barely fatal

Yeah well, no spoilers from me either. Just wanted to say: Go watch it. Yeah the bad guy is a tad bit overdone and the story feels kind of familiar and predictable, this one won’t win Best Director (well okay, Titanic won everything there was and I still don’t see the hell why, so who knows what they gonna do). The “graphics” blow you away. The mocap/facial animation work is incredible, and Static’s perfectly right about the emotional resonance, as he called it. The 3D was nice, took me a couple minutes to get used to. Saw a bit of blur when there was stuff “close” to the camera, but maybe that’s because I’m so terribly shortsighted, *shrug*. Unless you’re only into lo-fi indy flicks, check it out.

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Ok I can’t help but ask. If all human technology failed close to that holy glowy tree place, how come the avatar connection still worked?
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No spoilers here, just a thought.

In this day and age, it is altogether rare that a movies’ story and emotional resonance can match the level of the special effects. And Avatar is definitely one of those rare few.

Liberty City is a big, busy place. You walk down an alley, shoot at some passerby, who consequently run away screaming. You blow up a row of cars, po-leece turns up, you jack their car. The next day, you return to the same spot: New people, new cars, a never-ending supply of targets, which make up well for a realistic city.

When my party of four sword and magic-wielding weirdoes left whatsitsname-forest, there was no single living being left to find. All bears, spiders, bandits, wannabe orcs exterminated, the last herb harvested. And none of them will ever return.

The forest wasn’t very lively to begin with, despite the beautifully orchestrated ambient sounds. No D&D inspired squirrels. Its size seemed rather underwhelming too, and its tracks narrow, the boundaries of where my band of tragic figures could step rather artificial-feeling. And its texture … a little lo-fi.

The last thing I could do away with by installing a high-definition textures pack, which luckily did not have any impact on my frame rate. But that didn’t help with my hero’s long-breathed companions in arms. They just won’t stop talking. Like, ever. The game’s a nightmare for any honest borderline OCD personality. I have to check every dialog option. And every single crate, box, book, bookstand, … it hurts my brains if there is a strongbox which I cannot open due to my guy’s “insufficient skills”. It makes me swear. There could be great loot in there. And I can’t get to it. It doesn’t help either that the other rogue in my party consistently offers “Let me try, maybe I can help” every single time my adequately specced hero fails to open a lock. Because that character does not have any lock picking skills at all. I really wonder what my neighbors think when they hear me shout angrily “No, you can not, fuck head” every once in a while.

Right, that’s one accomplice to hate, but there are many. They are so witty, and thoughtful, and full of stories ohmegoshwillyoucometothepointalready – and there are the romance options. That should make them dear to your heart, flirting with them and all. If there wasn’t the “like-meter”. Your “friends” like or “dislike” you for your actions, however, they tend to react slightly erratic at times. Ok so they are just humans … elves … whatever, so that is bound to happen. But you influence them most by giving them gifts. So, just like in real life, you quick save, give them a gift, see if they like it enough, and if not, you reload, rinse, repeat. You gotta do it …. you want romance! Move the like-indicator from left to allllll right and bang! – you get a demure American-friendly sex scene. Still covered in blood from your last decapitation finishing move.

At least that’s what I hope I’ll get, ’cause apparently I’m not very popular amongst my friends. Maybe that’s because I kill them too often. In some random and insanely difficult encounter. Which you can only win by pausing time every half second to give new orders to the imbeciles, which basically turns the game into a very nice 3D slide show.

Now I’ve found a mod which lets me respec my hopelessly slow leveling insufficiently skilled lock cracker sociopath wannabe romancer. The fights are less painful now. But deciphering the stats bores me, the like-meter separates my real me from my henchmen companions, I never wanted to be a Grey Warden in the first place, and the pseudo-orcs can have all the Deep Mushrooms I have found in the biggest treasure chests (more than the mushroom kingdom and the smurfs together could ever dream up). Oh, and I hate DLC.

Jade Empire had me, Mass Effect had me. Dragon Age has something, maybe my OCD, but not my soul. Right. Now I have a dwarven kingdom to rescue, some heads to bash in, another gift to find for the bard, and Zevran to tell that No, he cannot try to open the fucking chest himself.

I just noticed that half the Battlestar cast has re-appeared recently on Dollhouse (Tigh, Adama, Helo) and V (Tori) along with the usual suspects from the Whedonverse (most notably Alan Tudyk, of course). Tahmoh Penikett really was type-cast on Dollhouse (not the worst idea, though). Well, it was cancelled anyway. They’re gonna air the last episodes of season 2 and Whedon promised a grand finale. No new Firefly, however. As for V, thanks to Anne for pointing out that Scott Wolf is not actually Jamie Bamber, although they kind of do look alike and act similarly, don’t they? Hm.

In other news I got mail from the public prosecutor’s office today. Not what you think – I always pay my speeding tickets. Or I would. If I drove a car. And too fast. I’m really trying, but so far I have never managed to get any of those photo boxes flash me on my bike. No, it was about the credit card fraud thing back in spring, where some money was stolen from my card through PayPal. Police actually managed to find somebody to indict (not that I heard about any prosecution going on, or I was asked any questions). But, there was a proceeding and it was dismissed now for lack of evidence. Can’t say I’m surprised. The money was covered by insurance, of course, like all credit card money with no signature.

After a looooong odyssey through many able and unable post worker’s hands, I finally got my yearly Christmas feel good package, complete with cake, cookies, and tons of chocolate. My “Oh just a little bit more” mom makes sure I won’t a) be w/o at least some Christmas spirit and b) ever reach my target weight. And I’m not too proud to say “Luv you, too, mom!”