The Gears of War Timeline

Due to my copious free time between job hunting, and some laziness, I've been spending some time with the Gears of War game trilogy. The story is barely noticeable in the first game (I somehow didn't realize it isn't even on Earth) but the last two have so decent narrative, and it turns out I like the tale. However, lots of cut scenes barely get into why the world, Sera, is the way it is; and I'd like to know. Collecting all the goodies from games 2 and 3 help fill in some back-story (but you have to want to read it), and I still want to know more about the Pendulum Wars, Marcus Fenix's prison sentence, the Locust Queen being "human", Adam Fenix's connection to things, and lots of smaller ones.

Karen Traviss is an author who wrote the Star Wars: Republic Commando series as well as Halo: Glasslands. She is well able to flesh out the Gears of War universe using what I assume are extensive background notes from the game's creators at Epic. Each book has a number of flashbacks which all overlap each other. Four out of five books have been released and I decided to read them all in chronological order, not in intended page number; but not even Gearspedia had a helpful timeline for me to work with. So, for anyone who wants to know in what order to read the books and play the games, below is what I have mapped out.

The four books are Aspho Fields, Jacinto's Remnant, Anvil Gate and Coalition's End. A fifth book, The Slab, is due out in May 2012, as of this posting. There are two different date systems used in the sagas based on the Pendulum Wars and Emergence Day. As far as I can tell no approximate Earth date has been given, so it's up to you to decide whether this is a future Earth colony or an alien planet with humanoids. I favor the former. [note: in Aspho Fields there is an error in date for a number of chapters as being set 16 years before E-Day. It should really be 2 years before E-Day. I account for that below.]

80 years before Emergence Day a new fuel source, Imulsion, was discovered deep underground. This led to the Pendulum Wars almost immediately and eventually involved all the nations of Sera, split between two sides; the COG and UIR nations. Eventually the UIR surrendered six weeks before Emergence Day. Prior to E-Day dates were counted as years after the Pendulum War started, so the siege of Anvil Gate took place during the 62nd year of the War. After E-Day and the near extinction of the "human" race on Sera, they referred to dates as Before Emergence (BE) or After Emergence (AE), which places the siege of Anvil Gate at 17 BE. The Seran day has 26 hours and the calendar includes months named Bloom, Frost and Rise. It can also be assumed that a Seran week is a least 7 days long.


62nd year of the War (17 BE)
Anvil Gate: chapters 5, 8, 11, 13, 17, and 19

67th year of the War (12 BE)
Aspho Fields: chapter 3, part 1

70th year of the War (9 BE)
Aspho Fields: chapter 3, part 2

75th year of the War (4 BE)
Aspho Fields: chapter 5

76th year of the War (3 BE)
Aspho Fields: chapters 6-7

77th year of the War (2 BE)
Aspho Fields: chapter 9-10, 12-13, 15-17, and 19

EMERGENCE DAY
Coalition's End: chapters 4, 7 and 11

1 AE
Jacinto's Remnant: chapters 3 and 6
Coalition's End: chapter 14 part 1
Jacinto's Remant: chapter 9
Coalition's End: chapter 14 part 2
Jacinto's Remant: chapter 13 parts 1-2
Coalition's End: chapter 14 part 3 - page 250 line 32
Jacinto's Remant: chapter 13 part 3 - page 290 line 19
Coalition's End: page 250 line 33 - page 251 line 12
Jacinto's Remant: page 290 line 20 - page 292 line 13
Coalition's End: page 251 line 13 - line 22
Jacinto's Remant: page 292 line 14 - bottom of page 292
Coalition's End: page 251 line 23 - page 252 line 8
Jacinto's Remant: page 293 (end of chapter 13)
Coalition's End: page 252 line 9 - end of chapter 14
Jacinto's Remnant: chapter 15 part 1
Coalition's End: chapter 17 part 1
Jacinto's Remnant: chapter 15 parts 2-3
Coalition's End: chapter 17 parts 2-3

9 AE
Coalition's End: chapter 20

10 AE
RAAM'S SHADOW
The Slab: chapter 1

The Slab: chapter 2

The Slab: chapter 3

The Slab: chapter 4

The Slab: chapter 5

The Slab: prologue

The Slab: chapter 6

11 AE
The Slab: chapter 7

The Slab: chapter 8

The Slab: chapter 9

12 AE
The Slab: chapter 10

The Slab: chapter 11

The Slab: chapter 12

13 AE
The Slab: chapter 13

The Slab: chapter 14
The Slab: chapter 15

14 AE
The Slab: chapter 16
The Slab: chapter 17
The Slab: chapter 18 - page 484 line 15
GEARS OF WAR: ACT I / The Slab: chapter 18 pgs 484 line 16- 494
The Slab: epilogue
GEARS OF WAR: ACT II - V
Aspho Field: prologue, chapters 1-2, 4, 8, 11, 14, 18, 20 and epilogue
GEARS OF WAR 2
Jacinto's Remnant: prologue, chapters 1-2, 4-5, 7-8, 10-12, 14, and 16-18
Anvil Gates: prologue

15 AE
Anvil Gates: chapters 1-4, 6-7, 9-10, 12, 14-16, 18, and 20
Coalition's End: prologue, chapters 1-3, 5-6, 8-10, 12-13, 15-16, 18-19, and 21-23

16 AE
GEARS OF WAR 3

[UPDATE Jan 25, 2012] Now that I'm reading more of the events surrounding the use of the Hammer of Dawn during 1 AE I have to improve the chronology. Some of the events overlap so I tried to separate them in the best places, but you can take it with a grain of salt.

[UPDATE Jan 26, 2012] Raam's Shadow doesn't have much timeline info in it, other than to say sometime after Emergence Day. After doing some online research it appears (from Gearspedia) that the events of the downloadable scenario are about a decade after E-Day. It tells the tale of the Kryll-Storm attack on Ilima, which is a precursor to the Battle of Ephyra (set in 10 AE according to Epic's timeline). I am not including the "lost chapter" from Gears of War 2 simply because it is an alternative explanation of the events following the death of Maria, and I prefer the actual game.

[UPDATE Jan 31, 2014] The Slab is the only book in the series that doesn't rely on flashbacks. No need to jump around the narrative as in the other four books. This is the story of the Marcus Fenix's betrayal during a key battle and his four years of prison time, leading up to the first game. The story starts in 10 AE, and as Jace has a small part in the books, it takes place soon after the game expansion Raam's Shadow. Special note should be made that the last half of the last chapter is a retelling of the very first mission in Gears of War, Act I titled "14 Years After E-Day". It covers the game from Dom finding Marcus to the Grub attack in Embry Square after meeting Hoffman in the cut-scene.

The Chronicles of Star Trek: Escape from Butchered Canon

I called in sick yesterday with some kind of sniffling/ sneezing/coughing/ aching/stuffy head/fever kind of illness only one brand of terrible tasting liquid can cure. So, instead of drinking something green, I chose a Microsoft brand cure in the form of an Afro Samurai loaded Xbox to pass the time. I am late in the game, near the end, fighting the Empty 7, when the actual issues of this game rear their ugly head. I got just far enough to face the final bad guy today and I decided the system for boss-fighting is way too broken and I’ve put the game back on the shelf never to be played again. Unless DLC comes along. I do like the Chambara-style killing moments, though, which is strangely the best part of this game.

Maybe a passive experience will make me feel better so I put in the original Director’s Cut (ie not the Spike TV version) and watched the first three (of five) episodes. It is so much better than I remember it on TV, but it was edited back in 2007. I started comparing the plot points and character moments between the show and the game and I found that I really like the story told in the game better than on TV. Now I need to read the Manga to jack my whole experience up. The different levels of the game are set to different moments in the show, but a bit rearranged and drawn out for gaming purposes. So, my recommendation is if you like the show get the damn game, just hit the forums for ways to get past the cheesy bosses.

When I wasn’t napping during a CSI:NY marathon I continued reading a new Trek Book that came out last week, A Singular Destiny. What struck me in this book was it’s weaving of TV, movie, and book plot points, creating a much better tapestry of the Star Trek universe, post-Nemesis, than I expected. The main characters are Mining company heads, diplomats, Klingon ship captains, Federation bureaucrats and the like, all set as a sequel to the Destiny trilogy released last year. The book does a good job of keeping me informed of past events from older books, while creating a desire to read them anyway. You can easily step back into Trek at this point and not feel left out of 4 years of storytelling. If this new Trek movie is successful, hopefully we could have a new show to watch. And, I hope that those writers take cues from these books and not re-hash old treaded ground from the previous series. In fact, a new series based on these books would be awesome.

For those that might not have any idea what I’m talking about, here’s the scoop. Star Trek books have never been canon with the show or movies and usually not even canon with each other, The Shatnerverse not withstanding. I’ve noticed of late the current batch of books dating back to the era around Star Trek: Nemesis started a perpetual thread of a story telling that continued well past this point, with more books to come this year. This is as close to canon as you can get from books and since we don’t have an post-Nemesis TV shows, why not read these. Here is a list I have compiled, in roughly chronological order, of novels to read of the continuing voyages.

Prior to Nemesis:
A Time to Be Born
A Time to Die
A Time to Sow
A Time to Harvest
A Time to Love
A Time to Hate
A Time to Kill
A Time to Heal
New Frontier: After the Fall
A Time for War, a Time for Peace
New Frontier: Missing in Action

After Nemesis:
The Next Generation: Death in Winter
Titan: Taking Wing
Titan: The Red King
Articles of the Federation
Titan: Orion's Hounds
The Next Generation: Resistance
The Next Generation: Q & A
The Next Generation: Before Dishonor
Titan: Sword of Damocles
The Next Generation: Greater than the Sum
Destiny I: Gods of Night
Destiny II: Mere Mortals
Destiny III: Lost Souls
A Singular Destiny

This roughly runs from late 2378 to mid 2381. See Memory Beta for a complete chronology of novels. Now I want to drop all my planned reading for the next couple months and just read Star Trek. There is also a series of “re-launched” books for both Deep Space Nine and Voyager which I believe also work as prequels to the above. I’ll list those in the future. Also, crew members from the IKC Gorkon/Klingon Empire novels are referenced adding them to the new book-canon as well as events from The Lost Era novels and Peter David’s series, New Frontier. As he is my favorite Trek author I have no problem added his work into the mix. More on all that in the future. Happy Waitangi Day everyone. BTW, check out the Weekend Ronin unnamed Podcast at its test location here. Click around the site if you'd like, but keep in mind it's in its Beta phase and not a lot is going on. See you next broadcast.

That New Blog Smell: Blog 2.0

It's been a long time since I last posted here (sorry friends) but I wish to make amends and try a new regular blog schedule. And by that I mean I'll try writing again. In the past year I’ve wrapped myself in my “geekness” and played many video games, read many books, watched many movies, and seen much TV.

Microsoft got its fangs into me when it invented the Gamerscore and Achievement Points system, so I spent 99.9% of my gaming time getting as many points as I could. Labeling me "Achievement Whore" wouldn’t be out of the question. I finished out 2008 with 31,660 GS. The last game I finished up in December was BioShock, which I received for X-Mass last year and I’m thankful I finally played it. If you haven’t you gotta play this, unless you hate original FPS ideas with an Art Deco 50’s flavor, wrapped around genetic experiments and life-or-death choices with Little Sisters and Big Daddies. Your psyche will thank you after this game. PLAY IT. My New Years resolution is break 60,000 GS by the end of the year. I’ve currently pasted 35,000 with Afro Samurai on Sunday, so my pattern is clear.

On TV I was late to the show with Jericho, but at least I saw the last season, which brought me to the first season of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The new Doctor Who has really impressed me of late as did Robin Hood for a brief time. And thank god for South Park, as I’ve been catching up on all the episodes thanks to XBL. I tried Reality TV for a few months but left me feeling cold and shriveled. 2008’s fall season came in like a lion with a show almost every day of the week to watch. So far I’ve been following Terminator: TSCC, Heroes, Fringe, Knight Rider, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars. After the Christmas hiatus I added 24, Leverage, CSI: Morpheus and Chuck. Hard to find time for games with these on.

I read through a number of Star Wars books including Darth Bane: Rule of Two and Deathstar. I always have to read Star Trek books so I tracked down some of the novels from the 70s, before ST:TMP was released, and came to the conclusion the Pocket Books era novels (and beyond) are so much better. The books I liked were the Titan series, the Klingon Empire series (especially A Burning House), and the Terok Nor series of prequels to DS9. Star Trek novels have never been canon (like Star Wars) but these novels are fitting a larger Narrative Canvas I find very pleasing since we have no new Star Trek on TV. The futurist Ray Kurzweil wrote a book called The Singularity is Near, which is quite interesting, about the future of tech and humanity. According to him Skynet may be the least of our worries. The Zombie Apocalypse has never been better told than in World War Z. Get it, read it, and be very scared. I also “knocked out” some early Michael Crichton novels from the 60s and 70s that I never read. Then he died and now I have nothing more of his stuff to read. RIP Mr. Crichton.

Movies for the most part were good last year with the likes of The Dark Knight, WALL-E, Iron Man, and Deathrace. However I did see some really bad ones like The Spirit, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and 10,000 BC. I’m still on the fence about Quantum of Solace and Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I love Star Wars but Lucas “kid-ified” it again, with likes of Ahsoka Tano, so I’m having issues with it (that also carry over to the TV series). I’m not even going to mention Indy 4. We could have had Star Trek around Christmas but they bumped it to May and I’m still incredibly impatient here.

In my most impressionable years I discovered D&D (Basic and Advanced) way back when before the invention of the computer RPG. Since then I have had an almost instinctual desire to collect D&D manuals of any sort, so I immediately descended on my local Comic Book store and consumed any and all books they had. I don’t even play, I just like the books. Last week I bought the Open Graves guide to undead campaigns, with thoughts of running a game about a zombie apocalypse. Sadly, I don’t play anymore but I love collecting the books. If only the web resources we have today were around when I was in High School running games. RIP Mr. Gygax.

The biggest news I can think of from late last year was a decision of me and a few of my friends to start a Podcast. I had just bought an iPhone 3G and Bwane introduced me to podcasts. (GamerTags used to protect the innocent.) Once he had me on board we agreed to do it with a couple other friends, R moe nay and KILLAB, and I started learning HTML and how it works with DreamWeaver and started a website to support it. The Weekend Ronin site in its “under construction” phase. We have recorded 5 podcasts so far but those haven’t been “migrated” to the real internet yet (or iTunes) so please stand by. In fact just today I started a Twitter account to facilitate (I think that’s the right word) our combined efforts but also to be a mini-blog in between regular blog entrees.

For tech news I upgraded my Mac OS from Tiger to Leopard with not a few initial issues but I’ll save that for another Blog as well as trying to integrate Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac into the flow. Stupid “.docx” files. That’s about all I remember in my beer-addled brain. See you next broadcast.

I Am The Last Omega Man Legend On Earth

I Am Legend begins today. The next big vehicle for the Fresh Prince. Hollywood continues their trend (when did they ever stop) of redoing classic movies, and this one is the redo of The Omega Man. I have claimed in the past I am a sci-fi geek, but I've never seen this movie, so I found it today on HD-DVD and I will absorb it in all its glory before seeing the new one. Both movies are based on the book by Richard Matheson named I Am Legend which also spawned a graphic novel. I have heard a few origin arguments and I'm here to tell you (thanks to Wikipedia) The book came first. There have actually been four (4) movies made but Omega Man has been the most famous, presumably until now. However, The Omega Man differs in many areas from the novel and I suspect Will Smith's version will be more accurate, so I'll hold off on any comparisons until I see both movies and get a book in my hand.

Yesterday (December 13) was the 5th anniversary of Star Trek: Nemesis (aka Star Trek X). Next December will be the new JJ Abrams Star Trek so doing the math equals six (6) years between Star Trek movies. This is the longest gap between Trek movies, ever. Like Blue Harvest before it the Trek movie has a code name disguising its purpose. That name was used this week at the Long Beach City Hall building that's doubling as who-knows-what for a project called Corporate Headquarters. This is the same thing Abrams did with "Cloverfield," however that name stuck. I don't care who is the cast I may not spend my money to see "Star Trek XI: Corporate Headquarters." I can see the tagline now, "Star Fleet HQ... not even close to a frontier... these are the jobs of StarBase 1... to search for meaning in a sea of computer work... to boldly head to the break room before everyone drinks the coffee." If it's done like Office Space uhh.. in space... I am so there. BTW the City Hall site was used as part of Caprica in the original Battlestar Galactica.

The past two (2) Trek movies, Insurrection and Nemesis, didn't do to well in the box office. I have always felt Insurrection as the weekest of the four (4) Next Generations but Nemesis is an excellent Trek movie. This movie exemplifies Space Opera and becomes theatrical in nature during some of the scenes. This was supposed to be Picards "Wrath Of Kahn" but it slightly missed the mark. Of note on the writing staff is John Logan, one of the co-writers of Gladiator, and a professed Star Trek fan who loves Romulans and pushed the movie to include them. He even went so far as to rally the powers to be to let him write the Romulan episodes of Enterprise, but sadly that show as cancelled before the Earth-Romulan war could be told. Where "Wrath Of Kahn" had an established villian to mirror Kirk, Picards "Nemesis" is a clone of him named Shinzon, raised in the hell pits of Remus, Romulus' slave/mining planet. If the writers had layed some clue as to the Romulan Cloning project or Shinzon himself during Deep Space 9 or Voyager the impact of who Shinzon is to Picard would have been batter. All this aside once you see him face-to-face with Picard you can feel the tension, and you know it will have to be relieved by an all-out starship battle. You don't introduce an awesome ship like The Scimitar and not use it in battle. It should be noted STX came out around the same time as the next movies in the Harry Potter, Lord Of The Rings, and 007 (Die Another Day) franchises. No wonder nobody saw it.

SPOILERS. Star Trek Nemesis is about a revolution on Romulus by the Remans, lead by Shinzon, to regain the glories of the Empire and attack the Federation while it is weak, I'm guessing from the end of the Dominion War. In a lesser plot point Shinzon needs Picard's DNA to cure a fatal illness indemic to his type of cloning. In the background is Riker and Troi's wedding and his Captaincy of the USS Titan. This movie repesents the most current (or farthest) point in the Star Trek timeline, set in 2379 and the novels have picked up where the movie left of to Chronicle Riker and the Titan. This is a darker toned movie which slowly builds to an impending starship battle we've all come to love in Trek movies. The slow parts are almost too slow. If the writers hadn't given away the "punchline" for Shinzon they could have kept us in suspense much better during the dinner scene. That is probably my biggest problem with the movie. That and the amount of character development that hit the cutting room floor in favor of the action scenes. Many of the scenes in the previews were all axed by the time film reached the screen. John Logan gave fans a starship battle we've been waiting for, all the things we hoped to see and more. You didn't have to be a genius to understand the tactics and it really felt like battleships were going at broadsides-to-broadsides. It reminded me a lot of the Leiji Matsumoto's Captain Harlock space battleship attacks.

Some oddities appear in the movie worth mentioning, like Wesley Crusher. He left during season 7 of Next Generation by quiting Starfleet Academy, becoming a trans-dimensional being, and exploring the universe with The Traveler. But now he's back from Outer Space, with that look upon his face (sorry, I don't know how that happened) and he's at the wedding reception in uniform again. According to the editted stuff he's even an engineer on Riker's Titan. Someone just glossed over nine (9) years with no explanation. Shinzon is bald, and appears at the young age Picard was at the Academy. But Picard had hair during his early years and only began loosing it after the death of Jack Crusher, an event that takes place a decade before Picard gets Enterprise D. My only guess here is that during some of his academy days he shaved his head (or maybe Starfleet has a Boot Camp with mandatory head-shaving rituals). It is possible that since we only see the above two (2) time periods of Picard with hair during a Q flashback and an unballanced dream sequence, maybe he lost all his hair in his youth and he just remembers wrong. When Picard rams the Enterprise into the Scimitar (wicked cool) Shinzon orders full reverse and breaks free. Huh? It should have just dragged Enterprise around. He must have pushed Enterprise with a Tractor Beam and but the transmission in backwards. Finally, I think Shinzon went through a huge ordeal to find another Soong-type Android, called B-4, scattered across a pre-warp planet just to bait a trap for Picard so he can steel some DNA, and declare war on the Federation. It seems some his machinations could use some explaining. Regardless, this movie still kicks ass when it has to and takes names. All hail Data, pour some Romulan Ale on the curb.

Tarantino has claimed many of his influences have come from Japanese and Chinese cinemas and their bloody, violent obsessions with killing everything on screen. Now Japan has a new movie sure to be a cult hit, and their answer to Planet Terror, called The Machine Girl. Another Asian movie doing the Hollywood remake rounds is The Eye. A buddy of mine showed me the original a few years ago and I was impressed, sort of a Sixth Sense thing about a blind lady who gets an eye transplant and can see things others can't. The remix now has Jessica Alba (thank you God) and now I'm definately gonna see it. BTW Office Space is airing once again on Comedy Central this Sunday (December 16) and I know I'll be watching it for the 87th time. I own this on VHS and DVD and I still watch it on TV. I love this movie. However, this writer's strike has got to end before I start watching more Reality Shows.

I used to build Star Wars models when I was a kid (I think I still am) but this dude built the coolest AT-AT model since the one used for filming. In a close second is this Vader's TIE/N64 morphling. If only I can mash one thing not Star Wars with one thing Star Wars and output an awesome psuedo Star Wars item. Like a Land Speeder and a Space Shuttle model duck taped together and try to sell it to NASA to replace the Shuttle Fleet. What happened to replacing something with something better. I know the Orion is gonna be better, but it still looks like the Apollo capsules it's based on. You know, cars now don't look like cars of the late 60's. C'mon NASA I want to see the Lambo of interplanetary space craft.

Now for a not-so-cool idea: GLOW IN THE DARK CAT CLONES. Yeah, South Koreans are still trying to clone things (remember the guy who faked his experiments and is in a heap of trouble) like cats, and they succedded. I'm not gonna get technical but through some gene therapy (I think) with a florescing DNA something or other... look just read the news here. At least they get to experiment with cloning, not like America where some confusing religious zelousness ruined our T-Cell research. So now the world has UV glowing kittens from South Korea and not America. We should be making glow-in-the-dark clones bunnies or meerkats or something. We're going to learn that a glow-in-the-dark kitten in every home cures cancer, reduces road rage and lowers the planets temperature. All that will go to South Korea's credit while we keep occupying Arab/Muslim/Persian countries looking for free oil. This week the price of Munchkins went up at my Dunkin Donuts, solidifying my theory they're made from Crude Oil. See you next broadcast.

Saturn - Lord Of The Other Rings

Saturn is the only outer planet (from Jupiter outward) NASA has a probe around, known as Cassini. This is arguably the most beautiful planet we have. And there is a lot we don't know about. Saturn is the Roman god of agriculture and harvest. Not a very prophetic name, but harvest might be applicable since we have now discovered a bounty of 60 moons orbiting the ringed planet. I love astronomy and I love a good mystery. When the mystery is astronomical, even better. The big mystery of Saturn revolves (pardon the pun) around the rings. When did they form? What are they made of? etc. The basic thought has been some odd millions of years ago a couple moons and/or comets collided producing millions and millions of icy particles that eventually formed the rings, so they are pretty new. Not so, says Cassini, that has been studying Saturn, rings, and moons since the end of 2004. According to this recent news article, the rings may have been there since the beginning of the solar system and are self perpetuating. In other words, the moons of Saturn help "feed" and shepherd the ring particles. Awesome.

Monday I forgot to put in a viral video of the week so here is my belated entree, Indian Superman. All I can say is "wow." Speaking of masked heroes,Yahoo has these new pics of The Dark Knight including first shots of The Joker. I am so looking forward to this movie.

Philip K. Dick has written so many different kinds of Science Fiction and even invented the Cyberpunk genre. The movie Minority Report has been one of my favorite adaptations, even though Spielberg made it his own. Then comes A Scanner Darkly. With little of the expected trappings of sci-fi (especially PKD's sci-fi) this is incredibly engrossing once you let yourself go in the story. The "Scramble Suits" just look made for the animation and make the conversations that much more interesting. I swear, Keanu Reeves is the poster child for future controlled societies. To me the animation style is a reflection of the drug addled minds of the main characters. And I found the dialog more entertaining than the plot itself. I had a feeling I knew where the plot was going but to have the two characters, played by Robert Downey Jr. and Woody Harrelson, constantly feeding each other's paranoia really made a lot of sympathetic characters out of drug addicts. And was it their fault or not their addicted? There are good questions asked, but not asked, by this plot that shows a police agency with unlimited powers in the near future. I hated to see Fred/Arctor end up the way he did but I want to believe his actions will still lead to a better tomorrow.

Journey To The Center Of The Earth is my current read. Much easier on the brain than Frankenstein and equally as good, I have only explored the first ten (10) chapters. This has been no more than a character study of the two (2) mains and a travelogue about going from Hamburg to Iceland to the volcano that leads to the Center Of The Earth. And it is so well written I don't mind the extraordinary time taken to explain locations and peoples and languages. An excellent insight into the minds of the 19th century. The book is written from Axel's first person point of view as he (and you) embark on a journey with his/your uncle Professor Lidenbrock. For those that haven't read Jules Verne before I found he hooks you immediately in the story and keeps feeding you little tidbits until the big story happens. I haven't been this absorbed in a novel since reading Michael Crichton's older works, like Sphere, Jurassic Park, or Prey. Since this is translated from the original French I'm impressed that a certain poetic touch remains in the language when read in English. I'm also a fan of the the 1959 movie. There have been a few attempts to remake the story for TV, but they never impressed me as much as the movie. Maybe the new 3-D movie will do the story justice. We'll have to see August 8th, 2008. Get it? 8-8-8? Whatever. There's probably a code game online or something to be planned next year, something like the rune code in the beginning of the book, but I'm just guessing here.

One of the questions I've asked myself many a time is why I like Manga over American comics. I enjoy reading our comics but something always stands out and gets my attention in Manga. Maybe it has to do with a single story written and drawn by one person in Japan versus our design by committee ideas, but I think it is the willingness of Manga artists to take chances. Sure, American comics take chances but a status quo is general kept intact, except for the past few years worth of Marvel plotlines. I'm referring to the titles I used to read in the 80s. Not only did Manga feel foreign but they told more epic stories that felt large, like Space Operas. I'm reading two (2) such titles now. Parasyte and Death Note I've mentioned before so time to insert some SPOILERS.

In the first volume of Parasyte a quiet invasion of (you guessed it) parasites invades cities all over the world but one in particular attacks Japanese high-schooler Shin. The parasites normally attack the head taking over all functions of the human body and feed on other humans. Shin lucked out and the parasite only merged with his right hand, leaving his human brain intact. They both form a friendship and decide to try to eliminate other Parasytes in the area. Shin is forced to carry a large burden in trying to rid his town of these things and manages to kill a few, and finds one in particular that leaves him alone out of curiosity. You see, Parasytes are territorial and will kill each other on sight. On the surface this seems like a disruptive take-over but the Parasytes are just looking for hosts, not take over the world, however humanity is threatened in the long run. Shin learns much by the time his parents decide to take a vacation to the country. In the second volume is where the story throws Shin a curve ball. A parasite's human body is killed but it manages to detach from the corpse and finds Shin's mom, killing her. It then injures the Father and heads back home to kill Shin and his sister. Eventually by the end of the volume Shin and another half-parasite/half-human kill the Parasyte/Mother. It changes the tone of the whole story and I applaud the character development. There will be eight (8) total English volumes to match same number of Japanese volumes. Only up to Volume 3 has been released by Del Rei. BTW I like Del Rei's Manga covers. From design to paper stock they actually feel like your reading something special.

As I said before, Death Note is a about a human, named "Light Yagami," who is given the power to kill anyone in the world by writing their name in a book called a Death Note. As a top grade A student and son of the head of the Japanese version of the FBI, he feels he's destined to make the world a utopia without crime. He then sets out to kill hundreds of criminals worldwide to test the powers of the book and scare others straight. A cult grows around these deaths that are blamed on a "fictitious" person, Kira. INTERPOL gets involved and asks a mysterious super-sleuth, named "L", to track down Kira. This series is part "Fugitive" and part "No Way Out." Both sides are rather sympathetic but there is an edge to Light that hints towards a certain amount of insanity. In the second volume, Light may have slipped up, when "L" gets the FBI involved, investigated the Japanese police and Japanese FBI personnel. Light decides to get super-clever and gets the FBI agents to kill each other, using a torn out page of the Death Note and forcing an agent to write names on it. Little does Light know an agents fiancee is in Japan (and she's former FBI that worked a case with "L") and she decides to hunt Kira. Light for the first time is on the defensive and kills her using the book, hoping to draw attention from himself, since she figured it out. Light has now shown he's willing to kill anyone to stay hidden and "L" finally showed his face to the police in an effort to draw out Kira/Light. An intense story but I now feel Light is beyond redemption and has slipped to the Dark Side. I'm now looking forward to "L" capturing him. The Manga produced 12 volumes in Japan, all of which have been translated, so I know the story is no where near being complete by vol 2.

I've been letting the fingers on my fret hand/left hand rest for a couple days before mushing on through Hard and it looks like the crazy British dude is reviewing Guitar Hero III this week. Enjoy. See you next broadcast.

There's No Place Like The O.Z.

Tin Man has played out now. At least Sci-Fi channel showed one (1) episode per night. If I had to wait three (3) weeks, I'd have been pissed. For the most part I liked it. Since I'm being a critic now I guess I'm supposed to find something wrong, so I'll just say it could have been 2 episodes since some things felt like padding to flesh things out. With that said there is a lot to like. The characters tend to run through cliched dialog at times but then a perfect gem is uttered and it renews my faith in the series. I'll be buying this on DVD, if for no other reason than to see it in better definition than 480i. Having been a fan of Doctor Who I should be used to great acting with sometimes horrible special effects, but with so much good actually going on in the story, the bad effects stand out even worse. Maybe if they had another million dollars or so.

My last blog I was listing differences and mistakenly thought the Wicked Witch O' The West was Azkadellia but it turns out... SPOILER ALERT ...I was sort of right. WWOTW's spirit was sealed in a cave and through some accidents when DG and Az were kids she possesed Az. So I was right and wrong and the same time, and Toto finally showed up. There were enough interesting ideas they could have just done their own thing and not needed to use the Wizard Of OZ franchise. The weakest of the three sadly is the last episode and I felt the writers were wimping out when using magic meant holding hands while the FX guys took care of the rest. I liked everything but the ending. Too abrupt and it felt forced. SPOILER END.

I finished reading Frankenstein which is an absorbing novel, since it was written around 1816-1817. This isn't for everyone since it is mostly written in first person (Victor Frankenstein of course) Victorian. So, I'll save everyone the trouble and briefly explain the novel. The title is for Victor (not a Doctor but a college student) Frankentein and his insanity and becoming God and succeeding, but not being prepared for the consequences. The monster, that has no name, is more of a super-human intelligent zombie. Several chapters are dedicated to him and his mis-adventures. SPOILER ALERT AGAIN: A ship is moving through the frozen water of the arctic when the ship encounters a mis-shapen humanoid riding on a dog sled heading farther north. Then another sled is found chasing after the first with Victor Frankenstein, who is the worse for wear and needs help. Once brought aboard he tells the ship's master his life story leading up to this moment. Victor was born to a rich family in Geneva, took an interest in science and alchemy, betrothed at a young age to his adopted cousin, and accepted to college in another country. At college he is taught that he wasted time learning alchemy but he still believes in the dreams of immortality promised by the ancient "masters" and applies his new understanding of the sciences to "making" a new life. Without a lot of explanation it works. Victor becomes terrified of his creation and goes to bed while the "monster" runs out and hides in the woods. From this point on Victor is mentally unhinged and becomes bed ridden with a fever every time he's reminded of the "monster." It takes a couple years to recover and he heads back home to Geneva, when he sees the "monster" in the outskirts of town. Victor arrives home to find his youngest bro murdered and his adopted younger sister to blame. Vic is sure the "monster" did it to punish VF (he is quite self absorbed in the book) for creating him. Afraid the townsfolk will think him insane he says nothing about the "monster" and they law hangs the girl.

Filled with grief, Victor heads out of town to climb a mountain and commune with nature when he comes face to face with his creation. Vic goes nuts and threatens to kill it but the "monster" reminds him he's an eight-foot tall killing machine. Then the "monster," trying to reconcile with his creator/father, invites him to a secluded cabin to hear his story, and then they can kill each other. VF agrees. the "monster" ran out of Vic's lab and hid in the woods, attacked by villagers, hid under an inhabited cottage, learned to read and speak, scared more people, ran off to other woods, saved a little girl, pissed of more villagers, found "the creator's" village, killed VF's younger brother and framed a little girl. The "monster" began as a good entity but everyone treated him like crap so he decides to take his revenge on Victor, the one who refuses to even name his creation. The "monster" is lonely because nothing else is like him and requests Victor to make him a bride and then they will both disappear from the world of man (in South America). Vic agrees and heads to Scotland, with his best friend, to make another. He comes to his senses and refuses after half constructing a new one. The "monster" becomes enraged and kills Vic's companion and frames him for the murder. VF spends the next year ill and in prison until his father shows up and takes him back to Geneva. The "monster" promises to be there for Vic on their wedding day.

Vic goes home and marries his fiancee, the adopted cousin Elizabeth, and stays awake all night waiting to be killed. But the "monster" instead kills his new wife. His father becomes ill and gives up the will to live and VF finally decides to hunt the "monster" like a Terminator. The "monster" then makes a game out of it by staying just ahead of Vic on his way to the Arctic, and leaving clues and food behind, just enough to keep VF alive. This is when Victor ends up on the ship in the arctic. After telling the tale, he becomes ill and never rises. The "monster" quietly boards the ship to murder VF but finds he already past in his bed. It then decides its reason for living is gone and it will never be accepted jumps out a window into the icy water and dies. THE END. Now I saved you $4.95 and 198 pages of reading. Next up I'm reading Journey To The Center Of The Earth.

That angry British guy who hates video games did his review of Assassin's Creed. Oddly he likes it and so do the guys at Penny Arcade. Much is being made over the low score game reviews. I think this game is good for all the reasons "real" people and not reviewers play games. I also watched the trailer for Twisted Metal on PS2. This begs the question, why the F are games still being made for this system. I like the PS2 like everyone else but I've moved on. This game just looks embarrassing and reminds me why I play the next gen games. Maybe Sony and all the other developers should leave the PS2 be and work on making a good library for the PS3. On the handheld market I was this video review of Contra 4 for DS. All the classic Arcade, 8bit, and 16bit love is there without the 3D failures of the PlayStation versions. I would buy this game just for the extras but there is all sorts of gameplay too. I wonder if the 30-man "code" is still there. There is also some new thing in Japan for the DS that reads a memory card you put in a special cartridge, and lets you watch downloadable anime. Or something like that. See you next broadcast.

Travel Storms and Cyborgs and the Outer Zone, Oh My

I hold a huge conceit against every movie Sci-Fi channel makes. I've tried watching the Saturday night monster flicks but I usually can't take more than a few minutes before giving up. Thus, I turned to Tin Man, not expecting them to do any justice to "The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz." I came to the conclusion after the first 10 minutes, "this doesn't suck." We're not talking Shakespeare here, but the retelling is quite inventive. Maybe I should say re-imagining because this is the Wizard Of Oz in concept only. There are little tidbits of the familiar, flying monkeys, tornadoes... that's about it. The Munchkins are more like the new Oompa-Loompas, but more colors (and pissed off); No Lollipop Guild; The Yellow Brick Road isn't yellow, and barely made of bricks; Tornadoes are for dimensional travel; The Wicked Witch Of The West isn't green or ugly, she's a hottie in a chromed out bustier and shoulder armor (and she has leather clad Nazi shock troops); Dorothy is only known as DG; No dog (yet); A town of Cyborgs; The Wizard does a show in drugged out burlesque theater; The Horse Of Many Colors is a 2-and-a-half-ton truck with every color of paint from Home Depot spilled on it; The Scarecrow, Lion, and Tin Man aren't the Scarecrow, Lion, or Tin Man; DG is a waitress like Sarah Conner. The list goes on. This doesn't make it bad at all, however. The same kind of thing was done to BattleStar Galactica and that show turned out fantastic. BTW DG is played by Zooey Deschanel, Trillion from the new Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy movie.

For everyone that plays 2nd Life news has come out recently of a creative, yet simple hack that strips you of your in-game money. You are basically being virtually pick pocketed, which is bad (duhh) because the in-game Linden Dollar which can be traded for real money. This threat to you can easily be disabled with a trip to the menus.

Other little tidbits of news have popped up. Ready for the holiday season is a quick review/reference guide to the new Star Trek novels of the season. Since we sadly have no new Trek to watch the books do provide a good diversion until next Christmas. Use the guide to avoid the few bad Tribbles in the list. The best book on the list is a Next Generation book, Q&A, about Q and some connection to Encounter At Farpoint. This is on my Christmas wish list. Speaking of books, the Barnes & Nobles on Post Road in Orange is closing and a lot of books are going on sale. Now's a good time ransack their wares.

Wizard's Of The Coast is creating an online campaign for the Star Wars roleplaying game, Dawn Of Defiance, and the first chapter of ten became available this week. The game is set between Episode III and Star Wars, letting PCs play out one of the crucial moments in the formation of the Rebellion. I haven't picked up the game yet, but maybe this Xmas/Light Day I'll get lucky.

I'm beginning to think I should have a Nintendo Wii. After watching the trailer for No More Heroes, I decided it's about time to ad this to my Xmas list too, along with Super Mario Galaxy.

I looked around for a while trying to find a descent top 100 all time anime from Japan list and I came a cross one from TV Asahi. At some point I'd like to write a review of each of the series that are available in America. Gives me an excuse to watch more anime.

#78 on IGNs list of games is Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening. I never had a GameBoy but I did have a Super Nintendo, so I bought a Super GameBoy. The Super GB is fantastic, stick it in the SNES cartridge slot, then put your GB game in the cartridge. The screen was a little smaller than the TV screen but you could add a border and even change the game colors so they weren't black and white (okay, black and pea soup green). Like all Zelda games before me I sat in front of it with my full attention to get all the puzzles and absorb all the game play. I never imagined, at the time, that a GameBoy game could be this deep. It took me two (2) months to complete and it's a great addition to the pantheon.

#76 is FINAL FANTASY VII. This is one of the most important games ever made. Why it's so low on the list makes me question the validity of this list. This game moved the esoteric, fan-boy loving RPG genre into a gloriously weaved story of artistic proportions. I bought a PSX just to own this game, and it was well worth it. There isn't much more I can say that hasn't been experienced/written before. My love of Square Soft (now Square Enix) began here, and it continues to be my favorite. From the pre-rendered cut scenes to random Star Wars references, this game created the standard for future installments, brilliantly leading to FFX. This game, however, created my true hatred, Sephiroth. I don't need to tell you of my love of Aris (I prefer this over the re-release Aerith). I spent so much time with her, learning the city, understanding the resistance, traveling the world. I trained as best I could to be a warrior and spurned other women in the party just for her attention. I loved her. Until Sephiroth stabbed her in the F'ING BACK and ended my happiness, forever. I hate him so much. I ruined a relationship with the girl I was seeing to kill him. It took 20 minutes and everybody I had, down to my last spell and hit point. I thought it was over. Then he resurrected somehow, and with great joy I watched his punk-ass die again. Rewind, and I get to watch him die, again and again and again. I F'ING HATE HIM. I hope I never meet the voice of him because, so help me, I'll snap. I'll have a flashback/PTSD moment and kill him. Sorry, my therapist told me not to bottle up stuff like this.

#75 is GoldenEye 007. Best damn FPS made, until Half-Life & Halo. Using only one (1) analogue stick on the N64 you could still play the game. Prior to this was Turok, but it didn't compare. GoldenEye created a polygon filled environment that just seemed right. All the weapons and enemies, and friends, were perfect. This is a rare moment when everything in development of a game meshes, creating an experience, more than a game. The familiar music and the incredible multi-player just added frosting to the 007 cake. Proximity Mines have got to be the most important weapon created for an FPS until the Gravity Gun in Half-Life 2. This team of developers would later go on to make Perfect Dark.

#73 is Resident Evil. I have one tale to tell, a listen well. At a friends house he powered up the extraordinary PSX (at the time there was nothing like the pixilated 3D worlds of Sony) and loaded Resident Evil. I was amazed at the mansion I ran around in. Trying to get a feel for menus and clunky controls I bravely walked down the corridor of doom that introduced me to survival horror. This isn't the unsettling environs of Silent Hill, RE created the in-your-face Survival Horror genre. As I walk down the quite corridor I pulled out me pistol. I didn't trust the hallway but the reassurance of a nine-millimeter in my hand was almost as good as liquid courage. I approached a window when suddenly two (2) undead dogs burst forth in shattered glass and barking and howling. I think I dropped my controller. What ever happened I stabbed every button I could in three seconds time and to no avail. The dogs ended me in no time. I threw the controller down and never played again. I thought the first movie was great. Those few seconds of horror I experienced was well put into the movie, and then some.

Here's the viral video of the week. Don't try this at home unless you're a drunk guy with a Suzuki Sidekick, and a giant dirt ramp. See you next broadcast.

Life, From Lifelessness

Frankenstein is an iconic word. Thanks to the 1931 movie, and the less-than-stellar sequals, the name conjures a myth very different than what Mary Shelley intended in her book. The name itself is more synonymous with the "monster" than the mad scientist who created life. His first name Victor is meant as an irony. Much like Hammond in Jurassic Park, Victor Frankenstien went too far too fast before a moral compass could be brought to bear. Whereas the movie name became the creature's, the novel's name refers to Victor Frankenstein. After reading half the book this weekend I realize the book is about the downfall of the man and his family, paying a price for Victor's hubris. Surprisingly, the book starts in the arctic as a ship encounters Victor trapped and frozen while hunting his creature. The entire book, save the prologue, is written in first person as Victor tells another person (as if the reader is this other person) the tale of how he arrived in the arctic.

Interestingly enough the actual moment of the creature's birth is handled almost as an off-hand comment in a paragraph, much like he describes an incident with lightning in his youth. There was no drama, just an explanation leading to success. No Igor/Fritz, no assistants, no castles with lightning rods, and he's not even a Doctor. He is so terrified by his success he runs away and goes to bed while the "creature" wanders out of the house and disappears. This event continues to haunt Victor for years as his family is being murdered by something at their peaceful Swiss local. The language of the book is at least English, but somewhat like Jane Austin writing a horror story. The book is 198 pages and about 100 of them are used to describe the history of the Frankenstein family. This does create a fantastic background for the characters so their deaths become more devestating as the book progresses.

At least half the book is a philosophical treaty on human behavior as Mary Shelley is a proponent of nature-over-nurture. She supports the idea that humans are benign and learn to be corrupt and evil as the world, and others, mistreat them. This plays out with the "monster" as it is abused and turns evil, seeking revenge on Victor Frankenstein. This book was published in 1818, almost 200 years ago, and these ideas are still relevant today. Victor Frankenstein's focus of science is to re-animate dead matter and stop death. I recall Anakin wanting the same thing, and he became a "monster" (a bad ass dark Jedi monster). Scientists today are still working on the "fountain of youth." Many of the warnings and ideas are still seen today in sci-fi and pop culture. Trading Places is a comedy of nature-over-nurture. Like the start of the novel, The X Files Season 2 had a two-part mythology episode, "Colony" and "End Game," begining with Mulder in the arctic hunting an alien "bounty hunter" when he is discovered and brought back to health. There is much to the novel and I highly recommend it if you can stomach Victorian verbosity.

The new Battlestar Galactic TV Movie "Razor" aired last night. Having not really followed the series much past Season 1, I was a bit confused by the placement of the episode, as it is considered a "missing episode." It follows the "Pegasus" plot after Lee "Apollo" Adama is given command, but before it is destroyed when it rammed a Cylon BaseStar. There is much given to die-hard fans of the series that went right over my head for a while until things were spelled out. The guest star of the episode is Apollo's new XO, Kendra Shaw, as she helps tell stories in flashback to the events of Pegasus and Admiral Cain, the original CO played by Michelle Forbes (Ensign Ro of Next Generation fame). Once things started moving the story became riviting with Admiral Cain's "Captain Bligh"-inspired brutality to flashbacks of the first Cylon war when Apollo's father was a pilot. He had crashed on a Cylon planet at the end of the war and found a lab being used to make the first Cylon/Human hybrids that pre-date the "Human" Cylons of the present day. Of note is the Pegasus encounter (during the "current" time) with "old" Cylons from the first war that look like the Cylons from the 70s original show, which is just awesome to see, until they move, since the creators decided to make them CG rather than people in shiny chrome suits. WTF? Well, the Cylon Raiders looked awesome and the story ends with a mostly predictable bang, but the journey there is worth it. I've got to spend more time with this franchise. Razor comes out on DVD December 4th, and I'll be there.

The crazy British guy who seems to hate every video game made in his video reviews, except The Orange Box, managed to score a trip to America to visit Half-Life creator Valve. Instead of a scathing game review he posted his travelogue. There are some interesting insights into the gaming companies that others ought to follow before they create a plethora of crap for the new year. Valve is almost like The Borg. See you next broadcast.

We Have 3-D Movie Sign!

I love movies. I love going to the movies. I love watching movies. I love anticipating new movies. Its the closest thing to a holodeck we're going to have for some time. And now movie technology has taken a step up. We've dabbled in 3-D since the begining of motion pictures, with the height being in the 50s. Now, companies have finally started making 3-D movies (outside of IMAX documentaries) that look gorgeous and nothing more than a light-weight, polarized nerd-glasses. It's a good thing that theater is dark or we'd look stupid. Okay, more stupid. The first sets of movies being shown in 3-D are the CG movies, because they are already created in three-dimensional computer space and it's easy to flip the switch from flat to dimensional. Superman Returns doesn't count because only a small part of the movie was "converted" to 3-D. Beowulf (not the other CG "B" movie) is the next reason to leave the house. BTW, in previews for Bee Movie, why the hell are bees driving cars. I don't understand Disney.

I'm not sure how I feel about these motion-capture CG/almost-real movies. They are almost so real why don't they just make a real movie. It could look like Lord Of The Rings or the Prequel Trilogy or something. The movie didn't quite sell me in the first few minutes, but then the Grendal hit the fan and the movie had my attention. From the beginning, which had way more naked men than I like in my movies (CG or not), Beowulf looked good, but not outstanding, like watching video game cut scenes. By the end of the movie I thought things improved a hundred percent and the 3-D was extraordinary. Where the Polar Express failed, this movie had characters with emotions. I don't think I would have liked this movie normally but the 3-D was stunning, and somehow felt right, even though some scenes were obviously designed for medium. I prefer my 3-D movies not to "frame" shots to impress me. I walk around in 3-D all the time so this tends to feel gimmicky.

Some of the previews were in 3-D as well, including the first fully live-action, digitally-filmed movie adaptation of "Journey To The Center Of The Earth." Once again the previes show nifty 3-D moments that looked staged, but James Cameron's name is attached somewhere in the credits so I hope that stuff is kept to a minimum. I'm a big fan of the "original" 1959 movie version, but I realise I haven't read the 19th century novel so I aquired it for later consumption. The new "Cloverfield" preview is also on the movie and it looks even better. A must see in less that two (2) months. Once I came home from the movie I felt compelled to watch the 13th Warrior and see the connections/differences between the two. All the key points of the original 10th Century plot are contained but the surrounding events are changed to fit the needs of Director. The big difference between the two is that one is a more realistic tale of Norsemen (and an Arab) dealing with an evil religious sect, and the other is a mythological monster tale of heroes trying to conquer man's mistakes and the consequences of said actions. The latter is closer to the epic poem, but diverges in the last parts.

Guitar Hero is still a constant challenge. I'm one song shy of beating Medium so I tried Hard and managed two songs. I highly recommend co-op mode, even if the other person has to use a controller. I think it's even a littl eeasier for new players to learn. I did learn that if the two (2) of you are on different difficulty levels the lowest one is the one thats counted when you complete all the songs. There are even different songs and set lists from the single player mode. No guitar-battles so the co-op is a quick way to get achievement points. In the week I've had it I've only unlocked 11 of the 59 achievements for a total of 100 (out of 1,000) points. This game is rough. Still looking forward to drumming on Rock Band next paycheck, or maybe I'll wait until X-Mas.

I went book shopping today, after Beowulf, and bought the aforementioned "Journey To The Center Of The Earth," as well as the original Frankenstein. I believe this to be the first Sci-Fi novel written, being published in 1818. We are almost 200 years since it was written and the best movie version is still the 1931 adaptation (or Young Frankenstein depending on your point of view). Brilliant in it's own right, but butchers the source material. I will start reading this book tonight and see if I can finish it before Monday. This story is so simple, in that man's creation becomes corrupt and evil, that plot points still resonate today, from The Terminator to Jurrasic Park to The Matrix. Once I watch the 1994 movie version I'll write a comparison. See you next broadcast.

That's No Book, That's A Space Station

Someone at work today asked me why Star Wars was my favorite movie. My quick response, because I've thought this through before, was that it encapsulates my childhood. I was a child at the right place, at the right time. This person also asked if I thought any other movie in the future might replace it, and I stated an emphatic no. Then I dwelled on the moment to try to Divine what movie of the future might sway me to say, "this is the greatest movie ever told." This future movie would have to absorb me so completely that the "4th wall" no longer existed, and that I would have some part to play in the outcome. And, I'm pretty sure, it would be a sci-fi epic. In other words, a movie fed directly to my brain that I play, not unlike how the Matrix feed is inputted to Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus. I'm not asking for an immersive video game, like the anime .hack//SIGN, but a fusion of movie and gaming that is not technically either but something greater than it's whole. I suppose a Holodeck is a good a description as any. Look, predicting the future is hard.

Let's dig a little deeper. Why Star Wars? As a child (as well as adult) I tended to throw myself fully in to things. With Star Wars I wanted to be a part of the Rebels, and I could be with action figures, comics books, and cartoons. If you wanted to explore the Star Wars universe beyond the boarders of the film screen you could do so on your own terms, as deep as you wanted the Rabbit Hole to go. When Shadows Of The Empire (SOTE) was released for the N64 I spent hours hunting AT-ATs and exploring Echo-Base. Now I could see what the characters saw on my own. That is the experience Lucas is making for us, sometimes successful, sometimes not. (I wanted to like Masters Of Teras Kasi but it just wasn't all there). Even today, with rumors of 3-D Star Wars still floating around, we continue to see books and comic books on store shelves. Case in point, "Death Star" by Michael Reaves & Steve Perry. Reaves & Perry previously collaborated on the MedStar duology and Perry wrote the novel for SOTE.

I purchased Death Star today and began reading after a quick (hour or so) game of Halo 3 on Legendary that reminds me, this Veterans' Day, of crawling up a beach, inch by bloody inch, towards a Nazi machinegun nest. That's Legendary alright. But, I digress. Death Star is set in my favorite era, the third era (according to the sleeve) called Classic. The others are Sith, Prequel, New Republic, New Jedi Order, and Legacy. This universe is expanding by the minute. You can start 5,000 years before the Battle of Yavin (BOY) and end a little more than 100 years after the Battle Of Endor (BOE). That's a universe. Classic covers a decade before BOY and a handful of years after BOE. One of my criteria for reading a Star Wars book is, "what is it's relevance to the universe?" In the future I would like to breakdown this question with the many books I've read but today I'm just talking about Death Star. If you want to skip the book and just build a Death Star, submit your DS Plans to the Maw Installation after going through the design process at the Lethal Alliance site.

mild SPOILER WARNING ahead! Set a few years (maybe 3) before Star Wars, Death Star's first 50 pages are an ensemble piece as characters from all over the Empire are introduced. Tarkin is present as is Darth Vader, and I am very happy to read about recognizable Holy Trilogy characters. There is even a Doctor from the MedStar series (set during the Clone Wars) still kicking around. Some of the characters are slaves, guards, bartenders, gunners, pilots, etc. This is getting to the heart of the question posed in Clerk's by Randal about what kind of people are present during the construction of a Death Star. The reason I'm reading this is for the Death Star, one of the most awesome concepts in sci-fi since Gort. The book also handles continuity well be referencing all sorts of books like The Jedi Academy Trilogy and the aforementioned MedStar series, with a touch of Teras Kasi thrown in. There's even a mention of "Stop Loss," a current term in the military that keeps you in the service as long as you are needed, regardless of your contract. Stop Loss hit many of the people in my unit when we went to Iraq. There's even some mild political allegory in here, ignorable if that isn't your thing. SPOILER WARNING! The most interesting thing I've read so far has been about Vader. He reflects on the fact that Yoda is still alive and could pose a threat, and he hasn't felt the death of Obi-Wan, something he is certain he'd notice. That answers a couple of long standing questions I've had. This book just payed for itself. SPOILER WARNING over!

Thanks go out to EmpTass for letting me play Crack Hero III with the Crackpipe peripheral that seems suspiciously like an air guitar. I can't think of anything but rockin' out now, so I intend to get it by the end of the week. I'm also still interested in Rock Band as a drummer if I can get a couple peeps who want to join me on Guitars, bass or otherwise. South Park this week was priceless. Completely up-to-date on the Guitar Hero obsessions, as well as Heroin Hero and Rehab Hero. A must see. Next best thing to the Warcraft episode. Keep your blasters charged, your Wookiee fed and see you next broadcast.