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Saturday, December 23, 2006

Eragon: The Movie


Jill and I went out to see Eragon this afternoon and, I hate to admit it, I was disappointed in it. About a month ago, I sat down and read the book and really, really enjoyed it. There were a few times where I got a little stressed over Christopher Paolini's choices, but it was an entertaining book. The movie, sadly, does not live up to the book's potential.

For starters, we have the amount of compression that simply devastated large chunks of the plot. I realize that the book is pretty long, so some condensing had to occur. But some of the choices they made were simply mind-boggling. For example, having Saphira grow to a full fledged dragon in a big flash of light was nonsensical. I liked it better when she grew up gradually. Saphira picking her own name was just plain silly.

The compression also really killed Murtagh and Arya's characterization. I particularly liked the way that Murtagh developed in the book. In the movie, he's nothing more than a generic sidekick with an interesting tidbit of no real consequence in his past.

The same holds true for Arya. Did not like the way her character was portrayed at all.

Like I said, I understand that some compression is needed. But consider this: the running time for the movie was only an hour and forty minutes! They could have easily tacked another twenty onto the movie and drawn some of that stuff out. Given the fact that crowds have sat through lengthy films of great (Lord of the Rings) or dubious (King Kong) quality, this shows sheer laziness on the parts of the directors.

Although I suspect that in a few months, we'll all be encouraged to purchase the "longer cut" DVD with extra footage. I'd like to think that won't be a crass marketing ploy to bilk us out of more money, but I can be cynical like that at times.

The second thing that really, really, really bugged me, however, were a few continuity problems in the movie. For example, in one scene, Eragon goes riding on Saphira and Brom rides along on the ground below. In the opening shots of this sequence, Brom is riding on his horse with no other horses around. At the end of the sequence, though, he's holding the reigns of Eragon's horse. Did he have that horse in his pocket when the scene started?

And then there's this conundrum:


This is a scene right before the climactic final battle. Arya reveals the armor that the Varden have made for Saphira. Take a good look at that faceplate. Looks really cool, right?

Well, apparently some of the extended scenes that will be miraculously restored on the DVD will include one where Saphira refuses to wear the faceplate because it makes her butt look big or something, because in the next scene, when she comes out in her armor, she isn't wearing it. No explanation as to why. Personally, if I was a Varden blacksmith, I'd be more than offended if I had busted my hump to make dragon armor and then it wasn't used.

And as long as we have that picture, let me ask you this: where are Arya's points? The woman's supposed to be an elf, for crying out loud! The book says that her ears are pointy, the movie says she's an elf, so why are the tips of her ears round? I mean, how expensive are pointy ear prosthetics? They could have just gone down to a Star Trek convention and bought a case of Spock ears if they were in a pinch.

And don't get me started on the dwarfs. I realize that Peter Jackson may have spoiled me in the Lord of the Rings trilogy with his digital wizardry, but barring that, couldn't they have just hired really short actors? After Eragon made it to the Varden, I leaned over to Jill and whispered, "Those are dwarfs, by the way." She looked at me like I was crazy.

Needless to say, this whole experience has soured me a little on this movie franchise. I plan on reading Eldest sometime in the near future; but if I'm going to watch it, I'm going to wait to rent it.

Monday, December 18, 2006

The Godfather

No, not the movie (althought it's a great movie). No, not the book (I haven't read it). Instead, I'm speaking of Godfather: The Game. My brother loaned me it at Thanksgiving and I just recently finished it through as far as I'm going to go. More on that in a bit.

All in all, it was a fun game. It was kind of cool to create a mob persona and go on a rampage through the streets of 1940s New York in an attempt to gain control of the city for the Corleone family. Granted, there was violence and language issues, but really, what else would you expect from a game based on The Godfather?

Another fun detail was the fact that your story was interwoven with the story of the movie itself. It's not just witnessing certain events (although there's plenty of that, such as Don Corleone getting shot in the streets or Sonny meeting his untimely demise at the toll booth). You also get to participate in some of the scenes from the movie, such as planting the gun that Michael uses in the restaurant and the baptism massacre from the end of the movie.

It was a little obvious that the game was attempting to be a mid-century version of Grand Theft Auto 3, but it worked pretty well. Games seem to be heading in a very non-linear direction lately, allowing the player to do pretty much whatever he or she wants in the order they want. It was nice to get a mission and know that I didn't have to do it right then, that I could go extort a few businesses or rob a bank if I was pressed for time.

But I do have a few gripes about the game. Two, specifically.

You'll notice that I said I finished it as far as I wanted to. Here's the reason why: the ridiculous requirements to truly finish the game. As near as I can tell, the requirements are as follows:
  1. Extort all businesses
  2. Seize control of the warehouses and hubs of your competitors
  3. Wipe out your rivals among the Five Families
  4. Finish all missions
  5. Complete all hit contracts
  6. Buy all the safe houses in the game
  7. Achieve every execution style in the game

Of those seven, I've done the first five. I could probably finish #6 as well. But it's #7 that annoys me. See, there are about two dozen "special" ways to kill a person. The game keeps a list of them all and lets you know when you achieve one (such as shooting a person in the head, killing them by punching them only, that sort of thing. Yes, the game is violent. I said that already). I figured this list was just window dressing; you know, interesting information for bragging rights.

Why did I think this? Because nowhere in the game or the manual does it say that you have to get every execution style to win! It doesn't even explain how to achieve every execution style.

So here I am, thinking that I've almost finished the game. I've extorted all the businesses, I've stolen all of my rival's warehouses and blown up their compounds, finishing their families. I've finished all the missions and made all the hits. And then the game told me about the execution styles.

With all my enemies dead and no more hits to make, what am I supposed to do? Go out and kill random civilians in random ways, hoping that I'll hit upon one of the needed execution styles? No thank you.

And here's my second gripe: this game was obviously developed for consoles like the XBox and Playstation before it became a computer game.

There are telltale signs. For example, the only way to save your game is to go to a safehouse. Some of the moves you're required to perform seem very clunky with a mouse and a keyboard and I suspect were designed to be done with a gamepad (throwing people comes to mind).

But the most annoying give-away is the aiming function. In the game, if you hit the right mouse button, your aiming reticle will lock on to the nearest target. Or at least, what the game thinks is the nearest target. There were several times when I would die in a shoot out because the game kept snapping my targeting reticle to an opponent who wasn't a threat, even though the reticle was closer to my threat. There were even a few times when it would lock onto a civilian and refuse to go anywhere else.

It's no secret that bad console-ports are a PC gamers' bane. And I think I know the reason why this annoys me so much: it reveals how lazy game developers can be.

Think about it this way: if you're taking a game that was originally and only made for a PC to a console, you have to severely rework the controls. The reason why is obvious: a game designed to work with a keyboard and a mouse won't work well with just a gamepad anymore. You have redesign the way it works or else it won't work.

Sadly, the same isn't true when it comes to the reverse situation. Instead of the half-dozen or so buttons, analog stick, and directional controls of a gamepad, you suddenly have close to a hundred keys and a mouse to work with. I think developers just get lazy, do very little PC fine-tuning, and call it good enough.

Unfortunately, I don't see how things will change. I doubt that any game developers will be dropping into my blog anytime soon. If they do, take note, guys, and please do something to change this.

But otherwise, I'm moving on from the Godfather to The Battle For Middle-Earth II. At least this one is for PC only. For now.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

CSFF Blog Tour: "Trackers" - Day Three

CSSF Blog Tour



It's our final day on Trackers, a truly excellent book. If you haven't gone out and obtained a copy of it, what are you waiting for? Heck, just click on the link back there and order one from Amazon. I won't be offended. Just make sure you hit the "back" button when you're done and come visit me again.

Anyway, enough silliness. What I thought I would mention today was the excellent website that Kathryn Mackel has put together for The Birthright Project. It's pretty simple, but it has enough bells and whistles on it to really be fun.

What I found interested was the "What Kind of Hero Are You?" quiz. This on-line test asks you a number of questions about your personality and then tells you how you would fit into the Birthright Project. Yesterday it told me that I would be a good Tracker. I'm not exactly sure why it thought so; truth be told, I'd probably make a better Builder.

I also found it interesting that Mackel is offering a "Create a Mog" contest. So much of her books deal with genetically altered animals (or "mogs") that are used as weapons and fortifications (the Wall of Traxx still fascinates me), so she's offering readers a chance to design a mog for the third book in the series. I have an idea for one that I may just submit. Whether I win or not, I'll be looking forward to Scouts, but I'm a little worried given what Shannon McNear wrote today. I hope the rumors aren't true and/or that WestBow changes their mind.

Anyway, go poke around in other people's blogs for a while and see what else they have to say:

Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Frank Creed
Gene Curtis
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Todd Michael Greene
Karen Hancock
Elliot Hanowski
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Karen and at Karen¹s myspace
Oliver King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Terri Main
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Caleb Newell
Eve Nielsen
John Otte
Cheryl Russel
Hannah Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Chris Walley
Daniel I. Weaver
Mark Goodyear

And one last personal note: according to Blogger, this is my 100th post on this blog. Wow. I thought I had only written half that. But then, I can be a wordy little bugger when I don't intend to be.... Oh well.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

CSFF Blog Tour: "Trackers" Day Two

CSSF Blog Tour



So today is the second day of the blog tour for Trackers.

I had originally thought that I would post a review for Outriders, the first book of the Birthright Project series. I nixed that idea because it's been a while since I read it and as quick as I can read books, there's no way I could read it in one evening (and besides, I was almost done with Ender's Game and I didn't want to stop reading that).

Instead, I thought I would touch on something I wrote about the series yesterday. I mentioned that I had a hard time getting into Outriders because of how different the plot was. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that that really is the strength of the Birthright Project series. It's great because it's different!

Let's face it, if you go to a Christian bookstore (or to the Christian section of your local Barnes & Noble, which is what I usually do), the vast majority of the fiction books you'll see can fall into one of four categories: cleaned up romance, mystery/thrillers (including the political thrillers), the historical novels, and the apocalyptic visions of the future. I think this has been discussed before and elsewhere, but the reason there are so many of those four categories is because they're safe. They're predictable.

But to me, they're boring! I'm not big on romances (see my previous posts about the free romance novels I got from the ACFW conference if you doubt me). Mystery/thrillers are okay but not exactly my cup of tea. Historical novels can be fun if the person writing them knows their stuff (ala Paul Maier). And apocalyptic books just annoy me because the vast majority of them are written from a dispensational premillennial slant and I'm a pretty staunch amillennialist.

Anyway, back to my point. Mackel's genius is that her story is so different. It's unlike anything I've read before, which makes it exciting. It's truly speculative, because it's not a "what if a prairie school marm fell in love with a rough-and-tumble ranch hand with a gruff exterior but a secret heart of gold", but a "what if this incredible event happened in the future? What would it look like?"

Actually, as I had these thoughts, I was put in mind of something that E. Stephen Burnett wrote over at Speculative Faith. He's been doing a great series called "The Nine Marks of Widescreen Stories." His fifth installment touches on this subject and he does a far better job of exploring it than I've done here.

So my hope and prayer is that more stories like this come out where we are able to explore fantastic worlds that have never been seen before.

Go check out what other participants are saying. And if you haven't read these books yet, head over to Mirtika or Shannon McNear's blogs. They're giving away free copies of the books.

Here's the list of the other participants:

Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Frank Creed
Gene Curtis
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Todd Michael Greene
Karen Hancock
Elliot Hanowski
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Karen and at Karen¹s myspace
Oliver King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Terri Main
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Caleb Newell
Eve Nielsen
John Otte
Cheryl Russel
Hannah Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Chris Walley
Daniel I. Weaver
Mark Goodyear

Monday, December 11, 2006

Some Good News For Me

I didn't want to post about this here just yet, but now it would appear to be official, so I'll go ahead...

I have sold my first short story!

It's a fantasy tale called "The Jewel of Creation". I was able to sell it to Leading Edge and it will appear in the April 2007 issue. I'm currently awaiting galleys for the story and I even had to answer some questions for an artist that will be drawing some sort of picture to go with the story.

It's a good first step for me, I think. And, as my friend Mir pointed out, any magazine that publishes Orson Scott Card is all right by me.

CSFF Blog Tour: "Trackers" - Day One

CSSF Blog Tour




So here we are again! It's another month, time for an all new blog tour! This month's tour revolves around the latest book by Kathryn Mackel, Trackers. This is part of The Birthright Project, a really interesting sci-fi series that has thankfully seen print!

Trackers is actually the second book of the series. The first, Outriders, came out a little while ago. I read it before I started reviewing books on my blog, so don't bother going to look for my review (maybe I'll do that tomorrow).

At any rate, I loved reading Trackers. I think I actually enjoyed it more than the first book. The reason for that, simply put, is because Mackel is working with a pretty interesting concept. Her books are basically set in a distant future where humankind has basically really screwed things up badly. The Endless Wars have basically decimated human culture and, as a result, humans have reverted to a more medieval lifestyle. Genetic engineering has become magic as warlords view for control of territory.

But there's a small, intrepid band of young Christians known as the Birthrighters who are struggling to preserve as much of God's creation as possible. It seems that before the Endless Wars spun too far out of control, God instructed His followers to build a second Ark, a high-tech hide-away that's hidden deep under the arctic ice. There the last remnant of Christianity hid for generations before God commanded them to send people up to the surface to gather as much unaltered life as possible and spread the Gospel once again.

It's a unique concept and, I'll admit, I had trouble wrapping my brain around some of it at first (for some reason, my disbelief was refusing to be suspended when Mackel explained in the first book that the Birthrighters could communicate with animals). This time around, though, my disbelief was willingly suspended and I really enjoyed the ride that Mackel took me on.

This is a great, innovative series. I was able to polish off Trackers in a day or two (but then, I'm a voracious reader). If you're looking for a good read, especially a great blend of sci-fi and fantasy, you can't go wrong with the books of The Birthright Project.

But don't just take my word for it. Check out what other people are saying about this book:

Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Frank Creed
Gene Curtis
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Todd Michael Greene
Karen Hancock
Elliot Hanowski
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Karen and at Karen¹s myspace
Oliver King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Terri Main
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Caleb Newell
Eve Nielsen
John Otte
Cheryl Russel
Hannah Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Chris Walley
Daniel I. Weaver
Mark Goodyear