Random Film of the Day*: The 7th Voyage of Sinbad

*For the next week or so plus, I’m going to add a random film the great Ray Harryhausen worked on. The legendary special effects MASTER passed away on May 7, 2013 at age 92 in London and yes, the film world owes him more than they can ever repay…

7th Voyage of Sinbad From the moment you hear Bernard Herrmann’s outstanding main theme that sets up the thrilling adventure ahead, director Nathan Juran’s The 7th Voyage of Sinbad sets itself squarely in fantasy film history as a true classic. Of course, having Ray Harryhausen on board and in full charge of the film’s effects work at the height of his talents makes this one an absolute must-see as well as one of the best genre films ever made. It’s a perfect blending of talents by all involved and it’s probably the one film Harryhausen worked on I’ve seen the most times as have many who’ve been influenced by it over the decades. This film was yet another hit for Harryhausen and producer Charles H. Schneer and also introduced the word Dynamation into the movie lexicon (later rechristened “Super DynaMation” and later, “Dynarama”), which amusingly enough, ONLY refers to the stop motion technique the master perfected over time and became an immediate means of letting his fans know who was behind the visual effects in that latest cinematic treat they wanted to catch…
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Bethesda Underground Mother’s Day Surprise: Oh Yeah, And He Broke That Lamp, Too…

Awwww! Here’s a pretty cool and amusing video from Bethsoft with Arkane Studios producer Seth Shain and his mom having a fun little discussion about what he does for a living. Hmmmm… I guess he needs to go buy her a console and a copy of Dishonored for Mother’s Day, huh? Well, that’s what I’d do after telling her I was a doctor all these years. OK, he didn’t, but let this be a lesson to all you lazy sons and daughters out there who get through life wanting to stab your own mom with a cold spoon for not letting you have the car that one time or reading you the riot act for staying out too late and forgetting to tell her where you were going or which one of the soon to be jailbirds you were out with. Little things mean a lot, so get to it this weekend, I say. That’s my good deed for the month, mind you – after this, it’s back to open season on the rubes, so watch it…

Resident Evil Revelations “Shock and Panic” Trailer (No, Not About The Wii U Features)…

Ah ha ha… I had to get that little joke in because I read some message board posts a week or so ago that were blasting the Wii U version for being “for kids” or something silly like that when clearly, the Wii U Gamepad features in that video below aren’t necessarily “for kids” at all because the main game certainly isn’t. I mean, if you shot or beat a zombie or other creature to death here and CANDY came out or maybe BUBBLES and RAINBOWS, maybe I’d be on your side. Or maybe not, as I generally don’t take sides in these debates at all – I just play the games and let you know that I like them and yes, you should spend your money accordingly.

That and hell, you just KNOW that there’s going to be a lot of otherwise “mature” gamers running around drawing naughty bits every chance they get and smirking like straight-jacketed hyenas when they see their handiwork show up on some website as part of some review or news item. Trolls like these breed when they need to feed, I say. Resident Evil Revelations hits PC, PS3, Wii U and Xbox 360 on May 21, 2013 – Some hands-on time is coming up next week, so expect some words from and to the wise about this one shortly…

Chronicles of the Mind: Truth or Dare (and/or Consequences) For The Egghead Crowd…

Based on this video and the game description alone, I’d say cops and judges need to keep a deck of Chronicles of the Mind cards with them at all times. Imagine the confessions and such that would get revealed after a round of this with some suspect who tends to get all talky as soon as they’re distracted by a “simple” little game such as this? Of course, that would mean people across America would be flooding the Griddly Games site with purchases as they’ll want to invite local politicians to attend and play a weekly game session just so they could see and hear what they REALLY think instead of hearing half-truths (or no truths) on assorted cable news and talk radio channels.

Hey, I don’t need a fun card game to know some people are really gullible when they get to gambling (or thinking they’re going to win a prize when they “win” a game), so why not take advantage of that wired in greed and get some actual answers, I say. Once again, Canada comes to our rescue, so make sure to thank the fine folks up at Griddly when you get the chance…

GRID 2: LiveRoutes & A Trip to Miami (A Really Fast Trip, At That)…

Codemasters is set to shake the racing game scene up with the addition of LiveRoutes in GRID 2, set for a May 28, 2013 US launch on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. LiveRoutes alter selected courses in the game each time you play, offering up six different routes when these tracks are revisited. This should keep some expert as well as novice players from blowing through familiar courses and should make for some interesting live events in online play.

As for Miami… welcome and hey! You just got to see a gameplay video of someone driving faster there than you can do in real life thanks to all the traffic they’ve got down there. Aren’t you the lucky one! Well, unless you get carsick watching all these videos I’ve been posting… oops.

Random Film of the Week: Spirits of the Dead

spirits of the deadI’d only heard of this horror anthology film a few years back thanks to a friend who saw the restored final third and raved about it. Of course, I never got the chance to check that, nor the rest of this film out until recently when the movie popped up on TCM and after a sluggish first segment, had me glued to the couch taking in the assorted sights and sounds.

Spirits of the Dead (or Histoires extraordinaires if you happen to be French and want an alternate title) is an offbeat selection of three Edgar Allan Poe stories that’s best known today for its incredible (and completely bizarre) final chapter directed by the great Federico Fellini that has to be seen to be believed. I’ll get to that below, but I need to bury one corpse and beat a dead horse for a bit… Continue reading

Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara: The Elf – In A Class All By Herself…

Hey, now… before you get all finger-pointy and mention that elves are a race and not a class, you should probably take note that in Dungeons and Dragons, they were initially seen as a separate class along with halflings and dwarves. Of course, elves don’t exist in real life (despite people spending too much time believing they do), so there’s a moot point here somewhere I keep misplacing. Anyway, whee – I get to try this Iron Galaxy-developed HD reboot/remake out next week when Capcom rolls into NYC with it and a few other awesome upcoming games, so expect a nice hands-on report shortly afterward. Dungeon & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara hits PC, PSN, Xbox Live and Nintendo’s eShop on July 14 – back in a bit with more on this instant classic soon.

Dragon’s Crown Cover Art, Artbook Revealed: Preselling A Not-So-Hard Sell…

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Lovely… and it can soon be all yours, at that. Dragon’s Crown finally gets some VERY pretty cover art for its retail versions as well as a really cool pre-order bonus in the form of a 64-page softcover art book that’s absolutely going to be snapped up by fans of George Kamitani’s work. I’d go as far as to predict the art book selling for more than the game does down thee road among those who miss out and want to pay through the pores on eBay or some other site, but that’s not Atlus’ concern what you do with that bonus item as they see not a red cent from secondhand sales of their cool goods. Anyway, check out the official site if you haven’t already for character profiles, more of Kamitani’s lush artwork and more.

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Dragon’s Crown will hit retail and PSN on August 6, 2013. Be there or be square, I say…

SCIENCE! Prepare To Sweat The Small Stuff With These Close-Up Images…

Mr. Water MiteYeah, I just had to do this to you just to screw with your Friday and make you marvel at the universe a tiny bit. “Click away at your peril!” Mr. Water Mite to the left says. What, you thought it was a Sandworm from DUNE or some fancy chastity belt/sex toy deal (eek!)? Well, it’s not (and VERY thankfully, in the latter example, eww). Hey, while you’re running around screaming or maybe standing on your chair screaming after you click that link, remember that it’s only a little science lesson you can pass onto those who think less of the little things they probably should check out every once in a while.

It’s also a nicely nasty collection of inspiring pictures for illustrators and wannabe game designers who need to come up with ideas for a creepy monster or three. That mosquito eye looks pretty tasty… or maybe not. Er, you may want to poke at these during the daytime, as I wouldn’t want to be you trying to sleep at night after viewing these shots…

GOG.com Wants YOU To Go Adventuring This Weekend (So, Get Lost Already!)…

Say… do you like a good story? Are you a cheapskate who likes good stories and has a decent PC and doesn’t mind camping out with the digital equivalent of a good book? Well, here you go: gog.com is having another cool weekend sale and this time, it’s all about adventure games past and present. From the fantastic classic The Longest Journey and it’s great sequel Dreamfall, to the chilling slow burner Scratches: The Director’s Cut or the brilliant survival game Miasmata to flawless gems such as Resonance, Botanicula and Machinarium: Collector’s Edition, there’s something for anyone looking to curl up with a warm PC or laptop. Prices range from $3.99 to $5.99 for each game, or you can snap up all twelve for $53.88 (which is a bargain considering the dozens of hours of gameplay here).

No frantic button bashing or much skill (other than reading and using a mouse to point and click or keyboard to move a character around) is needed and there’s sure to be something that catches your fancy at a nice enough price. OK, you know what to do next, so I’ll let you get to it…