Video Game Review: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

"Fus Ro Dah!" - best spell ever

One of the best virtues of video games is that they transport the player into a whole new world, plants that player into a character's shoes, and let them live as that character.  Of all the role-playing games I've played, none has been more captivating, more beautiful, and more open-ended than Skyrim.  The game's first chapter lets you build your character, offering a fair amount of options to shape the look and race of the character, before throwing you into the heat of battle.  Then, you're pretty much free to run off into the wild blue yonder and do whatever your heart desires.  Follow the main story path, and you'll become a wicked dragon slayer and hero.  Or, explore the hundreds of locations on the map, pursuing potential careers as a thief, a wizard, an assassin, a bard, treasure hunter, demon hunter, or you could just wander around aimlessly.  You can get married, or not.  You can be an upstanding citizen, or not.  You could become a vampire or a werewolf if you wanted.  The possibilities of this game are amazingly endless, and playing it feels like living a second life in the shoes of an adventurer.  With the game's gorgeous locales and intricate level designs, I've blown well over a hundred hours in exploring, fighting, customizing, and experiencing the stories this game embodies.

Gameplay is quite intuitive with practice.  It ingenuously gives the player the power to go anywhere and do most anything with the mere push of a few buttons.  It may require a little patience to wait through some of the loading screens and to wade through the menus, but for the most part, the game runs smoothly and sublimely.

The story is pretty fun to play through.  It builds your character up as a mythic hero of sorts and has you doing a fair amount of exploring and fighting.  There are quite a few cool bits of folklore, myth, and ideas that pop up to make the story stand out.  As noted above, one of the key benefits of this game is that the story is not a requisite for playing; you could ditch it altogether and do your own thing.  What matters here is that the world is built up with incredible precision and detail.  It goes to prove that it's not the destination that matters, but the journey.

The one real negative about this game is that it is prone to frequent freezing on the PS3, and glitches are common.  The game will strain resources, largely because the autosave feature makes the save file bigger and bigger until the console gets stuck.  Patches, and maybe turning the autosave off, will help the issue a bit, but it hasn't stopped many gamers from bashing on this game, calling it an inferior product that should have never seen the light of day.  Frankly, even though the problem has been frequent for me, it's never been enough to dissuade me from playing.  Nor has it stopped me from admiring the awe-inspiring graphics.  AI can be pretty nutty, but it's still pretty amazing how the programmers set up the NPCs to live and work like real people.  This game spared no expense in designing and incorporating thousands of usable props, weapons, armor, artifacts, reagents, characters, and everything else.  Voice-acting can be cheesy.  The music score for this game is one of the best.

Despite some technical issues, I've found the game addicting, gripping, and alluring in every good way.  It's become my top favorite game of this generation (outclassing my last favorite game, Fallout 3).  Every serious gamer should give Skyrim a playthrough.

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

Film Review: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

"The world is not in your book and maps. It's out there!" - Ian McKellen

Ten years ago, I laid eyes on Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and instantly fell in love. I realized pretty quickly that it was the perfect combination of style and substance: a film so loaded with story and detail, but also had enough style and action to make the experience truly epic. This experience would only be supplanted by The Two Towers and The Return of the King, the latter of which has taken its place as my personal number-one favorite movie.

After so many years of legal battles and creative turmoil, The Hobbit is finally adapted for the big screen. If anything could displace the Lord of the Rings as my favorite film trilogy, I was certain that it would be The Hobbit; if for no other reason than I found Tolkien’s The Hobbit is a far easier and funner read than LOTR, and I always knew that there would be moments that would make for excellent cinema.

Despite the underwhelming reviews and reception, I found The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey satisfying; it met my expectations perfectly. I won’t deny, however, that the film overall feels like a long-labored attempt to force lightning to strike twice. Not only because of all the story padding, connections to LOTR, returning stars, and the splitting of the story into three films, but also insomuch as trying to craft new iconic characters out of Bilbo and Thorin to mirror Frodo and Aragorn respectively. I think the thing that really gets on people’s nerves is the sheer audacity in taking a single book (one that was previously adapted into a humble, bite-sized 79-minute cartoon) and exploding it into a 500-minute franchise. Thus follows the common complaints that the films are too long, too padded, too big for their own good.

Personally, none of these factors really affected my enjoyment of the film.  The only real drag I felt was in the opening act; the Shire scenes seemed to take a good while to wrap up. Once the party hit the road, the film explored the big plot points I remembered well from the novel’s first third, complete with awesome rip-roaring action. The film’s final act is pretty jam-packed with loads of orc-slaying mayhem. Above all, however, the film has a nice sprinkling of humor and character throughout, keeping things lightweight and even. I think the most memorable and satisfying of scenes, however, will be the major encounters that I remember fondly from the novel: outwitting the three trolls, for example, or the riddle scenes with Gollum, are all brought to life perfectly on the big screen.

The story for The Hobbit is as quintessential of a fantasy adventure as, well, Lord of the Rings. The film not only does a fine job of packing in loads of events, characters, and fine details from The Hobbit’s original narrative and story, but it also ties in some content from The Silmarillion and the appendices of Tolkien’s books. A lot of this is incorporated to make tangible ties with LOTR, allowing the film to serve as a proper prequel, while digging up additional subplots, conflicts, and details to layer onto all of Peter Jackson’s Middle-Earth films. Yes, the film could have all these extra scenes cut out, making the film trimmer. Frankly, I liked it the way it is. Some of the scenes helped me understand certain nuances of The Hobbit’s politics and backstories. Some helped in the nuances of established characters and events (especially in regards to chronicling Gandalf’s whereabouts, who would otherwise just pop in and out randomly, like in the book, but it would have probably alienated audiences further). Some is purely invented for the film series to streamline the continuity (purists might be outraged when they see Radagast on screen). It’s a bit early to tell where The Hobbit is going with all the threads it has grabbed, but it does serve a purpose in the long run. If nothing else, it’ll help average audiences connect and understand the Middle Earth on a deeper level, and set things up for later events in the next two films.

As expected, the film looks splendid, with quality photography and editing. I’m especially pleased to see that the filmmakers dropped the shakey-cam effects that were dispensed in the fight scenes of LOTR; just about every shot in The Hobbit is solid and steady. Acting is pretty decent from the whole cast; aside from all the familiar faces, Martin Freeman plays Bilbo with the right amount of nuanced uptightness, while Richard Armitage plays it tough as Thorin, and every other dwarf actor does their best to make their characters stand out in their own neat ways. Writing is great; the script adapts as much as it can from the novel, while allowing the film to breathe on its own. This production is loaded with excellent sets, props, costumes, and special effects. Music is nice too.

Perhaps I’m biased, because this is another film where I see nothing really wrong with it. If anything, it feels like more of the same as LOTR, with the same construction as Fellowship of the Ring.  Even if it is a blatant cash-grab, drawing out the material across three movies to maximize the franchise, it is still a fair crowd-pleaser. Given that we still have the desolation of Smaug and the Battle of the Five Armies to witness on the big screen, I’m certain that An Unexpected Journey is but a small taste of greater things to come; things that may prove to be as epic, if not moreso, than LOTR! At the very least, the film does perfect justice to the original novel, while delivering a fine spectacle. I couldn’t ask for a finer film.

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

Film Review: Koyaanisqatsi

From the Hopi language, Koyaanisqatsi is a word that roughly translates as “crazy life,” or “a life out of balance,” or perhaps more appropriately, “a way of life that calls for another way of living.” Incidentally, that’s exactly what this film shows:  no plot or story, just a document of the modern age of man, far out of balance from nature, which calls for human beings to adapt to their own constructs.

This film doesn’t offer any conventional story with any characters; it’s purely an experience built from images and sound, to illicit thought and feeling in the viewers.  Both the images and music are beautiful in their own ways:  with Phillip Glass’ epic, well-structured music score, the film takes on a palpable rhythm and mood that perfectly accentuates the gorgeous scenery.  The film plays around a lot with time-lapse footage and slow-motion, which serve to show common cityscapes in an invoking new way.  Altogether, the film is as hypnotic and mesmerizing as it is thought-provoking.

This film was cobbled together from all kinds of footage filmed across the United States from 1975 to 1983, with a tight budget.  Regardless, the filmmakers show superb prowess with their photography and editing skills.  At least on a technical level, they’ve maximized their potential and tools to craft an audio/visual masterpiece, weaving the images and music to the themes implied with the term Koyaanisqatsi.

As far as the content goes, like any piece of art, it’s left to the viewer’s interpretation.  The most opaque of themes will revolve around civilization’s progress, the depletion of nature, and the effects of technology and industrialization on the human race.  There are times in the film where humanity seems triumphant, and other times where it feels like it’s spinning out of control in a downward spiral of chaos and destruction (especially in one of the film’s final shots, depicting an Atlas-Centaur rocket exploding; it’s a sequence that’s always hit me the hardest, given the combination of imagery, music, and the overall theme that human civilization rises so high, but will eventually crash and burn).

Watching this film is not only a treat for the eyes and ears, but also a sobering, moving experience unlike any other.  I believe it truly represents the best and worst of the human race in the modern age, and everybody should see it at least once in a lifetime.

5/5 (Entertainment:  Perfect | Content:  Perfect | Film:  Perfect)

What I Think About the Mayan Doomsday Theories and the 2012 Phenomenon

For years, a monstrosity of pop culture sensationalism, pseudoscience, and wack-job doom chanting has been rubbed into our faces.  The monster of the 2012 doomsday phenomenon has its supposed basis in the Mayan long-count calendar, which ends on December 21st 2012 (or, may be offset slightly to read as December 22nd 2012).  Not only does this date align perfectly with the winter solstice, but it also matches up with the galactic alignment (in which the Milky Way will line up with the precession of the equinox).  Chances are that the date lines up with other astronomical or cultural phenomenon.  This has led to people speculating over an exorbitant number of disastrous theories:  Planet X will collide with the Earth, the galactic alignment will cause the magnetic poles to shift and wreak havoc, some other alignment (such as with the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy) will wreak havoc, some photons from another planet might affect us, some random far-away star might go supernova, or aliens will invade the Earth.

Is there really any credence to these theories.  If nothing else, they all sound outlandish.  Science and fact tells us that they are indeed.  Alignments with the galaxies, the galactic black hole, and other stellar bodies have happened throughout Earth’s history, without any discernible impact on us.  The Earth has even undergone magnetic polar shifts before, without causing a catastrophe.  In fact, such shifts occur over thousands and thousands of years, so slowly that we’d never know it’s happening.

If there is a Planet X or Nibiru on its way…then where is it? NASA has publicly announced that there is no discernible threat to the Earth.  Even if you say that they might have missed something (or, as the most paranoid of people might claim, they’re covering something up), wouldn’t we be able to see a whole planet coming up to us? It’s not like some random planet is going to zoom up to us, crossing entire light years of space, in a matter of seven days.  Even if it does (assuming it travels at hypervelocity), why would it shoot straight at us? Wouldn’t the combined gravity of the sun, and the solar system’s larger planets, affect such a planet’s trajectory? The idea of having a rogue planet zoom into our solar system in a straight and narrow path never made sense to me.

What’s left to believe? If you believe the movies, maybe the sun will send out a solar burst that wipes out the planet.  To which I still ask, where’s the proof?

The problem here is that it’s all too easy to get caught up in the hype of things.  We have people who really believe that these things will happen, and try their best to rationalize their theories.  We have people who constantly bring it up, either as a joke or a conversational topic.  Then we have people who listen to it all and take the alleged threats seriously (as I see people in China have already done).  The date, 12/21/12, has been brought up all over the news, in all the movies and video games, on occasional TV specials, in books, and all over the Internet:  people can’t help but to listen to the theories and wonder (and fear) what could happen.

I’ve done my fair share of research regarding the matter, and my conclusion is this:  I’ll bet that nothing happens.  If for no other reason than the real experts – the scientists and the Mayan experts – have nothing that conclusively proves beyond all reasonable doubt that the world will indeed end.  Per what I’ve read, the ending of the Mayan long-count calendar doesn’t mean that the world will explode or anything.  The Mayans never believed that.  If anything, they believed that humanity might change, but everything else will stay the same.  In fact, they believed in a spiritual shift, like the ending of one era and the beginning of another, for the human race.  Now that sounds nice, doesn’t it?

Heck, even the calendar itself never really ends.  It’s circular in nature, with 12/21/12 representing the start of a new b’ak’tun (the thirteenth, to be exact, and a b’ak’tun is a unit of 394 years).  Over the past year or so, in Guatemala, a new Mayan site was excavated, which included a lunar table with calculations that run on for the next 7,000 years.  So, how can they predict stuff that far in advance, if they thought the world would end now? The answer is, they never believed the world will end now.  The experts would go on to say that the 2012 doomsday theory is a pure perversion or fabrication of Mayan myth and culture, running totally contrary to their beliefs.

Sure, I say all this now, but suppose December 21st comes and a rogue planet suddenly does appear and smash into ours.  Oops, I guess I was wrong, and I would be the first to admit it.  I won’t deny that there is an inherently morbid fascination with apocalypse theories:  they’re scary, interesting, insightful, and sobering all at once.  I wouldn’t doubt that the human race is heading for some kind of disaster, one way or another.  I won’t even deny that there’s still a possibility that something could happen on December 21st.  I just don’t think it’ll be a rogue planet or stellar alignment or anything else wild like that.  I certainly don’t put any stock that the Mayans knew it was coming.  I would much rather believe that, if anything happens, it’ll be something cultural, political, spiritual, or environmental in nature:  an event that could alter all our ways of thinking and steer our crazy modern society in strange new directions.  That, I can believe, and it would fit with the Mayan concept of the passing of ages.

And if I’m still wrong and our planet is crushed…well, there’s nothing anybody can do about it.
I, for one, won’t let this flimsy doomsday theory get to my head.  I’m not going to dump my money, my possessions, or my day job over all this.  As far as I’m concerned, December 21st will be business as usual (I might just keep my eyes on the news and the sky, just out of curiosity).

This would be the second major doomsday scare I would have lived through.  I still remember sitting around January 1st, 2000, waiting and wondering with fear and wonderment if there really would be a Y2K incident.  Nothing happened, and it was a relief.  One can’t help but to look back and think about how silly it all seemed.  I think chances are good that we’ll look back on 2012 in the same fashion.

Film Review: Total Recall (2012)

"The past is a construct of the mind. It blinds us. It fools us into believing it. But the heart wants to live in the present." - Bill Nighy

This film has received its fair share of outrage. In this day and age with all kinds of films being arbitrarily remade for a quick buck (like Footloose, of all things), Total Recall comes off as just another tired remake. What makes it worse is that the original Total Recall is one of those films that's firmly established its status as a classic science fiction picture; I've known many fans who've expressed their disgust over taking Paul Verhoeven's pulpy masterpiece and practically desecrating it.

Frankly, the hate is justifiable, given that this remake hits up all the same plot points but changes so much around. One could probably spend pages comparing Len Wiseman's film to Verhoeven's, and highlighting everything that made the original better.

That being said, there are things I enjoyed about the remake. A lot of things, actually. The film definitely has action and spectacle: the cityscapes rendered here are among some of the best I've seen since the Star Wars prequels (and they do bear a lot in common with Blade Runner), and serves as a very interesting setpiece for a constant barrage of fight scenes, pursuits, and huge explosions. The action is pretty cool, and I was especially enthralled by the hovercraft chase in the middle of the film. There is a little bit of drag in the first half of the film, but otherwise, I found it most enjoyable.

The plot is pretty much a clone of the original 1990 film, just swapping out specific aspects and the setting. Mars is no longer a major setting; it's all set on a pair of highly futuristic megalopolises. Surprisingly, I believe this is one change that actually benefits the film: as crowded and condensed these cities are, there's finally a logical reason for having the Rekall virtual vacations in this universe. Additionally, the film does show a lot of really cool futuristic things that appeal to sci-fi nerds like myself: I was really intrigued to see a man using his hand as a phone, or to see an entire building fall through a tunnel running through the core of the Earth.  Above all, the overall look, style, and tone of the film matches up really well with the type of sci-fi adventure that Phillip K. Dick (author of the original story this franchise is based on) is better known for.

Problem is, all the originality in these few parts don't make the sum of the parts original. Characters don't really stand out much, and the story overall just feels like it's using the structure of the original film as a mere template for all the action scenes and cool ideas. All style and no substance. It figures.

The most criminal omission in the story would be the ambiguity of whether or not the events of the film are "real." In the original, you could conclude that it was all in Quaid's head. You can't in this new version; it's not a mind-bender by any means. In fact, it's the opposite.

Say what you will, I still find the film slick and stylish, as expected with a Len Wiseman film. The opening scenes proved to be a little painful on the eyes, with the lens flares and intense strobe lighting, but I was grateful that it didn't persist for long. Otherwise, I enjoyed the camera work and editing. The actors do the best they can: Collin Farrell is the man, while Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale put on their typical tough-girl acts. Writing is not a big standout. This production has a ton of great-looking sets, props, costumes, and special effects. Music has some cool parts.

As expected, the new Total Recall offers a lot of spectacle and cool new toys, but the original is still the best. Sci-fi fans and action junkies might want to give this new take a look; it's about as good (or as bad) as something like The Day The Earth Stood Still remake. If that just appalls you, then you might want to keep your distance.

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

Film Review: Doomsday Book

This film presents three futurist-themed stories, which either directly or indirectly hint at apocalyptic overtones.

The first story (called Brave New World) is a simple zombie-pocalypse, brought on by some kind of mutant food poisoning. As this one dude turns into a zombie, he's also searching for the girl of his dreams. Plenty of gnarly violence and partying ensues.

Unarguably, the most worthwhile story will be the middle one (entitled Heavenly Creature), in which a robot at a Buddhist temple attains enlightenment, and everybody tries to figure out what to do with him (or it, depending on perspectives). While this story seems to move the slowest, it's most interesting for its philosophical implications, especially in regards to Buddhism; the story does a fine job of underscoring the key Buddhist themes of materialism, perspectives, and cycles of life. Even if you don't care for all that, the film will spark some good brain activity with the simple moral notion of whether or not it's wise to terminate a spiritual robot.

The final story (Happy Birthday) is easily the most absurd: a little girl breaks her daddy's 8-ball, and orders a new one online. The 8-ball appears two years later...as a meteor traveling at hypervelocity. The end of the world ensues.

Each story offers a little of something: a little bit of quirky humor, a little bit of heart, a little bit of style, and even a little food for thought. Even though Heavenly Creature will stand out as the strongest work of science fiction, which comes close to approaching Isaac Asimov levels of greatness, Brave New World is an entertaining thing to watch, and one can't help but to appreciate how straight Happy Birthday plays out. This might be one of the best (and maybe coming close to strangest) anthology of short films I've seen since the Tokyo! anthology.

Despite some stylistic excess in Brave New World, each film is crafted with superbly stylish photography and editing. Acting and writing are impeccable all around. The films use just enough sets, props, costumes, and special effects to tell their stories, and is quite effective.

If you're a fan of Korean cinema, science fiction, or end-of-the-world stories, then I do recommend giving this film a try.  As a fan of all three, I found it quite enthralling.

4.5/5 (Entertainment: Very Good | Stories: Good | Film: Very Good)

Writing Prompt: Character Backstories and Histories

At today's writing group session, we partook in the following exercise:

Write a biography for one of the characters you want to put into a novel or story.  Should include:

• When and where he or she was born.
• Information on family members (mother, father, siblings, anybody else relevant).
• His/her fears.
• His/her ambitions.
• His/her hobbies.
• Likes and dislikes.
• Line of work.
• Physical description.
• Temperament.
• How he/she dresses.
• What does this character want more than anything else in the world?

Just about all of these aspects go into creating a quality, realistic, full-depth character.  And writing a full description and biography concerning the character's background and motivations will unlock their psychology, making it incredibly lucid for incorporating the character into the draft in a deep and resonant manner.  I've found first-hand that it is way easier to incorporate a character with all his or her thought processes, quirks, personalities, and history when it is jotted down beforehand.

Thus, either as a story or as a straightforward factual article, this prompt calls for telling the life story of a character, with all of the above being taken into consideration.  It really does help.

My own attempt at this exercise is below, for a character I may employ in a potential sequel for a novel I've recently finished.  This guy's history could be a novel in itself.  I wrote it from the perspective of another character:  a crime boss who hires the guy.  Enjoy!
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So you want to know about Mel Galton? He's easily the best of the business! There are days when I wonder if he's more machine than man.

Mel was born in the slums of Atlantia, a real hellhole of a city floating in the middle of the ocean.  Of all the cities built after the Great Floods wiped out most of the world's landmasses, Atlantia was considered the most free:  no corporations, no police, no government, just a hobbled collection of hoods on an artificial island, all working as a loose republic to try and survive.

So, Melburne Anthony Galton was born all-natural from a poor young woman who worked at a scummy restaurant; I suspect she was sometimes employed for more occasional jobs that required some discretion, if you know what I mean.  In spite of that, Mel and his mother never really knew who the father was:  it could have been any number of "customers."

It wasn't easy raising Mel in a dump like Atlantia.  She did her best to make money, keep herself and the kid fed and clothed and everything.  To make things easier, Mel took it upon himself to find his own means of surviving.  He learned to fight, to stand up for himself, and to do whatever it takes to get the food, clothes, cash, and whatever else he needed to survive.  Together with his mother, they got along pretty well for a time.

By the time he was a teenager, Mel was a natural-born hellraiser, and in some other life, he probably would have taken over my place as the boss of the NeoVegas casino ring.  But as it is, Mel's mother came down with a nasty form of cancer.  They didn't have much money to afford surgery, and quality surgeons were pretty rare in Atlantia anyway.  Mel had to find a lot of cash fast.  He hopped on over to NeoVegas, came up with his own system to try and beat the House.  It didn't work; I know, because I caught him.  I gave him a choice:  work for me, or get thrown into the deep sea to say "hello" to the sharks.  The kid was tough and a smartass, but he made the right choice in the end.  For a good while, he was a bouncer at my casino.

He made good money, but not in time to save his mother.  When he went back to Atlantia to find her, she was gone.  Her employers had relocated her for their convenience.  Mel was understandably angry.  He took it upon himself to track her down.  I think that was the first time he got a real mission worth fighting for, and a real taste of real action.  He tracked down all the leads he could, pummeling thugs and low-lives until they pointed him to the next person in the food chain.  They led him to a particularly nasty part of town, and he found her in a scuzzy little locked room.  They took care of her cancer long ago, using some hack-job back-alley surgeon.  With unclean tools and unauthorized nanite tech, she had some pretty grotesque complications.  They kept it under wraps with an endless supply of drugs.  Mel got to see her just long enough to watch her slip away; he said she felt no pain or sorrow, thanks to the drugs.

From that day onward, Mel decided he found his calling:  he became a mercenary.  He wasn't just any merc though; he put all his faith into genetics, to pump up his body, his mind, and his skills.  Even without the implants, the man is pretty buff.  He's hard to miss with his handsome face with the narrow cheeks, those calm Earthy-green eyes, and that mess of short black hair.  He usually wears his usual get-up:  heavy-duty cargo pants, a plain black shirt, a kevlar vest, sometimes a leather coat, and bandoliers for all the guns, knives, and grenades his job may require.  Yeah, he always looks like he's ready for war.  Maybe because he knows that it's the survival of the fittest, everywhere, everytime.

I couldn't tell you what the guy wants.  I asked him about finding a girl, settling down, and having a family.  At this point, he has enough dough to retire.  He just told me that fighting is in his nature, and he could never settle down.  It would take one hell of a lady to tame this beast.
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I realize after the fact that I failed to mention these characteristics:

• Fears:  at this point, I'm not entirely sure.  As hardened as this character is, I think a more abstract type of fear would befit him, such as fear of betrayal, fear of love, fear of stability, or a fear of society or authority figures.
• Hobbies:  I'm toying with the idea of having him play guitar in his spare time.
• Likes/dislikes:  gambling, womanizing, drinking.  Could be a total party animal, but generally isn't.  
• Temperament:  calm and stoic, but he has his share of attitude, and if pushed, he can have a rather bad temper.
• What does this character want more than anything in the world? At first, his sole prerogative is to live for the next mission, make money, and live for the moment.  In time, he may learn to settle down and find peace, if he finds the right woman...

Video Game Review: inFamous

"Every man is guilty of the good he did not do." - Voltaire

I still believe that the biggest allure of video gaming is that it empowers the player.  It's actually become quite commonplace to play a game that thrusts superpowers into the players hands, allowing them to perform impossible stunts and clear out entire armies of enemies in the safe confines of a digital environment.

Infamous offers more of the same, but with bigger emphasis on moral choice.  As the game's title suggests, you're not going into this game expecting to be loved or praised as a superhero.  All your actions will have consequences, steering the story into morally ambiguous ground; you'll either be a hero who's misunderstood and slandered, or a righteous supervillain.  Moral choice is the key element to this game; you can either run around, blowing everything up without any consideration of consequences, or you can tread carefully and try to save the people you run across.

This game is presented as an open-world sanbox type of environment, much akin to games like the Assassin's Creed series, Grand Theft Auto IV, or [Prototype].  You're given (mostly) free reign over the fictitious Empire City, which is sprawled across three islands that gradually unlock more and more as you progress through the story.  The islands each have a wealth of missions, side-missions, and collectables to pour through.  You'll be busy for hours exploring the islands and obsessively unlocking all their secrets.  That is, unless you find yourself constantly getting ambushed by the rabid gangs that have taken over; it can be nerve-wracking to always get shot at by these gangs, but doing the side-missions and clearing out territory helps make life a little easier.  The overall meat of the game, however, has you fighting off these gangs with your magnificent electric superpowers.  By the game's end, you'll become a nearly-invincible superman who can float on static power, shoot electric beams from your hands, and even summon lightning storms from the sky.  It's pretty darn awesome.

The story is pretty sound, overall, and with the moral choice angle, it offers plenty of thoughtful consideration and implications.  By the game's end, it offers a fantastic twist ending that really makes this game more of a mind-bender.  Characters are well-developed, especially with the narrative voice and structure.  Overall, for a video game, it's a very impressive piece of work that's seamlessly woven into the game's mechanic.

Despite its ambition, the game looks a little rough around the edges.  Although the city designs and overall artwork is great, the texturing and rendering is a little cheap, giving everything a simple and cartoony look (something that's much improved in the sequel).  Still, the game plays very smoothly, with intuitive controls and fluid movements.  Voice-acting is pretty good, even if it is a little cheap at times.  Music by Amon Tobin is really funky (and I loved the end credits song).

The game does a fine job of shoving both power and responsibility into the player's hand and telling a quality story around it.  This game is highly recommended to all!

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

Writing: Finding the Time

One thing I often hear from other people is that they never find the time for proper writing.  And it's a perfectly understandable problem:  it takes hours and hours and hours to write out a full-length novel.  Even a good short story will take time to draft, proofread, rewrite, and submit.  When you have a day job, or a family to provide for, or a really busy social life, or you're on the road a lot, it will be near impossible to find the time to sit down at a desk in a totally distraction-free environment.

With life itself sucking up all the hours of a day, how does one find time to write anything?

There are ways.  If anything, doing the National Novel Writing Month challenge has taught me that it's not too hard to squeeze in 1,667 words a day for a straight month.  Here are my views and tips for finding the time to write:

First and foremost, you need the discipline.  Not everybody has the fortitude to sit down for hours on end; writing can be a rather tedious and lonesome hobby.  You'd have to be really motivated by your story ideas and imagination; it will need to possess you to try and express your ideas in words.  So before you really devote yourself to a project, you'll need to ask the hard question:  do you have what it takes to write? Are you the right person for a given story?

If you're past that point, then you may want to consider setting up a proper timeframe to tackle your writing.  Maybe you can block off a couple of hours every evening.  Maybe in the morning.  Noontime.  Before, after, and heck maybe even during work.  If you set aside the time, you can let your friends and family know that it is your time and you don't want to be disturbed under any circumstances; so long as they're trustworthy, you should have the peace and quiet you want.

If you're just so busy that there's absolutely no time you can block off for yourself, then you'll just have to wing it.  I personally carry around a notebook everywhere I go (to work, on trips, in town etc), so I can draft things by hand if I have any down time.  Transferring hand-written text to the computer takes hardly any time or brainpower, so if anything, it helps in the long run.  I also endeavor to keep a smaller notebook in my pocket at all times, to jot down any additional ideas that may come to me throughout the day.

All that being said, it can still be difficult to produce anything, even if you do carry around a notebook or block off time for yourself.  Inspiration and motivation can hit you at any time, and it won't always synchronize with your schedule.  Another writer I met referred to these feelings as "hauntings," because the urge to write can haunt you.  Ideally, you should probably run to the nearest computer and write your story right when the "hauntings" happen, but if this is the middle of the night or in the middle of work or something, you'll just have to wait.  Or, you may have to improvise and write in a notebook or something.  Either way, flexibility in your routine may help you.  It may also behoove you to seek some other form of inspiration to cut through any blocks you may have.  In the end, however, you'll never be able to create a system that aligns perfectly with your "hauntings," so it's best to build the discipline in some form or another.

Once you get started, it may help to establish a deadline.  Try and shoot for so many words in a day.  Try and finish something by the end of the month.  Having a deadline may motivate you to get the story pumped out.  If you write 1,667 words a day, you'll have 50,000 by the end of the month; that's only six pages a day.  You might seriously surprise yourself with how many words you can fit into a few hours' work.

Even if you peck at it little by little, you will accomplish something and be well on your way to producing a tangible manuscript.

Travel: German Christmas Markets

As November came to a close and Christmas fast approaching, the Christmas markets all across Europe opened for business.  The markets in Germany (called the Weihnachtsmarkt in German) are a pretty big deal:  most, if not all, major towns and cities will have their streets packed with rows and rows of stalls and kiosks selling all kinds of wares and food.  There are markets available in France, Belgium, Poland, and various other countries as well; I had the good pleasure of seeing the Strasbourg market in France several years ago.  Regardless, the German ones have always had me coming back for more.

The welcome sign to the Ruedesheim Christmas market.

On this trip, I stuck with the few markets I knew the best.  First of all, there's the International Christmas market in Rüdesheim.  This town is a pretty nice place along the Rhine river, situated directly across from the sprawl of Bingen.  The entire Rhine river area is a gorgeous place, with acres of vineyards covering the green hills, and with all its distinctive towns and villages lining the shores of the wide, smooth river.  Just driving along the river roads will treat you with some magnificent views of numerous ruined castles, while the towns offer some unique options for shopping, dinning, and wine-tasting.  Rüdesheim specifically caters more for tourists, offering a few more amenities that international visitors may appreciate.  Their Christmas market gathers up vendors representing different nations, including goods from Finland, Mongolia, Italy, and more.  You can expect to find a modest array of foods, including sausages, meats, breads, chocolate, nuts, and more.  Some of the goods sold include such things as ornaments, trinkets, clothing, and rugs.  Comparatively, it's not as big or impressive of a market as you'd find in much bigger cities (or possibly in more popular smaller towns like Rothenburg).  It's best enjoyed for its atmosphere, and on nice days, its views of the river and surrounding hills.

Fake reindeer watching over us...

This cute locomotive-shaped stall sells chestnuts roasting on an open fire.

The Christmas bus is in town!

As I wandered around and took various pictures, I stopped for a drink of amaretto.  Funny thing is, I always thought amaretto was a coffee flavor rather than a stand-alone drink, so you can imagine my surprise when the stuff gently burned my throat and warmed my stomach, with the smooth and potent allure of alcohol.  It was strong, but I loved it! If nothing else, the various Christmas markets are never in short supply of warm drinks.  Not only are coffees available, but there's also a wonderful winter's drink called Glühwein (a spiced wine, or mulled wine, that's served hot; it's strong, but also somewhat sweet and it warms you up real good).  Most of these drinks are served in mugs, and upon purchase you'd pay a deposit (or a pfand) for the mug; if you want, you could keep the mug for yourself, or return it to get your money back.

Amaretto, partially consumed.  It kinda looks like a beer now, doesn't it?

Rüdesheim probably represents the low point of this trip.  Afterward, I went through the city of Wiesbaden.  It's a pretty big city, but most of its downtown amenities can be seen within a sizable walking distance.  The city has a number of nice parks and some really gorgeous buildings (along with plenty of clean modern buildings).  Within the city center is a large red cathedral (the Marktkirsche) with an expansive plaza, and here you'll find a sizable assembly of market stalls.  On top of the usual array of ornaments, trinkets, and food, I also beheld a wealth of nutcrackers, glowing paper stars, glowing lamps, candles (some of which were made of beeswax), wooden figurines, and much more.  They also had a few rides and a puppet show for the kids.  In the middle of the city (a little further away from the market), there was a Ferris wheel with some cool glowing lights all over it.  At night, strings of lights will come on, with glowing flower patterns glowing over everybody's heads.

One of those rotating Christmas pyramid thingies, near the Wiesbaden Marktkirsche.

Candles galore.

A wall of masks.

Puppet theater, entertaining audiences of all ages for centuries.

Lastly, I got to visit the market of Mainz, just across the river from Wiesbaden.  Mainz offers some unique sights of its own, with its citadel, museums, oodles of statues, churches, and river-side views all packed together.  Walking across the bridge to the area of Mainz-Kastel not only offers a decent view of the river, but also leads to some very ornate graffiti art all along the walls in the tunnels beneath the bridge.  As far as the market goes, it offers a lot of the same as what's been listed above, in addition to some great leather materials, metal signs, and more food.  Lighted displays in this city are pretty decent as well.  It's all centralized around the Mainz dom (cathedral), which is a pretty awesome building in itself.

The Mainz dom, with the Christmas pyramid in front of it.

Lamps...so much color, it's awe-inspiring...

Glowing paper stars; just a few of jillions that I must have seen on this trip.  And all of them are awesome.

I spent four nights at the Mainz Hilton, visiting all these places and occasionally relaxing around the local area.  The Hilton is certainly a nice hotel that offered a comfortable stay and a good breakfast buffet.  I ate out just a few times; restaurants in Germany do offer some great food at times.  For the most part, however, I was content to stick with the occasional market food.  There are always stalls selling bratwursts, pizzas, hot meat sandwiches, and more.

Kartofelpuffen (potato pancakes, sorta), is another fine market delicacy that can be enjoyed here.  Served with apple sauce (although a strawberry sauce was made available as well).

That's basically the extent of my trip.  By the end of it, the markets were starting to fill up more and more; in the evenings and weekends, it can be very aggravating to worm your way through wall-to-wall people.  Ultimately, most markets sell the same variety of goods anyway, so after a few days, I was content.  I came home with a bag full of candied nuts (probably my favorite thing from these markets), some gifts for others, and a wealth of pictures.  I can't be certain as to whether or not I'll have the opportunity to go back to these markets again; having seen, bought, and devoured everything I wanted to, I can walk away from it feeling gratified with the memories and the photographs of these wonderful marketplaces.

Nutcrackers, wondering where their nuts are at.

I certainly recommend visiting a Christmas market to any traveler.  The ones posted here are certainly worthwhile looking at.  The market in Rothenburg (a nice walled town made famous for its well-preserved medieval architecture and astronomical clock) should be a must-see.  I remember the market in Trier being good as well.  I've never been to the Stuttgart market, but from what I've heard of it, it was "just okay." You probably can't go wrong with markets in the bigger cities (Berlin, Munich, Dresden, Köln, etc).  Also, the market in Strasbourg, France, is decent.  All these markets usually open up at the end of November and run throughout December.

Standard market scene at the Mainz Christmas market.

Fröhliche Weihnachten!