NaNoWriMo 2013: Prepare to Enter the Void

Somehow, the months have flipped by at light speed, and it's already time to start considering my next major novel-writing project for the National Novel Writing Month.  If you aren't already aware, NaNoWriMo is a challenge for writers to write a novel in a month.  The goal is to reach a word count of 50,000 words in 30 days.  There is no cash prize or anything; the only reward is the satisfaction of completing a manuscript, which can then be refined and published in the following months.

Over the past couple of years, I've participated in this challenge and achieved the necessary word-count to complete the challenge.  I'm still in the process of completing the stories in the rewriting.  In 2011, I created a basic alien invasion story, in which giant UFOs start plopping themselves on the planet, crushing entire cities in their wake.  Last year, I wrote about a society ruled over by an elite class of superheroes.

Even though the next challenge is still a couple of months away, I couldn't help but to start thinking about what my next project will be.  Even though the actual writing has to start on November 1st, I still have a lot of time to start thinking about what the story will be.  First and foremost, I needed to sift through the myriad of outstanding story ideas I had floating around, and pick one to focus on.  I had ideas for a futuristic detective story, an alternate history story taking place during WWII, a pirate adventure, and probably some others too.

For this year, however, I've been inspired to resurrect an old story idea that I've had since high school.  This is a concept that I've tried to draft before, was unhappy with it, and tried to redraft it before.  Even though the newer draft was going okay, I decided to start over yet again, with even bigger ideas and a different approach.

The story goes by the (working) title of VOID, so named because it will be all about outer space and intergalactic combat.  The premise is that, in the distant future, an extraterrestrial race will close in on the Earth's sun and destroy it, obliterating all life in the solar system.  As the human race struggles to find a new habitable world to retreat to, war breaks out across the galaxy, as these aliens drive deeper toward the galactic core and destroys even more stars in their wake.

This all came about initially during a discussion on black holes in my high school physics class.  I was already aware of what a black hole was:  a singularity in space with a gravity well so dense that not even light can escape its grasp.  The thought suddenly came up that, if stellar black holes are formed by collapsing stars, and it takes thousands and thousands of years for starlight to reach our eyes on Earth, then how do we know that the stars we see still exist? For all we know, all the stars we see could have been destroyed, but we would never see it until thousands of years from now.  The idea kinda creeped me out, thinking that there could be a malevolent alien force destroying all the stars in the galaxy, but we would never actually know about it with our current observation technology.

In this story's first incarnation, I wrote this as a trilogy of short novels.  The first book chronicled Earth's first contact with this evil alien race, and the book ended with the aliens destroying our sun and turning it into a black hole.  The second book focused on a series of conflicts, and it ended with the black hole being reversed and bringing the sun back (in retrospect, I don't think this is even physically possible).  The third book was the final battle.  All three of these books kinda sucked; it was a time when my writing style was still immature and silly, and I didn't give enough attention to maintaining any realism in the science or the military culture of the story.  If anything, it came off as a lame Star Wars rip-off, and I filed this entire trilogy in my rejects folder.

My second attempt for this story wasn't looking too bad; I was planning to just start off with the aliens attacking the Earth's sun, and then going through the war campaign.  The story probably would have been decent this way, but after the first twenty pages or so, I stalled.  I think the story was looking pretty dry, and I became uninspired.

Over the past few months, I've revisited the story ideas with a fresh new light.  Having played the Mass Effect games for the first time, I was enthralled by the games' lush universe and attentive world-building.  Looking at other favorite franchises - Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, and more - I realized that I would be much more inspired to write Void as a more expansive saga than I initially pictured.  I had a few alien races in the original trilogy of drafts, but I felt they were lame and uninspired; revising the concepts now, I believe I can make Void work better with a different set of alien races, featuring outlandish alien worlds and a whole galaxy of unique star systems and nebulae and other interstellar phenomenon.  And, of course, I would still love to give diligent attention to the science of space travel and combat.

I realize that a story like Void inherently requires a lot of research and a lot of design.  I think my first drafts suffered so much because I didn't devote enough research, and hardly any design, into the story, so it was all slapped together lazily.  To make the next draft really shine, I've been looking deeper at all aspects of astronomy.  Watching various documentary shows - Stephen Hawking's Into the Universe, How the Universe Works, and The Universe - has helped me understand the basics of relativity, the various types of interstellar bodies that exist, the birth and death of stars and planets, and the difficulties of common sci-fi concepts (such as faster-than-light travel, FTL communications, the possibilities of alien life, planetary colonization, and more).  Sources on the Internet and books can provide even more detailed information on astronomy (although, I seriously cannot comprehend quantum physics, so that will likely be the extent of how "hard" my sci-fi will ultimately be).  Through these efforts, I felt that an entire universe of possibilities have opened up.  There are myriads of beautiful nebulae that could serve as a backdrop to some gorgeous imagery.  There are weird anomalies, such as neutron stars, pulsars, and black holes, that could provide a really unique challenge to certain scenes.  There are an infinite number of ways that a planet could form in this universe, and their evolution could be a host to any kind of life form imaginable.  Through these considerations, I've been able to design possible alien worlds, alien life, alien culture, and perhaps even alien languages, to be used in the story.

The more detail and depth I can invest now, the easier it is to envision things during drafting.  Understanding how a starship, how an alien culture, or how future society works, will help direct the story to its logical course.  It's a lot harder to make it all up on the fly, and it's too easy to create inconsistencies and errors without doing the necessary research in advance.  So, between now and November, I've been compiling all kinds of notes on the vast universe of Void.  The more I compile, the more vividly the story comes together in my head, and the easier it becomes to translate to paper.  And, the more psyched I become.

Void is a story idea that's haunted me for years, with its grand premise of starfighters and starships blasting each other away around vast nebulae and while orbiting violent black holes.  Every day, a new and exciting idea gets thrown into the pot, making it even richer and more incredible than I previously envisioned.  As it is, I have pretty wild visions in mind for this story:  not only will the Earth's sun collapse from an attack from a malevolent alien race, but I've also envisioned entire planets getting sliced to pieces, entire fleets of ships getting ripped apart, massive stars flying at hypervelocity, and the possibility of life beyond our three-dimensional space.  There will be combat, romance, wonder, and terror.  There will be a plethora of human, alien, and even synthetic characters.  Even though Earth may be tragically absent in this story, there will be fantastic worlds with lush alien jungles, weird mountains, tropic islands, and exotic colorful gasses.  At the center of it all, I hope to thematically explore the galaxy and what our place is, or could be, in the universe.

So that's what I've been toiling on for the past several weeks, and I'm hoping I'll be prepared enough by November to take on this epic project.  I will post updates and excerpts as I go along; feel free to check them out, critique them, and enjoy my foray into the Void.

Video Game: My Experience Playing the Mass Effect Trilogy

It was some years ago that a friend of mine recommended the first Mass Effect game, citing it as one of the best games ever.  It was still only on the Xbox at the time, and I never invested in an Xbox, so I never did play the series from the start.  That is, not until now, after obtaining the complete trilogy for the PS3 in one complete package.

Of course, the best way to play this trilogy is to start from the beginning, to design your character from the ground up in the first game, and carry him/her through to the other two games.  This way, you'll be able to gain various bonuses in the second and third games.  Most interestingly, however, all decisions you make carry over as well, and the games will recognize who you let live and die throughout.  Through this, you could play through the entire saga and have a totally different experience most of the time.

My experience in playing this trio of games has been so engrossing and fun that I thought I'd share it here.  If you're going through the games and are stuck on something, maybe you can learn something from my experiences (especially regarding the ME2 suicide mission).  Maybe my playthroughs will bring back some nostalgic memories for you.  Maybe you just won't give a darn.  In any case, here's how my story went while playing the Mass Effect trilogy.

Be aware that spoilers are ahead.

Mass Effect 1
First, as with any other decent RPG, I took the time to carefully design my character.  I opted to make Commander Shepard a female, with short red hair and bright green eyes.  I shaped her face and made her look like this:

Commander Elyssa Shepard, infiltrator, leader, soldier, savoir...

I decided to make up a new given name for her:  Elyssa, named after the film Elysium, which I had just seen at the time.  I decided to make Elyssa Shepard an infiltrator, because I figured it would be valuable to be able to hack into things and open locked doors and stuff.  I made her Earthborn (the background that she was some punk kid off the streets with no mother or father).  I made her ruthless (I started off this way thinking that she'd be a total renegade, but I pretty much played this whole series through with paragon points instead).

Upon starting up the game, I progressed through Eden Prime just fine and dandy.  Went back to the Citadel, told everybody what happened, picked up Garrus and Wrex, and shot up Chora's Den.  Once I got back to the Normandy, I had the choice to run to Feros or Noveria.  I decided to head to Noveria.  Afterward, I realized I probably should have gone to Feros first instead; Noveria proved to be quite the challenge.  For the majority of missions, I stuck with Garrus and Kaidan as my squadmates.

After running around the offices of Noveria for a while, I played through the Lorik Qui'in side missions to gain access to the Synthetic Insights offices.  Lots of hard fighting ensued.  I found very quickly that being an infiltrator kinda sucked in this game; the sniper rifle bounced around a lot, even when crouched, so it was always hard for me to shoot.  Thankfully, I managed to fight my way through all the Noveria sectors, all the way to Matriarch Benezia.  I really hated that boss fight; there were Asari commandos and geth everywhere, and there was no real good cover to use.  The attacks were brutal.  I must have died several times, before finally winning the fight.

When it came to figuring out what to do with the Rachni queen, I decided to let her live.  Even though it was pretty tough fighting all the Rachni creatures up to that point, the queen seemed like such a nice creature.  When the neutron purge happened, I just dashed across the room and headed straight for the tram; there really wasn't much of a need to fight my way through.

Before tackling Feros, I decided to comb through the galaxy and complete as many side missions as I could, before progressing further through the story.  That in itself took some time, hopping from system to system, scanning each planet and completing each mission.  It provides a lot of rewards though, boosting experience points, gaining more money, more items, and such.  Among those side missions, I completed that one where you save Terra Nova from a rocket-propelled asteroid.  I spared the life of the Batarian terrorist afterward (he would come back in ME3, but I would use my paragon score to make him go away).  I also made Tali happy by completing her pilgrimage side-quest, I helped Garrus take out Dr. Saleon, and I attacked all the Cerberus bases.

At some point, I played the levels on Therum and got Liara on the team.

Once I felt ready and willing, I went to Feros and dealt with those missions.  When it came time to take out the Thorian, I used the gas grenades to keep all the colonists alive, and I carefully sniped away at all the creepers that came out.  It was a pretty tough fight with that Asari that kept coming back to life, but I was able to get through it.

Afterward, I continued to do the side missions until I was certain we were all good and ready to go to Virmire.  When it came to the middle of the mission, and Wrex was throwing a fit about the Genophage, I was able to use my paragon score to calm him down and keep him on the mission (thus, he would become the krogan chief for the rest of the series).  As I neared the end of the mission, I started to get the feeling that some big story twist was going to pop up.  Turns out there was; I did predict that Sovereign was some kind of sentient being, but dang, I didn't expect to hear that all of galactic civilization was cyclically wiped out over and over again by these things.  Holy crap.  To escape Virmire and detonate the bomb, I let Kaidan die, and it was sad.

From there on, I played through Illos and got to the final battle at the Citadel.  In between, Commander Shepard fell in love with Liara...awww...

When it came to the final battle, I got to thinking that it was more important to focus all firepower on Sovereign than to waste ships on saving the council.  So, despite being a mostly-paragon player, I let the council die.  In retrospect, this would seriously bite me in the second and third games.  When I finally got to fight Saren, I used my high paragon score to convince him to kill himself; I was glad to have avoided another fight where I'd have to shoot him on his hoverboard.  I still had the final fight with his Reaper self though; I spent the whole time circling the room, constantly shooting and using my powers against him.  His health was eventually whittled down, and the game was won.  Yay! When the question came up about who would lead the new council, I let them decide for themselves.

Mass Effect 2
Upon Shepard's rebirth, I pretty much kept everything as is, and continued on as a female Earthborn infiltrator.  After playing through the obligatory prologue missions and running through Freedom's Progress, I pretty much spent my time exploring the galaxy, scouring each planet for resources and side-missions.  My progress was sometimes interrupted by the Illusive Man giving me a priority mission, but I was keen to try and find every team member and gain his/her loyalty.

At this point, I can't remember exactly what order I recruited people in and what side mission I did at what point.  I made it a routine to run around the Normandy and the Citadel to check up on everybody, picking up and completing side quests as I could.

Among the first team members I picked up, I got Garrus and Mordin out of Omega, got Kasumi right away at the Citadel, and I recruited Zaeed (from where, I don't remember).  After the mission on Horizon, I focused more on finding more team members, so I picked up Zack, Tali, Grunt, Legion, Samara, and Thane, and completed all their side quests.  I became aware that doing team members' side quests and gaining their loyalty caused some conflict among team members later on; Miranda and Jack would have a problem with each other, and Tali and Legion would be at odds too.  I had to put off on their missions until I was certain I had a high enough paragon level to make everybody happy; I spent some time side-questing on other things, before tackling the loyalty quests for Tali, Legion, Jack, and Miranda.  In the end, I was able to get 100% loyalty on everybody.

With Kasumi's side mission completed, I let her keep her stuff regarding her boyfriend.  She seemed happier that way.

I tried to oblige Zaeed's quest of vengeance, but in the end, I opted to save the colonists rather than to hunt down the enemy.  When Zaeed complained, paragon points allowed him to get over himself and remain loyal to me.

When it came to completing Mordin's side mission, I forced Maelon to leave, rather than to let him be killed.

I took Jack to the Cerberus facility and let her blow it all up.

Did Grunt's quest, and there was a lot of awesome creature slaying going on.

In helping Tali out, I used the paragon options to make the quarian admirals forget about the trial and focus on Tali's good side.  So they never got the evidence on Tali's father, and everybody got a better opinion on her.

Going through Garrus' side mission, I started to do the right thing and talk to Sodinis.  But when Garrus started yelling at me, I decided just to let him take the shot.  So he got his vengeance, and we're all happy (though I'm glad Zaeed never griped at me for stopping his vengeance, but letting Garrus get his man).

With Jacob's side quests, I brought the Alliance in to put his father on trial and save the survivors.

Once I got Samara, I went through the quest to hunt down and let her kill Morinth.  Righteousness prevailed.

Doing Thane's quest was a little tricky, because I accidentally lost track of the target and failed it at first.  Upon replaying it, Thane managed to intercept his son properly, and it was all good.

Did Miranda's quest, she got to meet her sister, and they were happy.

Did Legion's side quest, and if I remember right, I had him delete the heretics.

Along the way, Shepard developed a relationship with Jacob.  Was getting concerned that Kasumi was going to make a move on him, but it all worked out in the end.

I don't think I ever really stuck with one team the whole way through:  I had a tendency to mix and match my team members.  I probably used Garrus, Jacob, Tali, and Kasumi the most, but a lot of it depended on what types of powers I felt I wanted.  I dragged Grunt along for missions where I felt he'd cause the most damage; I'd use Samara, Jack, or Miranda for biotics.

When it finally came time to attack the Collector's home world, I had initially set up Legion for the technical team, Zaeed as the fire team, Samara as the biotic woman, Grunt for the diversion, and Mordin as the escort.  I would up losing Legion (because Zaeed is apparently an inept jerk as the fire team guy), and Grunt (because, apparently, this krogan can't take a single bullet).  Feeling a little let down, I replayed the final mission and changed things around.

The winning team set-up for me turned out to be:

• Technical:  Tali
• Fire Team:  Garrus
• Biotics:  Samara
• Diversion:  Jacob
• Escort:  Mordin

This doesn't have to be exact to work though:  I think Legion and Kasumi can still work for the vents, Miranda or Jacob can serve on the Fire Team, Jack can substitute Samara if need be, Garrus or Miranda can lead on the Diversion Team, and Kasumi, Tali, and Jack can all be escorts.  Can't say I know why Jacob can take a bullet and just walk it off, while Grunt can't, but oh well.

For the final boss fight, I took Legion and Jack with me; this left a big enough defense around the Normandy to ensure everybody's survival. In the end, everybody lived, and it was great.

Mass Effect 3
Once the stuff hit the fan, and I went through Earth and Mars, I pretty much did what I did before, running through the galaxy to find war assets and artifacts, and occasionally running through the Normandy and the Citadel to check up on people and pick up more quests.  As Cerberus troops continuously caused trouble, I decided that I hated them.

Went through the missions on Palavan and Tuchanka to recruit the help of the turians and krogan.  Upon doing so, I cured the Genophage, and there was much celebration among the krogan.  Of course, the Salarian councilor was ticked off.

Had another run-in with the Rachni.  Was able to get the queen off-world to help in the war effort.  It must have been funny to freak everybody out at the Crucible with these Rachni running around.

Upon running across Ashley Williams again, I checked up on her in the hospital and continued to be nice to her...even though she's a total female dog at times.  When the coup happened on the Citadel and I had to convince her that Udina was evil, she did come around and hold him up at gunpoint.  When he pulled a gun on me, I shot him in the neck.  It was self-defense, I swear!

Then, it was time to deal with the geth and quarians.  After running through this entire mission, I figured that things would get touchy between the two races if I picked one over the other.  Fortunately, with the right paragon options and with a ME2 imported character, I was able to get the two races to get along with each other.  So the quarians got to return to their homeworld, and I got the geth to fight for me, how cool is that?

Along the way, Commander Shepard's love for Liara was rekindled.  Awww... Things felt a little awkward meeting Jacob again, but Shepard just let it go.

For most of this game, I used Garrus and EDI on most missions.  If I felt I needed more tech or biotic powers, I brought either Tali or Liara instead of Garrus or EDI.  I occasionally switched things up by using James or Ashley on missions where I felt I needed more strength or firepower.  In the final battles, I stuck with Garrus and EDI throughout.

After the final battle and everything, I got to the Citadel and shot the Illusive Man when the option came up.  Moving on to meet the Catalyst, I was truly stumped by the options that came up:  either control the Reapers (which felt like the wrong thing to do), destroy the Reapers (which didn't sound like it would have solved the bigger issues at hand), or Synthesize.  I decided to go with the Synthesize option, killing Shepard in the processes, but stopping the war and uniting organics and synthetics across the galaxy.  I was genuinely moved when I saw Joker and EDI together.

Summary
So that's the epic saga of Commander Elyssa Shepard, my ruthless Earthborn infiltrator.

Levels:  Reached level 49 on ME1, level 30 in ME2, level 55 in ME3.

Disposition:  Paragon the vast majority of the time.

Commonly-Used Team Members:  Garrus, Kaidan, Kasumi, Samara, Jack, Liara, Tali, EDI.

Powers:  Primarily mastered the powers of incineration, inferno grenades, disruptor ammo, hacking, and sabotage.

Weapons:  In ME1, I was limited to use the sniper rifle, and pistol.  In ME2, I made good use of the sniper rifle, assault rifle, and SMG.  In ME3, became quite fond of the geth pulse rifle, the Mantis sniper rifle, and the Shuriken SMG.

Love Interests:  Liara, Jacob, then Liara again.

Rachni Queen:  Alive and well.

Wrex:  Was convinced to stick with Shepard on Virmire.  Went on to be the clan chief.

Sacrificed:  Kaidan on Virmire.  It couldn't be helped.

The Council:  Died.

Suicide Mission:  Everybody survived!

Resolution of the Genophage:   Cured.  Krogans rule, Salarians can shut up.

Resolution of the Quarian/Geth Conflict:  The two races were united in peaceful coexistence.

War Assets:  Reached over 4,000, having done so many side quests, and reaching 63% galactic readiness.

Ending:  Synthesized.  Commander Shepard dies, but the Reapers are lifted away, and galactic civilization is saved as organics and synthesized creatures everywhere are fused together somehow.

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Favorite side character:  Tali.  I think a lot of it is because of the mystique of quarians in general:  they all look so mysterious and awesome with their suits and their cool glowing eyes through their purple face-plates.  They all have really unique accents, making them seem even more otherworldly.  They also have a unique history (not too different from Battlestar Galactica, actually, given that both these franchises focus on an organic race being driven out by a synthetic race they've built themselves).  Quarians themselves are pretty interesting, as a race of interstellar nomads tragically forced off their own homeworld from their own wrongdoings.  Tali is cool though, because you learn so much about her culture through her, and you really grow to like her as things go on and you help her and her people out.  She's also funny when she's drunk.  Close runner-ups are Kasumi, Garrus, and EDI (EDI in particular always had the best jokes).  Least favorite has always been Ashley Williams; I hated the way she always doubted Shepard.  Miranda is a little annoying as well.

Favorite alien race:  Turians.  As much as I found Tali, the quarians, and the geth interesting, the turians are the coolest aliens of the lot.  Maybe not as tough as the krogans, but turians embody that same gruff militarism, but without going over-the-top.  They struck me as being a more pragmatic, straight-to-the-point kind of alien race, and I think they were pretty cool that way.  Garrus obviously stole the show throughout in this fashion, but I couldn't help but to also admire the other turian characters (even Saren, who really wasn't all that evil after all).  Also, I found the design for the turians to be super-cool, with the spikes slicked back on their heads, their weird jaws, and all the war paint on their heads.  Close runner-ups are the quarians (explained above), and the asari (who are pretty darn sexy).

Favorite planet:  Don't really have one.  I suppose if I had to pick one, it would be the Illium, with its tall, sleek Star Wars style cities.  The only thing cooler than that would be the Citadel itself, which is also really cool.

Favorite mission:  Don't really have one.  Some of the ones that I remember most fondly include Kasumi's side mission, Virmire, the Shadow Broker mission, Project Overlord, and the Terra Nova mission.

Favorite weapon:  Geth pulse rifle.  Fires a pretty fast and long stream of shots.

Favorite ship:  Although the Normandy is really cool, I was really impressed by the Shadow Broker's ship.  It's a sizable ship, always floating high in the atmosphere among violent storms, its whole hull and chassis reacting to the lightning and winds.  I think it's quite imaginative and really cool to look at.

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Now What?
Even though I've gone through all three games in succession, there's still so much to explore.  Just for fun, I'd love to play this series through being totally renegade now.  I'd love to build my character up to be some kind of badass biotic warrior.  I'd probably make Shepard a male this time too.

On top of that, I'll need at least two more play-throughs for the platinum trophy in ME1 (for difficulties and using certain squad members), one more for ME2 (mostly for the insanity difficulty), and maybe one or two more for ME3 (insanity difficulty, combat stuff).

That's one of the greatest joys of this game series; there are so many different ways to play this and many different paths to take.  There is always something new to explore.

Video Game Review: Mass Effect 3

It's all led up to this.  After fighting through and surviving two whole games worth of intergalactic war, the third and final Mass Effect game delivers the final conflict.  Reapers invade the Earth, before landing on hundreds of other planets, to drive all civilized races to extinction.  War breaks out everywhere:  one galactic war to possibly end all wars.  And once again, Commander Shepard is thrown into the very middle of it.

This is easily the most intense game of the series.  It carries over the same style of gameplay as the last two games, but it immediately emphasizes its qualities as a shooter game moreso than a strategy or RPG game.  Most of the game will have you pitted against wave after wave of enemies; you're granted more dynamic control to jump, duck, roll around, and use your cover more effectively.  Melee combat is a little more advanced.  You still have your squad members to control, special powers to employ, and you can still micromanage your weapons and mods.  Combat is pretty decent overall, but the disadvantage is that it's taken on more of the properties of other shooter games, like Kill Zone or Battlefield.  It can get very irritating very quickly to find yourself constantly pinned down, outflanked, and overwhelmed by advanced Cerberus soldiers and crazy-powerful Reapers.  The battles toward the end of the game are especially insane, you you'd have to really on your toes if you want to survive.  I found it frustrating at times, but progress is still good and rewarding enough to keep me going to the end.

After the initial scenes on Earth and Mars, I was quite thrilled to be back in the starship Normandy, to once again direct the ship all around the galaxy freely.  With the Reaper invasion, however, exploring the galaxy becomes treacherous; any time you jump to another solar system, if you scan around too much, you'll be pursued by the enemy, and possibly destroyed.  While the last two games made exploration rewarding with side missions and resource gathering, your only motivation now is to find artifacts and war assets.  In spite of that, there is a lot less to do in the galaxy; there are still many side missions, but it definitely isn't as wide-spread or flexible as the last two games.  As far as your team goes, they come to you naturally in the course of the story, like in the first game.  A few familiar faces return, and there are a few new teammates.  The selection is not quite as big as before, and it feels quite limiting.

The story for Mass Effect 3 is the biggest and most ambitious of the lot.  The most impressive thing about the game is that nearly every decision you make in the last two games will impact the gameplay.  Every person you let live will come back; or, every person you let die won't.  Every good decision has an impact, and every bad decision could hinder you.  Best of all, every character you meet along the way, if they haven't died before, will return in some form.  Additionally, all the interesting struggles you encountered before - the Genophage, the Quarians' fight with the Geth - are fully resolved, based on your decisions and interactions with the characters.  It all contributes to the final fight in the end.  As you go along, you accumulate war assets that impact the final battle on Earth (which can be amplified with online play, which increases your galactic readiness rating).

When the final battle occurs, it is probably the coolest space battle I've seen in a while.  The ground combat gets intense, until finally, you reach the end.  I've seen a lot of hate over this game's ending; many gamers feel cheated and robbed, because there is no happy ending in Mass Effect 3.  Depending on your choices, the number of assets you've brought to the battle, and your paragon/renegade rating, you're given the choice if a few different endings.  None of them lead to a particularly good ending; whatever you pick will be bittersweet.  I personally felt that this was always in the cards; after three games of cheating death and fighting these bloody Reapers, I never expected a straightforward victory.  As it is, I love the way the game forces you to make the hard choice; regardless of how "satisfying" it really is, I think it's bold and interesting.

This game is presented with top-quality graphics; it is easily the best-looking game of the series.  Everything looks smooth, has sharp textures, and the lighting is not bad.  The controls are intuitive and easy to use.  Voice-acting, sound effects, and music are all great.  This game continues to use a plethora of great-looking settings, props, costumes, weaponry, creatures, and more throughout the game.  Multiplayer is included with the game, allowing you to take on waves of enemies with up to three squad members online; it's simple and a bit repetitive, but not nearly as much of a chore as I feared.

This game offers the biggest and most challenging combat of the series.  The first game still has the best storyline.  The second is still my favorite.  The trilogy overall is superb though, and I'm grateful that this third game provides all the necessary closure (no matter how unconventional the ending is).  The entire series has immersed me in a fantastic universe full of fantastic aliens, awesome starships, gorgeous extraterrestrial planets, and more, while still telling a quality story with numerous lovable characters.  I'd gladly recommend the entire series to gamers, but this third one is best appreciated by fans of the series.

4.5/5 (Entertainment:  Very Good | Story:  Good | Game:  Perfect)

Film Review: Birdemic: Shock and Terror

Well, I went into this expecting some all-out "so bad it's good" charm, but holy crap! Children can make better films than this!

The story is abysmal. It spends nearly forty minutes on the lamest and most un-dynamic love story ever filmed. When the "birdemic" finally hits, there's no good reasoning or explanation for anything (and certainly no explanation for why all the birds leave at the end). It's all blamed on global warming. Yep, then the film goes on to shove global warming into the audience's faces at every turn.  Because, apparently, it will cause birds to freak out and turn into GIF files that zoom along with airplane sound effects and can spontaneously combust.

The actual bird attack is the lamest thing ever committed to film. The birds are so cheap, and they tend to hover in place and incessantly repeat the same stock sound effects over and over again. They go on to dive-bomb everything and explode in cheap-looking explosions.

Acting? Terrible across the board. Writing? Just as terrible. Production? This film was probably made with pocket change. Filming? So very pedestrian. Sound quality? My God, the sound was the worst. It kept cutting in and out, with dialogue and sound getting cut off randomly. At first, I thought the disc was screwed up.

There are some scenes that go on for far too long. The beginning credits are a hoot; it's like five minutes of nonstop driving and driving and driving, with the same music looping two or three times. Same goes for the film's final shots.

There's easily a thousand other things wrong with this picture. You can laugh at it. You can pick it apart and pour all your hatred into it. You can get bored and walk away. For the most part, the former applies the best, so long as you are open to such bad cinema and can find enough good humor to take this film as it is. It's certainly up there on the "so bad it's good" meter, and would likely supersede most of the films shown on the SyFy channel (take that, Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus!).

1.5/5 (Entertainment: Pretty Good | Story: Awful | Film: Awful)

Film Review: Sharknado

"We can't just sit here and wait for sharks to rain down on us." - Ian Ziering

Of all the bad movies in all the world, the SyFy channel has dominated the whole lot of them. They've tossed out one terrible idea after another, all shot with crummy low-quality budgets and horrid acting. They've covered everything from volcanoes, killer storms, the second coming of the ice age, a mega shark fighting a giant octopus, weird cosmic anomalies, giant piranha, and so much more. They even made Titanic II. They've pretty much spat out movies with all the ferocity of a tornado hurling sharks all over the place.  On top of that, The Asylum has pretty much built its entire repertoire on equally stupid films, but usually with the approach of being self-parody rather than anything to be taken seriously.

Now, Sharknado storms into the scene with the most ridiculous, most self-consciously stupid premise possible. That's right, this movie ventures into the realms of sheer campy absurdity, as waterspouts swirl around Los Angeles and tosses sharks in all directions! Sharks literally rain from the sky, and they go on to devour, crush, and destroy tons of hapless civilians. The film goes on to deliver loads of blood and action, but with its cheap production value, stupid story, and terrible acting, the film delivers lots of laughs as well.

The story for Sharknado pretty much mirrors the same formulaic disaster-movie fare you may have seen in such cinematic gems as Birdemic. You know, a bunch of characters get together, run for their lives, figure out a way to stop things. Everything that happens in Sharknado, however, pretty much throws all logic out the window. There is absolutely no logical flow of events, no real good reason for why the characters do what they do, and there's certainly zero scientific realism involved. You could watch the whole movie and dig up thousands of things that just don't make sense. Such blatant disregard for logic is part of what makes this film so darn funny. Characters are pretty flat and stupid too.

This film is as cheap as they come. Photography is okay, but the editing is nutty. Acting and writing are quite daft. All the sets, props, costumes, and special effects are immensely cheap; you can tell that these filmmakers just went around LA and glossed over everything with horrid CGI and cheap camera shots. Music okay: the film's score is pretty generic, but the film does use a few decent songs in the beginning.

With Sharknado, the people at SyFy seem to have finally given up on trying to be serious, and just flung this crazy oddity at us so we can laugh at just how stupid, absurd, and cheap the whole thing is. Some viewers might prefer to laugh at truly bad films, which are unintentionally funny; I personally appreciate the lack of pretension in Sharknado, for it knows its place in the world and lives up to its name.

There may truly be no dumber film than this.

It's all about a shark tornado.

Sharknado.

Enough said!

2.5/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Quite Poor | Film: Quite Poor)

Film Review: Riddick

It's been a long thirteen years since Richard B. Riddick made his debut in Pitch Black as the wicked, hardcore serial murderer who would become a hero to a few desperate survivors. Riddick fought monsters again, in the form of a tyrannical empire, in The Chronicles of Riddick. With a couple of decent video games and a cartoon also in Riddick's name, the man has become one of the most popular antiheroes of modern cinema. It's hard not to love how savage and badass he is.

It's been a long, barren stretch since 2004's TCoR (one's thirst for Riddick being only a little quenched with the 2009 video game, Assualt on Dark Athena). Finally, this third film continues the chronicle, dumping Riddick back into his element and invoking the brutal, primal forces that made the original Pitch Black so appealing. The film immediately tracks him on some barren, unknown planet; he's wounded, vulnerable, and hunted by all manner of wicked creatures. A few flashbacks provide the necessary bridge between this and the last film, before picking up again with the raw struggle for survival. These scenes are pretty cool as they are, but things gets pretty serious when Riddick activates a beacon that summons mercs to his location. Then, he becomes the dead man stalking. Things get a little stupid and ridiculous from this point on, but it's still pretty awesome to watch Riddick mess up some mercs, both physically and psychologically. The fights are cool, the suspense is gripping, the kills are gruesome and awesome, and the overall tone and atmosphere exudes sheer savagery. This film represents the essence of who Riddick is and what he does best.

The story is pretty lightweight and thin, going so far as rehashing the general structure of Pitch Black (they're both films that are split pretty evenly between men fighting men, and then turning around to fight monsters and get the hell off the planet). Most of the characters are pretty flat and borderline unlikable (and mostly pretty stupid), and there are a few parts where they make a sudden change of heart that seems rather unlikely.  As the centerpiece, however, Riddick shines through as the biggest strength to the story. From the start, he is presented as a man who lost his edge, rendered soft and weakened after the events of TCoR. The bulk of the film is about him getting his edge back, and with the later turn of events, maybe even finding a little bit of absolution. While most of the movie will come off as pretty average storytelling, I personally applaud it for digging deeper into Riddick's own savagery and immersing us into his dark, primal nature.

The film uses decent photography and editing. Some of the action is a little shakey, but thankfully, this film is way more steady and pleasant to watch than the predeceasing Riddick films. Acting from most of the cast is nothing to scream about, but Vin Diesel does show surprising maturity as Riddick; he shows far more expression and vulnerability in this role than he did before, and it does effectively add more dimensionality to the title character. Writing is pretty stupid some times, pretty awesome other times, but all-around kinda bad. This production uses cool-looking sets, props, costumes, and special effects. Music is pretty decent.

Riddick echoes a lot of the same things that made Pitch Black so cool, but I think Riddick is a better, funner, more awesome experience. TCoR is still my favorite of the lot, because it was so epic and cool, but Riddick is a welcome return to form, and I'd be interested to see where the man goes next.

4/5 (Entertainment: Very Good | Story: Average | Film: Pretty Good)

Video Game Review: Mass Effect 2

In this follow-up to the original Mass Effect, Commander Shepard returns...and is killed in the opening levels.  Things look dire when a new enemy rips across the galaxy, sending the starship Normandy down in flames, before attacking colonies for some eerie, malevolent purpose.  Fortunately, Shepard is resurrected with top-dollar technology and implants, and he/she snaps back into action to save the galaxy once again!

Returning to the world of Mass Effect is more than welcome.  ME2 pretty much offers more of the same in terms of gameplay; you still get to create your character freely, you get free reign to explore the galaxy, and you still command a small squad to blast through the main story (and countless side missions).  Things are refined substantially though:  side missions are all revamped, so they're nowhere near as repetitive or monotonous as in the first game.  Combat is mostly the same, but is streamlined a little more, making the first game seem clunky in comparison.  AIs for enemies and allies alike are made a little smarter.  Hacking into doors and devices gives you a better minigame (connecting circuit boards or matching up computer code, rather than merely mashing buttons in sequence).  Squad powers are more useful, weapons have a little more oomph to them, and all gear seems easier to keep track of.  Overall, the gameplay experience of ME2 strikes a perfect balance across the board:  it offers challenging combat, lots of exploration, plenty of RPG storytelling, all accomplished smoothly and without being frustrating.

The story you play through is not quite as sublime as the first game, but let's face it, the first game's story was so sublime that it's nearly impossible to top.  In this follow-up, the story is good on its own merits, and filled with a plethora of quality characters.  Many characters from the first game are revisited, and your decisions from the first game may impact their reactions or appearances.  What really appeals to me the most about this game, however, is the set-up, which not only drives the entire story, but also defines how you play the game.  The whole point of this game is to assemble a team; your squadmates are not just handed over to you in the natural course of the story, you have to go out into the galaxy and find them, recruit them, and make them loyal to you.  The people you pick, the actions you take, and the decisions you make, will impact the final suicide mission, which is so intense that it's a challenge to get everybody out alive.  If you hire everybody you can and dig into their dialogue options, you'll not only be treated to a wealth of side missions and extra points, but also a strong cast of endearing characters.  It's like one big family of deep and interesting characters.

As before, the worldbuilding of ME is top-notch.  As you explore the galaxy and the characters, you're immersed into a fantastic universe of imaginative planetscapes, fascinating alien races, and some clever sci-fi concepts.  It's a universe I personally couldn't get enough of, and grew to love, on a level no different than the universes of Star Wars, Star Trek, or Battlestar Galactica.

This game uses good graphics quality; it seemed really sharp and clear on its release, but it is showing its age a little (Mass Effect 3 seems to boast the best quality to date).  Levels are well-designed, and each one is filled with distinctive designs for every setting, prop, costume, weapon, creature, and vehicle.  Voice-acting is top-notch; sounds and music are excellent as well.

The first ME game deserves the high points for its gameplay and storytelling.  While ME2 doesn't quite surpass the first game in terms of story, it is my favorite of the trilogy, because it strikes the perfect balance between the combat and RPG elements, and still tells a heck of a story.  It has the most endearing characters, and I thoroughly enjoyed bringing them all together for the fight.

Highly recommended!

5/5 (Entertainment:  Perfect | Story:  Very Good | Game:  Perfect)

Film Review: Escape From New York

"There was an accident. About an hour ago, a small jet went down inside New York City. The President was on board."


"The President of what?" - Lee Van Cleef and Kurt Russell

In this dark dystopian sci-fi adventure, ultimate tough guy Snake Plissken is sent on a mission to enter New York, a city now turned into the world's largest penitentiary with a huge retaining wall, to rescue the President from a group of the roughest and most violent criminals imaginable. Sounds awesome, right?

Escape From New York has all the right elements to make something awesome. The premise, the characters, the settings, and the overall essence of the film are indeed awesome. However, in the hands of John Carpenter, the film moves at a slow and brooding pace. It’s the same creepy, methodic style that makes his other movies - Halloween, The Fog, Christine, The Thing – so effective. For this movie, I never felt that it works as well as it should: the film creeps along so much in the dark that all sense of action and excitement is dampened. When action does hit – a few pedestrian scenes where bad guys throw rocks and sticks, beat and rape a few people, throw Snake into a death match arena, and then finally chase the heroes across a mined bridge – it’s all pretty lightweight, lacking in particularly deep impact or thrills. I can’t help but to think that, in the hands of guys like John McTiernan or Paul Verhoeven, Escape From NY could be the awesomest, pulpiest, and most badass movie out there. As it is, it’s mildly cool, but it never fully capitalizes off of its own potential.

The story this film tells is pretty neat, filled with some far-out sci-fi concepts (ideas that would be replicated in plenty of other films, most blatant of which is Doomdsay). The actual plot is pretty standard; it gives you just enough to the story and characters to understand what’s going on and to kick off the big adventure, but there’s not much depth or exploration offered beyond the surface-level expositions. Characters are pretty flat and lifeless all around, except for Snake Plissken, who is the epitome of cool, with his moody, dangerous, devil-may-care attitude. His character is not only a great antihero, but also a massive influence on other popular characters (remember Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid?). The only problem is, you never really learn much about Snake beyond that surface level; he is as one-dimensional as everybody else.  There are moments where I also wonder if this movie tries to pick at some social themes regarding American society and culture; after all, this is one of America's biggest and most popular cities turned into a total hellhole, and it's the American President caught up in the middle of the chaos.  There are times when it seems like the film is underscoring the ugly undercurrent of social corruption and decay, but these themes never really materialize into anything tangible.

This film uses rather pedestrian photography, in a manner not much different than Halloween. The camera moves and angles are interesting at times, but the shots are so long that they appear pretty indistinctive. Lighting is very dark throughout, for appropriate effect. Editing is good. Acting is generally okay: Kurt Russell is the man throughout, opposite Lee Van Cleef and Isaac Hayes, who also try their best to be tough.  Ernest Borgnine provides a little bit of goofiness to the mix, and Adrienne Barbeau adds a little bit of sex appeal.  Harry Dean Stanton isn't given much to do, and his role is ultimately forgettable.  And, Donald Pleasence is pretty much himself.  Writing is okay; there are a few amusing lines. This movie uses sets, props, and costumes that show some limitations, but get the job done very well. John Carpenter’s music score is pretty darn cool.

Escape From New York has its share of coolness, but it could be cooler yet. It’s not terribly exciting, but it is mildly interesting and mildly satisfying. Given its popularity, the film is a must-see for fans of dark and violent dystopian sci-fi.

3.5/5 (Entertainment: Pretty Good | Story: Average | Film: Pretty Good)

Film Review: The Chronicles of Riddick

"In normal times, evil would be fought by good. But in times like these, well, it should be fought by another kind of evil." -  Judi Dench

A few years after Richard B. Riddick was introduced in the sci-fi thriller Pitch Black, the titular killer returned in this bigger, more expensive, more action-packed follow-up. The Chronicles of Riddick ditches all the horror aspects of its predecessor and focuses much more on otherworldly fantasy and sci-fi action; it finds itself more at home among films like Dune or Star Wars than it does with Pitch Black. This film's style is extravagant, but loaded with high-impact fights, big-scale battle scenes, and highly-imaginative planetscapes. Fans of Pitch Black might be disappointed that the horror has been stripped away from the franchise.

I, on the other hand, find the deviation most refreshing. TCoR expands its horizons far and wide, filling up Riddick's universe with entire planets full of warring societies, exotic cultures, grungy rogue factions, and loads of fascinating technology. There is a massive plethora of cool spaceships, weird weaponry, imaginative worlds, and unique ideas crammed in this film. It makes for a vivid, entertaining, and imaginative piece of sci-fi.

The story is a little derivative. The plot hops around from one act to another, carrying the characters from one fight to another, along a path that's well-worn from plenty of other sci-fi stories. What matters the most, however, is the return of Riddick as a character, who continues to steal the show as the main antihero, once again relied upon as the monster to fight other monsters for the greater good. Other characters are generally flat, but fans may recognize returning characters from the first film, who evolve in interesting new ways. Villains are generally one-dimensional, but while Pitch Black was filled with characters I found unlikable, TCoR has characters I found genuinely endearing.

This film is loaded with style, using quality photography. Editing can get very fast and hectic during the action scenes, although I believe the action scenes in Pitch Black were worse yet. Acting is generally good: Vin Diesel plays it tough and cool as the title character, while Colm Feore, Karl Urban, Thandie Newton, and Judi Dench all do the same. Writing is generally okay. This production uses loads of great-looking sets, props, costumes, and special effects. Music is okay.

This film has a director's cut available on DVD and Blu-Ray, which offers fifteen minutes of new footage. A lot of it is devoted to detailing Riddick's background and heritage, which can be a hit or a miss with audiences.

If you like horror more than action, maybe you'll like Pitch Black. If you like action over horror (like me), maybe you'll like this one better. If you like sci-fi in general, you might like them both (also like me). Altogether, these two Riddick films constitute a unique and entertaining duology that should be worth renting.

4/5 (Entertainment: Very Good | Story: Pretty Good | Film: Good)

Film Review: The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury

"Come to papa, you beautiful bald bastard." - Nick Chinlund

As part of the hype for 2004's The Chronicles of Riddick, this short animation was developed to bridge the gap between the aforementioned film and its predecessor, Pitch Black. It's not a huge gap, per se, but it's enough to warrant some explanation; if you're really wondering how all the characters got separated and where this guy Toombs came from, then this feature will satisfy your curiosity.

This cartoon is pretty short and has plenty of cool action. Riddick takes on a few monstrous villains, with his usual serial-killer machismo. The fights are well-rendered and pretty badass. The overall animation quality is funky and wild, in a matter not much different than Peter Chung's other works (such as Aeon Flux).

The story for this feature is pretty cool. It does its job of connecting the dots between Pitch Black and TCoR, but still has room to develop its own ideas and concepts. The plot is not terribly substantial, and little is added to the characters, but the premise is fascinating.

This flick has pretty cool animation quality: the character designs are really blocky and funky, but highly distinctive. Backgrounds are pretty well-rendered. Some of the movements and computer-animated work can be a little cheap, and the overall detailing is not really mind-blowing, but it all gets the job done. Voice-acting is not bad, writing is okay, and the designs for all the settings, props, and costumes look great.

4/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Pretty Good | Film: Pretty Good)

Film Review: Pitch Black (The Chronicles of Riddick)

"You're not afraid of the dark, are you?" - Vin Diesel

When a starship crash-lands on an arid, desert planet with three suns, the survivors are left in quite a predicament: should they fear the serial killer who's been let loose among them, or fear the monsters systematically stalking them from the dark? Pitch Black is a pretty unique thriller, and a lot of it is in its visual storytelling: it's a brutal universe with oppressive planetscapes, freaky alien monsters, and a whole cast of cut-throat characters.

However, the film has always felt like a mixed bag to me. A lot of it is simply because it's split evenly down the middle. The first half of this film is a survivalist story, with the characters moping around, getting their bearings, and trying to figure out what to do with themselves. With some hushed dialogue and so many character beats to run through, these acts can be rather dry. When the solar eclipse finally hits and all the nocturnal beasties come out, things pick up quite a bit, with frequent chases, fights, and thrills. The experience is marred by the film's style though: a lot of the more exciting parts have some of the most erratic editing and flashing images ever put together, and it can be unnerving.

The film does tell an inherently interesting story though. Most of the characters are pretty dry and flat alien fodder, but one character stands out: Richard B. Riddick, the strong-bodied low-voiced serial killer who doubles as both the story's nemesis and hero. His progression as the anti-hero provides the best dynamics to the story, and it is ultimately interesting how this dark character is pitted against such dark monsters (in essence, using a monster to fight monsters). The film overall is pretty decent and original sci-fi material, but aside from Riddick, it doesn't really have many characters to like or root for.

This film does its best to be stylish and hip. It boasts some pretty decent photography, but it gets really erratic with the editing at spots, using a few too many flashing images and fast cuts for my tastes. Weird color schemes are also dispensed liberally throughout the film's first half. Acting is okay: everybody plays it tough in this picture, especially Vin Diesel, whose performance matches up pretty well with the character. Writing is not bad. This production has okay-looking sets, props, costumes, and locals. Some of the special effects haven't aged well, despite being well-conceived. Music is pretty standard.

This film has an unrated director's cut available on DVD and Blu-Ray, which offers a few extra minutes of dialogue and character-building scenes.  To me, the differences between the director's cut and theatrical cut is very slight, and I find it hard to really tell them apart.

There is a lot to like about Pitch Black, except for the supporting characters, some of the long drama, and the gaudy editing. Horror and sci-fi fans should enjoy it the best, but for most, I'd recommend it as a rental.

3.5/5 (Entertainment: Pretty Good | Story: Pretty Good | Film: Pretty Good)

Travel: Salt Lake City Comic Con 2013

For the first time ever, Comic Con has come to Salt Lake City, from September 5th to the 7th of this year.  For those who don't know, the Comic Con is a major convention for all things comic-book related, although nowadays, it's expanded tremendously to encompass all interests in comics, films, TV, animation (or anime), video games, card games, collectables, art, books, and more.  It usually revolves around all things sci-fi, fantasy, or superhero-related, so the convention is like a Mecca for nerds world wide.  Comic Con has traditionally been held in many major cities around the world, to include San Diego, New York, Chicago, Dallas, Baltimore, and more.  I've been told that ticket sales for SLC have set a new record for most amount of tickets sold at a Comic Con's opening - last I heard, over 30,000 tickets have sold.

For three days at the Salt Palace Convention Center, fans would have the chance to roam around rows and rows of vendors, selling any number of things.  A number of major celebrities were available for autographs, photo opportunities, and probably a few major presentations:  such celebrities included such folks as William Shatner, Adam West, Burt Ward, Ray Park, Lou Ferrigno, Henry Winkler, Kevin Sorbo, and more.  There would be oodles of different events and panels open for visitors to participate in.  The most interesting thing, however, may be the sheer number of visitors coming in costume:  everywhere you look, you could see intricate, detailed, faithful replications of favorite comic, movie, and game characters.  Among the myriad of quality costumes, I was able to identify plenty of Star Wars outfits (most especially Darth Vader, Padme Amidala, common stormtroopers and scout troopers), Star Trek uniforms, X-Men characters (specifically, Mystique), Batman characters (The Joker, Bane), Harry Potter characters, a few Ghostbusters, Iron Man, Spiderman, Gandalf, Inuyasha, Ichigo Kurosake, one of the henchmen from the Crazy 88s, splicers from Bioshock, block-headed people from Minecraft, a soldier from Mass Effect, soldiers from Halo, Warcraft characters, orcs, ghouls, zombies, and lord knows what else.  Even if you don't see much else, just watching the people all around can be a unique experience as it is.

I personally attended the convention solo, wearing nothing more than a Cyberdyne Systems tee-shirt (but heck, it's a grade more unique than all the Superman and Batman shirts everybody else was wearing).  This was my first time attending a convention like this, and I was rather anxious to start with.  I arrived early for registration - even though I've bought my ticket online earlier in the week, it's still necessary to register at the convention center to receive a wristband pass that will allow you to enter and exit the building freely, in addition to a goodie bag, which contained a booklet and poster.  Then I had to wait for the actual event to open; I was an hour early, but there were plenty of other people waiting already.  The line was already extending out the door and wrapped around a length of sidewalk that was partitioned off with caution tape.  As I waited, the line continued to grow, until it wrapped around the block and past the front of the building.  Once the doors opened, the line moved pretty swiftly; after standing in the heat for so long, it was pretty refreshing to enter the wide-open air-conditioned building.

Once inside, I was overwhelmed with a vast stretch of stalls and booths, selling all manner of comics, graphic novels, manga, artwork, videos, games, and paraphernalia.  I pretty much spent my time combing through the aisles, looking for interesting stuff (in addition to gawking at the costumed visitors all around).  Among the more interesting sights, I got to see a full-sized R2D2 roaming around, some Ghostbuster equipment that was actually glowing, and some kind of Fear Factory display, which included a painted bus, some large scary statues, and some zombies running around.  The Weta workshop had a stand set up as well, displaying some weaponry and make-up work from The Hobbit films (they also showed a sneak peak of the upcoming Desolation of Smaug film, but I somehow missed it).  There was also a big display set up with all kinds of intricately-designed Lego sets (which included an Arabic palace, a working train, the flying aircraft carrier from The Avengers, and some Star Wars vehicles, among other things).

Among the cool things I picked up from the stalls, I took the opportunity to buy some inexpensive comics that I've never heard of before (something called Xenoholic? The guy told me it was good), a couple of graphic novels (Red Sonja omnibus, and Unique), some cards and a playmat for Magic:  The Gathering (I believe the mat is exclusive to the convention), a couple of pieces of artwork from a fellow named Ken Meyer Jr.

Afterward, I figured I should attend a panel, to see what wisdom I could get from one of the many guest speakers.  There were many possibilities, but I opted to attend one concerning how to become a bestselling author in the modern publishing environment.  The speaker was author Aaron Patterson; he explained his experience with e-book publishing, underscoring its key advantages, and he provided a basic overview of what to do.  The man seemed pretty well-off through online publishing, and it sounds like a simple and beneficial solution.  It also sounds like a lot of time and money to invest in it.  I did walk away feeling a little more enlightened and motivated, but it also had me considering additional aspects that I never gave much thought to before.

After that, I felt I had enough, for I was feeling exhausted.  I know there are probably a million more things I could have divulged more in:  I could have attended more panels or events if I really planned it out better, I could have asked for more pictures of costumed guests, and I never did meet any major celebrities or anything.  However, that is not to say that the trip was a waste at all:  it was a unique experience that was satisfying, and generally way more fun than I imagined it would be.  Despite the size of the crowd, I felt well within my element there.  I'm certain that SLC will continue to host the Comic Con annually, and I'm certain that I would go again.  Now that I've tested the waters a bit with this type of thing, I'll probably be more involved next time.  Maybe I should go dressed as Alucard from Hellsing...hmmm...

Music: All About Celldweller

I haven't really written much about my favorite music, but I always intended to.  What better way to start than on the 10th anniversary of the debut album of one of my favorite bands:  Celldweller.

Celldweller is one of those bands you've probably heard repeatedly on TV and in video games, but never realized. This band consists primarily of just one dude:  Klayton, a performer and DJ from Detroit.  In the 90s, he was the front man for a band called Circle of Dust (of which I haven't heard anything, but they've put out five albums).  Celldweller debuted in 2003, and has been sporadically active since.  Klayton's second Celldweller album wouldn't come out until 2012, but in between, he produced a conceptual soundtrack and a plethora of remixes and exclusives.

I'd classify Celldweller's music as a form of industrial metal, for it is hard, intense, and highly energetic.  Most of their songs have strong beats, rip-roaring guitar, loud screamy vocals, and a strong undercurrent of electronica.  It's not all noise though:  many of the band's music incorporates orchestral elements, and most songs have strong, structured, catchy melodies.  The songs convey a certain mood and style that's distinctively futuristic or otherworldly (songs from the latest album, Wish Upon a Blackstar, are especially spacey in nature).

I first discovered Celldweller around 2004, after playing the video game Enter the Matrix, and looking at the game's music credits for cool stuff to download.  A huge variety of other songs have been featured in movies, games, TV shows, and commercials across the board.  Celldweller has been slow in producing actual CD albums, but their songs are usually readily available as MP3 singles and downloads in various online stores.

I've collected as many of Celldweller's songs as I could, going so far as buying their physical CDs whenever available.  I find this brand of music very catchy, invigorating, and inspiring.  Many of these songs have not only been great for everyday listening, but have also been hugely inspirational for my writing.  Many Celldweller songs have seeped into my playlists, inspiring the most exciting and far-out ideas I've conjured.

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DISCOGRAPHY

Celldweller (2003)

The band's self-titled debut hits pretty hard and fast:  the opening song "Switchback" is one of the band's biggest and most recognizable hits.  The energy rages on consistently with such songs as "Stay With Me (Unlikely)," "The Last Firstborn," "Symbiont," "I Believe You," and "Own Little World." Things get a little more downbeat and moody with "Frozen," a song which directly inspired one of my sci-fi novels.  I really admire the beat and guitar work of "Unlikely (Stay With Me)," and something about "So Sorry to Say" has always felt uplifting.  However, the experience is brought down just a tad by a few songs I never cared about (namely, "Under My Feet," "Afraid This Time" and "Fadeaway").  Despite a few quibbles, the album is pretty solid.

This album was just recently re-issued as a 10th anniversary edition, featuring a bonus disc crammed full of great bonus content.  Biggest standouts include a cover of "Tragedy," which I feel beats the living snot out of the original Bee Gees version.  Plus, "Shapeshifter" is included, a smashing song made in conjunction with Styles of Beyond, but was sadly never featured in any of Celldweller's main albums.  The disc also includes a number of unreleased demo songs and a number of fairly awesome remixes. "Ghosts," in particular, is becoming a new favorite of mine.

The Beta Cessions (2005)

But wait, there's more! Celldweller also produced this companion album to their self-titled debut, which features the entire Celldweller album without the vocals.  If you really want to hear the hard-hitting beats, synthesized sounds, and guitar without Klayton's voice, then this album makes for an excellent soundtrack-type of experience.  Another disc includes a wealth of alternate versions of certain songs, plus a few exclusive songs (including "Goodbye" and "Kemikal").






Soundtrack for the Voices in My Head Volume 1 (2009)

One of two albums Celldweller has made that's designed as a conceptual soundtrack.  Most of this album is instrumental, featuring fantastic and otherworldly soundscapes that could effectively set the stage for any sci-fi or fantasy adventure.  Chances are that you may recognize such tracks as "Through the Gates," "Solaris," "Surgical," "Animatronic," "Descent," or the various versions of "Ursa Minor" from film trailers or games (I do distinctively remember hearing "Ursa Minor" in the trailer for the movie Surrogates).  "La Puerta del Diablo" is probably one of the scariest tracks I've heard, for even though it's a slow and moody track, it's just plain creepy.  A few preliminary versions of the song "Birthright" are also included.  This album has become an essential part of my collection, for it provides a versatile inspiration for any number of stories I've created.

Wish Upon a Blackstar (2012)

I was actually pretty hyped for this release:  Klayton had actually released parts of this album from 2009 onward.  This whole project was rolled out in a novel-like fashion, with each new single released as a downloadable "chapter" of the larger piece.  I had a pretty early exposure to the songs "Louder Than Words," "The Best It's Gonna Get," and "So Long Sentiment," which are all catchy as hell.  Upon listening to the whole album, I came to enjoy "The Lucky One" the best, for its catchy lyrics and strong pulsing beats.  A similar energy is achieved in "Blackstar," "Unshakable," and "I Can't Wait."  There's something about "It Makes No Difference Who We Are" I find most addicting.  The album achieves some pleasing ambiance with "Memories of a Girl I Haven't Met" and "The Seven Sisters."

The album overall could be listened to as a continuous story.  I've never listened closely enough to the lyrics to discern a plot per se, but Klayton himself articulated the basic moral being "be careful what you wish for." The blackstar itself is a otherworldly motif that harkens to a far-out and imaginative setting.  In spite of the album's spacey appeal, it has been a major influence on my writings; "The Lucky One" is probably my most-played song, for it was inspirational for one of the action scenes in my superhero-themed novel.

A number of outtakes from this album actually appear on the bonus disc of the Celldweller 10th Anniversary release.

Soundtrack for the Voices in My Head Volume 2 (2012)

In addition to Wish Upon a Blackstar, Celldweller also released another conceptual soundtrack album.  Gamers everywhere would get a kick out of "First Person Shooter," which is an intense and hard-hitting composition that would be perfect in a shooter game.  "Shut Em Down" is one of the awesomest songs of the lot, featuring the same manic energy, but with dramatic orchestral parts.  The same sense of drama and intensity is echoed in "Earth Scraper," "Senorita Bonita," "Scandroid," "Pulsar," "Solid State Playmate," and "Heart-Break." Things mellow out just a bit in "Empyrean," which still boasts a steady beat and menacing synthesized sounds.  "Venus," and the epic 19-minute track "Adrift on Celestial Seas," offer a more gentle, poetic, and elegant sense of otherworldly splendor.  Best of all, the album also features the song "The End," a variant of "Welcome to the End" was was featured in the band's first album. "The End" starts off slow, but the last minute or so just explodes in a crescendo that's both furious and elegant.  A lot of the songs in this album have been influential in my writing.

The Complete Cellout Volume 1 (2012)

This album pretty much consists of remixes, and they aren't all bad.  Only the opening 30-second intro track is new, but every other song is a familiar hit from the group's other albums.  It's still a highly-energetic and stylishly-electronic experience, and it can be interesting to hear favorite songs mixed in fresh new ways.

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AL'S FAVORITE SONGS