One Remake Out, Another One In
Well, this week we had the announcement that one Paul Verhoeven film was temporarily safe from being remade... and news that another film on his C.V. is being remade.Yes, the long anticipated, Kurt Wimmer-penned remake of Total Recall may be starting production, as Len Wiseman is in discussions to direct that film.
Now, if they are making a movie based on "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" and just titling it Total Recall, than I am completely cool with that, because it is an awesome short story. It isn't an action spectacular, but rather a more cerebral experience, and that is what I would hope the remake would be. (I also think of John Carpenter's The Thing as a more faithful reimagining Campbell's "Who Goes There?")
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One Remake Out, Another One In
Well, this week we had the announcement that one Paul Verhoeven film was temporarily safe from being remade... and news that another film on his C.V. is being remade.Yes, the long anticipated, Kurt Wimmer-penned remake of Total Recall may be starting production, as Len Wiseman is in discussions to direct that film.
Now, if they are making a movie based on "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" and just titling it Total Recall, than I am completely cool with that, because it is an awesome short story. It isn't an action spectacular, but rather a more cerebral experience, and that is what I would hope the remake would be. (I also think of John Carpenter's The Thing as a more faithful reimagining Campbell's "Who Goes There?")
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Freeware Game Pick: Frogatto (Lost Pixels)
Frogatto is a freeware 2D platformer which stars a frog that can swallow and spit out enemies as projectiles. At the beginning of the adventure you'll discover that his reach is rather short, but the coins that you collect along the way can used to purchase upgrades that'll increase the length of his tongue.
The game features six distinct areas with thirty levels split between them, and you can use magical pedestals to teleport yourself to the start of any location that you have previously explored. You'll want to open any treasure chests that you find as well, since some of them carry life capsules or huge coin bonuses.
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Session Report, in which I re-evaluate In the Shadow of the Emperor
The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up, and has been up since Wednesday, actually. Games played: In the Shadow of the Emperor, Tichu, Oltre Mare.I re-evaluate In the Shadow of the Emperor, and also think about Oltre Mare some more.
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Antiphon by Ken Scholes
The Named Lands continue to suffer tumults in the aftermath of the rise of the Machtvolk and the birth of Rudolfo and Jin's son, who it is prophesied will save the world. Vlad's quest to unearth the true nature of the threat to the Named Lands leads him deep into the equatorial oceans and a startling discovery, whilst deep in the Churned Wastes Nebios discovers the path to his true destiny, and a fateful encounter with the enigmatic antiphon.
Antiphon is the third and middle volume of Ken Scholes' five-volume Psalms of Isaak series and suffers acutely from 'middle volume syndrome'. There's an enormous number of scenes where people sit around and talk about the plot or, rather more oddly, stand around and have lengthy internal monologues about the plot rather than getting on with business. There's also a continuation and indeed expansion of the number of scenes where people 'in the know' about what's going on stand around and make smug, enigmatic pronouncements about events and the clueless protagonists refuse to ask what is going on. If Scholes had become a screenwriter, he'd have made an excellent addition to the Lost writer's room.
On the plus side, several of the characters continue to be engaging (not Rudolfo or Jin this time around, as they are both pretty inert for most of the narrative, one startling moment for Rudolfo aside), most notably Winters whose character arc is the only one in the book which has sense of momentum and vigour to it. Isaak, somewhat under-used in the previous volume despite giving the series its name, also has more to do this time around, which is welcome. There are also several moments where Scholes' writing comes alive and gives us brief bursts of awed wonder of the kind that SF and fantasy can do so well (most notably one sequence involving a ladder).
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