Indie Quickies: The Incredible Baron (Or: Gotta Catch ’em All… For SCIENCE!)

Posted on July 7, 2016 by geelw

The Incredible Baron: Okay, this one’s a total gem. Go try the demo out and see for yourself. Black Shell Media‘s games library is simply put, FANTASTIC. The variety of genres, visual styles and just pure fun to be had makes going through their catalog a complete pleasure. FlatRedBall’s *excellent*, comical RTS/monster collecting/tower defense hybrid looks and feels like one of those great SNES games from the 90’s to the point that if it were on a cart back then, it would probably win some sort of Game of the Year award or at the very least, be on a Top 10 or so list.

Easy to pick up and play, the game also uses some fine humor to toss your way as you play through its increasingly challenging maps. While veterans of tower defense games may blow through this one fairly quickly, the colorful cartoon visuals and perfect learning curve (you can replay missions until you get the hang of things) make this a great entry level game for newbies. I’m not sure if Black Shell has console plans, but to me, this one would be a perfect fit on any digital console platform as a straight port at a decent price point. Go get this on Steam and have a blast blasting those critters and keeping the Baron out of and in trouble. Methinks this one needs a sequel at some point.

Call of the Westeros Meets Classic Response Time

Posted on July 3, 2016 by geelw

So, this season of Game of Thrones ended with a bang. Well, a few bangs if you count the graceful exit one key character made via a nearby window. The internet being what it is, one still frame ended up as a hilarious image gamers who know Ubisoft’s hugely popular Assassin’s Creed series got a laugh over:

It took me all of thirty seconds for my brain to cook up goofball responses to that scene using classic film posters, but a little longer to swipe images I’ll link to to be fair to the folks who posted them first. Traffic is cool on one’s blog when it’s least expected, I always say. Okay, here we go (click on the posters to go to their respective sites):

I’ve never seen this flick before, but I’m now Judy Canova curious. I know I’ve seen HER before in something, but I’ve not a clue as to what.

Ooh, a new site to check out! Nice place you’ve got there, Steve! Haven’t seen this one in decades, but it’s probably as funny as I recall.

A not too shabby WWII war drama/romance flick with a fine cast doing their thing for the cause. Oscar-winning special effects here, but don’t go into this looking for CG perfection.

Finally, yeah… I may as well get Fox some love as well for the upcoming Assassin’s Creed movie. As with any game-based film, my eyebrow is up a lot on whether it can capture the game’s more interactive elements clearly. But I absolutely LOVE being proven wrong by movies based on videogame source material. Which means I’m still skeptical even with the casting choices made. We’ll get into that later. Just go enjoy the rest of this weekend for now.

Arrow Video UK Sale: Build A Wall of Cult Flicks To Keep You Indoors For The Long Haul

Posted on June 29, 2016 by geelw

Well, this is pretty cool if you’re a collector with an all-region Blu-Ray/DVD player who wants to beef up your library with some sharp Arrows. CLICK HERE and make with the wallet noises. If you’re outside the UK, shipping will be a kick in the head, but the discounts are worth it for the films in the catalog US fans of Arrow haven’t yet seen. Hell, I’d buy everything on that list if I had the scratch handy. Act fast, though – the sale ends July 11.

Converse All Wah: Shocking New Way To Rock Out

Posted on June 23, 2016 by geelw

All kidding aside (keep reading, it’s coming), I’d love to try a set of these kicks out. Hell, they’ll get me to pick up a guitar again after too long just to see how long I can “play” in my atonal way until the neighbors call to cops because they think someone is boiling a sack of howling piranha. I haven’t owned a pair of Chucks for ages, but these Converse All Wah demoed by Dinosaur Jr’s J Masics (who looks like Dinosaur Sr. these days, but he can rock it harder than the younger set any day of the week) got some of my own parts vibrating giddily. Boom chicka-wah-wahhhhh!

That said, I can only see wearing these indoors or only a dry day outside because of the obviously eeeeeee-lectrifying reason. I’ll let you think about that while I wind up a joke that some of you got already.

Yeah, try playing that star-spangled electric gitbox while wearing these sneaks in the rain and you’ll get maybe get five notes into Jimi Hendrix’ Purple Haze before you’re totally:

(thanks, Imp Awards!) Um… #ScuseMeWhileIKissTheSky

…but without the icky upskirting powers, kid. Just extra crispy and clutching that axe in a death metal grip. Eh, I kid Converse, shoe developers Critical Mass and Cute Circuit. These ARE pretty damn cool. All we need now is that Marshall sound coming from a jacket of some sort and it’s instant entertainment anywhere.

Sign up here to keep updated on the All-Wah. I predict a sellout and yeah, they better make ladies sizes too because asses will be kicked when the gal rockers can’t get their kicks and want to kick back.
– GW

George Crumb: Voice of the Whale – Soul Music of A Different Sort

Posted on June 23, 2016 by geelw

And now, ladies and germs… it’s time for a little dose of culture for today:

“I feel intuitively that music must have been the first cell from which language, science, and religion originated.” – George Crumb

George Crumb: Voice Of The Whale
coming to DVD on June 24th (MSRP: $19.99)

Robert Mugge’s 1976 portrait of renowned composer George Crumb featuring a performance of his composition “Vox Balaenae”

In 1976, “music filmmaker” Robert Mugge created his first music-related film. Titled GEORGE CRUMB: VOICE OF THE WHALE, it was a strikingly original, 54-minute portrait of Pulitzer Prize-winning and Grammy-winning composer George Crumb.

To celebrate the film’s 40th anniversary (it was first broadcast over PBS on June 6, 1978), MVD Visual is making available a newly remastered version on DVD, transferred to HD from the original 16mm film and lovingly restored. Now that you’re curious, go click this link to see a tiny bit of the film and if you like what you see, go order away at your leisure. Or faster than that if you prefer.

The Last Guardian: Finally Dated, The Wait Gets Less When-ish

Posted on June 19, 2016 by geelw

Okay. I’m back. Sort of. Got a LOT of stuff going on up this way I’ll yak about in a separate post, but let’s all just watch this gorgeous trailer for the long delayed and finally has a release date soon to be instant classic The Last Guardian. Fumeto Ueda and his team’s game will indeed be worth the wait and in my mind, it’s one of the reasons I play videogames. For me, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus were and still are two of the best game experiences from the past 20 years, and seeing this final game appear means I can stop worrying about whether or not it will be good. I trust the creator and his vision and that’s all one needs in this case.

The Last Guardian hits retail and digital October 25, 2016. Yes, that collector’s edition below looks mighty nice, doesn’t it? Yep.

READS: Surf NYC – Into the Deep End With The Urban Wave Jockeys

Posted on June 5, 2016 by geelw

Photo: Andreea Waters

I guess you can call photographer/author Andreea Waters‘ new book Surf NYC ($34.99, Schiffer Publishing) a perfect summer beach read of sorts. Granted, if you’re strolling around certain wet and sandy spots with a copy in hand and your phone’s GPS chatting away looking for where some of the photos in the book were shot, you may luck out and get an autograph from one of the more outgoing daredevils committed to riding the weird, wild waves in and around the NY area.

On the other hand, you’ll probably want to respect both the privacy and utter daring of these urban daredevils out to conquer with their own respect the very waters doing what comes naturally and often under unnatural circumstances. The book is a 136-page hardcover with 64 outstanding images of the guys and gals who dare along with the places they do that daring in. You’ll come for the images, but stay for the stories told in quick bits by the surfers interviewed.

Photo: Andreea Waters

Continue reading →

HoloGrid: A Few Days Left to Get This AR Card Game Funded

Posted on June 4, 2016 by geelw

Up until recently, I didn’t think I’d be a big supporter of Augmented Reality or Virtual Reality, but a bunch of hands-on sessions have me convinced that these are great ways to keep entertained and both are worthy of attention depending on what you’re looking for. AR is a far more affordable and less setup-based solution that’s also (in my opinion) more immersive as a real world thing because you play without your head enclosed in a pair of pricey goggles that require some major horsepower to run out of the box. You can also take an AR experience with you and share it with anyone without lugging around a ton of equipment. One excellent example would be HoloGrid: Monster Battle, from Phil Tippett and developer Happy Giant, now in its final days on Kickstarter. I took the plunge after a demo and if you’re into collectible cards, monsters, stop motion and an all-in-one game package that DOESN’T rely on microtransactons, you probably need this game. I’ll shut up here and let you do some required reading and clicking…

Star Wars VFX Legend Discusses Future of AR for Gaming & Film
Phil Tippett & HoloGrid Designer discuss next gen AR & HoloGrid as a Platform

With only THREE days left, the HoloGrid: Monster Battle Kickstarter Campaign is going strong and has nearly reached it’s funding goal. In a recent conversation with Phil Tippett and HappyGiant President and Lead Designer Mike Levine, the two discussed ambitions for the new game, and the future of AR gaming and film.

“This is just the beginning for HoloGrid, and AR Gaming” said Levine. “We’d love to not only bring other IP into it, like Yu-Gi-Oh, Star Wars, Starship Troopers, and others, but our goal is to have it be one of the first next gen AR games available, as new systems roll out.”

“It’s the Wild West”, Tippett added, “Tippett Studio is excited about the endless possibilities working with augmented reality. We love to play, and this gives us new, fertile ground to play in with HappyGiant.”

“We envision using all the capabilities coming with next gen AR systems”, said Levine. “From 3D motion tracking and depth sensing, hand and eye tracking, and more – the creatures don’t have to just be holograms on a board game-like experience on your table, they can be all across your living room, on bookshelves and counter tops … underneath your desk!”

As new AR tech comes to market (Cast AR, HoloLens and more) HappyGiant hopes to bring the game to new platforms. It was built from the ground up to play today on mobile devices, and to be portable to next-gen AR systems as they emerge.

Below the jump are 5 more things you should know about this game!

Continue reading →

Blu-Ray Review: Black Mama, White Mama

Posted on May 31, 2016 by geelw

Okay, it was Pam Grier‘s birthday last week and I only know this because I overheard some OG’s doing some paper bag stoop drinking talking about the lady today while I was out shopping. They were trying to recall the names of two movies she was in back before she became a bigger name star and you better believe yours truly stepped in to inform them HIT MAN and Black Mama, White Mama were the movies they were looking for.

I don’t think I’d seen a more grateful group of old guys since Prohibition ended and even better, when I told them both movies had been restored and can be bought online AND they both pop up on TCM on occasion, I ended up getting a free beer for that information. Yes, it was still sealed – I don’t do that passing around stuff with former total strangers. Unless it’s some Thunderbird or Night Train. That stuff can kill germs from 50 paces and tastes like someone put a heaping spoonful of sugar into a pint of paint thinner (yum!).

Anyway, I got back home, tossed the groceries I’d bought aside like Frank Cannon used to do on that old CBS show (much to the surprise of the groceries) and got to this review of Arrow Video’s chock full of fun Blu-Ray released a little while back. Black Mama, White Mama is an excellent exploitation flick with Grier and the still stunning Margaret Markov that takes the plot of The Defiant Ones, adds a dash of Caged!, and sets the whole shebang in the (literally and figuratively) steamy Philippines (doubling for a never-named Latin dictatorship of some sort). The results are a sexy, sassy potboiler/revenge flick complete with copious female nudity, sudden (but expected) violence, and the always entertaining Sid Haig in a colorful role as a really bad man. Continue reading →

Arrow Video July Releases: Hot Summer Nights, Indeed

Posted on May 29, 2016 by geelw

While there are only a mere three releases in July from Arrow Video through MVD Entertainment, they’re all worth nabbing thanks to being a nice set of eclectic films to watch. Amusingly enough, all are about women in trouble and/or various states of undress for plot purposes (of course). A classic sex comedy, a weird, unintentionally funny sex drama, and a killer Japanese film set that’s one of the ultimate revenge flick compilations of the era all await your eager eyeballs and shelf space.

First up: on July 5th, say hello to The Swinging Cheerleaders (MSRP $34.95, Blu-ray + DVD, MVD Shop or Amazon pre-order)

They gave it all for their team…

Jack Hill spent the seventies specializing in tough female characters. He made movies about girl gangs (Switchblade Sisters) and women in prison (The Big Doll House, The Big Bird Cage), turned Pam Grier a star with Coffy and Foxy Brown, and contributed to the Cheerleaders line of drive-in favorites with The Swinging Cheerleaders.

Kate, an undergraduate at Mesa University, goes undercover as a cheerleader for her college newspaper in order to expose ‘female exploitation in contemporary society’. But instead of oppression she finds love, friendship and a bigger fish to fry: corruption in the football team, headed up by the coach and his pals.

A favorite of Quentin Tarantino, who screened it at the very first Tarantino Film Fest, The Swinging Cheerleaders features a cast of cult favorites including Colleen Camp (Wayne’s World, Game of Death), Rainbeaux Smith (Caged Heat, The Incredible Melting Man) and future Playmate of the Month Rosanne Katon.

BONUS MATERIALS
– Brand new 2K restoration from original film materials
– High Definition (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD Presentations
– Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
– Audio commentary by writer-director Jack Hill, recorded exclusively for this release
– Brand new interview with Jack Hill
– Archive interview with cinematographer Alfred Taylor
– Archive interview with Hill and Johnny Legend
– Q&A with Hill, and actors Colleen Camp and Rosanne Katon recorded at the New Beverly Cinema in 2012
– TV spots
– Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
– Illustrated booklet containing new writing by Cullen Gallagher (first pressing only)