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Restricted Fantasies
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Are you living in a simulation? If you aren’t now, you soon will be. The technology is fast...
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Mekkin B. (122 KP) rated Writing Excuses in Podcasts
Feb 22, 2018
15 Minutes Long, Because You're in a Hurry and They're Not That Smart
I've been an avid follower of this podcast for years. Every episode is a concise 15 to 20 minutes surrounding a discrete topic on the subject of writing and storytelling. All four authors are fairly well known sci-fi, fantasy and horror genre authors, so the advice does tend to be more geared towards those interested in writing genre fiction, but perfectly applicable to anyone who wants to learn how to write a compelling story.
I love the format. I'm not a huge fan of the rambly format of some other hour + long podcasts. I feel like I zone in and out listening to podcasters attempt to make a point. That's never the case with Writing Excuses. Ironically, the short format that probably accounts for this also makes me wish there was more!
Plus they include a book recommendation and a writing exercise as "homework" every week, which I have found to be particularly useful.
If you're interested in writing, I would definitely give Writing Excuses a listen.
I love the format. I'm not a huge fan of the rambly format of some other hour + long podcasts. I feel like I zone in and out listening to podcasters attempt to make a point. That's never the case with Writing Excuses. Ironically, the short format that probably accounts for this also makes me wish there was more!
Plus they include a book recommendation and a writing exercise as "homework" every week, which I have found to be particularly useful.
If you're interested in writing, I would definitely give Writing Excuses a listen.
Sarah (7798 KP) rated All the Birds in the Sky in Books
Sep 20, 2019
A good blend of genres
All the Birds in the Sky is a rather difficult book to classify. It’s a rather good mix of sci-fi, drama, fantasy and romance, all under the guise of a battle between magic and science. I wouldn’t have thought such a mix of genres would work, but actually this does rather well. The two main characters, Patricia and Laurence, are well developed and enjoyable to read about, even if they are a little frustrating at times. The world of science and magic that they live in is an interesting idea and fascinating to delve into, although I did feel that the book didn’t quite go into as much detail as I’d like. I also felt a little disappointed with the ending. The entire book had been building up to this massive battle between science and magic, and it all turned out rather lacklustre and tame. It’s a shame really as until the ending, I’d rather been enjoying the story and couldn’t wait to find out what was next.
Robots vs. Fairies
Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe
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A unique anthology of all-new stories that challenges authors to throw down the gauntlet in an epic...
Age of War: The Legends of the First Empire Book 3
9.0
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The epic battle between humankind and their godlike rulers finally ignites in the masterful...
fantasy
Gareth von Kallenbach (977 KP) rated Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV (2016) in Movies
Jul 15, 2019
It seems like just last week that the creators of the Final Fantasy game franchise sought to bring their vision of the universe they created, and their story, to the silver screen. Well, okay. It wasn’t last week. It’s actually been about 15 years since this really took place in 2001.
I remember being extremely excited for Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, but the movie itself escapes me today. I think the lack of a lasting impact could have to do with those same creators scrambling to find the distinction between a wide-release movie and a game they’re already heavily invested in. After re-visiting the film, I remember my initial thoughts and they remain the same today. The nowhere-near-photo-realistic animated characters battled and chased each other to and fro in a tale that made little to no sense, with or without the rules of the (bad for its time) computer animated gamescape it’s all set in.
Flash back forward to today, another Japanese made FF movie makes its way to the screen via Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV. Kingsglaive represents a quantum leap forward in animation and design, if not a great leap in mo-cap technology and story. The images are far more flexible, more mobile, and more tactile; though, the faces still lack expression, much less what anyone could called subtle or nuanced. The backdrops are striking and surreal, on a par with many of the big sci-fi and fantasy films hitting theaters these days.
But, take away the advertorial nature of Kingsglaive, ignore its use as a cheat sheet, prep for the players of various corners of the game world it depicts, and deal with it as a story with characters and incidents anybody not devoted to the game would watch, and it’s the same old, same old when it comes to FF. It remains a misshapen mash-up heavy with sci-fi fantasy exposition and a back story so convoluted that a single two-hour movie cannot encapsulate it.
Kingsglaive dwells mostly in the realm of fantasy, inside a universe of medieval castles, steampunk weaponry, armor, and creatrues. A world where the Kingdom of Lucis faces a new threat at the end of an uneasy peace with the Niflheim Empire. There’s a magic crystal (of course there is) and the only warriors King Regis (Sean Bean) trusts to defend it are his Kingsglaive, who are empowered by the magic of their sovereign. There are tusked wildebeest warhorses. You would think these would be the point of reference when someone shouts, “Release the DEMON!” But no, they’re actually talking about war crabs – crabs that spit out a hailstorm of fireballs.
The stakes are high, and there’s been quite a bit of intermixing of Lucians and Niflheimers in the “hundred years of peace”, but anti-immigrant backlash rears its ugly head. Taunts and slurs against the immigrants are present, as is there a wall – who says video game movies can’t be topical. With the immigrants who must prove themselves, there are good soldiers, an evil prince, all with tongue-twisting names like Lenafreya Nox Fleuret, should you choose to try and remember them.
The dialogue, delivered by the likes of Aaron Paul and Lena Heady, could have been better. Though I don’t so much blame the voice talent as much as I do the script itself, with classics like “Get back here alive! That’s an order!” and “You speak of matters beyond the wall.”
Probably the biggest thing most movie fans will remember, is the name of the city under threat. It probably has the silliest name this side of Raccoon City. They call it, Insomnia. Which is kind of ironic, because Kingsglaive may be a cure for the condition for some.
I remember being extremely excited for Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, but the movie itself escapes me today. I think the lack of a lasting impact could have to do with those same creators scrambling to find the distinction between a wide-release movie and a game they’re already heavily invested in. After re-visiting the film, I remember my initial thoughts and they remain the same today. The nowhere-near-photo-realistic animated characters battled and chased each other to and fro in a tale that made little to no sense, with or without the rules of the (bad for its time) computer animated gamescape it’s all set in.
Flash back forward to today, another Japanese made FF movie makes its way to the screen via Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV. Kingsglaive represents a quantum leap forward in animation and design, if not a great leap in mo-cap technology and story. The images are far more flexible, more mobile, and more tactile; though, the faces still lack expression, much less what anyone could called subtle or nuanced. The backdrops are striking and surreal, on a par with many of the big sci-fi and fantasy films hitting theaters these days.
But, take away the advertorial nature of Kingsglaive, ignore its use as a cheat sheet, prep for the players of various corners of the game world it depicts, and deal with it as a story with characters and incidents anybody not devoted to the game would watch, and it’s the same old, same old when it comes to FF. It remains a misshapen mash-up heavy with sci-fi fantasy exposition and a back story so convoluted that a single two-hour movie cannot encapsulate it.
Kingsglaive dwells mostly in the realm of fantasy, inside a universe of medieval castles, steampunk weaponry, armor, and creatrues. A world where the Kingdom of Lucis faces a new threat at the end of an uneasy peace with the Niflheim Empire. There’s a magic crystal (of course there is) and the only warriors King Regis (Sean Bean) trusts to defend it are his Kingsglaive, who are empowered by the magic of their sovereign. There are tusked wildebeest warhorses. You would think these would be the point of reference when someone shouts, “Release the DEMON!” But no, they’re actually talking about war crabs – crabs that spit out a hailstorm of fireballs.
The stakes are high, and there’s been quite a bit of intermixing of Lucians and Niflheimers in the “hundred years of peace”, but anti-immigrant backlash rears its ugly head. Taunts and slurs against the immigrants are present, as is there a wall – who says video game movies can’t be topical. With the immigrants who must prove themselves, there are good soldiers, an evil prince, all with tongue-twisting names like Lenafreya Nox Fleuret, should you choose to try and remember them.
The dialogue, delivered by the likes of Aaron Paul and Lena Heady, could have been better. Though I don’t so much blame the voice talent as much as I do the script itself, with classics like “Get back here alive! That’s an order!” and “You speak of matters beyond the wall.”
Probably the biggest thing most movie fans will remember, is the name of the city under threat. It probably has the silliest name this side of Raccoon City. They call it, Insomnia. Which is kind of ironic, because Kingsglaive may be a cure for the condition for some.
Ross (3284 KP) rated One Word Kill in Books
Dec 4, 2019
Nothing original but a good read
Mark Lawrence has stepped out of the fantasy bubble into this loosely sci-fi trilogy set in the 1980s. 15 year old Nick is diagnosed with cancer and while undergoing chemotherapy starts to have strange visions and deja vu. A mysterious figure seems to be stalking him and his D&D friends, and he ends up planning a siege to help this person from the future.
The story is very short (a little over 200 pages on kindle), but is quite heavy on the 80s references and D&D gameplay. The story itself is nothing new but with a little more head-scratching time travel/parallel universe pseudo-science crammed in. The twists throughout the story are fairly predictable and cliched.
The dialogue also doesn't feel like authentic 80s teenager speech to me, a few too many Americanisms ("hey" instead of "hi", "do it, already" etc).
A reasonably enjoyable short book, but a little Stranger Things bandwagon-jumping to me. I'm not sure whether the other two books carry on the story or how, so I will be interested to see where they go from here.
The story is very short (a little over 200 pages on kindle), but is quite heavy on the 80s references and D&D gameplay. The story itself is nothing new but with a little more head-scratching time travel/parallel universe pseudo-science crammed in. The twists throughout the story are fairly predictable and cliched.
The dialogue also doesn't feel like authentic 80s teenager speech to me, a few too many Americanisms ("hey" instead of "hi", "do it, already" etc).
A reasonably enjoyable short book, but a little Stranger Things bandwagon-jumping to me. I'm not sure whether the other two books carry on the story or how, so I will be interested to see where they go from here.
