Back in February, I shared my favorite song from each ‘Miracle of Sound’ album.
This proved to be very difficult, as there are so many great songs there!
Top 10 Songs from ‘MoS: Level 1’
My Cabin Trip to The Planet Hoth
In 1997 I, my younger sister, my father and my mother all stayed at a cabin in Finse, a small mountain village in Hordaland county, Norway. Also known as Hoth.
Five Essential Marvel Movies
‘Avengers: Infinity War’, the most recent film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was just released, and it was wonderful!
If you are someone who has not indulged in the Marvel films yet, this 10-year anniversary is not the best place to start, as it is somewhat of a naval-gazing celebration of the world that Marvel Studios have created over the years, and therefore a bit confusing to newcomers.
If you have time, you should see all the 18 movies that preceded ‘Infinity War’ before seeing it.
But if you don’t have that much time to spare, here are the four movies I think you need to see to get an appreciation for what people love about these films.
1 – The Avengers
This was the culmination of Iron Man 1 & 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger.
Despite being the sixth movie in a series, you can easily start here, as the film-makers anticipated a much bigger turnout for this film than the others, and therefore made it easily accessible for new viewers.
I would also still rank this as the best of the movies, but only barely as the latest films have all been incredible. By watching this one first, you can pretty quickly find out if this series is something for you or not.
2 – Guardians of the Galaxy
Thanos the Abuser
I watched the new Marvel movie ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ a few days ago, and I have a few thoughts about its main villain Thanos, and his relationship with his “adopted daughter” Gamora.
Beware mild spoilers for ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ and ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’!
Why You Should Play Games
For some gamers, it can be difficult to realize that not everyone understands their hobby. Gaming has grown so much in popularity that it can now safely be considered mainstream, so it is easy to overlook that there are still many people baffled by the popularity of this media.
So this article is for those of you who don’t quite know why you should play video games, but is interested in finding out.
Source Code – A Retrospective
This is my contribution to the Time Travel Blogathon hosted by Silver Screenings and Wide Screen World. You should check out all the other posts aswell!
The film I am covering is the=&0=&, directed by the great =&1=& (who just released his new film ‘Mute’ on Netflix).
Admittedly, this is kind of cheating.
Source Code is not technically a time travel story, but it does work with =&2=&
Time Travel Stories
I love time travel in fiction.
That is one of the main reasons why I love Doctor Who.
I love how this storytelling device can put ideologies from vastly different cultures, separated by decades or centuries, up against each other. By doing this, we can compare them, and find strengths and weaknesses in both. It can also just lead to funny jokes, or cool imagery, like a medieval knight riding on a velociraptor and wielding a laser sword.
The Best ‘Miracle Of Sound’ Songs
I recently rediscovered one of my favorite musicians, Gavin Dunne, aka Miracle Of Sound.
.
I usually spend my listening-time on podcasts, but when I am in the mood for music, I like stuff that has lyrics worth paying attention to.
That often means comedy or musicals (e.g. Hamilton), but Miracle Of Sound also fits in that category.
Gavin Dunne often takes a video game, movie or tv-show, and makes a song based on it. The lyrics always reflects the events and spirit present in the works he draws on, in a very interesting way.
I like all his music, but I love the songs based on something I am familiar with the most, as those hit me in a way that the ones based on works I don’t know could not.
.
I have here tried to find my favorite song out of each of his main albums (the ones named “Level #”), while also trying to keep my choices as diverse as his various music styles.
If you like this stuff, you can buy his albums here!
Here goes!
.
Level 1: Sovngarde Song
“Level 1” has the most tracks out of all of these albums, so this was a very hard choice to make. ‘Sovngarde Song’ presents the awesomeness that is Skyrim, the fifth Elder Scrolls game.
This is a more recent remaster, but it is still the same song, so I felt that would be ok.
.
Level 2: Take It Back!
This was a song he got to make as promotion for Mass Effect 3, back before that game came out.
Such a good war-anthem, pumping you up to reclaim Earth from The Reapers!
.
Level 3: Dream Of The Sky
Listening to this song again is what gave me the idea to write this whole thing.
The song has so many aspects, just like Bioshock Infinite itself!
.
Level 4: Forever Blue
Both a deep dive into the psychology of the main character of Breaking Bad, Walter White, AND a pun on the color of the meth he makes.
Good stuff!
Top 5 Songs from Level 4
The Scully-Burger
“Mulder, mushrooms aren’t medication.
They taste good on hamburgers, but they don’t raise the dead.”
– Dana Scully
Fans of the television show The X-Files may have noticed that
FBI-agent Dana Scully really likes mushroom.
The Hits and Misses of the Doctor Who Christmas Specials
Many years ago, I noticed a trend in the quality of the Doctor Who Christmas specials.
From my perspective, they alternate each year between “very good” and “not so good”.
I will try to make my case below, by ranking each episode from 1 to 10.
Keep in mind that I rank these up against other Doctor Who episodes.
All of these are worthy entertainment, I just judge Doctor Who on a whole other scale!
1965s The Feast of Steven (part 7 of The Daleks’ Master Plan) – Disqualified
Doctor Who and The Black Star
About a year ago, I wrote a script for a Doctor Who comic book where the titular alien time traveler The Doctor from the BBC TV show, meets the music legend David Bowie, and then they battle robots with sick guitar jams!
Was the uncanny valley in “Star Wars: Rogue One” really that deep?
A lot of people are talking about how the Star Wars: Rogue One was effected by The Uncanny Valley. But was it really as bad as everyone is saying?
.
When the last Star Wars Movie “Rogue One” came out, a lot of people criticised it for its use of Computer Generated Imagery to recreate dead and aging actors.
The movie’s story was set just before the events of the original Star Wars movie from 1977, and featured cameos from the characters Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia.
.
But the actor who portrayed Tarkin, Peter Cushing, was now dead. And the actor portraying Leia, Carrie Fisher, had obviously aged over that time.
So they tried to recreate their original look with CGI. While the attempt is impressive, something is off about the way they look.
The CGI looks almost like a real person but not quite, resulting in a hideous aberration.
.
This effect is called The Uncanny Valley.
Here is a video from Extra Credits explaining the concept further.
But I would like to contest that the face-CGI in this movie is not as bad as we think.