Siren: Blood Curse

In this post I will be talking about the survival horror game Siren: Blood Curse for the ps3.

Just in case any of you were wondering, no, this game isn't about killer merpeople. Though that would be awesome!

This game is available on the disk or as downloadable content through the playstation network and is the sequel to the ps2 game Siren or Forbidden Siren depending on where you live. It is a survival horror game, lots of dark places, hard to find weapons, and noises that might stick with you for a while.

As for the plot, a bunch of Americans (of course) find themselves in a strange and multidimensional Japanese town. Most of these Americans are part of a film crew, so that much is believable, but the stereotypical arguing divorced couple brought their young daughter for the soul purpose of losing her in the midst of a bunch of zombie bug monsters that bleed from their eyes. That character has a less believable reason for being there. Another character in this crew is an African American man who couldn't fall into anymore 'Black Guy' horror tropes if he tried. He's the first to die, he has a really stereotypical name, he talks in a way that's only a smidgen above rap lyrics.

In a totally random coincidence there is another American there, Howard Wright, who was on a school trip. A school trip where he was all by himself. His main purpose in the game is to get shot. A lot. And at one point, lit on fire. I don't think he's enjoying his trip very much.

I mean, these are the memories I want to savor from my vacation. That and the searing pain as I was burned alive.

Game play wise, I don't feel like this one is much different than other games aside from it's linear path. This isn't a sandbox game, there are very definite paths you are supposed to follow. Playing involves a lot of running, hiding, and utilizing this feature called sight jacking wherein you can take over the site of other characters around you, including enemies. This is a nice feature when you are hiding as it allows you to see when the bad guys are about to break into your hiding spot and beat you senseless.

About the beating you senseless thing, you can't kill any of the enemies without a weapon. Weapons that are not provided to you. Weapons that you have to search for and find.

What sells me on this game is that it's done in missions. I can't speak for the disk version of the game, but the downloadable one is episodic with a recap of what you've done before at the beginning of each episode. This works for me as, anyone who knows me can attest, I have a very short attention span when it comes to video games. I will stop playing for weeks on end, by the time I get back to the game I've forgotten where I was or what I was doing. The episode lengths are just the right length that I want to play, and the recaps really help me remember what I'm trying to do.

This style of gameplay isn't for everyone, of course. But so far I've found the game enjoyable and worth the not very expensive price I paid on the playstation network.

Johannes Cabal

Hey, it's been a while. I come with book offerings though, so that should make up for something.

This time around I will be talking about one of my favorite books series. Of course, it might not be the books themselves, but the character.

This is the cover of the second book. I don't think I need to tell you the title.

Johannes Cabal.

For those of you that aren't in the know he is a necromancer of some infamy and he is one of the best depictions of an antihero I have seen. Written by Jonathan L. Howard, Johannes Cabal gets himself into some pretty hairy situations wherein he only manages to escape by the skin of his teeth.

Not starting small, the first novel, Johannes Cabal the Necromancer, that Cabal appears in has him going wit to wit with the devil in a Faustian deal of epic proportions. In a complete turn around, the second book, Johannes Cabal the Detective, pulls itself in from the fantasy element and goes into more steam punk territory featuring a murder on the Orient Express situation. If the Orient Express were a dirigible, that is. I have not yet had the pleasure of reading the third installment, Johannes Cabal and the Fear Institute, but I'm told it involves dreams.

There are other short stories that Cabal has appeared in, one in which he goes up against another necromancer who has discovered a secret to eternal life, even if it's not in a way that one would expect. The other short story is one that I have not been able to get a hold of, but it is entitled Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day. This title brings to mind a grumpy Cabal wandering through some picturesque woods with a young boy and possibly a piglet of some kind.

The overarching plot that connects all of these stories is something that is not terribly unique. At it's heart, this story is a romance, but don't let that color any of your perceptions about Johannes Cabal. He is rude, socially inadept, and has no real qualms about sacrificing whomever to whatever in order to achieve his goals.

Cabal is not an antihero in name only. He actually plays the part and he plays it well. You end up not only sympathizing with this character at the same time you are also aware that he is not a nice person and is kind of on the morally different side. To give you some clue, Cabal's older brother, Horst, is a vampire but he has more humanity to him.

These stories are very entertaining; they are witty, satirical, and sometimes just absurd but they keep you wanting to find out what other adventures Cabal can come up with.

Bunraku

Or, the-movie-I-only-watched-because-I-think-Gackt-is-hot-but-then-actually-ended-up-enjoying-so-much-that-I-went-out-and-bought-it-the-next-day-so-now-I-have-to-find-some-way-to-pay-the-co-pay-on-my-next-doctor's-visit-maybe-someone-will-take-pity-on-me? Maybe we should just call it by its real name, Bunraku.

Released in 2010/2011 and directed by Guy Moshe, Bunraku stars Josh Hartnett, Gackt (my first reason for watching the movie), and Woody Harrelson as the three heroes. A drifter, a samurai, and a bartender that stand up against The Woodsman (played by Ron Perlman who seems to be in everything these days).

This movie is a mishmosh of styles; pulling things from film noirs, westerns, samurai movies, and comic book movies. Bunraku isn't the first movie to do this, but it is one of the few that manages to do it successfully and doesn't come off as being horribly pretentious or just flat out trying too hard to be cool.

If movies were all teenagers in a high school, Bunraku would be the movie that could blend in with any of the little movie cliques. Well, maybe everyone except the Romantic Comedy cheerleaders. They wouldn't like Bunraku just because Bunraku was going around being popular without joining the cheerleader squad and might actually think that the cheerleading uniforms are ugly because we need better school colors. But Bunraku doesn't really think that, because Bunraku is too cool to care about such silly things as cheerleader uniforms, it needs to go out and raise the money to buy a really cool car. Or maybe to save kids with cancer.

Maybe it's not the smartest movie out there, and it's certainly not going to leave people trying to dissect the plot or leaving many mysteries behind, but it is very enjoyable. The plot isn't very deep. Mysterious strangers come to town (our heroes) and then get in fights with the bad guys that run the town. That's pretty much the entire plot minus a few details. Sometimes, though, a movie doesn't need any more plot than that. We can't all be vague enough in plot and details to leave people wondering about the deepness of our meaning or if maybe we just missed something as an audience or that maybe the movie really isn't that deep and because we want to feel smart as an audience we are projecting. I'm looking at you here Inception.

It could also be that I was just distracted by the style of the sets. The title itself comes from a style of Japanese puppet theater and the way this movie moves calls back to that. The way things are styled, the plot, the characters all could be translated into a movie done with puppets. Now I kind of want to see the Muppets take on this movie. Kermit could be the drifter!

This is a very colorful movie, in a sort of muted way. I know that doesn't really make sense, but it might after I attempt to explain myself. Blue is a very prominent color in this movie but it is a very vibrant blue. It's blue that you KNOW is blue. This isn't no blue that could sort of be purple if you squint it's motherfucking BLUE. There are other colors that make appearances too, and they all tend to follow this same badass, you better know what color I am cause I'm going to be right up in your face, baby.


Anyway, I do recommend this movie. Go watch it. NOW.

That Sultry Swinging Jazzland Sound

Alright, Adele. She's the current voice in music that I can't escape no matter how hard I try it seems. Don't get me wrong, I like her songs well enough. I find them enjoyable and catchy enough that I will sing along with them in my terrible, husky, ravaged voice while others cover their ears in pain. No seriously, it's that bad.

No, my problem with Adele stems from the fact that I just can't get away from her. Every station it seems plays her songs. The same two songs. I'm not kidding. I've switched from one station playing alternative rock to a station playing "soft hits" and THEY WERE PLAYING THE SAME SONG! I just can't get away from her.

Then one station got the brilliant idea to play a live version of "Rolling in the Deep". I didn't find it very well done. Adele didn't sound anything like what she did on her cd. I am willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, though, and decided that it might have just been that recording.

Still, she's being touted as a powerful woman and a good role model because her body type doesn't fit in with the norm. My issue with this line of thought is that, as far as I can tell, all of her songs are about men. She doesn't have any songs talking about her going off on her own without a man. They are just about her needing a man or being sad about a breakup.  Maybe with more albums her songs will branch out, but so far she's put out three albums of just about the same song.

I think there might be another artist in the same genre that should be getting the recognition that Adele currently is. Personally, I think Fiona Apple has a much better sound and her songs are more varied in theme. She really fits the bill of having empowering songs.

I am aware that personal tastes differ, and I've only shown a limited selection of each artists' songs, but to me Fiona Apple is the better artist overall.

Bioshock

This review will contain no less than four different subjects. All for the price of one!

If you couldn't tell this one is gonna be about Bioshock!

Personally, I think these are the best games ever. The story, the detail, the characters that were put into it, the atmosphere. Everything is so tied together. I know some have complained that the sequel didn't add anything new to the game playing wise, but I think they are neglecting that it really does add to the story.

When you play the two games along with reading the prequel book that recently came out you get even more of the story. While the book did put a slight damper on my theories that Bioshock and Fall Out take place in the same universe, Fall Out being the future of the world outside of Rapture, it didn't crush my theories completely. I was fascinated watching Rapture rise and fall as Andrew Ryan (get it? Andrew Ryan, Ayn Rand? His nemesis calls himself Atlas as in Atlas Shrugged) grew more paranoid and further from his own espoused ideals because others were encroaching on his success.

The first two games are based on the writings of Ayn Rand and her ilk. Capitalism being truly allowed to run free and no restraints on innovation, business, or technology no matter the human cost.While I am not exactly certain of what the third Bioshock will bring. From the trailers and clips it would appear that the premise is based on extreme patriotism and xenophobia but only time will tell.

If you can't play these games, definitely look up clips on youtube. It is not one that dissapoints.

At one point in time there were talks of a movie, but sadly, the movie seems to have been shelved indefinitely.

One

Words have an impact, a point that is illustrated beautifully in Kathryn Otoshi's One.

One isn't the loneliest number anymore!

You might be thinking to yourself, "Girl, why you reviewing a children's book?" and I might answer you, "I liked it." At this point I might also stick my tongue out, completely invalidating the message of standing up to bullies and doing so without being a completely rude canoodle that the book actually makes.

I really did love this book, though. I used to teach 4 and 5 year olds and this was one of the books that we used. It captured the message in a simple way that didn't bog the kids down with the superfluous.

Even at their young age they could relate to the story of Blue and Red. They really took the message to heart that it 'only takes one to stand up'. After we did (you don't read to children, you do books with them. Let them guess about what happens next, let them re-enact portions of it, they need to interact with it) the book once we saw the kids in our class try to be more inclusive. They wanted to play with other children that they normally wouldn't play with and stood up for students that were being left out.

Without going into specifics (spoiler free and all) this book has a great anti-bullying message that can be told not just through the words on the page, but through the artwork that shares the story.

As well as the anti-bullying, this book can be used to teach colors, including the hard to learn color grey, and numbers. Each number needs to stand up and 'count'. It can also be used to help a child learn sequencing and to determine which situation will come next.

I even started the book by going through each color/character and asking the students what each color made them feel. The book gives each color their own characteristic as well so after reading it I asked each student which color they felt the most like. This helps each student learn to empathize a little bit with their peers.

Such a simple book, but so many different lessons it can teach. It is definitely one that  I am going to get for my future children one day.

21 Jump Street

This one might not be so spoiler-y because this review is coming to you from the future. Waaahhhhhooooooooo.

Not really. But I am going to attempt a review of a movie that hasn't come out yet just based on it's trailer and the source material. If this review makes it so that I eat crow later on, well, I'll eat it, but I somehow don't think I'm going to have to.

This is the red band trailer, so it's probably a bit more risque, though I watched it and saw nothing too terrible. 

This movie is based on the 80's era tv series of the same name helmed by the late Stephen J Cannell. Running from 1987 to 1991 it starred Holly Robinson, Steven Williams, Peter Deluise, Dustin Nguyen, and Johnny Depp. It revolved around a group of officers that looked young enough to pass as high school students in order to break up crimes. The show gave us a variety of different plots that were topical at the time. In the first season there was an episode that dealt with AIDS; they had plots that dealt with rape, hate crimes based not only on race but on sexuality, prostitution, gangs, and of course, drugs. Those are just a few that I can remember off the top of my head. This was a show, marketed to teens and young adults, where kids died. They got shot, they died from drug overdoses, they were prostitutes.

Some of the episodes were a little silly (they had their moments), kind of melodramatic as most shows of the time were. But I think the show tried to treat the subject matters as things that were serious and to handle them as respectfully as possible.

I must stress that I was actually kind of excited about this movie when I first heard it was being made. I thought, how awesome would it be to see them update the story to deal with things that are more contemporary. This is kind of what they might be doing, but from what I can see in the trailer for the new movie "based on the 21 Jump Street series" helmed by Jonah Hill and starring the same this serious cop drama has been turned into a comedy. It seemed like, if the writers and producers watched the original, they could not get passed the melodrama of an 80's and thought that it was supposed to be funny. Let's update it, but we're gonna make it all funny.

One of the biggest things in the trailer shows two of the officers deciding to throw a party so they can figure out who is selling drugs in the school. Not only do they buy alcohol for underage students, they also take the drugs themselves because they need to prove that they aren't narcs. This is something that would never have happened in the original show; in the original they delved into the ethical gray areas that these officers would have to face as they were undercover as minors participating with minors that might be drinking or doing drugs. It wasn't treated as a joke.

To me, it seems like Jonah Hill is trying to re-do Superbad but realizes that he's not an entirely believable high school aged teen anymore.

I hope that I am proven wrong. Even though I was much to young to watch this show when it first aired I did get into it during my own teen years (and I still enjoy it, not being that far out of my teen years). I got into it for the Johnny Depp, but I stayed for the rest of the cast, even watching the last seasons when Johnny Depp was doing anything he could to get out of his contract and when he finally wasn't even on it anymore. It was never a comedy. It had light-hearted moments, but first and foremost it was a cop drama.