Stan Winston, 1946-2008

Stan Winston has died. A sad day in movie history. At least he went in peace, having accomplished much. This is a lot more than most people get. If there’s an afterlife, they’re about to get really cool special effects.

M. Night Shyamalan and The Happening

(This, in case you were wondering, is a review of the film The Happening, by M. Night Shyamalan, and some thoughts about his work in general.) First, Shyamalan gifted us with The Sixth Sense, a movie about dealing with pain and loss, overcoming fear and working towards compassion, and using …

Good news

In a most wonderful turn of events, the extraordinary Helen Trevillion is, despite some massive communication fuckups (mostly my fault), writing the music for The Strange and Somewhat Sinister Tale of the House at Desert Bridge. This is fantastic news, as I really can’t imagine anyone else being up to …

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Saw the preview yesterday. Loved it. The story is good, the actors are fantastic – above all Harrison Ford, but I was also very fond of Karen Allen – and it just feels right. This is Indiana Jones. The movie may not have a strong enough climax (it’s exciting, but …

The Fall – Last Days of Gaia

The Fall – Last Days of Gaia is a post-apocalyptic RPG by German developer Silver Style Entertainment. The original version was plagued by bugs to the point of being unplayable, but there’s a “Reloaded” version out which you can get at “budget” prices (what a weird term). Anyway, since I’m …

Wer hat uns verraten? Part Two

Marc-Uwe Kling returns with a new version of his brilliant song, with even better lyrics – which he proceeds to sing to an audience which is, as my friend Julian put it, visibly not amused. Ah, the joys of telling middle-class pseudo-progressive Germany the truth about the consequences of its …

Fable: The Lost Savegames

You know, despite it being influenced way too much by JRPGs, and despite having some truly idiotic features (such as the system for saving, the lack of choices or detail in the main storyline, and the NPCs), I was enjoying Fable: The Lost Chapters , which Verena gave me as …

Scurvy!

Few things make me as deliriously happy as the song “Scurvy!” by Captain Bogg & Salty. There’s just nothing as cool as pirates, is there? No, ninjas aren’t as cool. Not even half as cool. They’re only cool when they’re also monkeys. And even in that rare case, pirates are …

Believers

Peter David has an intelligent and eloquent post about the Christian family that let their young daughter die of diabetes because they thought God would save her. It is profoundly depressing to see how deluded people can be (and I’m not referring to their religiosity per se; read David’s post). …