Category Archives: Crossposted

Crossposted, Reviews

Thor: Ragnarok

I have a new favorite Marvel Movie.

Thor: Ragnarok was amazing fun. It cleared my Threshold of Awesome, it nabbed my top spot for 2017, and yeah, I saw it twice within 14 hours. I’m looking forward to picking up the Blu-Ray as soon as it’s available.

I could write about all the things I loved, but then I’d be spoiling the movie for you, and I don’t want to do that. The trailers didn’t want to do that either.

It’s kind of cool, really. Certain key-frame scenes don’t happen the way the trailer plays them out, preventing spoilers. In some cases the background is different. In others the costuming and incidental make-up is different. And in still others the scene doesn’t actually happen with those people in it.

I’ll give you a low-impact example:

In this still from the trailer the background  looks kind of urban—perhaps it’s an alley? In the actual film, however, this is not the setting for the action in question, so when the event happens in the film, we’re not expecting it. We’re not in that alley we remember seeing in the trailer.

I like this practice a lot. I want trailers to give me a sense of how the movie is going to make me feel, but I don’t want any of the big reveals.

Okay, yes, I suppose the bit about Cate Blanchett’s character catching Mjolnir is a big reveal, and if you haven’t actually seen any of the trailers I suppose I should apologize for posting this snippet, because now it’s out there, but hey, maybe it’s not the REAL Mjolnir, or maybe it’s a dream sequence. Am I off the hook now?

Announcements, Crossposted

Munchkin Starfinder Closes on Thursday!

The Kickstarter for Munchkin Starfinder closes on Thursday. If you’re just hearing about it now, that’s okay. The project was on an accelerated schedule, and the Kickstarter is only ten days long. As of this writing we have two of those days left.

Along with the usual stretch goals, there are some social media goals associated with this project¹. If just 27 more people become Munchkin Starfinder fans² on BoardGameGeek.com, a Kickstarter-exclusive card will be added to the “I Want It All” box. With a few more Facebook shares³ there will be a digital Christmas card, suitable for at-home printing, shared in an upcoming backers-only update. This means that if you’ve already backed the project, Facebook and BoardGameGeek are places where you can increase your loot without spending more money.

If you haven’t backed the project yet, consider this your penultimate notice (at least from me.) I’ll post again Thursday morning, and I think there will be a nice essay from me about the technical aspects of creating a new art style for a Munchkin deck.

¹ I’d never seen social media stretch goals before, but I totally get why they’re there. It’s a cool concept.
² It took me forever to figure out that to become a “fan” on BoardGameGeek you click the little heart button between “log play” and “subscribe.”
³ Specifically, share this.

 

 

Crossposted, Reviews

Geostorm

Geostorm is to climate science what Armageddon was to rocket science. It’s also to rocket science what Armageddon was to rocket science, but if I keep going I’ll have described an entire course catalog.

The message of the film, “let’s take care of our planet responsibly,” is delivered a little heavy-handedly, and since the audience for the film is the crowd who’s just there for the popcorn, I’m not sure it’ll be received as intended. Still, it’s nice of the filmmakers to give it a shot.

Geostorm arrives on my list at the lower middle of the “not awesome, not disappointing” pack.

 

Announcements, Crossposted

The Kickstarter for Munchkin Starfinder is Live!

The Munchkin Starfinder project launched Monday afternoon over at Kickstarter, and has already funded and blown past the first two stretch goals. I illustrated the cover and the cards, and aside from the fact that it was huge fun, I am psyched have gotten to contribute to the Munchkin product line¹.

This project is on a very short timeline. It closes in just ten days, on November 2nd. I’m confident that Steve Jackson Games will be printing enough of these that you won’t be required to participate in the Kickstarter to someday buy them, but Munchkin Starfinder will ship to backers before it shows up in stores.

¹ The full product line is large. Fortunately, you don’t have to buy all of it to enjoy it. In fact, if you’ve never played before you can absolutely make Munchkin Starfinder your very first Munchkin set.