“Big Bird loses his friend…”
For those who have never had a chance to see the amazing way that Sesame Street handled the loss of a character & friend – I add this video because it’s the first time I am seeing it as well. It’s extremely moving. ❤
Category Archives: General
Pictures and Swag from #NaNoWriMo2014 #NaNoWriMo #SWNano
NanoWriMo2014 Swag. Victorian theme
Notice all the coffee, soda pop, and candy (aptly provided through the means of discounted Halloween candy sales and Trick r Treaters who didn’t nab it all) on the table between my Nano-mates. Yesterday was just the beginning. 1-6-6-7 words or more everyday this month. The energy is high right now…but the snacks and goodies will be especially required about mid-way through the month.
GO Nano!
*I came across a really neat TIP today that I think will help me out quite a bit this month. Remember, I’ve never participated before so all of this is new to me. 🙂 I’m going to really adhere to this idea! What a great tip. Lani and Alastair from StoryWonk are going to be a great help to me this month, no doubt. http://storywonk.com/
Lani Diane Rich from the “Storywonk” website and podcast Tweeted this message:
(Writing) Sprints are a fantastic way of grinding out words. You can do anything for 20 minutes! And they add up! #SWNano #NaNoWriMo.
NanoWriMo Nov1st Write-In Session
Pictured: Leslie, Kate, Laurie, and Sarah Jane
-DAC
Easy Peasy Egg “muffins” in the Oven #Recipe
Picture by Joseph Michael- author of the article.
I can’t take credit for this idea – it came from a Facebook post from a fellow that I follow. But I tried making these this morning and they came out pretty great. I think this will be something that I try a lot more, especially with my busy weekly schedule!
Here’s how mine came out.
I added deli sliced ham and spinach with pepper.
Check out the link for details:
Just incase the link doesn’t work or ends up disabled at a later date: here’s the basics on how to cook these up:
Directions
1. Spray your muffin pan with some non-stick cooking spray.
2. Throw in Spinach if desired (The spinach sticks right to the cooking spray. No floating!)
3. Crack one egg into each well.
4. Sprinkle the eggs with a little salt & pepper or whatever seasonings that you’d like.
5. Bake in the oven at 350 for about 15 minutes.
1. Spray your muffin pan with some non-stick cooking spray.
2. Throw in Spinach if desired (The spinach sticks right to the cooking spray. No floating!)
3. Crack one egg into each well.
4. Sprinkle the eggs with a little salt & pepper or whatever seasonings that you’d like.
5. Bake in the oven at 350 for about 15 minutes.
**You could really add anything you want to. Mushrooms, other deli meat, onions, etc. I’m betting you can add more than 1 egg also, if your cupcake tin is high enough. Look at how small a space mine ended up taking up in the pan.
Try it out and see what you think! Enjoy!
-DAC
Today marks the official beginning of #NanoWriMo
So if you’ve ever considered writing a novel – this is the month to give it a try. There is a lot of help, participation, and cheerleading to help you get started and keep you going.
I’ve known about NanoWriMo for a number of years but this is the first time I’ve personally signed up to try to get some word count in. Usually when November would hit, I was already knee deep in some existing work so I never wanted to leave that and start something anew for Nano (if I wanted to “win” for writing a complete book in a month).
A lot of you may already know that I have written in the past and have been published on the small publisher market (a great community of people) but I took a break after my published novella, “Cryptic” and then shortly after- I moved to another state. Then my grandmother passed away. I know. It sounds all like cliche, but as the saying goes “life happens/life gets in the way.”
I’m hoping that I can jump start my writing again – as I have several “in progress” books that I want to see eventually finished. I just have to “begin again” and get back on the horse. I’m hoping this is the month that revives my ambition and if you’re reading this- I hope that if you’re interested in NanoWriMo, that you’re taking advantage of the community there as well.
NanoWriMo “writer’s block and cue card keychain”
-DAC
ShelfLife Podcast discusses #GoneGirl book
Mike and I did get together and discussed the novel by Gillian Flynn, “Gone Girl” for our Shelf Life Podcast. You won’t miss out if you watched the movie instead of reading the book, as most of the book was in the movie- with some minor changes that you can probably figure out. We were joined by Jack from Slashercast who couldn’t wait to talk about what he read. It was a lively chat, that’s for sure.
Mike and I plan on discussing The Hunger Games books on our next episode, so stay tuned. 🙂
http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/slashercast/the-shelf-life-podcast
https://www.facebook.com/TheShelfLife
http://www.theshelflifepodcast.com/
Video
A Gaming Kind of Weekend – #MurderedSoulSuspect
Happy 4th of July America!
So, DA, what did you spend your 4th of July weekend doing this year? Inquiring Minds want to know!
Well, since you asked so nicely, I can tell you that I didn’t spend it at the beach, Longwood Gardens, at the free concert in Philly, or in a local lot watching the fireworks (of which took a full 75 minutes to exit the area after they were all over last year. Parking had been a nightmare! Thus I’d spent 75 minutes roaming around the lot buying fried dough / funnel cake and ice cream before the vendors cleared out). Even with the bad taste in my mouth from last year it is an unusual case that I didn’t go watch them, as I love this time of year, I have ever since I was a tot – but there it is. I didn’t go out. I spent my weekend playing a video game – one that I managed to start and complete in the SAME weekend. When does that happen?
Not often. I have many games that I’ve started that I have yet to finish simply because of the long hours involved in getting to the end. Upon the recommendation of a friend of mine, I went to Redbox and rented…
Murdered: Soul Suspect video game
My Favorite Quote: “You have the right to remain silent. If you throw a cop out a window, they have the right to hunt you down and kick your ass.”
My Game Opinions : (I am not a professional video game reviewer, I just like to play video games and am commenting on what I liked and didn’t like).
[Note: Because I rented the game, I did not install it to my Xbox 360 like I would usually do with most games I play. Maybe if I had some of the reported and experienced lag might not have happened…unknown.]
From just a gamers perspective (and not someone in the business of knowing details behind gaming mechanics) –
The Graphics were really pretty decent. Ronan as a ghost sometimes looks a little fuzzy and not as crisp as he could be, but that also could have been intentional because for 99% of the game, he’s a ghost. The environment is good, maybe not excellent, but damn clear most of the time. Even the ghost walls and items are good looking for an Xbox 360 game.
The Story Personally, I loved the story. It’s not a new theme, by any means – in gaming or other media – but I truly enjoyed where it lead me, all the way up to the end. Ronan is a man with a hard past who wants nothing than to make up for it with his future by being the kind of cop who won’t turn away when it gets to hard. He’s hardboiled, gruff, tough, and a chain smoker with a great fedora hat. A little Noire style meets plainclothes. With the death of his wife, he’s become a bit reckless, careless, and thoughtless and that gets him into serious trouble with this new case, as you will see in the first five minutes or so of playing. I can’t go as far as to say he’s a human “Big B/Bigby” from Wolf Among Us, but he’s a step or two below it, in rage factor (which might be why I liked his character so much.)
The Characters I talked a little about Ronan above – I liked him. There’s no huge story arc where he does or doesn’t get a heart of gold, he’s just a murdered man trying to find out who killed him. Joy is a teenage punk who is looking for her Mom and even though she doesn’t want to help Ronan out, their fates become intertwined. She’s the right level of punk for the game – not so over the top that you have to roll your eyes. Rex is a good man and while he’s not prominent in the game as much, you do get the feeling that he really cares about Ronan and he’s busted up that he’s been murdered. Baxter is a jerk – but he’s typical of a jerk type cop role. Cookie cutter, but fine for what little he shows up in the story.
The Quests/Cases/Collectables I felt they added a good ‘world/location’ story to them. I enjoyed the backdrop of Salem to the game too. While I’m sure poor Salem, the real Salem, is tired of all the witch stuff – it is a history that they are rich in, and it lends well to this game. I enjoyed all of the collection items and the ghost quests. Even the few that you couldn’t really help were a nice background to the game. There were these nice cut scenes that you can watch when you collect each of the ghost’s quest items that I thought were done uniquely. Instead of an actual full video (maybe due in part for lack of time or money to develop them) there was one frame of the story, usually with one item moving through it- like broken glass shards, while the narrator told their ghostly story. I liked the change of pace here – that as the story unfolded, that this one picture that you are looking at, is nicely relevant to the story being told. That was great.
Gameplay was mostly good. The game is fairly fast paced and generally linear in some spots. When you have to be in one place, you’re there until you figured out that part of the mystery, but there is a bit of an aquarium style open location feel to it once you break out of some of the main locations where the big story stuff takes place. The game can get pretty laggy when you are running from place to place (left trigger button) – the screen literally stutters as you move, as if it was a digitally streaming game instead of something from the disk, but it doesn’t happen every time- and it can be overlooked if you’re not picky. There sometimes is a difficultly picking out specific items to focus on for the investigations – (X button to chose, RT to Reveal items). Sometimes it was a matter of being in exactly the right place to see what you needed to see, but it IS easy to over look items this way, making it difficult to always get a 100% clear on that one case goal unless you scour (or look up the data online) the area for it. There was a few times that I did have to completely reload the last save point because for some reason my X and RT buttons didn’t seem to be doing anything (probably an unresolved glitch), but I can only think of two times this happened, so it wasn’t too big a deal. A quick reload did the trick.
Bugs/Glitches I read there are a few in the game, I was lucky not to have encountered many of the others. Other than the ones I mentioned above, there was one huge and notable glitch for me that happened toward the third act of the game. The story line had me revisit a Church – now there are TWO scenarios here. 1) Some people don’t get the CUT SCENE at all and are left wandering a crime scene with no idea what to do next, 2) for me- I originally did get the cut scene and went to the crime scene and started poking around. At that moment in time, I decided I was good to exit the game and do some other non-gaming stuff and come back to it later. When I reloaded my saved game – I started in the hallway again, as it hadn’t saved my progress when I viewed the crime scene and this time, there was no cut scene at all – which I didn’t think was odd, since I had seen it once, but when I went to investigate it…there were no options to collect my clues. I was unable to press X over any clue items at all. I reloaded a few times just to see if something would work and I did completely exit out and come back into the game, but nothing worked. I’ll post the work around for that further down so that if you run into it- you can get out of it too. I didn’t notice that there was any achievement that I lacked getting for skipping this investigation, so don’t let that stop you from playing the game. Just know that you may need to find some work arounds if glitches DO happen.
The Demons The demons remind me of the Dementors from Harry Potter’s world. They feel a little like maybe they weren’t a fully realized villain in the game, sprinkled in here and there to give a certain thrill or tactic that a general gamer might look for – and not a straight up murder mystery game to which it feels more like, than not. Maybe there had been an idea to utilize more of them through the game, but they felt a little disjointed- and later in the game, frustrating in packs of 3 and 4. Any seasoned gamer can likely stay away from the demons’ cone of inspection sight that they have (think of patrols in the Dishonored video game) , sneak up behind them, and take them out. The interesting thing to these demons is the way you execute them changes with each one. Or rather the specific control changes. It’ll always be the left trigger stick, but the direction changes- as does one of the 4 game pad buttons (X,B,Y,A). For me, this was frustrating in that I always had to pay super attention to the call out of the direction to execute the demon to get it right (and sometimes I didn’t, which lead me to flea for a hiding spot) – but for seasoned players, they probably have no real problem with this kind of control and can get past the demons easily. Also, I should point out that while this frustrated me, I also saw the flair in doing this too. Changing up the execution DOES actually give the game a little bit more unpredictability, which again- harkens me back to the PS2 games where not everything is cookie-cutter, laid out there for you every time.
Maps/Object ID’s Don’t bother looking for an in-game map or an ID tracker. While there is a main quest line tracker- to get you to the next location, there is not an in-game map mock up and the only way you can find the collectible objects is to visually see their glowing lights or get close enough to find a “Reveal” icon. It’s pretty difficult to get a 100% clear in the game in the shortest amount of time (assuming you wanted to speed play this game to begin with) without looking up where to find certain things in the game online. This works pretty well with NAMED objects, I.E. Julia’s Memories because each object is labeled with a name that you can search for, but it does become a little more difficult when you are looking for the Ashes to Ashes objects, Spellbook #2 out of 11. For me, I always tend to have the hardest problems looking for the last 1 or 2 of any object that I’ve missed in an area and spend gobs of time looking at the same scenery trying to find what I’ve gone past. Again, this has a catch 22 feel to it. It’s a little irritating, when looking for items you’ve missed, but it’s also a little refreshing that like with some games that just HAND you every thing with map markers (Tomb Raider 2013 – while it’s a GREAT game, it does have a map system that gives a lot of details. Admittedly, the game is HUGE and had a lot of collectables compared to M:SS, but I think you get what I mean. Sometimes it IS just nice not to have every game piece spoon fed to you, especially in a short game like this).
Ok. With everything said, I honestly actually enjoyed the game. Now, that could be because I rented the game for 2.00 a day at Redbox and didn’t purchase it full price (I’m sorry game developers, I’m not saying the game wasn’t worth your time or my money necessarily- I can see the work put into the game and hey, I’m totally not sh*tting on the final product, I liked what ya did, but my money’s tight these days, and I’d probably have been upset if I’d sprung full money on this and it had the shortcomings that it did, which may or may not have been your fault, but it is a finished and packaged game and I must treat it like that. I’m fine with irritating demons and no map/object ID’s – but the glitches were not intentional to the gameplay and were a draw back to a finish game.) but be that as it may, I found the game truly entertaining and I get a kick out of the name of it 🙂 It really could have been a much larger and longer game — Ronan could have been drawn out by other cases, ghosts, towns, cities, etc like Tomb Raider (2013) and I would have enjoyed the ride if it had been that long, but given the issues that it did have- I felt fine treating this as a nice weekend game. Something new to sink my teeth into and have a little fun with.
I won’t kid you and say that this is something that everyone will enjoy or should run out and check out as the new “underdog is a grand slam hit” kind of game but I would say that this is a game that old school gamers can kick back and play with a can of beer at the ready, with a few hours to kill as well as for newer gamers who don’t like too much fuss or too much open worlding (but not young enough to be sensitive to the murderous nature of the story). It has a nice nostalgia feel to it that I really appreciated. Would have loved to play more content in it.
Gamers, It’s definitely worth checking out. Give it a try, it has some GREAT elements that I’m personally glad that I was able to play through, just don’t expect perfection and I think you’ll like it too.
Here begins spoiler-ish information, hints/tricks/helpful links and videos for the game. Do not cross if you don’t want to be spoiled by ANY content not in the game! (Glitch info at the end of the post)
——
Links and items that helped me get through the game that you might find useful also:
A written Walkthrough of the game- http://www.gamefront.com/murdered-soul-suspect-walkthrough/2/
A video Walkthrough of the collectables in the game – http://www.playstationtrophies.org/forum/murdered-soul-suspect/236855-murdered-soul-suspect-collectibles-guide.html
An IGN Wiki Page for some collectables- http://www.ign.com/wikis/murdered-soul-suspect/Info_About_My_Killer
Character: Joy
GLITCH INFORMATION ON “FIND OUT IF IRIS IS SAFE” AT ST. BENEDICT’S CHURCH- is at the end of this post. Scroll down.
Xbox 360 Avatar Gear
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Names of the named collectables in the game – This list helped me to cross check my discovered list against what I didn’t have! Very useful!
Ghost Abilities (14)
1. Pass Through – Salem Streets
2. Possess – Salem Streets
3. Investigative Skill – Salem Streets
4. Peek – Salem Streets
5. Escaping Demons – Apartment
6. Approaching Demons – Apartment
7. Executing Demons – Apartment
8. Reveal – Salem Streets
9. Touch – Church
10. Cat – Church
11. Poltergeist – Apartment
12. Distracting Demons – Church
13. Teleport – Cemetery
14. Remove – Salem Streets
My Life (7)
1. Marrying Julia – Church Nave 1F
2. Seeing My Own Corpse – Police Station 1F
3. My First Crimes – Police Station 1F
4. When Baxter Tried to Threaten Me – Police Station 2F
5. The Picture at the Beach – Salem Streets
6. The End of “Forever” – Salem Streets
7. Beatdowns – Salem Streets
Info About My Killer (39)
1. News Article #1 – Apartment 1F
2. Warning Poster – Apartment 1F
3. K. Douglas Personal Info – Police Station 2F
4. K. Douglas Police Progress – Police Station 2F
5. C. Nelson Personal Info – Police Station 1F
6. C. Nelson Police Progress – Police Station 1F
7. A. Grace Personal Info – Police Station 2F
8. Status A. Grace Police Progress – Police Station 1F
9. G. Soderberg Personal Info – Police Station 1F
10. G. Soderberg Police Progress – Police Station 1F
11. Map of Killings – Police Station 2F
12. Missing Persons Report – Police Station 1F
13. Witness Description of Clothing – Police Station 1F
14. Suspect Released – Police Station 1F
15. Killer’s Profile – Police Station 2F
16. Spray-Painted Graffiti – Cemetery
17. Tabloid Article #1
18. Tabloid Article #2
19. News Article #5
20. News Article #6
21. Tabloid Article #3
22. Poem 1 – Judgment House
23. Poem 2 – Judgment House
24. Poem 3 – Judgment House
25. Poem 4 – Judgment House
26. K. Douglas Cause of Death – Salem Streets
27. K. Douglas Family Photo – Salem Streets
28. C. Nelson Cause of Death – Salem Streets
29. C. Nelson Family Photo – Salem Streets
30. A. Grace Cause of Death – Salem Streets
31. A. Grace Publicity Photo – Salem Streets
32. G. Soderberg Family Photo – Salem Streets
33. Chalk Bell Symbol – Salem Streets
34. Baxter’s Official Comment – Salem Streets
35. News Article #2 – Salem Streets
36. News Article #3 – Salem Streets
37. News Article #4 – Salem Streets
38. Witness View of Eyes – Salem Streets
39. Witness Trauma Report – Salem Streets
Julia’s Thoughts (38)
1. Lillian and Lillian – Apartment 3F
2. Meeting Ronan’s Parents – Apartment 4F
3. Ronan’s Fedora – Church Nave 1F
4. Second Time’s a Charm – Church Nave 2F
5. Can’t Stop Loving Him – Church Nave 1F
6. Sanctuary – Church Rectory 2F
7. Plain Clothes Cop – Police Station 2F
8. Ronan Gets His Badge – Police Station 2F
9. Ronan’s Trouble with the Law – Police Station 2F
10. Visit to the Station – Police Station 2F
11. Meaning Behind “Cheated Death” – Cemetery
12. New Roses Tattoo – Cemetery
13. New Justice Tattoo – Cemetery
14. Why Ronan Became a Cop – Cemetery
15. Rex on Ronan’s Record – Cemetery
16. Smokin’ Ronan – Cemetery
17. Reckless Ronan – Cemetery
18. A Stroll Through the Graveyard – Cemetery
19. Hospital Support – Hospital
20. Seeking Advice from Rex – Hospital
21. Ronan Meets Rex – Museum
22. Museum Date – Museum
23. Fight with Ronan – Judgment House
24. Pondering the Proposal – Judgment House
25. Life, and After – Judgment House
26. Ronan the Stranger – Judgment House
27. Meaning of Dollar Tattoo – Salem Streets
28. That Car Tattoo – Salem Streets
29. The Day We Met – Salem Streets
30. Harassed by Baxter – Salem Streets
31. Salem Feels Dangerous – Salem Streets
32. Ronan Pops the Question – Salem Streets
33. Our Little Town – Salem Streets
34. Ronan’s Childhood – Salem Streets
35. Ronan’s Teens – Salem Streets
36. Family of Three – Salem Streets
37. Escorted by a Knight – Salem Streets
38. Day at the Beach – Salem Streets
Rex’s Thoughts (2)
1. Rex’s Sense of Guilt – Salem Streets
2. Rex’s Gratitude – Police Station 2F
Truth About Baxter (2)
1. Baxter’s Relationship with the Witness’s Mother – Police Station 1F
2. Baxter and Ronan’s Mutual Animosity
Profiler’s Memories (6)
1. Concern for Joy’s Safety – Apartment 4F
2. Insights on the Killer’s Motives – Police Station 2F
3. Fear of More Killings
4. The Killer’s Delusions
5. Museum Spirits – Museum
6. Sensing Judgment House Disturbances – Judgment House
Ghost Girl’s Messages (23)
1. Gallows – Apartment 2F
2. Coffins – Apartment 3F
3. Dunking Chair – Church Rectory 1F
4. Staircase – Church Rectory 2F
5. Demons – Church Attic
6. Cannon – Police Station 1F
7. Judge – Police Station 1F
8. Sacrifice – Cemetery
9. Ghost – Cemetery
10. Twins – Hospital
11. Pillory – Hospital
12. Baptism – Hospital
13. The Accused – Hospital
14. Mansion – Museum
15. Caught – Museum
16. Flowers – Salem Streets
17. Poppet – Salem Streets
18. Storm – Salem Streets
19. Quest – Salem Streets
20. In Her Hands – Salem Streets
21. Burning – Salem Streets
22. Darkness – Salem Streets
23. Stone – Salem Streets
Ghost Stories (8)
1. A Watery Grave (7) – Apartment
2. The Bell Tower Banshee (11) – Church
3. The Stalwart Specter (8) – Police Station
4. The Heirloom (13) – Cemetery
5. Man in the Box (10) – Hospital
6. Terror on the Tracks (15) – Museum
7. Ashes to Ashes (11) – Judgment House
8. Eternal Flame (16) – Salem Streets
Salem’s History (25)
1. Rectory Dedication Plaque – Church Rectory 1F
2. Organ Dedication Plaque – Church Nave 2F
3. Burned Rectory Plaque – Church Nave 2F
4. 1775 Fortress Plaque – Police Station 1F
5. Forensic Facility Plaque – Police Station 1F
6. 1777 Battle Plaque – Police Station 1F
7. 1776 Battle Plaque – Police Station 1F
8. Yellow Fever Memorial Plaque – Cemetery
9. William Pynchon Memorial Plaque – Cemetery
10. Graveyard History Plaque – Cemetery
11. Asylum Dedication Plaque – Hospital
12. Spanish Flu Memorial Plaque – Hospital
13. Surgical Instruction Theater Dedication Plaque – Hospital
14. Train Station Memorial Plaque – Museum
15. Museum Donor Plaque – Museum
16. Dunking a Gossip – Museum
17. Baker in the Stocks – Museum
18. Colonial Kitchen Plaque – Judgment House
19. Colonial Parlor Plaque – Judgment House
20. Colonial Cellar Plaque – Judgment House
21. Armaments History Plaque – Salem Streets
22. Fountain Dedication Plaque – Salem Streets
23. Pirate History Plaque – Salem Streets
24. Gas Station History Plaque – Salem Streets
25. Ashland Hills Cemetery Plaque – Salem Streets
Witch Trials History (9)
1. Book of Engravings – Museum
2. Prayer Book – Museum
3. Judgment House Plaque – Salem Streets
4. Witch Trial History Plaque – Museum
5. First Witch Execution Plaque – Museum
6. German Witch Trial – Museum
7. Medieval Witch Book – Museum
8. Witchcraft Superstition Plaque – Museum
9. Judge’s Diary – Judgment House
Credit to: The Dagda Mor from this link: http://www.xboxachievements.com/forum/showthread.php?t=578477&page=2
The Church re-visit GLITCH – I wanted to post this way down here so that it doesn’t spoil anything – this happens after you poltergeist the phone in the church hallway and get the cop to come down the hallway and then you can possess him to get past the demon pit. Leave the cop’s body when you’re on solid ground and follow the hall to an open door that leads out into a courtyard that you visited before when you possessed a CAT to get to the Attic to find Joy (the witness) before. If you get to the open door and do not see the cut scene that SHOULD be there- then follow this:
“If the cutscene and investigation don’t start then walk outside to the courtyard, look up towards the open window where you used the cat before to egt to the attic and up there, and use teleporting to teleport to a ledge, not inside a window but a little ledge, teleport there and it will put you inside and activate a cutscene and investigation, whatever you do DON’T go back downstairs to the cop because then it will be ruined and you’ll have to start from the last checkpoint, after you’ve done everyting upstairs and you have to go to the Bell Killer’s hideout then you’re free to leave the church and that will continue the story without you having to do the investigation for that person”. – credit to Slash A on a Youtube Video for helping with this glitch. With this information I was able to get through it- and NOT abandon the game.
A little extra info here- the ledge is hard to see. Stand near the stone statue and look up at that open window. Aim for just under and to the left or right of the window where the ivy is growing. You should be able to teleport to that area and the new cut scene for that room will trigger you right into the room. As Slash A says, DONT go back to that courtyard or you’ll have to reload the entire thing all over again because you’ll have no way of getting past the cop because you’ll be phased back into the hallway to finish the investigation that the game doesn’t realize that you cannot finish since it’s bugged. Also, if there’s no cut scene in that room, you can’t teleport to that open window on your own without the cut scene- I’ve tried it, it doesn’t work. So just do the rest of the quests up to leaving the church. You will always have that open investigation objective now, but at least once you can leave the church, it won’t keep you from experiencing the rest of the game!
A cast gathering for Aliens fans – #Aliens
A great cast reunion for the fans at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo in April 2014 – Aliens Expo(sed).
I had time to check out the footage of the Aliens panel this weekend and I admit, I squeed a few times. It couldn’t be helped. We’re all fans of something that we get excited over and this is just one of many of such things for me.
The footage isn’t filmed from the best angle (the cameraman was in the 4th row or so) and it’s difficult to see everything on stage and Star Trek Voyager moderator, Garrett Wang doesn’t always handle the panel as good as he possibly could – but he’s also a huge fan and is doing his own geeking out (who wouldn’t, unless the moderator is not a fan– and those types of moderators are pretty dry in those cases) but all is forgiven because as the viewer in our computer chairs, couch, or browsing on our mobile devices, we’re not ‘there’ to watch the moderator. We’re tuning in to see the actors of one of our beloved movies.
And- thanks to this person who filmed it and posted it, we didn’t pay $100.00 a person to see it live, either (not that they are not worth the price, but most of us missed out on the convention entirely). I say that’s a pretty fair bargain and besides, if you’re a fan of the franchise, you get the general idea of what is going on anyway because the audio is excellent.
Fun Tidbits: “Vasquez” was an unofficial body builder at the time of her casting.”Frost” had his diamond hard abs from years of basketball – and still does! At around 18 mins, Bill Paxton and Michael Biehn walked on stage and someone calls out “Heil Hydra” – which was really fun. Laughs, memories, good times had by all the fans.
The funny thing that I realized while watching the panel was how odd it must feel to come back to a property that you did many years (and sometimes in a completely different life that you might have had then) ago and relive it again for people who love it, and the people involved in it. Can you imagine being one of the actors and hearing/seeing clips of the movie you did over 20 years in the past and how surreal that feeling must be? To walk out on that stage – some with new careers- in or out of acting (Carrie is a school teacher) where people you don’t know, who may even be younger than you are- LOVE you because of a movie role? How crazy awesome but absolutely unreal would that be? It reminded me of the portrayal of how a convention would be like for members of a long loved TV series who have gone off the air but they revisit the events for fans (and other reasons), as Galaxy Quest showed beautifully. But maybe not quite as behind the scenes awkward. They all looked like they had a pretty good time being welcomed back to adoring fans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQuaDJd1e8g
Article: http://www.avsforum.com/t/1529350/aliens-cast-reunion-at-calgary-comic-and-entertainment-expo-2014
So on that Xenomorphic note…who’s looking forward to checking out the new Alien: Isolation video game coming out this year? It may be a little out of my league but I can’t help but be intrigued by it even though I’m a more RPG console gaming fan. Games like Outlast are ones I tend to like to watch be played, than actually play them myself. Unless I have a lot of ammo – and this game will have none! – I tend to die a lot more at surviving these types of games (which is exactly what happened in Outlast).
Happy Mother’s Day for all the mom’s out there
Revenge of the 5th #Starwars #Revengeofthe5th #Maythe4thBeWithYou
As popular “May the 4th/Fourth be with you” is- days like “Revenge of the 5th/6th” are cropping up (for fun or in jest – depending on the people bringing it up) as well, extending the Star Wars event in to 2 or 3 (depending on which dates you prefer 4th, 5th, 6th) days. A good old marathon event for Star Wars fans. If SyFy and Cartoon Network aren’t taking advantage of this, they should be. Someone should be showcasing these movies for the masses.
There’s not much historically to this SW ‘date’ (yet)- it seems a bit on the new side – places like Twitter and Facebook make these kinds of things more popular so you may see an uptick of support for it over several days.
Hey, the Sith, Clones, and Stormtroopers all need love too. There’s plenty emotion out there for both sides!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SpNHMwwID4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYYNWODcCvY
But beware….someone is watching…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5BSvwOYwxg&noredirect=1
May the 4th Be With You – #Maythe4thBeWithYou #StarWars
Today is that special day in the Star Wars franchise where fans will flock to social media outlets to say to each other – “May the 4th/Fourth Be With You – May the Force Be With You” to share in the entertainment and enjoyment of a long beloved series.
Until the release of Episode VII on December 18, 2015 there will be a lot of announcements along the way. I’m looking forward to seeing how this new movie shapes up. I was glad to see familiar names and faces attached to it and while I’m sure there is a balance on both sides of the “I do/don’t want to see old Luke, Leia, and Han” camp, I’m personally glad they’re coming back (right now we don’t know the full extent of their appearance. It could be only a blocked span of time that they are on screen or they may help our new characters throughout the entire film. More than one script was made – so it could go a handful of ways).
I don’t see it quite as a ‘passing the baton’ kind of thing as some people do. While I’m sure that’s more or less the intention – to pay homage to the original series that so many love – I just look at the original stars coming back as the basis or springboard platform for which the new characters’ backstories can launch from. I think it’s good to see where these new stars portraying the new roles are coming from and how they all have been living their lives in a continuation of the original stories. I have not read the novels and while I have an inkling of popular names that have cropped up over the years (Mara Jade – in the Expanded Universe she eventually became Luke Skywalker’s wife but has a richly written backstory– being one of them), all I have are the films and shows like The Clone Wars to pull from.
So, from my point of view– why wouldn’t we want to know where the crew went or how they chose to grow old together? Sure, the stories could have just moved on and used new faces to establish a whole new story – and if some of these actors were no longer among the living, maybe that’s what they would have done – but we have all these original stars. We have the chance to see what has happened to them over their travels over the years. It’s clear to see there are a lot of stories to tell, new and old(er).
As of this date–(any information released about Star Wars going forward has no reflection on what I’m blogging about today. I can’t know what new information will be released at a later date and while I am a fan of the originals, I’m not someone who knows the SW universe well enough to be considered a super fan. My blog post is more or less just a celebration of the date and some of the new info that has been released lately. I’d be happy enough to know that maybe my post has you interested enough to go look into newer details that may be newer than what I knew of this posting. )
After the release of information stating that the Star Wars Expanded Universe (EU) stories aren’t specifically driving the new movies going forward – they’re looking at the actual six film produced movies as their foundation right now, it’s left many fans with a sour taste in their mouths wondering what’s going to happen to all the rich stories and characters that could be left behind without using the expanded library of material. Fans have been supporting the franchise loyally for years and they’re left wondering how it all fits in now. Each story and character was approved by George Lucas and fans believed that because Star Wars was so protected and Lucas approved what went out for content, that it was all considered “cannon” and went beyond the actual filmed movies.
There’s confusion and perhaps some misinterpretation (maybe with me, maybe in general) in terms of what the new owners of Lucasfilm intend to do about all of these stories and we won’t know what will shake out, until more information is released. The quotes that I read, didn’t actually SAY that they were never going to delve into the EU stories – it seemed to say, to me- that they weren’t planning on using known stories YET (or fully). It seems as though maybe they’ll sift through what they can use – and deliver to the new films with confidence, and then tell brand new stories in the Star Wars universe so that all the fans can enjoy the new content.
“You know, it’s not off-limits, and it’s certainly inspiring — I’m working on an animated show for [Lucasfilm] as well, Star Wars Rebels, that will take inspiration from everywhere, but — I know for the movies, the canon is the canon, and the canon is the six films that exist,” Simon Kinberg said during an IGN interview at WonderCon in Ahaheim.
Kinberg also said that for himself, director J.J. Abrams, writers Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt and Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, the new films are “all about honoring the original movies, and yet wanting to take a step forward, too, and tell a new story.” Source: http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2014/04/22/new-star-wars-films-wont-use-expanded-universe/
So, we’ll see what happens as the film moves onward. There may be some better clarification, retractions, or confirmation of what those statements mean in coming weeks, months, and years.
I was really glad to see Andy Serkis (Gollum, Cesar, etc) and Domhnall Gleeson (“About Time”, “Dredd”, a Weasley twin in “Harry Potter”, etc) added to the casting. While I don’t know the other named actors as well (who knew Mark Hamil very well at the beginning of the series in the 70’s? We’ve had years to get used to his name. And yeah, I know. Hayden Christiansen was unknown as well. I’ll leave you to decide how well that did or didn’t work out for you) I’m going to enjoy seeing these two especially. It’s unclear right now whether Serkis will be playing a motion capture character like Gollum/Cesar or if he’ll be a flesh and blood man, like he was in King Kong as the cook (Mark Ruffalo also Tweeted that Serkis is giving some pointers in Hulk capturing for Avengers 2! Pretty cool), but either way – it’s a sure bet that he’ll be extremely entertaining. He’s a vibrant actor and fun to watch on screen. Gleeson was excellent in “About Time” – the movie could have gone in any direction, but Gleeson sold me on that portrayal and I enjoyed the movie much more because of his involvement. I’ve been looking forward to seeing what he’s going to do next. Now I know and I’m liking it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJiWm28LYLQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsmWmTglGLk
It will be great to see how everything shapes up!
#Outlander is an amazing story
Speaking as a fan of the entire series, it’s near, if not actually, perfect in my opinion – I would only caution that the book at the very beginning is a bit slow for newcomers (a complaint I’ve heard a few times after recommending it myself so I’ve learned to caution for the slower intro. Fans who re-read it, love it in its entirety though and see why it’s important to the story). Around chapter 3 is when it begins to ramp up the excitement (so hang in there if you’re listening to it or reading it and wondering what the hype is all about).
On Thursday May 8th, Starz released a new poster to advertise and be the main image that fans, new and old, can really get behind. It is fabulous and everything I could have wanted in a promo poster. Of course, the other huge news is that the air date has been simultaneously released with it- posted right there. August 9th, 2014 on a Saturday at 9pm. Which is wonderful since it has absolutely NO scheduling conflicts for me– though even if it had, I would have worked around the conflict anyway.
(Tagline: What if your future was the past?)
On Friday May 2nd, Starz released a poster regarding their Summer 2014 television adaptation of the Bestselling novel by Diana Gabaldon called “Outlander”. The poster acted as a teaser to ask social media users, primarily on Facebook and Twitter, to hashtag #WhereisClaire and share the poster art (brilliant looking by the way) with the idea that at a 100% participation share rate (as monitored by a % progress bar) that they would release a new trailer for the show.
The new trailer can be seen here, on the Starz website (there are a few exclusive sites it’s available on as well. It may be released to YouTube at a later date).
http://www.starz.com/originals/outlander/
There has been a previous trailer that was pretty short and seemed to really play up the romance factor (which may have alienated some men and to sway them into thinking that this is little more than romance fodder for women exclusively — which it totally is NOT the case). It did little for people who didn’t know anything about the book series, but it ignited a flame in the Gabaldon fans who were brimming over with excitement with the announcement that these glorious books were being adapted for TV. Like the “Game of Thrones” phenomenon and fandom, many Outlander fans- myself included- have high hopes that this Starz series will give us the experience of the books dazzling us visually so that we can see our literary loves come to life in front of us too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVeXjHuITxQ&feature=kp
As with any book to movie or television franchise adaptation, there was a lot of outcry when a virtual “unknown” actor was cast as James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser. Sam Heughan has had roles acting roles in previous movies and TV shows–he’s not wet behind the ears, he knows what he’s doing, but not until now, has he played anything that made him a well known name to many fans. This role could make (become a more household name) or break him (by breaking, meaning that his name would be synonymous with “you know, that guy who failed at being Jamie Fraser.” Ouch). If he’s giving it his all and all the magic from the books is successfully translated to the screen- this series could really become a real hit for Moore, Starz, and all of the actors involved. It has that much potential. If it flops, well…it could be a sad run for many fans (I’ve seen Helix. Interesting concept but with many flaws. BSG however, was excellent. Let’s hope for at least THAT much glamour).
A BELOVED character in the book (for many reasons), many fans envisioned a prominent and successful actor to portray the role. Chris Hemsworth (Thor) was one notable preference for some fans- who wanted someone very pretty, tall, long haired, and a really tough, brawny man to take on the role.
Sam Heughan (who, it should be noted is very handsome – and has most definitely been looking the capable Scotsman more and more as the production has rolled on) was announced to the casting in July of 2013 before any other “Outlander” actor was chosen. It worried some fans into thinking maybe they rushed the casting call, because being Jamie couldn’t just be…that easy!
Diana Gabaldon had seen his screen test and was whole-heartedly behind this call from the beginning stating that when Sam walked in and delivered his lines that he WAS Jamie Fraser. Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore (of BSG TV series fame) said, “from the very beginning, I knew the part of Jamie Fraser would be difficult to cast. I had no one in mind for the part. I knew that someone would just come into the audition and be Jamie Fraser. And that’s what Sam did.”
(this is what fans hypothesized at the beginning that Sam would look like as Jamie Fraser — this is a photoshopped clip of Sam with long hair)
(This is what Sam really looks like playing Jamie -handsome!- with his hair dyed a rich deep red. Fans were not convinced that Sam’s hair was red enough or long enough at the beginning. It should be noted that in the books, Jamie’s hair is NOT long to begin with. It’s growing back out due to it being shaved because of an injury prior to the book’s beginning. ).
There were still some fan complaints with the casting – no one had seen anything (other than those involved with the production) that could definitively say that Sam “WAS” Jamie. Diana Gabaldon took to Twitter and Facebook highlighting Sam’s many fine qualities. When the discussion of ‘height’ came up, along the lines of, “he doesn’t seem tall enough to be Jamie” (there are some very finicky fans out there that envision each actor their own way in their heads. It makes you wonder how hard casting the ‘right person’ has to be) Diana posted various pictures including this one- where she physically met both Sam and Cait personally for the first time in Jan 2014. She proclaimed that Sam is 6′ 3″ and is definitely a contender for Jamie’s height in the books.
The next big character to be cast would be Tobias Menzies who will play dual roles as Frank and Jonathan Wolverton Randall, in August 2013.
This man was more recognizable because he played a role in “Game of Thrones” as Edmure Tully, the groom at the Red Wedding event (and the man who was portrayed as incompetent shooting a bow at a funeral boat). Menzies will have a bit of proving to do to the fans of Outlander to make sure that this man can carry the weight and scope of who and what he will do in the new series. Because he was a rash and a bit of a weak man in GoT, he’s going to have to hit it out of the park to make sure fans can come over to his side.
Luckily Starz is not spoiling us with his participation and I’m hoping that means he walks on screen and IS Frank/Jonathan Randall as well. We’ve all focused on the Jamie and Claire characters (with good reason) but not as much expectation has been put on Menzies yet. Oh, but it will and we’re all just waiting to see the explosion when it does.
The next difficult step was to find the perfect “Claire”.
She had to be beautiful in a natural way and possess the confidence, drive, and the scope of what it would mean to be a woman in the medical profession in the 1940’s, when it wasn’t common to be a female doctor. After a lengthy search, they chose another actor that to most, was relatively “unknown” – with small roles (Super 8). An Irish actress and model, Caitriona Balfe was chosen in September 2013. (Some fans claim that her hair is NOT as wild and untamed as it’s explained in the books and that her eyes are not the right color. Again, everyone has a different vision of their beloved characters in their heads, but many have accepted and warmed up to these actors in the roles. The real proof will be how the pilot does this summer).
With these three main important characters cast, the rest could then be filled in. They all have very defined roles and are all in essence “important” to the story, but if these three people are unable to hold up the weight of fan expectations it’s clear to see how the whole table could topple. They just have to get it right, even if events shift and change to make it TV acceptable (as GoT has done along the way, changing some things but leaving that same feeling and tone of the books overall). No pressure, right?
With all the love that’s going into the show, many will have their fingers crossed that the show can pull it off and have us drooling for more every week.
It’s difficult to speculate how the show will really do until it arrives this Summer, but it is EASY to say how much hope all of the fans have that it’ll live up to our dreams for it. We, I, want to see this succeed – not only because it will highlight some of our favorite characters from a beloved series, but also it will pave the way for other excellent books to become future series in the right hands going forward. No one wants to see their heroes come to life on screen in a horrible production. It’s bound to happen (there certainly are many examples of adaptations that just haven’t and don’t work) but if the right people get behind the right projects then we might see a better example of our favorite adaptations in a ‘TV series’ format, rather than some 2 hour one-off production where they get a lot of the details wrong or are rushed due to timing. A series has more of a chance to tell the right kinds of stories and build characters up. Sam, Caite, and Diana Gabaldon all have a pretty active Twitter relationship that has allowed the fans to get closer and get to know them, helping to support their roles as Jamie and Claire. That began a lot of fan backing, as did the big Starz Fan Event in Jan 2014. The event gave the fans an inkling of the screen presence and the chemistry between Sam and Cait (Jamie and Claire) allowing fans to “see” their compatibility as plain as day. It was a huge step in proving that Starz did cast great characters for these roles and that they actually care about the content. We will all just have to see how they handle themselves fully in the show.
(Warning: The linked videos below may contain spoilers for the show!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpPTyKq8ur4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXO3RNc90u0
Starz has even taken it a step further. To many in the US, Gaelic is a pretty uncommon and unknown Scots language. Starz has been building online Gaelic lessons delivered by the cast and Gaelic coach on the team to not only help fans get used to what they will be hearing on the show but to help familiarize readers with how the words will be pronounced on the show, as opposed to whatever pronunciation they may have had in their heads (which may help keep ire down about the “I thought it was said a different way!”). Any of you that have listened to the Unabridged narration of the Outlander series as recorded by Davina Porter, likely knows how the words sound out loud (if you haven’t tried the books audibly, you’re really missing out) but I really enjoy seeing these videos pop up. Starz is taking great care to get this show “right” before it gets aired. Whether the end result will work out for everyone or not, has yet to be seen– but they are making a bigger attempt to get things right than to just “wing it” than I’ve seen from many shows lately, i.e. showing that they care and want to include fans past and present into what they’re producing.
They have even employed an herbalist to be a consultant on the show, so that herbs are used in the correct manner in relation to their medicinal use.
All this gives me hope and makes me really excited for the release of the show. I know that when it comes out I will be fan-girling all over the place. Squeeing like a little girl because they’re hitting all the right notes so far and I’m really digging Sam and Cait’s vibe (there hasn’t been much trailer action showing Tobias/Frank and Claire- but there have been some beautiful still shots of the pair). They make me want to believe that they can pull off the magic of Diana Gabaldon’s excellent books. The trailer released today was fantastic and I loved that they showed more details and opened it up to show that it’s not just about romance. It’s so much more than that and I just can’t wait to see all of it unfold.
I’m guessing Starz will have a nice uptick of U.S. subscriptions pretty soon! I’ll be right there with you, checking it out!
(Handsome men in kilts – Moore and Heughan- , show how stylish it can be to wear them and 2 beautiful women – author Gabaldon and actress Balfe – talk to the fans of the Outlander novels and hope filled fans)
DA Chaney 
