This is pretty funny... if not a little late for the bandwagon. The most humorous part is probably the flame wars and stupidity that have followed. Why would anyone be truly be upset by a group of hot women in cosplay singing about geekdom? I'd LOVE to see my wife play video games, quote sci-fi movies, and dress up like the Baroness! Or Lara Croft... Or Han Solo (?!) Or Psylocke... (But really, it would be pretty hot if my wife dressed up as the Baroness...) When did this become a bad thing?
Anyway, this is a great parody video full of iconic references that should make every geek smile. That people were upset is just proof positive that: (a) people are constantly looking for stupid things to complain about; (b) geeks - a group I generally identify with - are never satisfied with the glorious gifts God graces us with; and (c) shooting from the hip and calling 'foul conspiracy' is a lot easier than looking up the facts before you start bitching.
Watch and enjoy. Save your nerdrage for something worth complaining about... like GW price increases, warped resin from Forge World, lame dialogue options in your favorite RPG, taxes, cops giving out speeding tickets rather than catching actual criminals, political corruption (reads: anyone currently employed by your federal, state or local government), that son-of-a-bitch in 214C down the hall who doesn't know the appropriate hour to turn his music down, commercials taking up more air time than my saturday morning cartoons, your children fighting with you about which saturday morning cartoons we're going to watch, etc. But being mad because hot chicks want to sing about Star Wars and Stan Lee?! There are FAR better targets for your ire, people... When you're going to be bothered to set WOW aside long enough to pick up your pitch fork, how about going after a real problem rather than picking on beautiful women who apparently have similar interests. (I mean seriously, this is a bad thing?!) Go Team Unicorn!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
40k: Dirty Tricks (No. 3) - Objective Camping
This isn't as much a 'dirty trick' as it is preventing last minute dirty tricks from your opponent. If you regularly face armeis with transports, bikes, beasts, or any other fast moving units, you might have experienced that last turn move by your opponent to take or contest all of the objectives in the last turn of the game. The Eldar, for example, are notorious for loading up wave serpents with cheap squads, dancing around the board until turn 5, and then dumping out a cheap squad 3" away from all of the objectives you've held and fought for the entire game in order to contest your position - thus stealing the game away at the very last minute. There are ways to combat this...
If you've got a typical coin sized objective (either those sold by GW or an omnipresent poker chip style objective), there is a fairly effective way you can keep the other guy off your objective with a fairly easy maneuver: circle your wagons.
Why is this effective?
1. By keeping your unit within 2" of the objective, you are eliminating any space between your unit and the objective. If your opponent wants to jump in with jump packs or jet bikes or something that moves like a jump pack or jet bike, there is no space for him to land. As long as you are just inside 2" from the objective, your opponent can't land between you and the objective and not be within 1" of your unit. By rule, he cannot move within 1" of your unit during the movement phase. Thus, this ring means he won't get closer to the objective than you.
2. Because you are also just within 2", and he has to stay 1" away from you, then he can't get within 3" of the objective in the movement phase because your typical infantry base is approximately 1" wide. This means that the closest he is generally going to get is greater than 4".
3. The last minute grab is typically done by small under-powered units because it is a cheap and effective way to quickly grab any objective on the board at the same time and still keep some redundancy in case those small units don't make it to the last turn of the game. This means in order for enemy units to get within 3" of the objective, the other guy is going to have to (a) commit to charging into combat, and (b) win the combat in order to consolidate within 3" of the objective. As long as you still have units between him and the objective, it will be very tough for him to pile in closer than 3" -- even if the game goes another turn. He's going to have to wipe you out (or at least win the combat by a fair margin) in order to pull this off, which is really tough to do with the kinds of small units reserved for the last turn grab -- even when your defending unit has been whittled down over the course of the game.
4. If the other guy plans on using the transport to move you out of the way, you can prevent him from simply waltzing onto the objective with a Death or Glory attack. No, you may not be successful. But, if you've got a melta bomb, power fist, or some equivalent, you may have a decent shot. And once again, if you are successful, the vehicle will stop short and will be unable to get closer than 3" - just like the troops he dumped out before hand. Incidentally, the tank shock is most likely the only effective means the other guy is going to have in order to get you off the objective, but it isn't without serious risk to your opponent.
If you've got a typical coin sized objective (either those sold by GW or an omnipresent poker chip style objective), there is a fairly effective way you can keep the other guy off your objective with a fairly easy maneuver: circle your wagons.
Why is this effective?
1. By keeping your unit within 2" of the objective, you are eliminating any space between your unit and the objective. If your opponent wants to jump in with jump packs or jet bikes or something that moves like a jump pack or jet bike, there is no space for him to land. As long as you are just inside 2" from the objective, your opponent can't land between you and the objective and not be within 1" of your unit. By rule, he cannot move within 1" of your unit during the movement phase. Thus, this ring means he won't get closer to the objective than you.
2. Because you are also just within 2", and he has to stay 1" away from you, then he can't get within 3" of the objective in the movement phase because your typical infantry base is approximately 1" wide. This means that the closest he is generally going to get is greater than 4".
3. The last minute grab is typically done by small under-powered units because it is a cheap and effective way to quickly grab any objective on the board at the same time and still keep some redundancy in case those small units don't make it to the last turn of the game. This means in order for enemy units to get within 3" of the objective, the other guy is going to have to (a) commit to charging into combat, and (b) win the combat in order to consolidate within 3" of the objective. As long as you still have units between him and the objective, it will be very tough for him to pile in closer than 3" -- even if the game goes another turn. He's going to have to wipe you out (or at least win the combat by a fair margin) in order to pull this off, which is really tough to do with the kinds of small units reserved for the last turn grab -- even when your defending unit has been whittled down over the course of the game.
4. If the other guy plans on using the transport to move you out of the way, you can prevent him from simply waltzing onto the objective with a Death or Glory attack. No, you may not be successful. But, if you've got a melta bomb, power fist, or some equivalent, you may have a decent shot. And once again, if you are successful, the vehicle will stop short and will be unable to get closer than 3" - just like the troops he dumped out before hand. Incidentally, the tank shock is most likely the only effective means the other guy is going to have in order to get you off the objective, but it isn't without serious risk to your opponent.
Monday, September 20, 2010
One Movie to See and Another to Skip (No. 4)
Movie to See AND Movie to Skip: The Room
This is one of those crazy movies that I have to both strongly recommend that you see it... and also recommend that you don't. The Room is without a doubt the most horrible piece of crap movie I have ever seen in my entire life. Think of the worst movie you've seen lately, and I can almost guarantee that it will pale in comparison to this craptacular gem. The acting in the movie is so fake and so poor that you will beg your captors to let you watch more high school musicals filmed by a fidgety parent in the back of the auditorium -- always playing with the zoom feature, and inexplicably (un)focused on a member of the chorus rather than paying attention to the main action. If you watch this movie you will have an answer to that tough question: what is the worst movie you have ever seen?
But having said that, I have to admit that I still found myself enjoying watching this movie. In fact, I laughed my butt off the entire way through! While the writer/director/lead actor/producer (yeah, he did ALL of that) tries to spin the movie as an intentional "black comedy" in his self-written interview (included as a bonus feature - and a MUST watch) and dvd box description, there is no question as you watch it that he was trying to put together a serious dramatic piece. But MAN did he fail. It is terrible!
Enjoy this film for the piece of crap that it is; laugh at all of the ridiculous dialogue (very little of it will make any sense - no, really, the sentences are literally incoherent babble and make no sense whatsoever), and marvel at the stupidity that went into committing this stinker to dvd. It is truly horrible, and you might just enjoy every minute of it.
This is one of those crazy movies that I have to both strongly recommend that you see it... and also recommend that you don't. The Room is without a doubt the most horrible piece of crap movie I have ever seen in my entire life. Think of the worst movie you've seen lately, and I can almost guarantee that it will pale in comparison to this craptacular gem. The acting in the movie is so fake and so poor that you will beg your captors to let you watch more high school musicals filmed by a fidgety parent in the back of the auditorium -- always playing with the zoom feature, and inexplicably (un)focused on a member of the chorus rather than paying attention to the main action. If you watch this movie you will have an answer to that tough question: what is the worst movie you have ever seen?
But having said that, I have to admit that I still found myself enjoying watching this movie. In fact, I laughed my butt off the entire way through! While the writer/director/lead actor/producer (yeah, he did ALL of that) tries to spin the movie as an intentional "black comedy" in his self-written interview (included as a bonus feature - and a MUST watch) and dvd box description, there is no question as you watch it that he was trying to put together a serious dramatic piece. But MAN did he fail. It is terrible!
Enjoy this film for the piece of crap that it is; laugh at all of the ridiculous dialogue (very little of it will make any sense - no, really, the sentences are literally incoherent babble and make no sense whatsoever), and marvel at the stupidity that went into committing this stinker to dvd. It is truly horrible, and you might just enjoy every minute of it.
Friday, September 17, 2010
40k: Dirty Tricks (No. 2) - The Assault Pull
Sometimes during a game of 40k you want to get a squad into combat that just can't quite reach it. Sometimes it's bad luck, and sometimes your clever opponent has positioned his troops in such a fashion that you're just going to fall a little short when you try it. If you've got an Independent Character nearby, you might just be able to pull off the assault anyway with a little clever positioning. BUT there is a legal way to do this, and an illegal way. Make sure you do it the legal way! And make sure your opponent is doing it the legal way too.
Position One:
The Red squad is your target. Your Blue unit has moved up, but they can't reach the Red unit for an assault. The Yellow unit is an IC who hasn't moved yet.
The Illegal Move:
The IC charges the Red unit during the assault.
The Red unit follows up.
Then the Blue unit, because of the Red unit pile in, is now within assault range.
This is illegal becase all assaults must be declared and the assaulting player's units moved before the other guy has to pile into the assault. This is generally referred to as the "Assault Pull" because you have 'pulled' the enemy into range of a squad that would not otherwise be able to assault.
The Legal Move:
Start.
This time, the IC first moves within 2" of the Blue unit.
Now when the IC charges the Red unit, the Blue unit members will still not be able to reach the bad guys...
...but the Red unit must engage the members of Blue unit when they are able to do so in the follow-up pile in move.
Some things to keep in mind here... An IC with a jump pack or some other means of moving fast is great for pulling the legal move out of your bag of tricks mid-game. If he follows behind several units, he can spring forward to close the assault gap at any given time during the game when your opponent thinks he's still safe. But remember to keep him at least 2" away from the squad you intend to join in this fashion before you attempt this move or else he'll only be able to move as quickly as the slowest member of the same unit - completely wasting his speed.
Also, keep an eye out to make sure you don't fall prey to the illegal assault pull. For convenience sake, it is pretty common to go tit-for-tat during your opponent's assault phase. But don't let him pile any new units into that assault once you've piled in. Ask point blank whether or not he intends to charge anyone else into that same combat before you move your models in the reaction move.
Position One:
The Red squad is your target. Your Blue unit has moved up, but they can't reach the Red unit for an assault. The Yellow unit is an IC who hasn't moved yet.
The Illegal Move:
The IC charges the Red unit during the assault.
The Red unit follows up.
Then the Blue unit, because of the Red unit pile in, is now within assault range.
This is illegal becase all assaults must be declared and the assaulting player's units moved before the other guy has to pile into the assault. This is generally referred to as the "Assault Pull" because you have 'pulled' the enemy into range of a squad that would not otherwise be able to assault.
The Legal Move:
Start.
This time, the IC first moves within 2" of the Blue unit.
The IC automatically joins the unit at this point, per the movement rules, and is within assault range for the assault phase - meaning the squad he just joined is also in range.
Some things to keep in mind here... An IC with a jump pack or some other means of moving fast is great for pulling the legal move out of your bag of tricks mid-game. If he follows behind several units, he can spring forward to close the assault gap at any given time during the game when your opponent thinks he's still safe. But remember to keep him at least 2" away from the squad you intend to join in this fashion before you attempt this move or else he'll only be able to move as quickly as the slowest member of the same unit - completely wasting his speed.
Also, keep an eye out to make sure you don't fall prey to the illegal assault pull. For convenience sake, it is pretty common to go tit-for-tat during your opponent's assault phase. But don't let him pile any new units into that assault once you've piled in. Ask point blank whether or not he intends to charge anyone else into that same combat before you move your models in the reaction move.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
40k: Dirty Tricks (No. 1) - Scatter Dice
A sad fact about the game of 40k is that it is practically impossible to weed out the poor sports and cheaters from the mix. With all of the variables in the game (dice, army list building, measuring distances, checking line of sight from the models point of view, etc.), there are many ways where an unscrupulous player can try to take advantage of the confusion inherent in the game in order to cheat you out of a fair game. It sucks, but it happens. If you don't have a set of regular opponents you can trust, then you probably want to learn how you can avoid being cheated out of a fair game... especially when prizes are on the line in a tournament. From time to time I'll pick a common dirty trick that shows up on the gaming table and point it out so you can spot it and avoid a dirty cheater in the future.
Scatter Dice
If you pay attention to scatter dice, you'll notice that each one has 2 "Hit" icons, and 4 arrows. That's a 1 in 3 chance of rolling a hit, right? Sure... if you don't bowl the dice when you roll it. That's right, folks. If you bowl the dice in a linear pattern, rather than just rolling and spinning the dice as normal, you can eliminate two sides of the dice in the roll. That gives you a 1 in 2 chance in rolling a hit. And if you really practice the pitch, you can improve that roll even more with a little muscle memory and by placing the dice a certain face up in your palm each time you roll it. Yeah, that's cheating. And depending on the kind of army you're facing (e.g. Daemons, massed drop pods, massed vanguard veterans, etc.), that kind of cheating can be devastating to your army.
So, what do you do about it? Well, practically speaking, you can't really stop the cheater from rolling that way until you've called him/her out. And you can't call it out unless you can spot it. Here are some of the things to key on to see if you're being cheated:
1) Does your opponent roll the scatter die by itself or with other dice?
It is damn near impossible to bowl the die precisely if you have several dice in your hand at a time. It's certainly not unheard of, and a good cheat-roller can certainly improve his odds, but it is much more difficult to pull off. Encourage your opponent to roll all the dice for a scatter test at the same time to avoid the appearance of impropriety. Yeah, it's easier to move the template accurately if you roll the scatter die as close to the template as possible; and yeah its even easier to keep them close if you just roll the single die. But if you see the bowling motion (discussed below), you need to get more dice in his hand.
2) Does your opponent pick up the die to roll it, or does he place it in his hand?
You can't bowl the dice correctly unless you ensure you have two arrows on the sides you eliminate. The more careful your opponent is being in getting the die lined up in his hand, the more likely he's trying to "improve" his odds by bowling.
3) Does the die bowl or skip?
Watch the die as it rolls. Is it rolling in a linear fashion - like a barrel roll - or is it skipping and jumping around like other rolled dice? Roll some dice and pay attention to how they move. If you catch a corner of the die as you roll it, it will bounce and skip around a bit. When you bowl it, it may spin, but will generally follow the same path as the release all the way through. Bowling is more natural when you've only got one die in your hand, but even the casual dice roll will catch the corner from time to time and bounce around a bit. If you see a bowling motion every time... well, it's time to go back to #1 and get more dice in his hand.
Keep an eye out for these three cues: bowling motion, careful placement of the dice in the hand, and only rolling the die by itself. In my experience, most cheaters are short-cut takers and they cheat because they don't want to take the time to learn to play the game with actual skill. And with the exception of the handful of true sharks that are out there, they probably won't take the time to bowl that dice without being obvious if you know what to look for. Besides, a shark is going to beat you one way or the other -- and you'll probably not realize you're being taken (so who cares). But when you've got a cheeky little upstart that is trying to half-ass his way through the game with a poorly practiced dirty trick... Well, that's something nobody should stand for.
Scatter Dice
If you pay attention to scatter dice, you'll notice that each one has 2 "Hit" icons, and 4 arrows. That's a 1 in 3 chance of rolling a hit, right? Sure... if you don't bowl the dice when you roll it. That's right, folks. If you bowl the dice in a linear pattern, rather than just rolling and spinning the dice as normal, you can eliminate two sides of the dice in the roll. That gives you a 1 in 2 chance in rolling a hit. And if you really practice the pitch, you can improve that roll even more with a little muscle memory and by placing the dice a certain face up in your palm each time you roll it. Yeah, that's cheating. And depending on the kind of army you're facing (e.g. Daemons, massed drop pods, massed vanguard veterans, etc.), that kind of cheating can be devastating to your army.
So, what do you do about it? Well, practically speaking, you can't really stop the cheater from rolling that way until you've called him/her out. And you can't call it out unless you can spot it. Here are some of the things to key on to see if you're being cheated:
1) Does your opponent roll the scatter die by itself or with other dice?
It is damn near impossible to bowl the die precisely if you have several dice in your hand at a time. It's certainly not unheard of, and a good cheat-roller can certainly improve his odds, but it is much more difficult to pull off. Encourage your opponent to roll all the dice for a scatter test at the same time to avoid the appearance of impropriety. Yeah, it's easier to move the template accurately if you roll the scatter die as close to the template as possible; and yeah its even easier to keep them close if you just roll the single die. But if you see the bowling motion (discussed below), you need to get more dice in his hand.
2) Does your opponent pick up the die to roll it, or does he place it in his hand?
You can't bowl the dice correctly unless you ensure you have two arrows on the sides you eliminate. The more careful your opponent is being in getting the die lined up in his hand, the more likely he's trying to "improve" his odds by bowling.
3) Does the die bowl or skip?
Watch the die as it rolls. Is it rolling in a linear fashion - like a barrel roll - or is it skipping and jumping around like other rolled dice? Roll some dice and pay attention to how they move. If you catch a corner of the die as you roll it, it will bounce and skip around a bit. When you bowl it, it may spin, but will generally follow the same path as the release all the way through. Bowling is more natural when you've only got one die in your hand, but even the casual dice roll will catch the corner from time to time and bounce around a bit. If you see a bowling motion every time... well, it's time to go back to #1 and get more dice in his hand.
Keep an eye out for these three cues: bowling motion, careful placement of the dice in the hand, and only rolling the die by itself. In my experience, most cheaters are short-cut takers and they cheat because they don't want to take the time to learn to play the game with actual skill. And with the exception of the handful of true sharks that are out there, they probably won't take the time to bowl that dice without being obvious if you know what to look for. Besides, a shark is going to beat you one way or the other -- and you'll probably not realize you're being taken (so who cares). But when you've got a cheeky little upstart that is trying to half-ass his way through the game with a poorly practiced dirty trick... Well, that's something nobody should stand for.
One Movie to See and Another to Skip (No. 3)
Movie to See:
This is a great guilty-pleasure flick full of idiots and anti-heroes in a string of crazy situations. Straight from the dvd jacket, this is a movie about the unlikely connections between a group of people that comes to a head at 11:14 p.m. in small town USA. For most of this movie I found myself laughing my butt off while I knew I should be shocked and horrified. What fun! Trust me when I say that the real key to this movie is to approach it with low expectations. I watched this movie late on a Friday night when I couldn't find anything better to watch. I honestly expected an indy drama, but it is really closer to a dark comedy... really dark. Good stuff.
Movie to Skip:
I really wanted to like this film, but it just fell kind of flat. The movie is based on a silent movie with the same (or very, very similar) name, and it looks like the director simply wanted to add 'voice' to the film as a kind of experiment. Everything else, exactly the same. Identical costumes, makeup and that iconic silent movie over-acting with broad movements and hyper animated facial expressions to overcome the lack of sound. While I thought it was an interesting concept, I just couldn't buy into it. When you can hear the movie, you have to adjust... make things more subtle... or else it just comes out as a lot of squawking and lame melodrama. For film buffs that like experimental movies, you might enjoy this. For everyone else, you'll probably enjoy the original version a lot more. Ironically, what might make this one better is to mute the film and click the subtitles button on your remote...
This is a great guilty-pleasure flick full of idiots and anti-heroes in a string of crazy situations. Straight from the dvd jacket, this is a movie about the unlikely connections between a group of people that comes to a head at 11:14 p.m. in small town USA. For most of this movie I found myself laughing my butt off while I knew I should be shocked and horrified. What fun! Trust me when I say that the real key to this movie is to approach it with low expectations. I watched this movie late on a Friday night when I couldn't find anything better to watch. I honestly expected an indy drama, but it is really closer to a dark comedy... really dark. Good stuff.
Movie to Skip:
I really wanted to like this film, but it just fell kind of flat. The movie is based on a silent movie with the same (or very, very similar) name, and it looks like the director simply wanted to add 'voice' to the film as a kind of experiment. Everything else, exactly the same. Identical costumes, makeup and that iconic silent movie over-acting with broad movements and hyper animated facial expressions to overcome the lack of sound. While I thought it was an interesting concept, I just couldn't buy into it. When you can hear the movie, you have to adjust... make things more subtle... or else it just comes out as a lot of squawking and lame melodrama. For film buffs that like experimental movies, you might enjoy this. For everyone else, you'll probably enjoy the original version a lot more. Ironically, what might make this one better is to mute the film and click the subtitles button on your remote...
Sunday, September 12, 2010
One Movie to See and Another to Skip (No. 2)
Movie to See:
The only drawback I have with this movie is that it isn't in English, which means you have to read it. Fortunately, common linguistic roots mean that eventually you can pick up on phrases that are repeated in the movie and you don't have to read every word to know what is going on.
The movie is based on a book by Stieg Larsson, and it really doesn't disappoint. There is plenty of suspense, and the story actually seems plausible. But even better, however, is that you really couldn't guess what was going to happen ahead of time until you learned about new information at the same time as the characters in the movie. If you watch a lot of suspense/thrillers, then you know that all too often the characters in this kind of movie suddenly become really stupid in order for them to blunder into an obvious trap; but not this time. In this story there are certainly traps, but there really was no way for the characters to figure it out ahead of time... just like the viewer. I appreciated that, and it made for a much more suspenseful movie. I recommend this one to anyone that likes a decent thriller... and doesn't mind seeing naked leading men without the typical cover of Men's Health magazine body. It's a little rough; but at least the chicks are hot. :)
A Movie to Skip:
If you like spoof movies along the lines of Scary Movie, then you might like this one. Like the Scary Movie series, this movie is probably classified as a "guilty pleasure" flick, but is a little light on the "pleasure" part. Stan Helsing is heavy on puns and bad jokes, which is not everyone's cup of tea, and very light on pacing and story telling. The bad guys are unnecessarily over-the-top parodies, and the main characters are far dumber than was really required. So, yeah, this movie is a real dog; but at least it's obvious throughout the movie that nobody involved with the film thought it would be anything other than a dog, which makes their "acting" honest. One casting note: I would have traded the actors in the roles of the ex-girlfriend and the stripper/nurse. Frankly, I think Doira Baird would have made a far more convincing stripper than Desi Lydic and would have better explained how EVERYONE in the movie kind of ignored Baird in favor of Lydic. Visually speaking... that didn't make any sense. And acting... well, I'm pretty sure both the actresses and the roles were fairly interchangeable given the quality of the talent involved and the script everyone had to work with.
The only drawback I have with this movie is that it isn't in English, which means you have to read it. Fortunately, common linguistic roots mean that eventually you can pick up on phrases that are repeated in the movie and you don't have to read every word to know what is going on.
The movie is based on a book by Stieg Larsson, and it really doesn't disappoint. There is plenty of suspense, and the story actually seems plausible. But even better, however, is that you really couldn't guess what was going to happen ahead of time until you learned about new information at the same time as the characters in the movie. If you watch a lot of suspense/thrillers, then you know that all too often the characters in this kind of movie suddenly become really stupid in order for them to blunder into an obvious trap; but not this time. In this story there are certainly traps, but there really was no way for the characters to figure it out ahead of time... just like the viewer. I appreciated that, and it made for a much more suspenseful movie. I recommend this one to anyone that likes a decent thriller... and doesn't mind seeing naked leading men without the typical cover of Men's Health magazine body. It's a little rough; but at least the chicks are hot. :)
A Movie to Skip:
Friday, September 10, 2010
Opinion (No. 1) : 40k and Nerdrage on the Interwebs
Just a quick comment regarding the infusion of Internet "drama" into the 40k community...
If you're a sad geek like myself, you often find yourself trolling different blogs and message boards that cater to our favorite GW hobby. As you scan the web, you'll find that some of those sites take it upon themselves to create controversy in order to stoke nerdrage in the GW community (e.g. Blood of Kittens); and some of those sites take it upon themselves to tell you why your army list is terrible and why you should really be playing their way (e.g. Yes, The Truth Hurts). If you haven't figured it out, many of these sites, like Kittens, feature a healthy dose of tongue-in-cheek attitude about the whole thing. And some of the sites leave the irony at home and simply play their 'jerk' role to the hilt -- while probably not actually being jerks in reality. For the most part, these guys are simply playing the Internet personality game. They're usually just playing around, but doing so with the purpose of creating 'buzz' in the community. The approach, it would seem, is that any buzz is a good thing because it keeps people talking, and it keeps people playing the game as they get wrapped up in the Internet drama.
While I understand the desire to keep the community active and to give our small community something to talk about, is this really good for the hobby?
I think it's a bad idea. While I still follow these sites on and off, I would be lying to you if I wasn't disappointed when I stumble across a particularly acidic post. Jerry Springer is fun to watch every once in a while too, but is that show really good for society either? Nope, I don't think it's good for us either.
The problem I have with these kinds of 40k sites is the same problem I have with our current political climate in the United States. In a society that is increasingly controlled by fewer and fewer individuals (in the simplest terms possible: constant business mergers mean that more people are employed by the fewer number of people, and we all have fewer choices where we buy things and what we buy), we, as individuals, have an increasingly smaller say in how things are run. Think about it, the fewer people there are in charge, the fewer opinions and approaches to solving problems there are going to be. That means we don't have as many choices when it comes to backing our horse in the great race of life. We are forced to compromise our core ideals in order to 'fit' one of those horses, and because there are fewer choices, each choice will have a greater number of overall supporters.
Do the theoretical (and necessarily convenient) math: if you've got three leaders and a hundred followers, there's a decent chance that your going to see a 1/3 share of the population for each of those leaders. And while you may have 66 people that won't agree with you all the time, you're probably going to find 33 of them leaning your way some times. Real compromise can occur because the positions do not have to be stark opposites, and gaining favor with 33 of those 66 people is not only possible, it is important.
In the United States, we often get 2 choices... and that's it. That creates vehement polar opposites, and the lack of choices mean that we all have to compromise our core ideals to the most extreme extent possible in order to back one of the two horses available. That kind of makes us mad, and it also means that when we find something we really do agree with, we back it pretty fiercely. And because we do want to feel as though the positions we have are being heard, we often 'tune in' to things that agree with those positions. Media giants and political pundits understand this, and thus they created 'entertainment' venues under the guise of real news in order to cater to what people want to hear: MSNBC, FOX News, etc. We, as people that want to be heard, may not always agree with everything that is said on those fake news outlets, but we like to hear things that make us 'right.' We like to hear evidence that our position is not crazy, and that of the two choices available, we are not backing the wrong horse. And unfortunately, this often means we will believe all kinds of stupid and crazy accusations that have no basis in reality in order to feel as though, at the deepest level, we did not choose poorly.
This is not a good thing. This is not a positive aspect of our society. It demonstrates how willing we are to let a handful of people blow just enough sunshine up our asses so that we will believe some of their more far fetched claims for no better reason than because we think they somehow represent our interests. As Voltaire put it: "Those who can convince us to believe absurdities can convince us to commit atrocities." We, as a greater society, allow ourselves to fall prey to this nonsense... and yet we still have the audacity to put our hands on our hips when looking back in history and say: "Gee, I can't believe people were stupid and cruel enough to follow Hitler." Folks, every time you sit down and watch one of these crappy networks for fifteen minutes and you don't call everything they tell you into question, you're one goose step closer to that same fascist mentality.
Sadly, I honestly think that the 40k Nerdrage sites are really feeding into that same weakness of the human condition. Yeah, it's tongue-in-cheek or there is simply a 'bad guy' role being played, but so what? Jon Stewart says in nearly every episode of the Daily Show: 'Hey folks, this is a comedy show - not the real news.' And yet, how many people rely on the Daily Show to be their political voice? It doesn't matter that the 40k Nerdrage sites are often trying to be funny. It doesn't matter that they are just playing a role for the purpose of creating buzz. The fact of the matter is that they are not being truthful. They are taking approaches that build camps. And sheep will segregate themselves into by the nature of society in general.
What is wrong with taking a positive approach to the same questions and problems posed by these sites? Why do they have to feed the hate? What part of our humanity are we sacrificing for the sake of sensationalism and popularity? In my opinion, any sacrifice of humanity we have to make in order to speak those messages is a betrayal of the fans of those sites. The sensationalism is not a positive influence; the buzz does not do us any favors. Anything that divides our community, especially when it is manufactured for the sole purpose of doing so, is bad for an already tiny community. And it's bad for us as people. The polarization of our actual lives and our political views is already a crime that has been perpetrated by a notorious few for the sole purpose of gaining money and influence. There is no need to replicate those crimes in our hobby. Hobby should be an escape from that bullshit, not an untapped venue to feed an already unending flow of unnecessary hate.
And that's all I've got say about that... for the moment.
If you're a sad geek like myself, you often find yourself trolling different blogs and message boards that cater to our favorite GW hobby. As you scan the web, you'll find that some of those sites take it upon themselves to create controversy in order to stoke nerdrage in the GW community (e.g. Blood of Kittens); and some of those sites take it upon themselves to tell you why your army list is terrible and why you should really be playing their way (e.g. Yes, The Truth Hurts). If you haven't figured it out, many of these sites, like Kittens, feature a healthy dose of tongue-in-cheek attitude about the whole thing. And some of the sites leave the irony at home and simply play their 'jerk' role to the hilt -- while probably not actually being jerks in reality. For the most part, these guys are simply playing the Internet personality game. They're usually just playing around, but doing so with the purpose of creating 'buzz' in the community. The approach, it would seem, is that any buzz is a good thing because it keeps people talking, and it keeps people playing the game as they get wrapped up in the Internet drama.
While I understand the desire to keep the community active and to give our small community something to talk about, is this really good for the hobby?
I think it's a bad idea. While I still follow these sites on and off, I would be lying to you if I wasn't disappointed when I stumble across a particularly acidic post. Jerry Springer is fun to watch every once in a while too, but is that show really good for society either? Nope, I don't think it's good for us either.
The problem I have with these kinds of 40k sites is the same problem I have with our current political climate in the United States. In a society that is increasingly controlled by fewer and fewer individuals (in the simplest terms possible: constant business mergers mean that more people are employed by the fewer number of people, and we all have fewer choices where we buy things and what we buy), we, as individuals, have an increasingly smaller say in how things are run. Think about it, the fewer people there are in charge, the fewer opinions and approaches to solving problems there are going to be. That means we don't have as many choices when it comes to backing our horse in the great race of life. We are forced to compromise our core ideals in order to 'fit' one of those horses, and because there are fewer choices, each choice will have a greater number of overall supporters.
Do the theoretical (and necessarily convenient) math: if you've got three leaders and a hundred followers, there's a decent chance that your going to see a 1/3 share of the population for each of those leaders. And while you may have 66 people that won't agree with you all the time, you're probably going to find 33 of them leaning your way some times. Real compromise can occur because the positions do not have to be stark opposites, and gaining favor with 33 of those 66 people is not only possible, it is important.
In the United States, we often get 2 choices... and that's it. That creates vehement polar opposites, and the lack of choices mean that we all have to compromise our core ideals to the most extreme extent possible in order to back one of the two horses available. That kind of makes us mad, and it also means that when we find something we really do agree with, we back it pretty fiercely. And because we do want to feel as though the positions we have are being heard, we often 'tune in' to things that agree with those positions. Media giants and political pundits understand this, and thus they created 'entertainment' venues under the guise of real news in order to cater to what people want to hear: MSNBC, FOX News, etc. We, as people that want to be heard, may not always agree with everything that is said on those fake news outlets, but we like to hear things that make us 'right.' We like to hear evidence that our position is not crazy, and that of the two choices available, we are not backing the wrong horse. And unfortunately, this often means we will believe all kinds of stupid and crazy accusations that have no basis in reality in order to feel as though, at the deepest level, we did not choose poorly.
This is not a good thing. This is not a positive aspect of our society. It demonstrates how willing we are to let a handful of people blow just enough sunshine up our asses so that we will believe some of their more far fetched claims for no better reason than because we think they somehow represent our interests. As Voltaire put it: "Those who can convince us to believe absurdities can convince us to commit atrocities." We, as a greater society, allow ourselves to fall prey to this nonsense... and yet we still have the audacity to put our hands on our hips when looking back in history and say: "Gee, I can't believe people were stupid and cruel enough to follow Hitler." Folks, every time you sit down and watch one of these crappy networks for fifteen minutes and you don't call everything they tell you into question, you're one goose step closer to that same fascist mentality.
Sadly, I honestly think that the 40k Nerdrage sites are really feeding into that same weakness of the human condition. Yeah, it's tongue-in-cheek or there is simply a 'bad guy' role being played, but so what? Jon Stewart says in nearly every episode of the Daily Show: 'Hey folks, this is a comedy show - not the real news.' And yet, how many people rely on the Daily Show to be their political voice? It doesn't matter that the 40k Nerdrage sites are often trying to be funny. It doesn't matter that they are just playing a role for the purpose of creating buzz. The fact of the matter is that they are not being truthful. They are taking approaches that build camps. And sheep will segregate themselves into by the nature of society in general.
What is wrong with taking a positive approach to the same questions and problems posed by these sites? Why do they have to feed the hate? What part of our humanity are we sacrificing for the sake of sensationalism and popularity? In my opinion, any sacrifice of humanity we have to make in order to speak those messages is a betrayal of the fans of those sites. The sensationalism is not a positive influence; the buzz does not do us any favors. Anything that divides our community, especially when it is manufactured for the sole purpose of doing so, is bad for an already tiny community. And it's bad for us as people. The polarization of our actual lives and our political views is already a crime that has been perpetrated by a notorious few for the sole purpose of gaining money and influence. There is no need to replicate those crimes in our hobby. Hobby should be an escape from that bullshit, not an untapped venue to feed an already unending flow of unnecessary hate.
And that's all I've got say about that... for the moment.
Thursday, September 09, 2010
40k: Know Your Space Marines (No. 1): Psychic Powers
One of my chief time/money/sanity sinks for my limited hobby time is the fantastic Games Workshop (GW) game, Warhammer 40k. GW actually makes several great miniatures games, and their IP has spread to several successful board game and RPGs from board game giant, Fantasy Flight Games (FFG). Unfortunately, both GW and FFG also make extremely expensive games/products, which means I can't play everything that interests me in their ranges. For GW, I've selected 40k, the sci-fi hero scale table top miniature game... which makes me a super geek.
I have collected three armies over the years (since the 2nd edition of the game), but the greatest amount of time, effort and money has gone into my massive Space Marine army. They were the army that drew me in (like the majority of 40k geeks), and have remained my main focus. Accordingly, when I throw 40k topics up here, they'll probably have a very strong Astartes focus.
One thing that I have seen change dramatically (several times) over the various editions of 40k is the psychic phase. In 2nd edition (particularly with the introduction of Dark Millennium), you were pretty much guaranteed to lose a game if the other guy brought a psyker and you didn't. The psychic phase could quickly dominate every game... which was kind of silly. The psychic phase dried up very quickly in 3rd and 4th, but the psychic phase has slowly started working its way back into the game with each new codex in 5th edition.
Because Space Marines were one of the first releases in 5th ed., their powers are not quite as useful as those that have been introduced in later army releases, but there are still powers that have some useful bite... and some that are kind of useless. Everybody has their opinion as to which are the best and worst powers, much of which is largely situational, but here are a couple of my favorites and least favorites of the nine available to the Vanilla crew:
Best:
Two of my favorite Space Marine psychic powers are Might of the Ancients and Avenger. Although I never put both of these powers on the same librarian, I find that these two are the most useful to me in a given game.
Avenger is useful because: (1) it never misses, (2) at S5 it can wound most infantry in the game on a 2 or 3, (3) at AP3, only terminators and a few rare exceptions are going to get an armor save, and (4) since it is a template weapon, nobody is going to get a cover save. How is this power not pure win? It thins out bunched up troops like nobody's business, softens up hordes for an assault, and even has a 1/3 chance to put wounds on a random monstrous creature or two. Whether you prefer a gate-librarian in terminator armor, or just keep your bare bones libby in a rhino, this template power is very handy against just about anything you'll face on the table.
Might is perhaps a more controversial power, but one that I still like to bring to the table. Since the only way you're going to get an invulnerable save on a librarian is to put him in terminator armor (typically with a storm shield for even greater protection), most people don't like to put their librarians in a close combat situation. They are not the combat powerhouses that they used to be, so it's a tricky call. This power often falls by the wayside for several good reasons... Typically, if you're putting a librarian in combat, he's got terminator armor and a storm shield -- which means he's probably using the Gate power to jump around the board leaving a single slot left for a psychic power. A lot of people prefer to use for a shooting power so that they can soften up an assault (like with the Avenger), or more likely, so that they feel that the librarian is actually contributing to every phase of the game. If the libby is not in terminator armor, you don't want him in close combat, so this close combat power isn't a brilliant idea. And unless you've invested the points in an Epistolary, you only get one psychic power/test per turn, which most people will want to reserve for their force weapon to take down multi-wound creatures/characters.
Hey, those are all good reasons, but I think they miss the bigger picture. At S4, your librarian still has to wound the big bad monster/character he's swinging at in order to use the force weapon. That's going to be tough against anything over T4 because of the librarian's limited combat profile -- and most of the big bad monster/characters that have multiple wounds are generally stronger than T4 or will strike so much faster than your librarian that he will probably not get a chance to hit the bad guy at all.
Might is useful because it makes your librarian S6, which means you're going to wound a typical monstrous creature half the time, and multi-wound bad guys at T5 or less even more often. Further, it also makes him a threat to most vehicles in the game. At S6 and 2D6 armor penetration you are very rarely going to fail to penetrate most armor in the game. Face it, a Might infused librarian hits very hard. And since the force weapon is a power weapon, you have a very good chance to wound with every strike you make. Light-characters will still fail, and even four-wound monsters like the dreaded hive tyrant, who is not going to enjoy your terminator armor and storm shield, will be wary of this power. Further, since he's only S6, there is a distinct possibility that the other guy will prefer to target the much scarier S8 thunder hammer terminators that are typically escorting this librarian into combat (and haven't struck back, yet). And if you have invested in an Epistolary, there is a good chance that you're still going to be able to use the force weapon the turn you assault (since you can't assault from a deep strike like Gate anyway), which means even the toughest multi-wound monstrous creatures are going to fear your humble librarian.
The Bad:
On the flip side, there are also powers that I very rarely find any use for in the game. The two I find least useful in most cases are Machine Curse, and more controversially, Force Dome. The first of these, Machine Curse, is the easiest to dump on because it is such an obvious stinker. In order to use it, you've not only got to pass your psychic test, you've also got to hit it like a shooting attack -- and there are no re-rolls. Then, if you do hit, you're only going to do a glancing hit. Now, the glancing hit is not necessarily a bad thing, especially when looking down the barrel of a demolisher cannon, but having to roll to hit makes this power much less appealing. Frankly, I think GW realized this one was not enough of a sure thing which is why the more recent Space Wolf and Blood Angels psychic powers are much more effective at accomplishing similar tasks. In my opinion, if you've already got to roll to hit, you might as well take something with a little more punch, like Vortex of Doom that will probably hit something, and has a very good chance of taking out the enemy vehicle (or anything else it shoots at) completely out of the game.
The other power that I dislike, that other people seem to find useful, is Force Dome. On the face of it, sure, giving a 5++ invulnerable save to the librarian and his unit sounds good in principle, but I just can't put much stock in it. I find that it is typically very very easy to maneuver your troops in such a fashion that they're going to get some kind of cover save -- and that's usually going to be a 4++ save. Further, since it is limited to the librarian and his unit, this is only going to be useful if your librarian and his unit are not in terminator armor, which already has a 5++ save. And finally, let's face it. As a frequent Guard and Dark Eldar player, I am acutely aware of the fact that 5+ save is not that impressive -- especially given the point about the cover save above. Yeah, it's a 1/3 chance to survive AP1, 2, and 3 weapons when you've left your troops out in the open, but as often as MEQ players complain about the increased amount of that kind of firepower in the game these days, it isn't nearly as frequent as people think it is.
In my experience, the only time this power is worth the slot is when your unit is about to be trampled by a squad of power weapon wielding bad guys. Unless I am sticking my librarian with an objective holding squad, which is very rare, the kind of units he's running around with typically already has that 5++ save (i.e. terminators), or is being used in conjunction with another squad that will most likely be able to come in and mop up that power weapon squad in the next round (e.g. power weapon heavy Vanguard). In that latter case, I'd actually prefer a little Quickening so that I could get my own power weapon swings in first anyway!
And those are my thoughts on my favorite and least favorite Astartes psychic powers. With the exception of Machine Curse, I think every power has its uses in a given situation, but I find that it is poor tactical planning to assume that a specific situation must arise in a given game. You're much better off taking choices that are going to be useful in the largest number of situations so that you don't fall prey to the inevitable paper,rock, scissors of gimmicky tactics. That's not to say that you shouldn't experiment, because that's half the fun of fielding a jack-of-all-trades army in the first place; but if you are betting on certain situations arising during a game such that the enemy has to blunder in between your hammer and anvil to pull off the win, you're probably going to lose.
I have collected three armies over the years (since the 2nd edition of the game), but the greatest amount of time, effort and money has gone into my massive Space Marine army. They were the army that drew me in (like the majority of 40k geeks), and have remained my main focus. Accordingly, when I throw 40k topics up here, they'll probably have a very strong Astartes focus.
One thing that I have seen change dramatically (several times) over the various editions of 40k is the psychic phase. In 2nd edition (particularly with the introduction of Dark Millennium), you were pretty much guaranteed to lose a game if the other guy brought a psyker and you didn't. The psychic phase could quickly dominate every game... which was kind of silly. The psychic phase dried up very quickly in 3rd and 4th, but the psychic phase has slowly started working its way back into the game with each new codex in 5th edition.
Because Space Marines were one of the first releases in 5th ed., their powers are not quite as useful as those that have been introduced in later army releases, but there are still powers that have some useful bite... and some that are kind of useless. Everybody has their opinion as to which are the best and worst powers, much of which is largely situational, but here are a couple of my favorites and least favorites of the nine available to the Vanilla crew:
Best:
Two of my favorite Space Marine psychic powers are Might of the Ancients and Avenger. Although I never put both of these powers on the same librarian, I find that these two are the most useful to me in a given game.
Avenger is useful because: (1) it never misses, (2) at S5 it can wound most infantry in the game on a 2 or 3, (3) at AP3, only terminators and a few rare exceptions are going to get an armor save, and (4) since it is a template weapon, nobody is going to get a cover save. How is this power not pure win? It thins out bunched up troops like nobody's business, softens up hordes for an assault, and even has a 1/3 chance to put wounds on a random monstrous creature or two. Whether you prefer a gate-librarian in terminator armor, or just keep your bare bones libby in a rhino, this template power is very handy against just about anything you'll face on the table.
Might is perhaps a more controversial power, but one that I still like to bring to the table. Since the only way you're going to get an invulnerable save on a librarian is to put him in terminator armor (typically with a storm shield for even greater protection), most people don't like to put their librarians in a close combat situation. They are not the combat powerhouses that they used to be, so it's a tricky call. This power often falls by the wayside for several good reasons... Typically, if you're putting a librarian in combat, he's got terminator armor and a storm shield -- which means he's probably using the Gate power to jump around the board leaving a single slot left for a psychic power. A lot of people prefer to use for a shooting power so that they can soften up an assault (like with the Avenger), or more likely, so that they feel that the librarian is actually contributing to every phase of the game. If the libby is not in terminator armor, you don't want him in close combat, so this close combat power isn't a brilliant idea. And unless you've invested the points in an Epistolary, you only get one psychic power/test per turn, which most people will want to reserve for their force weapon to take down multi-wound creatures/characters.
Hey, those are all good reasons, but I think they miss the bigger picture. At S4, your librarian still has to wound the big bad monster/character he's swinging at in order to use the force weapon. That's going to be tough against anything over T4 because of the librarian's limited combat profile -- and most of the big bad monster/characters that have multiple wounds are generally stronger than T4 or will strike so much faster than your librarian that he will probably not get a chance to hit the bad guy at all.
Might is useful because it makes your librarian S6, which means you're going to wound a typical monstrous creature half the time, and multi-wound bad guys at T5 or less even more often. Further, it also makes him a threat to most vehicles in the game. At S6 and 2D6 armor penetration you are very rarely going to fail to penetrate most armor in the game. Face it, a Might infused librarian hits very hard. And since the force weapon is a power weapon, you have a very good chance to wound with every strike you make. Light-characters will still fail, and even four-wound monsters like the dreaded hive tyrant, who is not going to enjoy your terminator armor and storm shield, will be wary of this power. Further, since he's only S6, there is a distinct possibility that the other guy will prefer to target the much scarier S8 thunder hammer terminators that are typically escorting this librarian into combat (and haven't struck back, yet). And if you have invested in an Epistolary, there is a good chance that you're still going to be able to use the force weapon the turn you assault (since you can't assault from a deep strike like Gate anyway), which means even the toughest multi-wound monstrous creatures are going to fear your humble librarian.
The Bad:
On the flip side, there are also powers that I very rarely find any use for in the game. The two I find least useful in most cases are Machine Curse, and more controversially, Force Dome. The first of these, Machine Curse, is the easiest to dump on because it is such an obvious stinker. In order to use it, you've not only got to pass your psychic test, you've also got to hit it like a shooting attack -- and there are no re-rolls. Then, if you do hit, you're only going to do a glancing hit. Now, the glancing hit is not necessarily a bad thing, especially when looking down the barrel of a demolisher cannon, but having to roll to hit makes this power much less appealing. Frankly, I think GW realized this one was not enough of a sure thing which is why the more recent Space Wolf and Blood Angels psychic powers are much more effective at accomplishing similar tasks. In my opinion, if you've already got to roll to hit, you might as well take something with a little more punch, like Vortex of Doom that will probably hit something, and has a very good chance of taking out the enemy vehicle (or anything else it shoots at) completely out of the game.
The other power that I dislike, that other people seem to find useful, is Force Dome. On the face of it, sure, giving a 5++ invulnerable save to the librarian and his unit sounds good in principle, but I just can't put much stock in it. I find that it is typically very very easy to maneuver your troops in such a fashion that they're going to get some kind of cover save -- and that's usually going to be a 4++ save. Further, since it is limited to the librarian and his unit, this is only going to be useful if your librarian and his unit are not in terminator armor, which already has a 5++ save. And finally, let's face it. As a frequent Guard and Dark Eldar player, I am acutely aware of the fact that 5+ save is not that impressive -- especially given the point about the cover save above. Yeah, it's a 1/3 chance to survive AP1, 2, and 3 weapons when you've left your troops out in the open, but as often as MEQ players complain about the increased amount of that kind of firepower in the game these days, it isn't nearly as frequent as people think it is.
In my experience, the only time this power is worth the slot is when your unit is about to be trampled by a squad of power weapon wielding bad guys. Unless I am sticking my librarian with an objective holding squad, which is very rare, the kind of units he's running around with typically already has that 5++ save (i.e. terminators), or is being used in conjunction with another squad that will most likely be able to come in and mop up that power weapon squad in the next round (e.g. power weapon heavy Vanguard). In that latter case, I'd actually prefer a little Quickening so that I could get my own power weapon swings in first anyway!
And those are my thoughts on my favorite and least favorite Astartes psychic powers. With the exception of Machine Curse, I think every power has its uses in a given situation, but I find that it is poor tactical planning to assume that a specific situation must arise in a given game. You're much better off taking choices that are going to be useful in the largest number of situations so that you don't fall prey to the inevitable paper,rock, scissors of gimmicky tactics. That's not to say that you shouldn't experiment, because that's half the fun of fielding a jack-of-all-trades army in the first place; but if you are betting on certain situations arising during a game such that the enemy has to blunder in between your hammer and anvil to pull off the win, you're probably going to lose.
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
One Movie to See and Another to Skip (No. 1)
Movie to See: Hot Fuzz
Out of five stars, I give this one is a solid four. If you liked Shaun of the Dead at all, then you will love this movie. Some of the jokes are pretty obvious (although usually still funny), and some of them fall a little flat. But for the most part, this movie is just one laugh after another as the cast both celebrates and pokes fun at all of the great cop movies you've ever seen. This is a solid film and a great laugh.
Movie to Skip: The Devil's Tomb
Out of sheer pity, I've given this movie one and a half out of five stars. It is clear that a LOT of money went into this movie; the production value is great, but it really doesn't pan out. I've seen quite a few lower budget films that feature no-named talent that do the whole 'paramilitary unit fights the zombie/possessed horde while channeling Indiana Jones' thing MUCH better than this one. The script is terrible, and the story is confusing... at best. I really do wish the best for Cuba Gooding, Jr., but has he done anything worth watching since Jerry Maguire? Wasn't that almost 15 years ago?! And for poor Sean Connery's kid, Jason Connery, this wasn't a great film upon which to build a promising career. Save an hour and a half of your life and see Hot Fuzz again instead.
Out of five stars, I give this one is a solid four. If you liked Shaun of the Dead at all, then you will love this movie. Some of the jokes are pretty obvious (although usually still funny), and some of them fall a little flat. But for the most part, this movie is just one laugh after another as the cast both celebrates and pokes fun at all of the great cop movies you've ever seen. This is a solid film and a great laugh.
Movie to Skip: The Devil's Tomb
Out of sheer pity, I've given this movie one and a half out of five stars. It is clear that a LOT of money went into this movie; the production value is great, but it really doesn't pan out. I've seen quite a few lower budget films that feature no-named talent that do the whole 'paramilitary unit fights the zombie/possessed horde while channeling Indiana Jones' thing MUCH better than this one. The script is terrible, and the story is confusing... at best. I really do wish the best for Cuba Gooding, Jr., but has he done anything worth watching since Jerry Maguire? Wasn't that almost 15 years ago?! And for poor Sean Connery's kid, Jason Connery, this wasn't a great film upon which to build a promising career. Save an hour and a half of your life and see Hot Fuzz again instead.
New Feature: Movies to See and Movies to Skip
I've got an interesting feature that I'd like to add to this little blog. I watch a lot of odd movies -- partially because I really enjoy the 'watch it now' feature of Netflix, and partially because I do not subscribe to cable or satellite (yeah, I know, I know...). From time to time I'll offer a movie that I recommend for viewing to like-minded individuals, and one I'd recommend you skip.
Alpha Post
The first post should be monumental and important, nay, immortal. But this one won't be. In the coming days I will be shifting this blog around to something far more interesting than my past political drivel. Stay tuned... or not. It's entirely up to you!
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