Beyond: Two Souls-It Actually Is a Video Game

So, with personal stuff coming up lately, I'm not doing Denver 5 for the forseeable future. I am very sorry.

However, I did get paid to play some Beyond: Two Souls, and it's pretty great. It's the video game that's made by the same guys who made Heavy Rain, and they apparently learned very little since then. Not that Heavy Rain was bad, it just wasn't very good.

Anyway, Ellen Page is Jodie Holmes who has a ghost attached to her (they call it an "entity" because they don't want to sound silly even though the portals to the underworld they create are called fucking "condensers." It's like, what, does the ghost realm have a fucking dewpoint?). So she's raised in a lab since childhood and joins the CIA, but then also runs away. She's a hobo psychic badass as a character class and somehow they manage to make it all work together.

Sorry for the drop-off lately

I've been wrapped up in a job that isn't just about doing the work, but actively fighting over the job itself to get the work done. It's--well, let's just say that I've lost one of my liquor glasses to the shitty website architecture at this fucking place.

I'll blog about it in hateful detail once the job is done, which might be as early as Friday if I can't get this shit worked out.

Yaaaaaaaaay.

Hiddleston as Wilson as Loki

I'm not a Loki fan. I get why the attractive, damaged, emo supervillain could be attractive, but he's still a pissy, self-centered, insecure prick who's willing to decimate Earth because his family loves the shit out of him, but just doesn't express that love enough for Loki's taste.

I've got family like Loki.

None the less, he's a good character and a good villain and Hiddleston plays the shit out of him.

Politics as Candy

One of the things I like to do to keep up with government is to send the incoming vice president a Snickers the day after Inauguration Day. If the president finishes his term, then I'm out the price of a Snickers. If, gods forbid, he doesn't, then I can send the new president a single request, written on the back of a receipt for a Snickers.

That's why Ford pulled out of Vietnam.

Comics Alliance: The Final Word Outtakes

Apparently Some of My Friends Are Philistines

So, I've been reading Gerard Way's The True Lives of Fabulous Killjoys from Dark Horse Comics. It's no Umbrella Academy (few things are), but it's a good follow-on to the last album My Chemical Romance released, Danger Days. I've been shocked (not really) that folks haven't seen the two...plot-important videos for Danger Days.

Hurdles of S.H.I.E.L.D.

So, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (AoS) has had three episodes. I'm liking it, even if it's the reason I'm dreading Tuesdays now. AoS has a lot of hurdles to overcome. It's the bastard  child of a popular king. It exists to make a bit more revenue and add value to the Marvel film franchise. When Thor 2 and Captain America 2 come out, you sure as heck better bet AoS is gonna spend an episode for each one reminding the audience that THIS THING MIGHT BE ADDRESSED BY THOR/CAPTAIN AMERICA IN SOME OTHER NARRATIVE. PERHAPS ONE HAPPENING AT THE NEARBY THEATER ON NOVEMBER 8/APRIL 4.

I'm cool with that, but it's a one-way street; AoS can't have Dr Doom or Power Man or Iron Man because "Fox Studios," "you never know," and "LOL, nope!" The Fury cameo from the second week was nice, but Fury, like Hill, doesn't have an arc or history; he's untethered. If AoS is going to plug into the Marve movie universe or channel the power of the Marvel Comics Universe, it'll have to receive a box of good Marvel stuff, no matter how small. That risks making AoS look tiny next to superheroes/villains but it's got upsides: 1) the point is superheroes 2) it might distract from the premise.