New York Comic Con 2012 is coming! Aghhhhhhh!

Posted on 09/12/2012 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

It’s that time of the year again. In less than a month New York Comic Con hits Javits for the 7th year. I am not actually definitely going as of this time, that’s up in the air and won’t know till later in the month, but that can’t stop me from being excited nor can it stop me from anticipating and researching possible fun & excitement. Even if I don’t get to, people can look back on posts I make as a reference for possible things to check out and know about and knowing is half the battle. I don’t think the Joe’s ever revealed what to do after knowing though.

First and foremost is that opening night concert for VIPs and 4-Day Ticket Holders and well press & pros if we can fit in. Last year they set the bar high with the concert concept by having Tom Morello premiering his comic book series and performing as The Night Watchman. This year they raise the bar even higher as the finally completely really for reals reunited Ben Folds Five perform in the IGN on a special stop of their US tour for the soon to be released new album. The concert is at 8 PM on Thursday.

I have the word on a few panels popping up at the convention that may be of your interest.
My colleague in pop-culture media and information, Hannah Means-Shannon shall be moderating a talk with Seth Kushner, Christopher Irving and Eric Skillman on their book, LEAPING TALL BUILDINGS on Thursday at 4 PM.

Then at 6:30 also on that Thursday is a panel covering the Kickstarter funded documentary Comics in Focus: The Image Revolution that will feature the producers and filmmakers as well as unannounced guest. My guesses are Erik Larsen, Whilce Portacio or Robert Kirkman.

On Friday, October 12th there’s a panel titled “Maestros of Horror & Sci-Fi Music”, scheduled currently for 12:15 will feature the composers of video games such as Mass Effect, Dead Space, and Halo. It’s the extra addition of Living Legend, Nile Rodgers that really catches my attention here though.

Also on Friday at 12:30 will be a panel on Greg Pak’s Vision Machine, this time discussing the new iPad app with voice-over work from Phill Lamarr, who will also be on the panel.

On Saturday, there’ll be a Quick Draw/Improv Draw  at 5:15 on the Variant Stage featuring the talents of Laura Lee Gulledge, Raina Tegelmeier, Dave Roman, John Green, Zack Giallongo and Ryan Sias.  LLG, Raina and Dave were part of one of  these at last year’s Brooklyn Book Fest and it was awesome.

On Sunday at 4 PM there will be a panel titled “Getting Graphic with Girls: Empowering Girls and Addressing Issues through Paneled Pictures” featuring  Colleen Venable, Cecil Castellucci, Laura Lee Gulledge and Lucy Knisley that will be moderated by Sheila Keenan, Senior Editor at Scholastic books.

These are the panels I was able to learn about from the people in them and on websites other than the NYCC official site.

Here’s some other information from both the NYCC site and other places that caught my attention:

The official launch of the MacGyver comic by creator Lee Zlotoff and Tony Lee with art by Will Sliney will take place.

Young Adult author Tahereh Mafi will be signing copies and ARCs of her supernatural superhero series SHATTER ME.

Here’s a few not the usual guests who actually caught my eye (certain artists and various celebrities are expected at this point, like DC and Marvel artists and people like Seth Green, but I want to focus on the “Wait, really?”):

Professional wrestler/sports entertainer Booker T, who recently had written a book about his time in prison before his wrestling career.

Manga genius and creator of Urotsukidoji, Toshio Maeda shall be tabling.

Square Enix and Dark Horse are pulling out all the stops, bringing Yoshitaka Amano, art designer for the Final Fantasy games.

Longtime TSR/Dungeons & Dragons Painter and concept artist Brom, who has also done his own comics, and artwork  for film will be appearing.

The biggest shocker is that on Kid’s Day (Sunday), Elmo and the third and longest running Gordon of Sesame Street will be appearing.  I hope Elmo also means that Kevin Clash will be there as well.

As the convention comes closer I am sure there will be so much news and information overload I won’t be able to handle it.

There’s no knowing why Bill Paxton or Christopher Lloyd are there.  Who knows what films will be presented or shown or discussed in IGN theater or what video game companies will bring or what secrets or surprises could come forth.  The show will be bigger than ever and that’s both a good and bad thing.   Either way I’m excited, no matter what.

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A batch of AGS totally worth more than the price!

Posted on 09/10/2012 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

Indie game bundles have been the craze for a short while. There’s been Humble Bundle, Indie Royle, Bundle-In-A-Box and the first AGS bundle last year AGS Bake Sale.

AGS Bake Sale offered a ton of amazing exclusive games built in Chris Jones AGS. Primamrily designed for making point and click games developers have branched out and for that bundle, a shooter and a platformer were designed. Not every game in that bundle was gold, but it gave one some excellent work in Nine Months In and Fragment while the rest were excellent examples of how versatile the engine software actually is and how in many times it all comes down to puzzles, art and story telling… not how the game is made.

Independent publisher Screen 7 out of the UK recently published a brand new AGS bundle titled Summerbatch which features 5 games. Four traditional point n click games with varying art styles and story telling techniques and one very different type of game and a new one to AGS I assume in stealth action ala Metal Gear Solid.

In Barely Floating we are introduced to the best animated/illustrated of the works, with some work that looks way beyond indie, while some of the game mechanics still definitely are hobbled by AGS being capable of what it is capable. Extremely funny with some serious mind buzzer of puzzles invoking old school point n click where one must truly pay attention to dialogue and sentences, it quickly became one of my favorite of the games and it feels like there could be a sequel featuring the protagonist. Or maybe a prequel? It felt a little weird that the only thing we really discover about the lead character is his name while everyone else gets way more fleshed out.

Jailbreak is the stealth game I mentioned above. Of the five games I must admit it was my least favorite. While I really respect and appreciate the work of the developers in trying something totally new and different with AGS, the graphics and gameplay really felt short. Others might actually state this was their favorite game of the bundle and I actually really happy it is in there to add variety to the whole thing. I personally would be happy with the four point n clicks, more than happy, so this game is a bonus.

Patchwork is also impressively in its graphics and feels epic in scope, but is actually the shortest of the games and the only one with a puzzle type that I personally always hate finding. Despite that, it’s writing in top notch and it like Barely Floating and PISS and even Nancy The Happy Whore feel like they could be larger games with prequels and sequels.

Nancy is the most crazy of the games, but I even almost feel like it could’ve gone over the edge. Sure pixelized boobies especially in pixel art aren’t exciting, but they would’ve added some humor and fun. Even without the nudity, despite the Happy Whore title, there’s some very interesting twists and intriguing turns to this adventure which starts small and ends up maybe more epic than PISS even since PISS feels huge and epic from the start simply because of its world.

So now we get to PISS, which has been considered the gem of the batch by some. It is a very impressive sci-fi spiritual adventure fantasy, with some incredible writing and with every character being completely and totally fleshed out. Except for the lead who we get more questions than answers in the end about. If any of the games NEEDS a sequel it’s PISS. The others could have sequels. PISS needs one, the story needs to continue. Be it as a game or a book or a comic.

As a whole, Summerbatch is actually a steal at its “Name Your Price” price. Of course it’s worth at least a minimum $15, especially since it went to charity and the games were developed without budgets from the publisher. The deal started in August and runs till November. That’s a lot of time left, but jump on it sooner than later, there’s going to be some long nights for some players indeed.

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Antoine Wilson’s Panorama City: Book Review

Posted on 08/16/2012 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

When one grows up insulated and with not much world experience, you would assume that the world will both be an oyster and possibly swallow that person whole at the same time.

I personally can’t say that is something I’ll ever get to experience. Seeing the world for the first time as an adult, since my parents starts making me my own man at a young age, I learned the appreciation at a young age as well. The not knowing what you have till it’s gone or once having it realizing it wasn’t what you wanted. That all came to me young, long before I ever had to consider it or worry about it. Not to say I faltered here or there, but luckily I’m also quite smart. Not to try and sound egotistical even, I have a good brain. I catch on quick, I know what’s happening, I’m aware of my surrounding.

Unlike some classic fictional characters who have been both locked in their own world and not very smart till the world hits them head on. The most notable of these of course would be Winston Groom’s Forrest Gump, but to completely use him as a reference to discuss Antoine Wilson‘s PANORAMA CITY would give its protagonist disservice.

Oppen Porter is definitely not the smartest guy in the world, he’s quite naive indeed and it takes him awhile to process things, but he’s not completely a lucky clueless fool. In a shirt time he experiences what to some would be years of experiences. Love, heartbreak, religious awakening, spirtual founding, job promotion, switching careers, oppression, new friends, old friends, losing friends, death. All in less than two months, two tumultuous exciting months that he relays to his unborn child through tapes.

This device of first person narrative through what could be conceived as transcripts is a clever way to get pulled into Oppen’s viewpoint while also feeling like a listener who knows that it is only one viewpoint. This is a theme of everything Oppen tells his future son though, varying viewpoints and how no one way is right or wrong, they just are.

Life in many ways always seems to work in circles, but not perfect circles. Circles with spikes and protraction. I was reminded of this throughout PANORAMA CITY and yet it also gave me a feeling of hope. Antoine Wilson’s wordplay and semblance of sentiment and wonderment through Oppen causes one to see the world with new, more open (slight pun intended) eyes and a desire to live life to its fullest whatever that means for ones self.

The book also really made me want a bicycle more than ever.

Here’s an original drawing of a bike by the author Antoine Wilson.

The preceding review was based off an advanced galley.
PANORAMA CITY by Antoine Wilson is scheduled to come out September 25, 2012 from Houghton Miflin Harcourt.

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Kickstarter Roundup for July 27th, 2012

Posted on 07/27/2012 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

It’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these and there’s no enough stuff that holds my interested to shoot it out to you. I am not pledging all of these, actually I’m probably only pledging what I can afford, but know these are ALL things I want to be a part of.

Cans Without Labels-A Cartoon by John K.: The creator of Ren & Stimpy and founder of Spumco Animation wants to make a very different, more personal cartoon than anything he’s previously done. Still drawn and designed in his undeniable style it’s the kind of work that once seen will probably be loved and enjoyed and if shown for two weeks in a real movie theater in L.A. be nominated for an academy award, but before any of that can happen he needs to be able to make the cartoon.

Detective Grimoire Adventure: The first Grimoire game was made for flash and wa sonly PC with no vocals and minimal music. This is going to be a full ledged production available on iOS, Android, PC and Mac with a hilarious story, great art and reasonably priced. There’s some awesome incentives at the higher pledge tiers too. Go play the demo to get a taste.


Boxer Story – Animated Film: I love traditional short animation that attempts to tell real stories. There isn’t enough of it usually so anything that comes by is good and this is exceptionally different.

I Am Big Bird: A full lentgh documentary detailing the life story of Caroll Spinney. While he recently published a memoir, a film piece fully supported by him is a different thing all together. For a man who lived most of his life on camera, it seems it’s the way his life story should be preserved for everyone.

Two Headed Cop- Animated Film: As much as I love traditional animation I love funny CGI with quirky characters and ideas as well, so here’s Two Headed Cop.

Sirius Black fanmade Prequel: The majority of these fanmade Harry Potter prequels, sequels, sidestories have all been high quality, their fans are truly some creative types. JK Rowling has to truly be credited for helping creative people who were stuck find their inner artist. This project is no different.

AR-K Adventure Game: Yeah two indie adventure games. You know me. I like my point n click and I like it best when its done well. While the first episode now free of this series has lpots of animation bugs, the story, characters, voice acting and puzzles are really good. Give it a go.

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Movie/Trailer Watch Summer-Winter 2012

Posted on 07/27/2012 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

This took me a long time to write as I tried to consolidate my thoughts on various films coming out and what information, trailers, websites had provided in a way to actually at minimum really interest me. There are a lot of films not listed that still excite me coming soon such as TOTAL RECALL, PARANORMAN, THE MASTER, ARGO, WRECK IT RALPH, RISE OF THE GUARDIANS, GREAT GATSBY, JACK REACHER, and LES MISERABLES among others. So here’s others and why I might want to see them.

The Expendables 2: The first Expendables was lacking a bit in the end. It was fun and action packed, but a lot of it was too little, too late. I get a bit of a feeling that the character development here will also be lackluster, but we are guaranteed a few things. Tons of awesome action from Chuck Norris, a Stallone vs. Van Damme fight and Arnold Schwarzenegger quipping with Bruce Willis. The trailer showed very little of Crews or Couture so I’m going out on a limb and guessing that Helmsworth and Yu replace them early in the film. That’s just a guess though. There’s lots of explosions, fights and whatever, so hey, it has that.

Robot and Frank: This is the first full length feature for director Paul Schreier and screenwriter Christopher Ford, but not their first work. Previously Ford worked on the puppet cop comedy Fuzz and Paul has made some great commercials. For this near future story in which a retired crook teams with a robot meant to just get him out a slump they’ve been able to garner quite some major talent. Frank Langella is the Frank in the title and his possible girlfriend is Susan Sarandon. It’s hard to believe Sarandon is old enough to play a potential mate to Frank Langella, because she still looks fabulous. Liv Tyler and James Marsden are Frank’s children and Jeremy Sisto is the cop who suspects Frank is back to his old tricks. It all looks really fun and sweet.

Killer Joe : This will be the second time playwright Tracy Letts will have teamed with director William Friedkin to bring one one of his emotionally charged, extremely powerful productions to the “silver” screen and with it everything is amped up. As his last film was an adaptation of a confined room thriller, this is a large scope epic twist after twist crime drama. On top of having a disturbed Matthew McCouhney who has truly come into his own as a talent, the film also stars the amazingly sexy and talented Juno Temple, whom I have the hugest celebrity crush on.

The Campaign: Two completely unlikeable characters played by guys who know how to really nail that “fuck I hate that guy” in Will Ferrell and Zach Galifaniakis. The trailer is full of vitriol and bad humor, but I’m hoping that since it’s a Jay Roach film and a Chris Henchy script there’s way more than meets the eye. I just finally saw “The Big Year” which on paper sounded excellent, then trailers made it look so horrendous I avoided it like the plague and then I finally saw it and discovered that the it was one of the worst editing jobs on a film in forever. So yeah, this actually might have promise. Zach is playing a super flamboyant guy who might not know he’s gay and Will is doing his best Mitt Romney.

KILLING THEM SOFTLY: Andrew Dominik tackled another very difficult book to translate to screen, teaming up once again with Brad Pitt to bring Cogan’s Trade byGeorge V. Higgins to life. The last film based on a Higgin’s film is the modern classic Friends of Eddie Coyle, so with the track record of that and Dominik’s track record of CHOPPER and the very slow, but mesmerizing Assassination of Jesses James By The Coward Robert Ford. Pitt is joined by crime veterans Ray Liotta, James Galdofini, and Sam Shepard. I’m not too keen on the title change and like Gangster Squad and even Lawless these movies that grandioize crime and guns might get these films pushed back or who knows.

LAWLESS: This could be the secret best film of 2012, directed by John Hillcoat, who has proved his ability of making amazing modern westerns with The Proposition and The Road worked from an adaptation by muisician/poet/novelist Nick Cave of the “based on a true story” novel by Matt Bondurant, the ancestor of the characters in this film. It has a questionable lead in Shia Lebeouf, but with Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman and Guy Pearce as costars it should be a strong period piece about moonshine, guns and gang warfare.

GANGSTER SQUAD: With L.A. Confidential, the video game L.A. Noire, the upcoming TV show L.A. Noir, the more recent Public Enemies and plenty more, films about the Mafia in L.A. Might seem old hat. What makes Gangster Squad different then? Well, for one Director Ruben Fleischer. After Zombieland and 30 Minutes or Less it’ll very interesting what he does with a script from a TV writer based off a seven part L.A. Times series of articles built in truth and fiction. The other major thing will be the first actor in over 20 years to tackle a major figure like Mickey Cohen will be an actor practically born for the role in Sean Penn.

Soldiers of Fortune: While the director is a complete unknown and it seemed to take three unproven screenwriters to develop this, the cast and plot sell it strong. The trailer shows it to have plenty of action, a good assortment of interesting characters who might be one dimensional, but rounded enough to know who they are when they’re shooting and being shot at. I don’t expect much from it, but one doesn’t ever expect much from self appointed action films. They’re action films, they know what they are and shouldn’t be criticized unless they have no good characters. That is the most important thing. Good characters and no plot holes (such as they mention no one has a gun and five scenes later they all have guns but there’s no scene where they finally find guns).

Anna Karenina: In what will be in my accounting, only the fourth and in by some merits only the third full scale adaptation of the Leo Tolstoy classic, in terms of current standards to the past, the most talented pairing and cast (well, no one can beat Garbo, but still), director Joe Wright uses a brand new adaptation by one of the best playwrights and screenwriters of the last 45+ years Tom Stoppard. With Jude Law and Aaron Thompson in the meaty roles there’s strength, so that even if Keira Knightly falters, her beauty and the talent around her will keep her up. I haven’t had issue with Keira personally, but I know people do, so I played Devil’s Advocate here.

LOOPER: I’m not completely sold on Joseph Gordon-Leavitt being Bruce Willis or Bruce Willis being Joseph Gordon Leavitt but espite that, the third original feature from Rian Johnson looks amazingly cool. After BRICK and THE BLOOM BROTHERS he is definitely becoming one of those type of directors who makes films you just feel like you need to see. He’s also not keeping it simple in terms of choices as a director. While all three films are centered around crime, they’re so different it’s even more interesting what he might do after LOOPER. LOOPER also might have the best chance of having an interesting novelization done for it by someone like Tim Lebbon, Terry Bison or Alan Dean Foster. Especially since this is the rare original scripted film here.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower: After 10 years since it was published and its author experiencing the trials and tribulations of creating a TV show, having it canceled, saved and canceled again and even get a third season in comics, the highly touted and best selling book has been adapted from a screenplay by the author who also directed. This film has the major factor of being Emma Watson’s first major starring post Potter role and if the trailer is indication, she will be a force for years to come.

PITCH PERFECT: This might seem like a stupid comedy with singing, but I have a feeling it will actually be much more intelligent. Much like MEAN GIRLS seemed like it’d be lame then you realized that Tina Fey wrote it and boom it was awesome, this film is written by Tina’s best friend and a top writer on 30 Rock, Kay Cannon. She did base it on a real story, merging elements from college acapella competitions detailed in a book with the same name. On top of the writer though the director is Broadway’s Jason Moore, who has directed Avenue Q, Shrek and even Les Miserables. Then you have the cast who are actually talented actresses and singers Brittany Snow and Anna Kendrick are the main leads, but filling out on singing is worldwide pop music phenom Ester Dean and the Australia’s funny fat girl Rebel Wilson handles the stupid comedy.

(An interesting aside, Mean Girls was also based off a non-fiction book and merged concepts and elements from it to create the comedy)

(all images here are fixed remake versions based on the official marketing by the studios)

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iCookBooking PCS Style

Posted on 07/12/2012 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

 

Being a trained chef who prior to getting an expensive education read and studied cookbooks for fun means that I now infrequently use such books. Although I do turn to them when needing some new pointers, or a very popular or famous chef compiles their favorite original concoctions along with personal anecdotes and now as a technophile I actually checking out cookbook apps and software when I can or when offered a look.
I have tried out Better Homes and Garden’s, Cooks Illustrated and more, and the biggest issue I found in them was that you have to have an internet connection always running to get to the recipes. Yes, we are talking about iPhone/iPad apps so the idea that you’d be offline is pretty crazy, but what if you’re doing a barbeque in the Ozarks and for one second you decide… “Hey, this potato salad is so boring… what else can I do with potato salad?” and in this imaginary situation you have access to any food or food item you want, but no internet and you’re flavor profile mind isn’t just kicking in. So an app which you can download recipes to before you head to the Ozarks is best right?I’ve been sampling a few that were okay, but had many flaws I didn’t care for and have missed a few that fascinated me but were truly out of my price range and there’s some that haven’t come out yet. There are a variety of interesting celebrity sponsored apps such as ones from excellent chefs and television personalities like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver and when looking for something very specific they come in handy. There’s even a version of Mark Bittman’s “How To Cook Everything”, but that is much more a guidebook to cooking and less so a cookbook collection.

 

That’s what the app iCookBook can help with. Although it’s much more than that. In terms of layout and design I’ve liked it much more than any of the others. I wouldn’t necessarily say they’re the best of the recipes though, despite being many of them and I mean any. The collection is of all Brand name recipes, things from boxes of products ranging from Kraft, Hershey’s, Pace, Wish-Bone and more. Of course you wouldn’t have to use the name brand product if trying a recipe, you could use something similar and probably get the same results.

The app has monthly free downloads adding new recipes along with optional paid recipe options based on themes and styles.

The setup is as easy as many, you get your ingredient list and then follow very simple instructions. You can find recipes via filters such as method of cooking, theme, time of creating the dish, theme of the dish, and more. For someone like me I’d be using it as just a pointer, but it’s definitely a good pointer and much easier to use than any of the other apps as I said and more versatile.  I wouldn’t be surprised to discover something new and interesting too, with over 2000 recipes available on download and many more there’s going to be something I didn’t ever learn in school or post school studies.

It also has easy access to items such as conversion charts and substitutions, the ability to create a shopping list and offers customer service.

iCookbook is a universal app designed to work on iPhone and iPad equally and is available for $5 which is cheaper than any cookbook that would be on this collection. It is also available for Android, HP Touchpad and Windows 8.

(this review was based on a generously gifted iPhone review copy, but had no bearing on its review)
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Wizard Rock Will Live Forever!

Posted on 07/07/2012 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

A week or so ago I was glad and excited to attend the final leg of a rolling wizard rock show titled Riddikulus! 2012.  For those who don’t know about Wizard Rock I’ll try and break it down, but I must admit it reads weird and can only truly respected and understood when listened to.  Wizard Rock is music inspired by the work of J.K. Rowling and the world of Harry Potter, both the books and the films.  The people who perform this music are profecient, talented and in most cases create original music as well.  Most of the music would fall under the non-category of the Anti-Folk movement in my opinion.  These musicians would fit easily on a bill with  Brook Pridemore, Jeffrey Lewis, Kimya Dawson, The Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players, etc as well Nerd Rock groups like Kirby Krackle or Ookla The Mok.  In the Wizard rock world bands like Harry and The Potters and Draco and The Malfoys have made a bit of attention outside of the genre, but there’s tons more talent in the genre that is deserving of a wider audience.

Riddicukulus only featured a few of the acts, but it was still a large assortment and very varied.  Following I shall show some select photos, one each of each performer with links to where you can discover them best yourself followed by a link to Youtube Playlist featuring 20+ videos from the concert.


Jay Stolar and Grace McLean are Lily& James.  When not doing Wizard Rock they are seperately very talented musicians.  I’ve provided links to their pages on their names.


Tianna Weasley at the time this was recorded was known as I SPEAK TREE.  She has her performance name to Tianna and the Cliffhangers.


Grace Kendall is also known as Snidget and is also a member of Carpe Geekdom.


Steph Anderson is the front person for Tonks and The Aurors.


This is Justin Finch-Fletchley.


Here is Lauren Fairweather

Finally is Matt Maggiacomo who goes by the band name The Whomping Willows.

Now as promised, a link to the playlist, which I shall also embed below (which may or may not work)

 

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RESONANCE: Epic Retro Sci-Fi Mystery Does Much Good (some bad)

Posted on 06/20/2012 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

The best Science Fiction tends to have dubious characters of gray personalities, a terse semblance of what is truly right and wrong, awkward scientific concepts which aren’t exactly plausible and usually, but not always an ending which makes one think “Well, was it all worth it?”. Mysteries seem to have this is as well and then there’s science fiction mysteries who really play into this such as Total Recall, Blade Runner, Minority Report, Twelve Monkeys, etc. Although science fiction may be the wrong term, possibly speculative fiction is the better genre use. They seem interchangeable and in many ways lots of these books do too. The characters, plots, etc. are all different, but they all speculate the possibility of worlds with excessive control, characters who want to escape that control, twists that possibly change your entire view of the story and an ending in which you feel satisfied, but not happy, questioning your own moral code and the future of our world as a whole.

All this preamble is leading to a look at the just released speculative fiction point ‘n’ click adventure game epic by Vince Twelve/XII Studios, RESONANCE. A deeply satisfying, yet as it seems with ALL video games, no matter what, slightly flawed production, but none that detract from enjoyment. Yet, designer/writer Vince has stated that he expects to be hear these complaints and he’s already had bug detractors from the demo that has been available for a week, so nothing I say here should be too blaring compared to much more delicate video game players who either expect golden platters or never really explore enough to find some of their statements to be completely untrue.

A perfect example of this is in a review I read earlier today which stated that the four playable characters were shallow, the only one with real depth being Anna. This is very untrue. While Anna’s background is fleshed out through nightmarish maze levels which open up flashbacks, the other characters are more than fully developed with back story, sense of being and more through dialogue trees which are not essential to finishing the game and may only be discovered through full discovery are careful attention. I particularly enjoyed Inspector Bennett’s personal monologue that kind of explains about why he is the way he is.

The mechanics of the game are as important as characters and story and in most ways. RESONANCE hits it out of the ballpark with a few fouls. I absolutely loved using all four characters to figure out different puzzles, the clues and development of the long term and short term memory, the variants in puzzle style and design that kept things interesting and yet never stopped one from being able to continue on. In at least each of the more complicated logic/math/mechanic puzzles there always another solution and in the ones where there wasn’t, it was way less complicated than one thought. I think of one puzzle involving a magnet where I was frustrated forever and then one simple solution and it was really easy. I mean super easy, I just had to think. Actually I asked for help, but I would’ve eventually gotten it and I smacked myself for not realizing it sooner, although one could also blame Vince for not making it as intuitive as possible and I do feel that was an issue. It was actually an issue in various other places in terms of design. A lack of intuitiveness or the system reacting the way one would expect. Having to switch a character because he/she was standing in front of a hotspot another character need to access seemed quite retarded. The short term memory system also had issues in which it could remember items multiple times, wasting slots because of the way the system woke up in certain situations. These were the biggest of the flaws though.

With that out of the way I’ll focus on my personal positives although with still a few negatives for a balanced review. I found all the voice acting to be superb except in some minor spots. It’s like a great movie though where so much money, time and energy has been spent on the main cast that the minor character is played by whoever could show up that day. It reminds me of that scene in Wayne’s World 2 when Wayne goes to the gas station and complains about a very minor role being handled by a “bad actor” and the actor is then replaced by Charlton Heston of all people. Unfortunately here Al Hansen kept his role and we were stuck with the “bad actor”, which more is to say that the performance wasn’t as strong as one would hope on the minor characters when the leads were so fun and quality. Most folks would praise Logan Cunningham, but for me it was Darryl Lathon’s Ray, who in many ways is the most important character, who was awesome. A kind of everyman as the outsider pulled into something that had nothing to do with him, yet becomes as involved and as important as anyone else.

The puzzles be they context based, environmental, logic, visual, etc. were all really well thought out. Even the more complicated ones or the maze like ones, they all seemed to fit. They never once made me go “Oh screw this”. Some may have taken me walking away for a day or two, but THAT is the sign of a well done adventure game. There are no steadfast rules on this though. Some folks love puzzles that are easy and allow a game to be an interactive story as much asd it is a game, while others appreciate games that really force you to think while also balancing story elements. Many of those elements may even become hidden to certain players as they worry more about the next puzzle than asking about every last thing which might extrapolate a line of dialogue that could create further character development. It’s a double edged sword, people complain about everything being fed to them, or people complain that it isn’t fed to them, there seems to be no happy in between. RESONANCE tries it best to find that, but I don’t expect that of any game developer ever. People will see a game the way they want to see it, it doesn’t matter what the game actually is.

As a hard sci-fi near future story with moral gray areas, difficult puzzles, amazing pixel graphics, sensational plotting and writing (that might actually be too gray as a story or movie, but workbrilliantly as an interactive software), concepts that make you think and more, RESONANCE is completely worth your time, attention and money.  I should also mention that unlike most films or books there is one option to see things end up.  There are only a few options available and they are all as gray as the rest of the game and its moral ground, but they definitely add to the entire sensation of the game.  There are also achievements which give the game a bit of replayability not seen in adventure games usually other than to experience the story again.  The alternate endings and achievements are just really nice extra touches that show Vince Twelve has a bit of forward thinking, although equally they may suggest a bit of stretching too thin and trying to do too much as some of the puzzles had shown.  Once again, that double edged sword.

For those weary there is a demo available which gives you a true feel for the production and should either compel you to have to continue on or know if it isn’t your cup of tea.

This review was based on a review copy courtesy of Wadjet Eye Games.  Screenshot courtesy of XII Games/Wadjeteye Games.  Image of Daryl Lathan courtesy of  Genevieve Rafter Keddy of Broadwayworld.com
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In Queens, The Art Explodes! Welling Court Mural Project 2012

Posted on 06/19/2012 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

The Welling Court Mural Project curated by Ad Hoc Art had its third block party excitement on Saturday and it was another amazing day of excitement and paint.  I was there starting from around 11:30/11:45 A.M and lasted till almost night fall.  During that time I hung with new friends, old friends, dogs, children, grandmas, artists of all ilks, but no cats.

For this year’s fest I decided I would really try to get three sets of photos.  One that showed the conceptual sketch of the work, an in progress shot and as close to finished as the artist got before I left.

First up is Chris RWK of Robots Will Kill.  He worked on a wall section with VENG Smith and GILF in a theme of Polar Ice caps melting.


Here is his sketch.                                                                                                                                    A Progress shot.

Another progress shot.                                                                                                                         The Final Piece.

Next up is Fumero who seemed to be embracing combining his two artistic visual styles into one amazingly powerful image.


Here is his original concept piece.                                                                                                    Fumero coming to a close on his mural.

This large progress shot is developed from two photos.

Next up is RRobots doing something a little different than what he’s best known for.


This is his original sketch.                                                                   You see that chair guy didn’t make it to the wall, but muscle dude did.


Here you have the final where you can see that the chair made it in the end, but muscle dude got a new hair style.

Next up is Australia’s Stormie Mills.


Original sketch.                                                                                                                                         Progress shot.

The finished piece.                                                                                                              For historical purposes/reflections, Stormie’s piece in 2010, same spot.

Here’s a collabo piece between The YOK, NEVER and SHERYO.


This a sketch NEVER set up of ideas for the collab.                                                                 A skeleton progress shot.

Sheryo adding layers.                                                                                                                           The finished mural.

This is a good place to end this feature article with a promise of more to come, as the folder of Welling Court 2012 photos counts at 200+.

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Book Expo America 2012 (The Swag/Haul) as images

Posted on 06/18/2012 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

 

This is all the non-fiction, memoir, autobio, biography & cookbooks.  Looking forward to America, You Sexy Bitch a ton, as well as Kevin Pollak’s memoir and Damien Echols.  Hoping to use Angelo Sosa’s cookbook a lot.

These are the Young Adult/Teen/Young Reader’s titles.  Not sure what I’ll jump into here first but very excited about Scott Nash’s Blue Jay and James Patterson’s first attempt at combining his adult contemporary with his teen work.

Comics & Graphic Novels.  Excited by everything here.  The “Bible” books were a nice discovery, the AMULET galley was an excellent surprise, the two books here I wanted specifically were DRAMA and THE HYPO.

An assortment of children’s books, graphic novels, cds, and assorted promotional pieces such as totes, stickers, etc.

Children’s Books and Graphic Novels.  Look forward to pouring through Captain McFinn, but everything here is the awesome.

The Adult Fiction.  Currently reading PANORAMA CITY by Antoine Wilson.  MEMOIRS OF IMAGINARY FRIEND might be next, but who can say.  We’ll see where the mood takes me.

So much to read and write about, never enough time, but I’ll make it work!

 

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