A short respite...

So this post has absolutely nothing to do with film...shortly.

First off I just want to mention that I've just finished a treatment for, what is in essence...Editor's Note - I decided to take out the description for this treatment, should it all be changed at the last minute. Let's just say, it's both familiary and arty at the same time.

On the Everyday Joe front, i got some notes back, some of which I'm now trying to implement into Draft 10.5 or 11. There were other notes that I think I may let slide as I don't want to stray to far from my original intention. Put this down to artist discretion.

So enough about films. I just wanted to highlight a random point of what a good year for games this year will be, or to put it another way, I have an expensive Christmas period this year. Now, I'm sure there are quite a few games coming out that should be mentioned, but its my blog and I just wanted to post a video about this:-



Originally I simply thought Uncharted was just a Tomb Raider rip off with a bloke (Funny how Tomb Raider is an Indiana Jones rip off with a girl) Although I still wanted to play it. I'm a sucker for these adventure games. Upon moving in with my Girlfriend and inheriting a PS3 I know now that they are a hell of a lot more. And I'm afraid to say, may even be better than Lara Croft's exploits. I still have a place in my gaming heart for the original PS1 Tomb Raider, but everyone knows the yearly release dates considerably weakened the series. I'll get back to this in a bit anyway, back to Uncharted.

Uncharted is great. It's fun to play, has great dialogue, and can be annoying as bloody hell; but it always leaves you wanting more. There's great chemistry between the main character Nate Drake, his old friend Sully and the is she/isn't she possible love interest Elena. I should really give more of a back story, but you really need to check them out yourselves if possible. I'm currently finishing up Uncharted 2, but I'll definitely be in the queue for the next installment, unless my girlfriend beats me there.

The next game on my radar so far is kind of obvious:



The original Batman: Arkham Asylum was a really fun game. The first to really put you in the Batman's boots. Once again Batman: Arkham City is written by Paul Dini, and features voice actors from the original Animated Series, as well as newcomers. I love how the story has taken on a darker tone akin to the films of Christopher Nolan. A much more suitable place for Batman that the Day Glo world of Scumacher.

I may be biased because I've bought almost every Batman game made, and enjoyed most of them. I just glad that now they've found a system that really does the Caped Crusader justice.

Finally there's this:

Yep, no video yet of the next Tomb Raider, but I know I'll be there paying the extortionate price for the new game once released. As I was saying, they were getting worse. The Angel of Darkness pretty much destroyed the series. Despite having a few good ideas, Core managed to kill the series with poor delivery. So Crystal Dynamics had a go.

Tomb Raider: Legend was good. Great story, awesome new control system and style. It's a pity then , that after remaking the first Tomb Raider (Anniversary) they managed to drive the series back in to the ground with Underworld. I personally liked this game. However, it didn't really do much than to expand the story from Legend, and every level seemed to be in another cave. Imagination got a little lost here.

So now they've rebooted the series. This time it looks as though we're in prequel territory, and possibly a Bermuda Triangle of sorts. It also looks like she'll get a bit beaten up as well: So there we have it. A brief respite from work to talk about some great looking games. Now I'm off to work on Everyday Joe, or maybe play Uncharted 2. Or possibly one of the other 20 odd games I have piled up that I've yet to start playing. I'd better get busy...

Imaginary games...

So I was sitting at my PC, editing the new MovieBar logo, in it's seven part logo. I split this up with checking the Internet for randoms as one does when I happened upon on an XBox 360 game trailer about psychics or whatever. Initially this looked a bit run of the mill, however from memory, the end of the trailer had a really cool twist. I continued to work, then checked the time, suddenly it was half seven and I thought it best to get some dinner.

So away I went, ate some food and returned to the PC to continue the logo. At this time I remembered how cool that game was but couldn't remember the title. Mind Warp or something along those lines. I decided to look for it online. However I didn't seem to be able to find anything about this game.

I then thought back, I couldn't actually remember watching a video online. This trailer just happened to start playing, but I couldn't remember where I'd seen it. I don't think it was on TV and I hadn't watched any videos online, that would be preceded by a game trailer.

At this point I started to freak out a little as the only explanation I could come to was pretty far fetched. Whilst editing the logo, I must have blacked out and dreamed about the trailer. this would explain why it didn't exist, and the sudden realisation of the time.

I'm sure I'm probably jumping to conclusions, but until someone can show me that game, and the cover art for confirmation I am convinced of my theory.

Blacking out whilst editing logos. That's not so good is it!

**UPDATE**
And it totally didn't happen. It's good to know my brain isn't about to explode from a hidden tumor, or a scanner.

I found the game. It's called Mind Jack. Check it out. Luckily it still looks alright.



Blacking out at the PC. Seriously, like that would hap ...

A whole bunch of junk...

Just a random update today. Last weekend, as mentioned briefly on Brother Chris' blog we had friends over and took part in an almighty film night. See the poster below.


The night began in the early evening with Clifford. Now this film was a bit pants. The bizarre concept basically didn't hold us interested for the whole film. It is quite bizarre, due to the main fact, as mentioned before, that Clifford is played by Martin Short who at the time of filming was 40 years old. YES THAT'S A 40 YEAR OLD MAN PLAYING A 10 YEAR OLD BOY. This and the fact that it's only available on Region 1 DVD or Xbox Live Marketplace adds the bizarre nature of the film. So what began well, became tiresome.

We followed this with Collision Course. This is the super team-up of former Tonight Show host Jay Leno and Mr Myagi himself, Pat Morita. Why this was thought to be a good idea, at any stage I don't know. It was pretty hard to understand either actor with Pat Morita's few English words, and Jay Leno's squeaky accented voice didn't help matters. However things blew up, towards the end there were some collisions and it all peaked with a deadly serious ending with some Karate from Mr Myagi. So things were building quite well for the real headliner, SHAKMA.

Shakma is not without its faults, but was everything I expected it to be. There was a crazy baboon going mental at doors, and a lot of death. There was way too much walking around empty corridors, and as the building was empty, and they spent a lot of time in stair wells, you couldn't help but wonder why they didn't just leave. Anyway, they didn't so they died. There's a lesson in there somewhere. Basically that's all I have to say. The trailer delivered.

Finally, as a wind down film we watched Skinned Deep. This was strange. On the one hand it was terrible. Acting was bad, film quality was bad and the plot wasn't that great either. On the other hand though it did have a good consistent design to it. The bad guys/creatures were all cool and there was enough to hold our interest. The highlight was definitely Warwick Davis as Plates. A guy who throws plates at people. He even had a random monologue half way through as to why he enjoyed his past-time. Bizarre indeed.

So a pretty successful event was had. Whether we'll be able to hold another film night in the future is debatable, our credibility may have been seriously reduced.

In other happenings, I'm slowly building up to filming the music video. I'm collecting stuff to make the "set" and I need to work on one of the characters a little more to get that Tenniel look. I hope to start filming next week.

Finally as I thought I had nothing to blog about I saw this video for the game WET on Xbox 360 and PS3. I've posted the trailer below. I think it looks pretty cool I like the pseudo Grind house style. I think it could be a fun game to play. That's if I ever get through the long pile of existing game I already have.

WET Game trailer

Wet at IGN.com

Finally completed Half Life 2 Episodes 1 and 2. I can't decide which one I preferred. I liked the extension element of Ep1, where as Ep2 is more like a new game. Once again it ends with a cliff hanger building up the Half Life story and world. I am looking forward to Ep3, if it even exists, which I'm sure it must.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

This may sound strange but I have an irrational fear of the sea. I'm not a swimmer, in fact I despise the activity, but this has nothing to do with my fear. I've also been on boats, and have yet to get see sick; again not a cause.

This fear has a little to do with the unknown. I like to think, that as the sea is relatively unexplored, that there are things down there that we have yet to see. Take those evil neon fish for example. How mental are those things. All fangs and lights. Those and the fabled giant squid, which only ever seems to wash up in bits (Does this not imply there's something even bigger...?)

Anyway, my irrational fear mainly comes from video games. And of those, mainly Tomb Raider. Whenever there is an instance where you have to swim a great distance my fear is released. I think it comes down to the fact that you can be attacked from any direction. I remember being scared in the midst of a red sea level on Shadowman 2 I think, and then going to see Saw at the cinema. Back to the point. Tomb Raider is the main culprit though, and more specifically Tomb Raider 2. There's a whole section base at the bottom of the see, getting attacked by sharks and sneaky eel things that dart out at you from the black rocks. Cue pant change.

There havn't been many other instances over the years but I recently begun playing Tomb Raider Underworld on Xbox 360, and again, I had to change my pants. As you may or may not know, the first level takes place, once again, at the bottom of the sea. You've got scuba gear so air isn't a problem. But this time around, the Hi Def graphics don't help to ease my fear. All I'm saying is at one point I literally had to pause the game to catch my breath, and then there's this thing just watching you and you think "Will it get my if I swim past it? It is blind after all". I still don't know the answer to that question, too scared was I to try.

So I guess, to make a point with this post, Tomb Raider is still ace, video games can have an emotional effect on the players, and the sea is scary.

Procrastination over.

You can't save everybody...

...as my saying would go I if were reassuring someone in a Zombie/disaster movie style situation. Instead, this is how I console myself when I let innocent people die when I've only got a few minutes left to save a guy so I can get the next story point in Dead Rising. Yes, the games returns to haunt this blog. I've calmed down a little since last time. The game is not without its faults, but I'm beginning to enjoy the apocalypse. Well, digital zombie apocalypse.

You may find my above reasoning a little strange, but I find it shows strength of character. I'm not one to complete every last aspect of a game just to unlock a new hat. But when There are people getting eaten I find myself trying to save them, despite not having the time to get where I actually need to be. This happens to be one of the faults with this game, despite all the freedom you get, if you want to experience the story, you just can't save everybody. It is physically impossible. Anyway, enough of this, there are more important matters at hand.

Today I watched Millennium Actress, an anime from the director of Perfect Blue. I've had this film on my pile for quite a while when I went on a spurt of anime buying, although I've yet to watch any. Until now that is. Unlike Perfect Blue this film is not as suspense driven as the former, nor as visually impressive/confusing (I was falling asleep at the time of watching though) as Paprika, Millennium Actress is just a nice film. It uses a cool character interaction to tell the story of an aging actress who spent her life looking for her first and only love. The story proceeds through he life combining actual event sin her life, with the events in the films she starred in. This is a fictional story though, as I mentioned to Brother Chris, it would be cool if the same method was used on an actual biopic.

Again, not the most important thing to have happened, but 'twas worth a mention I thought.

Now here we go. I've finally begun work on Secret Project Number 1, which will remain secret until a time I see fit, to protect me from embarrassment it nothing happens with it. That and stealers. Anyway, I've begun to write the treatment, and now I waste time blogging, but the hard part is out of the way. Hopefully ideas should start flowing. I will say this however, unlike the previous script I worked on with Brother Chris, this is not of the fighting genre. There are no clear cut goodies and baddies, and not simple "they fight" set pieces. Which is to say, the other script if more interesting that that, that was just a summarising breakdown. This one needs to be planned. It's a more complicated route from A to B this time, but I'm getting there. I just hope it survives the translation from my head to the page/screen.

So I'm off to get some more done.

I'll just hide in a cupboard thanks...

Ok, so I was going to do some writing tonight, but I'm too knackered after an excellent Flogging Molly gig in Manchester last night (6th Nov as we're past midnight now). Anyway, instead of me working I'm going to get something off my chest instead.

Tonight I started playing Dead Rising. Now I like to keep on top of the games I play, and I'm currently playing Halo 3 co-op with Brother Tim. However, he's gone a visiting this weekend so I'm left without a co-op partner and want to play a game. The problem is all I've got are beat em ups and skateboarding games that I'm part way through and I needed something with a little more substance. So I began Dead Rising.

And now I've developed a love/hate relationship with this game. On the one hand it captures the essence of Dawn of the Dead with a little of the survival of Resident Evil thrown in. It is Capcom after all. And there are vast amounts of zombies, and you can pretty much use anything as a weapon. So fun times.

Then there's the saving. You can only save in the security office, of toilets, and as with many malls these are spread around, only thinly. So I'm running between missions and get drawn up in the experience so I decide to help out a few locals. Now these locals are idiots an despite my best efforts die pretty quickly. I'm only one man remember, taking down an army of undead. So I figure I'll head to the next save point. This is when we get a story point, nothing spoilery, and a bloody escape convict driven jeep appears and mows me down killing my. Now I realise I've yet to save the bloody game and have to start from the beginning. Now come on... would it have been so hard to alter the save points Or at least introduce a save option after each story point. I'm even considering shelving it for a while longer until I've forgotten how much I've played.

This brings me neatly onto another good point though. In the game the main goal is to survive 3 days. That's it. If you play the story you get an idea of why this is happening. If you help people, I guess you get achievements and feeling you've done a bit of good. But then, due to the aforementioned saving problem, I'm now tempted to hide in a cupboard for the three days, reveal myself at the end in time to take my helicopter home. Game Completed.

Saying all this, I will play it again, and I will play the story. I just think developers need to work out what kind of game they're making. The fact you can use almost everything as a weapon means to me this game is to be played for fun, and therefore saving should not be so difficult. Let me save from the menu. Let me enjoy the destruction. If I'm playing a Dawn of the Dead simulator, let me have as much fun as Ken Foree and Scott H. Reiniger, before the latter became a zombie that is.

And why does doing a wee relate to saving anyway. Just because its called a restroom doesn't mean you go to sleep in there. You'll probably be sleeping in wee if you did.

And with that image, I'll stop.

How NOT to plan a Halloween playlist...

So Halloween didn't quite go to planned, and in no particular order I'm listing "How not to plan a Halloween playlist"

1. Don't have anybody staying with you. In my case I had to wait until people went out before I could begin my playlist.

2. Don't watch anything scheduled at a particular time, i.e. on TV. This means that you either have to wait until after it's finished, or fit something in before it starts. This brings me onto...

3. Don't waste free waiting time for scheduled programme by visiting Xbox Live. This encourages the downloading of demos. Again bringing me onto...

4. Don't then play the downloaded demo after the scheduled programme. This just delays the watching of any planned films, and reduces the time you can watch.

5. Don't get comfy in bed thinking you'll resit the warm covers, even when you "just rest your head for a while".

6. Finally, and maybe the most important. Don't go to work on Halloween. Getting up early just means you'll end up falling asleep in the middle of your playlist.

Now I broke all these rules. I waited for Dead Set in E4, which was quite good, especially as it was a quite depressing end to the series. Whilst this was on I was downloading the Mirror's Edge demo form Xbox Live, which I proceeded to play after Dead Set. This demo has no horror related element, therefore needlessly cut into my awake time. So I began watching The Lady in White at about 11pm. I had no idea how long it was, I'm guessing about 90 minutes. But it didn't finish until about 1:20am due to an unplanned pausing and falling asleep session in the middle. Thinking I was now awake, and not wanting to be disturbed by the guests returning I vacated to my bedroom to watch Night of the Comet. This is a cool, little known film about a comet which happens to kill everyone exposed on earth. Those who don't die instantly are slowly turned into zombies. Even though I enjoy this film, I've never managed to stay awake throughout the whole film. The first watch I managed to pause and nap, then continue when I woke. This time I full on fell asleep, I think only 15 minutes from the end, waking just in time to see the Digital Protection logo at the end of the DVD. I could have backtracked but I surrendered myself and called it a night. Next year, maybe I'll get it right.

It's November now, and I've got a busy month ahead. Busy in the sense of gigs and visits rather than work related.

Although I've begun the journey into outlines, making the first notes for my long awaited horror script; which in my head is amazing and will survive the transition on to the page.

Only time will tell.

A jovial Halloween to you all...

Everyone else has used "happy". Anyway, I'm really posting this now is to ensure I have it on the 31st. As with Brother Chris, I have no plans. Or do I. For as long as I can remember I've stayed in on Halloween. I tried dressing up a couple of times, and as much as I'd like to, I always tend to feel stupid and abandon the whole charade. So my plan is to stay in and squeeze in as many horror films as possible, even if that means going into the earlier hours of Saturday. If I don't go to sleep, it still counts as Halloween, see!

So what's on the agenda tonight. Well I've got The Lady in White in front of me at the moment which I hope to get around to. There's the final part of Dead Set. I'm also tempted by The Wolfman, or Werewolf of London for a change. I may also start playing Dead Rising, or watch the Dawn of the Dead remake. But again, I think I may have had enough of zombies by now. The Haunting is always a good choice, and still manages to scare me. I haven't seen Evil Dead II in a while. Now I'm blatantly just listing films. All I know for sure is The Lady in White and Dead Set will get a watch, the rest is up in the air. I'll let you know tomorrow probably.

As there are links on other blogs out there I feel the need to post something myself, so here are a selection of horror related films that I've made over the years.

First of all my graduate film Jonny The Pessimist: A Faustian Fable. (I just added that subtitle)




Secondly a weird music video for the song Elasto by The Western Trio.




And finally, my zombie defense instructional film. In Case of Zombies.




Happy Halloween

Microsoft bastards...

This heading seems kind of harsh now I think about it, but how can company get things so right and so wrong at the same time. All I want is what I have coming to me. All I want is my fair share.

To explain, I recently joined this hi-tech next generation of consoles, which is really the current generation, and tried signing up to Xbox Live with a guaranteed Xbox Live gold trial for all new users. Like me.

I read all the manuals, signed up online at Xbox.com as advised inside the Xbox Live booklet and I was away. But no gold in sight. After lots of searching, and signing up a second new account onto gold I realised that by using the advised method I have been sidelined because Xbox think I was a previous member. So no free trial for me. Well, sort of. I can get online and play games with strangers under my second profile, but what about my original profile, with all the achievements (I say all, as you can see not really that many, but that isn't the point) I don't want to be playing as jimbo getting all online credits when after the month he gets deleted. So I email. This gets replied telling me to phone. So I reluctantly phone. And what do the Microsoft bastards tell me to do, sign up another account, with another email and there you are, a free trial. WHAT THE HELL! Not here you are sir, enter this code and a free month to you, but here you are a kick in the pants.

I mean, what is the point of all the achievement crap if they wont support my predicament. Why should I even bother to achieve anything. Is that what they want. I only wanted to sample online delights, get a few achievements along the way and decide if I was willing to pay for the honour. Now I have to keep swapping, and any achievements gained I'm going to have to achieve all over again. Anyway, the lady I spoke to was quite friendly, so none of this is aimed at her. But come on Microsoft. You've got fifty billion million trillion gazillion marillion dollars. You can spare a dime for a month for me.

My ranting is over.

I saw P2 last night. It was a straight forward "girl gets chased around a car park" horror film but it plays well. And Wes Bentley was good in it.

I also watched Postal, Uwe Boll's attempt at another video game film, based on a game that I've never played but I gather you just had to shoot people in it. Listening Jeff Goldsmiths Creative Screenwriting podcast interview with the director, you kind of see where he was going with the film, but watching the trailer made this film look like a big politically incorrect mess.

But...and I can't decide if I hate myself for saying this...I kind of liked it.

It was funny. Don't get me wrong, a lot was on the borderline of incorrectness, and a lot was a bit shit, but at times I laughed. Out loud.

The film does say a lot about what we accept these days. South Park had an episode with an Elmer Fudd style Osama bin Laden in. Even Family made jokes about the videos he made. This film basically brings that mentality to life. A cartoon, but with real people. I may very well be praising it too much. It's still an Uwe Boll film and misses the mark from time to time, but after watching Dungeon Siege, Uwe Boll does manage to get things right once in a while.

Bloodrayne 2 was crap though.

P.S.
I write this post posting as I just read Brother Chris' blog and realised something about mine. Please forgive the fact that I never elaborate on anything, or review anything longer than a few sentences. This is not to say eveyone else waffles on, but more that everyone else know how to do it properly. I'm just a pretender. I felt the needed to raise this point. But then again, you should know all this about me, coming form the creator of the Congo Review.

P2 and Postal aren't as as good as by the way.