitting to try and review items with remote religious connection just for the heck of it. Call it a weird geek thing despite my being agnostic.

However this is hardly a great example of religious concepts being used as the basis for a movie concept. Despite the raw potential of angels, demons and all that good stuff coming together for a big battle royale or something, it doesn't always work out for the best. A movie isn't just the sum of the individual elements that go into it. It takes a skilled hand to take the various elements together and craft them into an effect storytelling.

But again, this is not a good example. Oh well.

[Movies] Ang Lihim ni Antonio (2008)

I don't get to watch LGBT-themed movies as much as I used to, probably because of the very busy worlds of science fiction and fantasy movies, TV shows an comics that take up most of my time. It's not that I don't like LGBT movies - they are often interesting in their own right. It's really just a question of priorities and where I end up deciding to spend my time.

Now when it comes to local LGBT movies, I have really, really mixed feelings. I'm not quite sure when it happened, but a few years ago our Indie movie scene became dominated by the LGBT movie genre, as if homosexuality makes for a classic indie topic automatically. What's worse, it's rarely about the happy times and the good parts of being gay - these movies tend to focus on the darker side of homosexuality. Seriously, we have some pretty depressing coming-of-age stories.

So yeah, I felt this fell into that latter darker category.

[Movies] Princess Mononoke / Mononoke-hime (1997)

It's been a while since my last Ghibli session and I still have a LOT of catching up to do. It's pretty weird how I've gotten through most of my life without catching these amazing animated pieces by Hayao Miyazaki. So I'm doing my best to play catch up and really get somewhere in terms of the wonderful creations of this studio.

I've really grown to like what Studio Ghibli has to offer - perhaps the better term is love and not just like. It's just that really enjoying a Ghibli movie requires a significant amount of time that I can entirely dedicate to the movie. You can't just watch them in passing - these movies tend to demonstrate an amazing attention to detail and if you really want to make the most of it, you need to watch closely.

Well, there's all that amazing stuff plus the fact that I tend to watch them with subtitles. So yeah, it becomes a book of sorts as well.

And I love books.

[TV] Firefly

If there's one genre of music that I don't like, it's country. If there's one genre of movies and TV shows that I don't, then it has to be Westerns. If there's a connection between my musical dislikes versus my big / small screen dislikes, then I wouldn't be too surprised. But then there are always exceptions to every rule and it takes a unique enough slant to things to make anyone like something they'd typically not like. Go figure.

It's just both amusing and frustrating whenever I find myself admitting I like something that in general I don't. Like how there are actually George Clooney movies out there that I enjoy. Or reality shows that I find myself drawn to. Or campy, diva-ish gay anthems that I actually know the words to. Whatever it is, there will always be something out there that defies my little "rules" and preferences and I just find myself enjoying the ride that I happen to find myself on.

Ah the joys of living in a world filled with near infinite diversity.

[Environmentalism] Earth Hour 2010

This is one of your last reminders, folks! This Saturday, March 27, 2010 is the date of this year's annual Earth Hour event. I know it doesn't seem like much but it's a major worldwide movement that definitely deserves our geeky support.

The rules are simple: as our way of showing that the world can unite for a cause as important as the future of our planet, everyone is asked to turn off as many electrical devices for a single hour. From 08:30pm - 09:30pm (with respect to whichever time zone is local for you) your part of the world is asked to go a little darker for 60 minutes as a way of giving back to the planet.

Of course it will mean even more if everyone would take this as a move to reduce their energy and fossil fuel consumption even further, but I guess we need to start somewhere.



Your Geeky Guide (that's me) and his partner will be participating this year as best as we can. No, I won't be live-blogging the event or anything silly like that since that'll only mean that my computer, DSL modem and router are on which is sort of besides the point. I'll do my best to sit in the dark despite the summer heat and probably light a candle or something. And yes, this Geek enjoins you to do the same, wherever you are in the world.

Hope to "not" see you this Saturday once we all turn out the lights!

[Books] The Last Hero

Just when you think a franchise can't get any better, they up and go and surprise you in a nicely different way. This happens more in the book world as opposed to the movie world, but then not everything can be perfect I suppose.

But there's always a risk when we franchise ventures off into a new direction. Crossing genres tends to be tricky and changing story mediums is even worse, statistically speaking. Video games almost always make for really lousy movies and comic books are wildly hit-or-miss in the movie arena as well. Movies don't always make for great television and not all TV shows cross over to the big screen that decently either.

So perhaps this instance worked since it wasn't that radical a shift. It just involved taking a bit of a step out of their comfort zone that was far enough to be different but familiar enough to be enjoyable.

[Movies] How To Train Your Dragon (2010)

While adaptations of TV shows and books into more adult movies don't seem to be going as well, the more radical adaptations of children's stories seem to be doing a lot better.

When you really think about it, they're not actually adapting the full stories. They're pretty much taking the concepts of books and developing them further, adding more depth and then rendering the whole thing in CGI - better yet 3D. There is just so many 3D movies these days - it's getting a little funny. But hey, I'm not complaining either.

So yeah, I end up being pretty excited about each new animated movie that's due to be released. These days I'm probably not even familiar with the source material - it makes it easier to enter the theater with no expectations while still hoping to be blown away.

It still seems to happen, thankfully enough.

[Movies] Alien Resurrection (1997)

It's very easy to determine when a movie franchise has gone on long enough. You know what I mean - that key moment when the series just nasty turn and practically "jumps the shark" or something along those lines. It is never, ever pretty, and yet many of us still make the trek to the theaters to go see it at least once. It's like a train wreck that you can't help staring at even though you know in your brain that you probably shouldn't be so into it.

And yet you keep watching.

It's a shame when a movie sequel feels this way. Despite how much geeks like myself have learned to fear the Hollywood sequel, one can't help but hope against hope that the new movie will still add something of value to the story (instead of the franchise alone) and so we go out and see it.

I saw this one and still had high hopes even though there were clearly some major things against the movie in terms of casting and potential plot. Still, it's never a crime to hope, right?

[TV] No Heroics: Season 1

In a post-Watchmen world, we've all become more or less used to the idea of superhero being a little dirty. They're not longer the squeaky-clean, one-dimensional angels of old and more often than not are portrayed as being terribly, terribly human, for lack of a better term. So yeah, that's pretty much old had in the comic book world.

The movie makers have finally started to catch onto this notion and thus the success of movies like The Dark Knight or even to some extent Iron Man. People seem to appreciate the high drama that these types of heroes can generate on shamelessly giving the viewers what they want is a surefire way of generating good movie money.

Then you get those experimental TV ventures that latch onto a serious trend like this and end up with something completely different.

[Social Networking] Is There A Market For A Local Geek Dating Site?

Image via Wikipedia

I have to admit that I consider myself a pretty lucky geek since I found another geek to share my life with. It's hard enough to find someone to share your life with period, what more a fellow geek, right?

Given that fact, a lot of my geeky friends of the queer persuasion tend to look to me for help in terms of finding a geek of their own. I have no idea why this is so - it's not like I am continually in locations when other gay geeks introduce themselves to me and thus since I'm no longer available, I'm free to pass them along to friends. But I'm as socially inept as I used to be and I know that finding a geek who loves movies as much as I do, knows how to play NetRunner, appreciates shallow comedies and runs role-playing games is pretty rare indeed.

So how do I help my friends now? I don't claim to be a very good matchmaker (not that I've tried for that matter) and I'm a bit scared to try given these are my actual geek friends that I want to be able to continually chat with to talk about the latest Transformers toy that I've acquired or why Pi Day is a great geek holiday. No, I don't want to ruin that but I do want to be a good friend.

What to do, right?

[Books] Men At Arms

I'm quite proud of the near-completeness of my Discworld novel collection. Apart from a few of the "kiddie" books in the series, I'm pretty sure I have most of them all lined up neatly on my shelf.

Then again. I happen to have a LOT of books lined up on my shelf. Well, our shelves I mean. Um, our shelves and a few boxes leftover from when I moved here. Or more precisely on our shelves, in some boxes, scattered on a few table and some still in plastic bags waiting to be shelved.

Okay, so maybe I have a significant number of books. A lot more books. A very generous amount of books.

So naturally I haven't read all of them and it's been too long since I read a Discworld novel.

And so I did.

[Movies] An Education (2009)

Life is always rich with stories that are certainly worth exploring as books, TV shows and movies. This is not to say that such stories are always presented effectively, and this is true no matter how good the original tale was in real life. That's just how adaptations go, I suppose.

Awards shows like the Oscars are always a great place to look to when you want to try out good movies that you may not have heard of. Let's face it, a lot of the better quality movies tend to die in local theaters given how overwhelming limited our distributors are and the sad focus on what they perceive to be guaranteed money-making movies as opposed to furthering the art form and ensuring that people are given the opportunity to watch the good stuff. Even movies like The Hurt Locker barely got any notice during its first limited run but now we're probably going to see it reappear in cinemas because it swept the awards from the Academy.

This one one of those movies that received a good number of nominations and one that I wonder if I would have ever heard about outside the Oscars.

[Movies] Alien 3 (1992)

As a movie franchise expands further and further, the likelihood that subsequent sequels will get worse and worse and worse. When a franchise gets past the trilogy mark, it tends to be pretty much assured of total failure unless something radically different comes along or something.

And thus I always feel that the third film is key to its future. There's just something about how our brains are wired that we like movies to come in threes and thus the third movie is the pivotal third act, the movie that is supposed to wrap things up somewhat neatly and yet leave the door open for more movies as is the Hollywood desire. How to balance those two goals without just making a blatant rehash of the previous movies is a trick in itself and yet some people manage to pull them off gracefully.

While other movies just totally bomb and make us regret ever hoping for the franchise to extend further.

[TV] Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - Season 2

All good things must come to an end, they say, and this is even more true in the harsh cutthroat environment of network television. The very best shows get to create a legacy than spans several years. Some are able to get past the mythical 100th episode mark. Some are killed before the show even fully gets off the ground. Some never even see the light of air time and remain to be unreleased pilot episodes, lost in the archives of the studios.

So in way, one has to be thankful when a show even manages to decently complete a single season. That's an achievement in itself to make it that far and to be able to get a story really out there. Of course us fans rarely see that at the precise moment when a show's cancellation is announced. We just end up feeling bitter and angry about it and it prevents us from enjoying the run of the show as best as we can.

So let's celebrate the final season of another great show. Yes, it was killed off too soon but then it doesn't mean it didn't have a great exit.

[Books] Everfree

All good things must come to an end...more or less. In my case, it's coming to the end the books that I have in a particular series or by a particular author. If I'm lucky, the last book will mark a logical conclusion for this segment of the story or at least a good resting point of sorts. You know what I mean right?

Or there are those times you get left hanging and you feel slighted and annoyed that you can't continue on. It's like being a junkie in search of the next fix and finding out that your dealer has skipped town. This is why I try to avoid reading books in a series when I don't have all the books yet.

Well, the operative word here is try.

I'm not sure if this particular books marks an end to a major chapter in the characters' lives, but it was a good enough stopping point, I suppose. However you can never really and this won't be the first time that success has driven additional books to be written even when the original story can be considered "over". Ugh.

[Entertainment] Oscar Winners 2010

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

So the 2010 Oscars are over and here are the winners:

1. Best Picture: The Hurt Locker
2. Director: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
3. Actor in a Leading Role: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
4. Actress in a Leading Role: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
5. Actor in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
6. Actress in a Supporting Role: Mo'Nique, Precious
7. Original Screenplay: The Hurt Locker, Mark Boal
8. Adapted Screenplay: Precious, Geoffrey Fletcher
9. Animated Film: Up
10. Foreign Language Film: The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos, Argentina)
11. Original Score: Michael Giacchino, Up
12. Original Song: "The Weary Kind," Music and Lyrics by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett (Crazy Heart)
13. Art Direction: Avatar
14. Cinematography: Avatar, Mauro Fiore
15. Costume Design: The Young Victoria, Sandy Powell
16. Makeup: Star Trek
17. Film Editing: The Hurt Locker, Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
18. Documentary Feature: The Cove
19. Documentary Short Subject: Music by Prudence
20. Animated Short Film: Logorama
21. Live Action Short Film: The New Tenants
22. Sound Editing: The Hurt Locker
23. Sound Mixing: The Hurt Locker
24. Visual Effects: Avatar
25. Governors Award: Lauren Bacall, Roger Corman and Gordon Willis

The big winner, obviously, was The Hurt Locker taking home 6 Oscars out of 9 nominations, I'm just glad that Avatar didn't sweep the awards this year. If it had, well, then my faith in the Academy would definitely be diminished significantly. I mean, like in a really, really bad way.

[Movies] Aliens (1986)

In recent times, sequels tend to be almost synonymous with failures. We know that Hollywood forces franchises to continue in order to rake in more revenue with minimal creative energy expenditure, even when it no longer makes sense to the plot. And thus we now greet sequels with a certain degree of skepticism and doubt - and you can't blame people for reacting that way.

But it wasn't always like that. And yes, I also acknowledge that there are still some pretty wicked sequels out there.

The best most people expect from a sequel is that it'll be as good as the first movie and that's about it. It's very rare that movies consistently reach that level of potential, what more getting all the way to being truly successful - I mean better than the original movie.

For me, this will always be one of those movies that helped define that kind of a sequel for me.

[TV] Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - Season 1

A lot of science fiction movies end up becoming franchises given how well they do at the box office. The simple Hollywood logic of deciding whether or not to create a sequel is simple enough since all you need to do is repeat a lot of the key elements from the first movie, mix in new actors and a different plot and you're all set. At least that's how the theory goes and yet the results are horribly diverse and fans like us end up loving the continuation of the franchise or we hate it and totally let the movie bomb at the box office.

Then there's the riskier jump, which is for a majorly successful movie to try and make the jump to the small screen to become a TV series. The reverse of this equation tends to occur a lot more frequently and with greater success than the former, and yet studios tend to take the gamble here and there and sometimes it pays off.

It's just not that simple to adapt a movie realm into that of a sustained TV series. The action gets drawn out. The plot lines need to get more complicated. The host of characters becomes larger as well. There are many factors that make TV different from the movies, and the translations aren't always quite as what the producers expect.

[TV] The Virtual Revolution on the BBC

Image via Wikipedia

Instead of a product review or a gadget discussion, this week's Wired Wednesday will actually talk about...a TV show. Yeah, I know, this sort of overlaps with my TV Thursdays, but then seriously, are you going to complain? At least this still fits the theme of the day and I'm kind of struggling to figure out something to write about while leaving me time to actually get some sleep before work later tonight.

Ah yes, the curse of the call center lifestyle.

The BBC has finally gotten around to releasing their really interesting 4-part documentary about the internet called The Virtual Revolution. The series doesn't just talk about the barebones history of the internet, but it takes a deeper look at its full impact on the human race as a whole, whether in terms of politics, youth culture, big business, freedom of expression and a whole lot more.

The documentary is hosted by Dr Aleks Krotoski, a broadcaster and journalist who has been studying and writing about the internet, technology and interactivity. She has a PhD in Social Psychology and thus she talks about the internet in such terms, charting the classical patterns of revolution and counterrevolution while also getting to get the opinions of many of the big names of the wired world ranging from Tim Berners-Lee who helped create the World Wide Web to Bill Gates, Steven Wozniak and other leaders of the tech industry.

All four parts have already aired so you should be able to get a copy by now. If you want to get more of taste of what this series is about, check out the introduction below:


The Virtual Revolution Intro (BBC)

[Books] Edenborn

It's not very often that I venture into a new book series without having read more about it beforehand or received extensive feedback on the series from fellow geeks. And yet every now and then there are those books that just strike you as worth the gamble and so we just go for it. Sometimes we end up regretting such rash purchasing decisions. Other times we're definitely rewarded.

When it came to this series of books, I ended up waiting to complete the initial trilogy before even trying to get started on reading the first book. I just wanted to make sure that I'd be ready to dive into the whole experience in case it proved interesting. Had it not, then I would have wasted my money on a few more books, which ultimately isn't a bad thing. There is no such thing as too many books, hehe.

Well, this book was definitely worth the purchase. Absolutely.

[Movies] Up In The Air (2010)

In these modern times rich with blogs, spoiler sites and other sources of online information, it's really hard to be able to watch a movie without hearing anything about it beforehand. As much as most people generally don't like reading spoilers about the movie, so many more people seem to invest so much time in saturating the internet with them in order to "spread the word" or whatever reason they have for posting this kind of stuff.

Personally, I hate reading spoilers and I do everything that I can to avoid them like the plague. I like researching about movies in order to know what they're about to who's starring in it but beyond that I try to keep myself generally ignorant. Even just limiting myself to that can lead to unintentional spoilers included in commonplace advanced peeks or synopses of the movie or movies in question may still involve learning something very unique or spoilery. Don't you hate it when that happens?

So it's nice to occasionally enter a theater with absolutely no idea of what the movie is about - you get to be genuinely surprised by the entire experience, just as you should be.