Pirates II
I have seen Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest twice now, and thought I wuould take a moment to scribe a few of my thoughts on it.

First of all, it is not a movie to watch when you're tired and would rather be home in bed because you have to be up the next monring. I went with my friends Pat, Leanne, and Jon to see the midnight show opening night. I've never really been to a big geek premiere event like that, and man was it interesting... in the row in front of us were about a dozen or so high-school age kids, all done up like pirates and such.

However, the movie is long -- about two and a half hours -- and (as I mentioned) not one to watch when you'd rather be snoozing. My impressions of the movie were colored by this fact, and the fact that it had been... I don't know how long since I'd seen the first one.

Anyhow, on first viewing I thought it was better than Superman Returns (if you've read my review of that, you know that's almost damning with faint praise), but still nothing spectacular. The kids in front of us (kids... geez I'm old) seemed to be really into it, and had a good time, but my thought was, "Man... these guys will suck down whatever pop-culture fad is shoved at them."

Anyhow... I went and saw it a second time this past Tuesday with my wife, my parents (who are up visiting from Maryland), and (again) Pat and Leanne. I enjoyed it more the second time around -- it's still a long movie (probably about half an hour too long) with a bit too much exposition, but I was able to pick up bits of detail that may come into play into the third movie (and there will be a third movie -- the film ends on an obvious cliff-hanger, and some of the third movie has already been shot).

My recommendation -- see it, but if you haven't seen Curse of the Black Pearl in a while, it might behoove you to go back and check it out first.

Also, I am so itching to play in a pirate-themed game right now.
- posted by Josh @ 8:04 PM (0) comments

 
We have books -- for real!
I woke up this morning to find a wonderful email in my inbox from Jim Flowers, line developer for Earthdawn:

After a (too) long wait, we are pleased to advise that printed editions of RedBrick's Earthdawn books are now available from:

http://www.lulu.com/redbrick

At time of writing, only softcover versions of the Player's and Gamemaster's Compendiums are available. Ardanyan's Revenge will be added soon, and hardcovers are going through a final proofing cycle now. We will advise separately once they become available.

Should you wish to leap in and grab copies of these books, there are some gotchas that you need to be aware of.

Firstly, the shipping costs on the books vary markedly depending on where in the world you live. This is something that is out of our control, but we would recommend that you play around with ordering single books as well as multiples to see if you gain from it. Also, if you have a group, consider pooling your purchases to save on shipping. We are now able to work through the process of getting our books into the distribution channels -- via Amazon, at a minimum -- but we felt that you needed to know up front that there is additional cost here. We have no ETA as to how long Amazon, et al, will take; best estimate is 4-6 weeks at time of writing.

Secondly, Lulu partners with printers in the United States (for US customers) and Spain (for International customers). While RedBrick Limited has made every effort to ensure that you receive a quality product from a content perspective, because of the nature of POD (Print On Demand) printing, we cannot guarantee that books from two sources will be identical. Also, please make sure that you keep a record of your Lulu transaction and if you experience any problems with print quality, you will need to complete a Trouble Ticket. Details on shipping and Lulu's return policy are available from the Lulu web site at this link. RedBrick will be happy to help as best we can with any problems you might have, but you do need to be very aware that we have no direct hand in the printing process, and we are not in a position to replace books.

All-in-all, however, we are extremely happy with the quality of the POD books. We hope you are as well!

- posted by Josh @ 7:21 PM (0) comments

 
Review of "Doctor Who"
Back again, with the promised review of Season One of Doctor Who -- this is the season we just finished in the States. I know our friends over in Great Britain are already into Season Two (and I am so jealous). I also know that the season ended here three or four weeks ago, but I only got around to watching it this past weekend.

Anyhow... I enjoyed the series overall. I've been a fan of Doctor Who for years... ever since I was a sprout catching the series (with Tom Baker as the Doctor) weeknights on WGBH out of Boston.

This most recent season (with Christopher Eccleston) captured some of the playful magic I remember from the old days, with a bit of weary darkness; Eccleston's Doctor has seen and done a lot more than Baker's, and is also profoundly alone on many levels -- he's the last of the Time Lords, and he seems burdened with the knowledge that all things come to an end. In fact, I get the impression that while the Doctor doesn't want to end his own life, he does have a death wish. In a nice piec e of irony, however, it is when his life is most at risk that he feels the most alive.

The grounding aspect of the series is, as usual, in the hands of the Doctor's companions. In this season, he is accompanied by a present-day (by our standards) young woman named Rose Tyler, played wonderfully by Billie Piper. In the second half, the two of them are joined by Captain Jack, who brings a more traditional 'action hero' flavor to the cast.

For me, the highest points of the series are "The Doctor Dances" (the second part of a two-part World War II era story) and "Boomtown" which, while rather slowly paced and talky, did much to provide insight into the current Doctor's state of mind.

The series finale was solid, if a bit post-modern (setting up 'parodies' of several high-profile BBC reality shows), but ended with a healthy does of deus ex machina; Rose becomes the recipient of phenomenal cosmic power, and rewrites recent events as if they had never happened. In order to save her life, the Doctor takes the power into himself, leading to his regeneration.

Despite the occasional misstep that happens along the way, the first season of the "new" Doctor Who is fun, and provides a nice counterpoint to the realistic , harder-science darkness of Battlestar Galactica. If you're familiar with the original series, this show (out on DVD in the U.S. tomorrow, actually) should conjure some good memories for you. If you're not familair with it, this 13-episode season is a great starting point to dive into the long and expansive history of this British science-fiction classic.

I give the first season of the new Doctor Who a B+.

- posted by Josh @ 10:05 AM (0) comments