[Movies] A Bug's Life (1998)

So after the release of Toy Story, a lot of folks were curious as to what Pixar's next project was going to be. It was a landmark movie in itself and it rather changed the CGI animation world and also represented an odd counterpoint to traditional animation development at Disney and other studios. But there were still a lot of people that thought that Toy Story was just a fluke and its success wouldn't immediately be repeated.

Three years later we have A Bug's Life as Pixar's next feature film and it seemed to have a strange concept. Plus around the same time there was the even stranger movie Antz, that actually came out before this one. I remember seeing that movie and feeling all confused as to why this was supposed to be entertaining since it had a heck of a lot of Woody Allen just being, well Woody Allen.

So here was another bug-centric movie and I wasn't sure if it was going to be any good since Antz has been so disappointing. But despite that adverse release environment, this movie just shined through and reminded the world that Pixar truly has a unique voice in the industry.

[TV] The Legend of Korra - Book Three: Change

This is where I have my usual discussion related to forgetting to review a season of a TV show immediately after watching the finale. In the case of The Legend of Korra, I guess I've been generally unimpressed with the show as a whole, and so I've rarely ended a season feeling that rush of excitement about getting a chance to talk about a show in this format. It's not that the show is bad, mind you. It's just that the original Avatar series was just so much better, that it set a pretty high standard.

This third season of The Legend of Korra was called Change and tried to introduce a larger plot about shifting priorities in the Kingdom and potential freedom fighters / terrorists trying to bring about change. As has been the patter  of every season of the show, it introduced a new set of antagonists who round counter to the peace that Korra has been trying to enforce with her powers as the Avatar.

In some ways, this season felt a little better than the first two. But in other ways, it suffered a lot of the same issues in those prior seasons as well. But I think on the whole it was generally better.

[Games] Carcassonne

Carcassonne was actually the very first Euro-style game that Tobie introduced to me when we were first getting to know one another. And while I had enjoyed board games from time to time, my concept of games was limited to the likes of Monopoly, Sorry!, Cluedo and The Game of Life to name a few. So this was a rather mind-blowing experience and I found myself pushing myself to limit to try and beat him during our first night of play.

I've delayed writing reviews for Carcassonne mainly because it's a rather overwhelming franchise to tackle off-hand. Looking at my BoardGameGeek account, Carcassonne games account for at least 10 or so entries in our list of games because we have so many expansions. And to be fair, not all expansions are worth writing about since some of them are very small and had just a single new mechanic to the game.

But it's time to bite the bullet and finally talk about this amazing game. And I guess I'll try bouncing around a few of the expansions that really made an impact on our play experience in subsequent reviews.

[Books] Night Terrors (Shadow Watch - Book 1)

Like any other reader, I seem to be overwhelmed with far too many books to read given the limited time I have to read them. And yet I continue to participate in various review programs including being a member of the Angry Robot Army. But hey, Angry Robot Books has been a nice source for interesting books to read, so I can't really complain.

Night Terrors is one such book that has been stuck in my reading queue far too long, especially since the sequel has already appeared in my review queue. If the book was good enough to merit a sequel, then I figured that I really  needed to read it so as not to have too much backlog. And admittedly, this was quite the fun little read.

It's nice when writers take familiar elements from different properties and mix them up to create something new. And this book was a nice mix of bits and pieces from different properties resulting in something rather stellar. It's a fun little romp in a familiar yet different world that is worth a second look.

[Movies] Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015)

As much as I'm not a huge fan of DC's New 52 revamp of all of its comic book titles, the direct-to-video adaptations of those stories remain more entertaining. And while not all DC Universe Animated Original Movies are of the same caliber, on average they all remain quite good. I'm looking at you Marvel.

Justice League: Throne of Atlantis wasn't a story I was expecting to see turned into a movie, but then again I suppose that's really more because of how Aquaman is ridiculed online time and time again. He's one of those heroes that has been struggling to adapt to the times and the shifting interests of folks, but admittedly a lot of the "evolutions" of the character have generally been worse than the original.

This isn't quite my favorite DC movie, but it's still a decently fun one. There are a lot of great action moments captured here and various characters have nice spotlight moments.

[Movies] Torch Song Trilogy (1988)

It interests me how so many early LGBT movies were actually first plays that explored such LGBT concepts. Then again, the world of theater has always been somewhat friendly to gay people and thus it's not that great a leap of imagination for this to be the incubator for many LGBT stories. And in the same way that early films saw success in adapting theater material, so too have many early LGBT movies followed in those footsteps.

Torch Song Trilogy was actually three one-act plays tied together as a single narrative. And this movie adaptation nicely tries to follow that format without the entire thing feeling disjoint or overly segmented. And it's the sort of LGBT movie that stays on various lists of must-see movies time and time again given how important it is.

It's a good story, but admittedly it feels a little dated at times. But hey, not movies can survive that well over time, and this one still does things better than many others. It's a movie that a lot of younger folks probably won't even hear about and with luck this review will help keep it in circulation.

[Movies] Toy Story (1995)

Since I'm doing a review of various Pixar movies not yet reviewed here on the Geeky Guide, it only makes sense to jump all the way back to the start. And while I can't quite go into reviews of Pixar's initial short films, at the very least we should look at their first major feature-length release that really put them on the map.

Toy Story didn't blip on my radar right away back when it was first released. Aesthetically, it looked like an overly cute movie - or quite literally a "kid's movie" since I felt I was already growing out of such things. But then it was a CGI production, and such things were rather rare at the time and so I was still somewhat excited.

Man, can you remember what 1995 was like? We were all like, what the heck is a Pixar? Why are they making movies for Disney? Why isn't this movie based on a popular fairy tale or something? So many questions that all  became irrelevant once the movie started to play and our lives were changed forever.

[TV] Galavant: Season 1

Musically-inclined television has had mixed success in North American markets. As much as shows like Glee managed to last quite a while, you have much shorter-lived ventures like Smash and to some extent Pushing Daisies that couldn't really get off the ground. Personally, I don't fully understand why more people can't get on-board with this sort of entertainment. A lot of folks already enjoying singing competitions, so why not narratives that involve singing?

Galavant was quite the surprise and we actually got into the show mid-way through its run. But thankfully friends clued us in regarding the show's existence and we were quickly all over it. After all, it's not that difficult to enjoy a musical television series with your classic swashbuckling hero at its center.

Then again, the show is more than just a straight-up medieval fantasy show set to music. The songs are clever and at times rather snarky, but they're generally still almost appropriate to the time period. The humor does push the limits almost all the time, but it manages this fine balance quite well overall.

[Games] Last Night on Earth: Timber Peak Expansion

So we were a little underwhelmed by Growing Hunger, one of the first expansions for Last Night on Earth. And while it provided some good game options and new ways to diversify play, on the whole it didn't feel quite as balanced as it could have been.

But then comes the Timber Peak expansion for Last Night on Earth that is actually a standalone game. And while it still largely provides the same game experience as the first game, this expansion certainly adds other nuances to the experience that help set it apart and make things feel a bit new again.

Interestingly enough, this game is now set in a new town of Timber Peak, whereas the first game was set in Woodinvale. For those who appreciate the value of a good meta-plot, this expansion adds a little bit more flavor to help flesh things out.

[Books] Battletech: Way of the Clans (Legend of the Jade Phoenix - Book 1)

One of the biggest events in the Battletech universe involves the Clan invasion, that changed the face of the Inner Sphere. As much as the inter-House skirmishes were entertaining to begin with, the introduction of the Clans into the mix of things was quite literally a game-changer.

Thus books like Way of the Clans were the first efforts to tackle the nuances of Clan society in the Battletech novels. Sure you can argue that the source books for the Battletech RPG probably addressed a lot of this beforehand, the fictional universe established in the books was a completely different reading experience. And the fictional universe of the novels really ends up with a life all of its own given enough time and development.

But more than just talking about the Clans fighting the forces of the Inner Sphere, this book is a unique given it focuses solely on the Clans and how they create their unique breed of elite warriors. And thus it's really quite an interesting look into Clan life, again something rather unique in terms of these books. And diving into these early Battletech novels is pretty enjoyable given all these wonderful "first" moments in the history of the series.

[Movies] Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014)

Despite my lack of familiarity with the source material, I rather enjoyed the first Sin City movie. It had a great feel to it and it was a rather modern celebration of what is essentially pulp noir style storytelling. And it's quite the grim and gritty world no matter how you look at it.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is a sequel to the 2005 Sin City movie that's an interesting combination of original material written for the movie and adapted material from the comics. For one reason or another it didn't generate too much buzz when it hit theaters - or at least the buzz did not reach me for one reason or another. And I'd like to think that I typically in-tune with the latest geek franchise making its way to the silver screen.

There was something a little off in this sequel that I can't quite explain. For one reason or another, the movie just didn't feel quite as gripping as the first one and it feel short in many ways. But when you look at it, all the same elements from the first movie were there. They just didn't quite come together in a great way that could have made this movie more memorable.

[Pink Scene] Adore Delano in Manila!

In case you haven't already heard, Adore Delano of RuPaul's Drag Race fame is coming to Manila this February 25! In The Dark is bringing everyone's favorite party girl for a one night only event at the new O Bar, still located at the Home Depot Ortigas complex, but now closer to the back of Sitel. The event will run from 07:00pm to 11:00pm. Patrons can stay on at O Bar after, but regular O Bar door charge will apply.

General admission tickets cost PHP 750.00 while special VIP tickets cost PHP 1,800.00 and include a special meet and greet session with Adore along with a photo opportunity. You can buy your tickets at the door or you can order them online at the In the Dark Events page.

So let's all go and PARTY with Adore!

[Movies] The Incredibles (2004)

I think it's safe to say that The Incredibles is one of the most popular Pixar movies around. And it nicely plays with the superhero movie genre which seems to dominate the live-action movie environment these days. But it also had a unique charm ot itself that actually felt a lot more like older superhero stories with a bit of a pulp feel to things.

The Incredibles is definitely a movie with very strong characters and I really enjoyed how those individual arcs resolved themselves. And this goes outside the classic superhero movie story arc that begins with the character origins in terms of how they get their powers and all that good stuff.

There's a lot of good stuff about this movie and I think many of us look back at this a truly classic example of the quality of Brad Bird's brand of storytelling. And I'm pretty his involvement in this production really helped helped Pixar reach the heights that it has and it also redefined how we look at a lot of different superhero stories.

[TV] American Horror Story: Season 4 (Freak Show)

Over the seasons, American Horror Story seems to be missing out on the Horror bit for one reason or another. Stories continue to be a little crazy and the plot twists often feel more at home in a telenovela. And with the last season, Coven, really felt like horror was no longer a priority and all they wanted to focus on was the drama and the craziness.

American Horror Story: Freak  Show covers the fourth season of the show with a carnival freak show troupe as its main focus. I was cautiously optimistic about this season at first since circus freaks can be pretty scary plus circuses are bound to have clowns, and those can totally be scary under the right circumstances.

But in typical AHS fashion, this show went from bad to crazy soon enough and I think this season marks when the show also gives up the "Story" part of its title. It certainly wasn't all that scary apart from a few character scenes in the beginning. And by the end it felt like they didn't really know what they wanted to do with everyone.

[Games] Space Alert

It's only after I got involved with Tobie that I've come to appreciate wonderful world of modern board games. In addition, I've also come to respect individual game designers and thus have become more aware of who created which game and all that fun stuff. And when you look at the sorts of games that a single game designer creates over time, you might be surprised at the sort of trends and patterns that emerge.

This game blipped on Tobie's radar because of the uniqueness of its primary game play mechanic - the fact that the actual game period happens in real-time for 10 minutes. But the way this is implemented is pretty intense and this remains to be one of the most stressful games we have in our collection. But just because it's stressful doesn't mean it isn't fun.

Personally, I just find that I need time to work up the nerve to play again. The end results tend to be rather hilarious once we resolve our actions for the game. But more on that in the review proper.

[Books] Fool Moon (The Dresden Files - Book 2)

My continuing exploration of the books in the Dresden Files series of books. And after how much I had enjoyed Storm Front, the priority level of reading these books bumped up a bit since then. And getting into this second book was an equally great experience as well - cue the classic geek moment of wondering why I never got into the books before.

Fool Moon is quite the follow-up novel and much more than I had expected for a second book in a series. Usually you'd sort of expect that the follow-up book would be more of the same with some effort to take things up a notch or so - all part of easing readers into the whole fictional universe.

But man, this book is more than just a gentle next step into the world of Dresden and the magical creatures that also call Chicago home. This felt like quite a leap or the sort of story that you'd expect from a TV season finale or something. But no, it's just an example of the quality of writing that Butcher is trying to maintain across these books and such effort cannot go unnoticed.

No wonder so many folks enjoy these books.

[Movies] The Theory of Everything (2014)

It's that part of the year when a lot of us try to catch up with all the movies that managed to be rather successful in terms of awards nominations in order to feel more informed once the awards show comes around. And typically there are certain types of movies that tend to tickle the interests of various award-giving bodies, and so you typically end up with a lot of more "serious" movies and their heavier stories.

The Theory of Everything was a movie that I wasn't expecting too much from during its development period but was surprised with how received it was by audiences. Then again, finding a way to tell the story of a man as great as Stephen Hawking and yet also not overwhelming viewers with the weight of his scientific achievements helped a lot.

Folks should enter this movie experience not expecting some analysis of his many theories and papers, but instead just look forward to a glimpse at his life as an individual. He's a man who has achieved so much despite the challenges set in his path and the end result is certainly something quite extraordinary.

[Movies] The Boy in the Dress (2014)

This week's random LGBT movie didn't really turn out to be true LGBT in nature, but I figured it would still be nice to feature today. In this case, the titular character is a boy who enjoys wearing women's clothing (thus a transvestite), which ultimately has nothing to do with his gender identity. And a lot of people still make that mistake when it comes to cross-dressing.

The Boy in the Dress is a little more interesting for two reasons. First, the movie is actually based on a children's book that had been illustrated by Quentin Blake, who also did illustrations for many Roald Dahl books. The second quirk is that it's actually a TV movie, thus despite its potentially controversial content, it was still presented as family-friendly movie. And we're talking BBC One.

It's a pretty short movie given its running time of only 63 minutes. But given the original book is only about 242 pages or so, I suppose getting enough content for a full hour is pretty impressive on its own.

[Movies] Finding Nemo (2003)

Pixar movies are generally well-loved and I thought it might be fun to fill in the gaps in my review record by finally going back over the big stuff. If I happen to have a review for Cars then I should get to the better stuff, right? And so this is the first movie that I really want to dive into in terms of my backlog.

Finding Nemo was a unique movie event that certainly helped demonstrate the unique brand of storytelling that we've come to expect from the guys at Pixar. The movie remains to be an amazing balance of the sort of emotional tale that pulls at your heartstrings but it also has a lot of great humor that's appropriate for all ages.

Given the more recent news of an upcoming sequel, Finding Dory, that is set for release in June 2016. And as much as I'd love for Pixar to focus on more original stories and essentially creating new movie franchises, this is definitely one Pixar property that I'm rather glad that they're going back to. I'm scared about what is left for them to explore given how solid the original movie remains to be.

[TV] House of Cards: Season 2

As much as Homeland was pretty interesting from the very first episode we watched, House of Cards really blew us away from the very beginning. There's something scarily powerful about the way this show is structured that really supports the story it tries to tell. The excellent writing and the brilliant acting talent involved in the production certainly result in some powerful moments indeed.

This second season of House of Cards certainly took things to a whole new level and it became a show that we sort of crawled through since we wanted to relish every episode. In time the plot twists got the better of me and I had us sprint to through the last couple of episodes just to get to the big finish. And man, what a finale that was indeed.

The writing behind this show and the complexity of the overall plot was rather staggering. This season brings to completion a lot of elements that were introduced as far back as the early days of  season 1 and then the end result is something absolutely remarkable.  And the whole time you can't help but feel both fascinated and terrified of Frank and what he's prepared to do to get his way.

[Games] Munckin Adventure Time

Even before we bought a copy of Munchkin Panic, we picked up a copy of the tie-in version of Munchkin, this being Munchkin Adventure Time. And while I'm not exactly the world's biggest fan of this particular card game, I do go a little nuts over Adventure Time. And so the decision to get this game was not a difficult one.

Munchkin Adventure Time is a wee bit more than a reskin of the classic Munchkin game, which is a bit of a relief since they developers could have been really lazy with this. Instead, we get a pretty fun game experience that feels scaled a little better for younger players and yet feels just as ruthless for older ones. It's just one of those kinds of games.

And the game is a wonderful celebration of the cartoon series given the many, many, many character that they dug up for the game. You don't necessarily have to be an Adventure Time fan to enjoy this game, but man it does make a heck of a world of difference in terms of how much this game will make you squee in case you are one.

[Books] Battletech: The Price of Glory

Battletech: The Price of Glory is the third novel in the Saga of the Gray Death Legion series of books, because book trilogies will always be a thing. This whole story arc nicely follows the development of how the many books would treat mercenary companies and all that good stuff.

In the past two books we saw how our hero formed his own mercenary company, the Gray Death Legion, and the second book had them struggling to make a name for themselves. This third book already has the Legion being a bit more established with some regular contracts until things shift around. And you know how it is - things can't always go well.

I really enjoyed this first arc and I walked away with a better understanding of the Keith's particular slice of the Battletech universe and the Gray Death Legion itself. When I first started reading the Battletech novels, I picked up a few Gray Death books which were already pretty good on their own, but I had no real context for the mercenary company. And they certainly have quite the colorful history indeed.

[Movies] Birdman (2014)

At the end of the ear the awards season for movies and television really begins to kick into high gear and suddenly we find all these movies we've never heard about getting nominated. You know those sorts of movies - the ones that either were released and didn't get a lot of buzz since they're "serious" movies that have been traveling the indie circuit or they were released late in the year to coincide with the nomination season.

Birdman is precisely one of those movies that just totally slipped past my radar and I really didn't know what to think about it based on the title of the movie. I mean come on, the only Birdman that I know of is the old Hanna-Barbera cartoon character that saw greater humor as the Adult Swim character Harvey Birdman, Attoryney at Law.

And while there is a superhero in this story that dresses up like a bird, that's not quite the main focus of things. It's really about a guy who was popular because of a bunch of superhero movies but now he's trying to redefine his career with more serious stuff and he just happens to be played by Michael Keaton. So meta.

[Movies] Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild! (2008)

So I wasn't a big fan of Another Gay Movie since it didn't feel like it really brought anything new to the table, even as a satire. It was following similar territory that heterosexual "satire" style movies had already covered and for some reason decided to stay in that shallow end of the pool.

But for one reason or another, I eventually watched the squel, aptly named Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild! despite not liking the first movie. But hey, that's life for you. Sometimes you just don't have the strength to watch anything serious and so you end up killing time with this one.

The movie is probably only really notable because of the participation of Sean Paul Lockheart, better known as adult entertainment star Brent Corrigan. He really only has a role that can termed as a cameo, but this was back in the early days of his efforts to break into more serious acting outside of his adult entertainment work and so it oddly made waves. I was never into him all that much, so it actually didn't register for me the first time around.