Discovering "Portal"

I have pretty clear preferences when it comes to video games. Unless I have the option to cheat my way through, I avoid games that require me to have good, fast, hand-eye coordination. I avoid games that force you to repeat motions over and over as a result of death or falling or some other outcome. So most "platformers" are out for me.

I generally stick to thinking/strategy type games, like RPGs. Although I have little interest in "puzzle games" like Sudoku and video game equivalents. So although "Portal" has been given rave reviews and been considered revolutionary in the years since its release, I've avoided it because of the combination of platforming and puzzle solving.

However, this weekend Xbox Live Marketplace had a few jaw-dropping price cuts, and one of them was on "Portal". And knowing that my wife likes puzzle solving and I'm always looking for more ways to get her into gaming, I figured that 5 bucks was an investment risk I could handle.

This game is a blast! Short, so far (I'm on level 18/19 with 3 1/2 hours clocked), but a ton of fun! The difficulty scaling has been smooth, and though I still may end up quitting before the end (if the hand-eye requirements become too steep or the repetition from failure becomes too frequent) I can easily say this was worth the cost of a movie rental. (And my wife is almost as hooked as I am!)

I'm also intrigued by the "story", which gives me just a touch of that RPG flavor to hold my interest and keep me persistent. The little details being revealed clearly indicate that not all (or maybe very little) is what the "machine voice" would have me believe it is. Who am I and what is this place really? And what are those weird things I'm wearing on my calves?

Only one way to find out! Better finish my workday and get back to gaming!

Caroling With A Purpose!

Thanksgiving isn't even here yet, but it's already almost that OTHER time of year again!

Now, I wait every year until my turkey has hit the sewers before putting up decorations and all that Jazz. But some seasonal events take a little more prep, like the caroling ministry I put together each year.

Below, I've copied an informational e-mail I sent out to folks in my church. And if you live in the area or will be around for the Christmas season, you're invited to join us too! Or, you can take the idea and run with it at your church! (If you have any "how to" questions, feel free to comment here and I'll help however I can!)

Doing this each year has been a blast and I can't wait to do it again!






It may not be Thanksgiving yet, but "Merry Christmas" just the same!

Once again this year I'm putting together a caroling group to visit some people that could use some love this Christmas Season! The "Caring Ministry" at Red Mountain Community Church has selected 21 names for us. More than we’ve EVER attempted before! So the need for involvement is great and the potential for ministry even greater! So if you love to sing, or just love to SHOW love, it would be GREAT to have you along! And let me state clearly: You don't have to be a "singer". If you like having fun and want to cheer up some people that could use it, you will never forget this experience!

There are three ways to get involved and you can do one or all three if you'd like:

1. Meet us at the church at 6:30 pm on December 16th, 17th, 20th or 21st (Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday) to go caroling! (We will be done each night by or before 9pm.) Forward this e-mail to folks you know and invite a friend, too! And you’re certainly welcome to come on more than one night!

2. Donate 5 bucks (or more if you’d like) to help buy baskets and goodies for those we visit. If you go this route, please e-mail me how much you will be donating ASAP so I know what we have to work with. You can bring your donation on any night of caroling or e-mail me to schedule a time I can pick it up.

3. Bake some goodies to put in the baskets! Two-dozen of anything yummy would be great and we could always use more if you enjoy baking! I will primarily collect goodies December 14th and 15th (Tuesday and Wednesday), though if you can’t make that deadline and would still like to contribute, I can still collect your goodies up until Saturday the 18th. Please e-mail me and let me know what you'd like to make, how many, and when I can pick it up.

The need is greater than ever this year and I can tell you from personal experience that the small effort involved has a surprisingly massive impact on those we are expressing love to!

Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks so much for your consideration!

Paeter Frandsen

Deadline Free!!

For the last 4 years I've run a small business from my home and given myself deadlines for the projects we release. That might sound like an easy life, setting your own deadlines, but the self-imposed deadlines I set are more demanding than even I would have thought, starting this thing out.

And for more than two years straight, I've had project deadlines constantly looming just a few months ahead of me. But today, for the first time in over two years, I'm back to the drawing board on a project, starting from scratch, with the finish line so far out of sight I couldn't set a deadline for myself if I tried.

And it...feels...awesome!

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (Movie Review)

Although I've read and enjoyed most of the Harry Potter books, I'm not a fan by any means and mainly watch the movies to scratch an ever present itch for fantasy flicks. My memories of the last book in the series are fuzzy at best, and so this review is largely from the perspective of someone who has just been watching the films.

Performances by the leading three child-turned-adult actors are fine, but not outstanding or particularly interesting. Still, considering the studio hired these folks as kids a decade ago with no idea how they'd develop as actors, things have turned out very well for this franchise. Although it was still no surprise when Helena Bonham Carter stole the show as Bellatrix near the end of this film. A shame she and other, more interesting performers were not given more screen-time or plot-relevant material to work with.

The special effects continue to be very cool, especially the smoky apparitions and wild bolts of magical energy. The teleportation effects are used multiple times and also look great in this movie.

The chief problem and influence on my final score is the story. There almost isn't one. To get what you're meant to from this story, I'd recommend watching "Half Blood Prince" right before you watch this one on DVD and THEN actually go to the theater for "Hollows Part 2". Part 1 starts and ends the protagonists in almost EXACTLY the same circumstances: Looking for enchanted artifacts and the means to destroy them. Our heroes spend the rest of the movie looking for a way to advance the plot but failing to do so. And if you don't remember the events of "Half Blood Prince" very well, you won't even understand what is motivating the good guys to do what they're doing.

This movie is the first time one of the books from the series has been split into two parts in order to cover the material, but this book probably shouldn't have been the one to get the "two picture" treatment. There is plenty of fat that should have been cut from this film. Once again we encounter a subplot in which Ron is jealous because Harry appears to be "cutting in" on his love life. And various events connected to this one could have been cut as well. There is close to 20 minutes in the middle(which I won't spill here) that probably could have been completely removed from the film. Add to this the fact that, like "Half Blood Prince", this movie cuts significantly back on the action. Compared to previous movies in the series, the pacing is slow and the passage of time is hard to track, creating a "stuck in limbo" feeling for the plot.

Virtually nothing of philosophical value to talk about after this flick. If you wanted to force the issue, you could talk about the effects of poor communication and jealousy on relationships, but that's REALLY searching.

I suspect this material will play much better as part of a marathon viewing that at least begins with "Half Blood Prince", but on it's own it is a skillfully assembled yet almost purposeless experience.

Quality: 7.5/10

Relevance: 5.0/10

www.spiritblade.net/paeter
www.spiritblade.net/podcast

Ret-conning: Good Or Bad For Comics?

I'm currently reading the mini-series "DC Universe: Legacies", which re-establishes (in the wake of recent mind-bending events) for current readers the official continuity of the DC Universe from beginning to present day.

In the most recent issue I noticed some changes in the time line that were minor, but still noticeable and it got me thinking about the idea of retroactive continuity changes in comic books.

It used to be that comic book companies tried really hard to keep all of their properties consistent with each other. But as continuity became more complex it became harder to keep them all straight. In an attempt to clean house, DC comics created a storyline in the mid-80's called "Crisis On Infinite Earths" which basically wiped out the multiple universes they had been juggling and migrating the survivors to a single earth. Shortly afterward, a "History of the DC Universe" was published to establish the new continuity. But it wasn't more than a few years before the continuity got mucked up again.

These days ret-conning happens most often, not as the result of a cosmic crisis, but because of writers who simply choose to ignore certain events of DC's past that they don't like, or who pretend that things happened or were true all along that they are really just establishing for the first time.

One writer famous for this is Geoff Johns. The habit has worked for him because he has a knack for distilling characters to their purest forms and then fleshing out those elements in fresh ways. He also has a knack for adding brand new concepts to characters that make them interesting in ways they never were before.

But other times, ret-conning doesn't work so well, or cuts out elements that readers really wished hadn't been. For example, DC STILL seems to have forgotten that Green Lantern John Stewart is part Guardian!

Some might say that in a perfect world, editorial staffs would be able to keep their books tidy and never need to ret-con. But without ret-conning, Superman and Batman would both be close to a hundred years old (assuming they were 20 or 30 at the time of their first appearances) or at least 45 or 55 (assuming they were 20 or 30 at the time of "Crisis n Infinite Earths").

Part of me likes the rich history of the DC Universe. But another part of me would be very interested in seeing the industry stay in real time and just reboot the universe every 20 years or so. Guess that's what things like the Marvel "Ultimate" universe are for.

Morrowind: Console To PC

I've been enjoying "Elder Scrolls: Oblivion" so much on my 360 that I have begun the search for the "Game Of The Year" edition of "Elder Scrolls: Morrowind" as well.

I've been through a number of video and text reviews for the game and understand that it falls short in several areas compared to "Oblivion". Graphics, of course, though still a great looking game. Not fully voiced, which may actually be a plus for me, based on the my disappointment with the voicing in Oblivion. NPCs are static in their behavior and the journal is poorly organized.

The only one of those that concerns me is the organization of the journal. From what I understand, anything but the fully patched PC version of the game uses a journal with only chronological quest entries. This means that later in the game you'll have a MASSIVE quest journal to sift through that does nothing to help you remember which quests you've completed and which you haven't and where in your endless scrolling of this journal the pertinent entries are to be found.

Nevertheless, I tried out the PC version of the game this weekend and hated the interface. Granted, I felt the same way about Neverwinter Nights the first time I played it, and it went on to become my favorite game of all time (until "Dragon Age" and "Mass Effect").

But after playing so much of Oblivion on a console, I've already established a comfort level that I want to carry over into Morrowind, given that the games are so similar. I'm hoping that whatever adjustment I need to make to the shortcomings of the journal on the Xbox version will be less than the adjustments I'd need to make to the interface on the PC.

If anyone has any thoughts about Morrowind, related to this or not, I'd love to hear them!

Skyline (Movie Review)

I should start by admitting some bias on my part. I love monster movies. I love seeing a good scary monster and learning all about what makes it tick throughout the course of a two-hour special effects bonanza. So this fact may be coloring my review. Consider yourself warned.

Yes, I love a good monster movie. And “Skyline” is a good monster movie!

The story centers on Jordan and his girlfriend, who are visiting one of Jordan’s childhood friends in Los Angeles. His friend has made it big and wants to bring Jordan into his world. A world of greed and shallow relationships.

But the first night of Jordan’s visit, lights descending from the sky begin to mesmerize and abduct thousands of people at a time. And those who escape are soon targeted by large alien creature who seem to have come to harvest humanity for their own purposes.

The movie stars mostly unknown or “little knowns” and is directed by special effects team turned first-time directors, Colin and Greg Strause. Using their own special effects studio to produce the marvelous eye candy in this flick, the brothers saved millions of dollars. Considering that Michael Bay’s “Transformers” cost 151 million to make, it’s amazing that a movie like this (made on only 10 million) could be made that has about the same number of CGI effects shots and is a much better film.

Granted, this is fairly different from standard “Michael Bay” fare, despite the similarities it has with big summer disaster/alien movies. The tone is much darker and more serious than its summer release counterparts. But the CGI is solid (though nothing groundbreaking).

The monster in this movie is very cool. Both technological and drippy/icky. And though we don’t understand the complete inner workings or origins (or even motives) of the aliens by the end of the movie, we do continue to learn a little more about them as the movie progresses and can at least take a guess at what they want by the end.

Performances are very forgettable and there are really no interesting characters here. The dialogue is nothing special. Very formulaic and Hollywood sounding. Also a few misplaced clichés. But the story kept me guessing until the end with a few jaw-dropping moments as the alien attacks in new and disturbing ways.

The final shot leaves things wide open for a sequel. So much so that the story isn’t resolved. The final note is one of determination and had an eye on victory, but actual victory never arrives in this movie.

The emotional resolution is enough to satisfy those who like somewhat unresolved endings or who don’t need everything tied up. But the story could easily be said to be just beginning. And since the studio is already shopping the sequel around and the film will barely need to make any money for one to happen (because of its low budget), you can probably count on hearing about the development of one soon.

There is almost something worthwhile to talk about after seeing this movie. Jordan is very clearly contrasted with his wealthy “successful” and shallow friend. Jordan is selfless, generous and helpful. This is highlighted several times. And later in the movie, Jordan seems to have a uniqueness about him that makes it possible for him to prevail against the aliens. I thought for sure they would eventually link these two elements together, as they were both clearly presented. But neither plays out. And Jordan’s mysterious ability to resist the aliens is never explained.

On a simpler level, you might say that this movie is down on materialism and selfishness. Maybe even down on the culture of Los Angeles itself, given that one character very pointedly says “I hate L.A.” and materialism and shallow behavior are strongly linked to “La La Land” in this film.

From a broad perspective, this is a really cool, creative and at times scary monster movie with great effects. But it misses it’s complete potential because of uninteresting characters and dialogue. Also not much to talk about unless you’re looking for it.


Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, some language, and brief sexual content.


Quality: 9.0/10

Relevance: 7.0/10

www.spiritblade.net/paeter
www.spiritblade.net/podcast

My Son, The Boxer

Well, I'm finally back in the saddle of my regular work routine. My wife did an amazing job of giving birth to our second child, Titus. As I've said elsewhere, it was like watching a Jedi prepare to crack the moon in half with her mind. Zero medication, only 4 hours at the hospital before the birth and less than 5 minutes of pushing. And we all drove home 24 hours later.

This was the first still photograph taken of him after the birth and I think it's freakin' awesome because he looks like a beat up veteran boxer. He looks VERY different now. 'Cuz we don't beat him up.