A second trailer for Scott Pilgrim vs The World came out this morning and it looks awesome! It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, with a bit too many video game and comic references, but I love the look of it.
Scott Pilgrim vs The World is coming out in the UK on August 6th and in the US on August 13th.
I love these photos from Amusement featuring game consoles as buildings:
Cool, right? I wish they’d make more of these. Like can you imagine how a GameBoy building would like? Or an Xbox building? Check out the Amusement site for larger versions of these photos.
I just received a review copy of this book! It looks awesome, and once I’ve finished the book I’m currently reading I’m so going to pick this one up.
The description on Amazon:
Shale is the lowest of the low-an outcast from a poor village in the heart of the desert. In the desert water is life, and currency, and Shale has none. But he has a secret. It’s the one thing that keeps him alive and may save all the cities of the Quartern in the days to come. If it doesn’t get him killed first…
Terelle is a slave fleeing a life as a courtesan. She finds shelter in the home of an elderly painter but as she learns the strange and powerful secrets of his art she fears she may have traded a life of servitude for something far more perilous…
The Stormlord is dying in his tower and there is no one, by accident or design, to take his place. He brings the rain from the distant seas to his people. Without a Stormlord, the cities of the Quartern will wither and die.
Their civilization is at the brink of disaster. If Shale and Terelle can find a way to save themselves, they may just save them all. Water is life and the wells are running dry…
The Last Stormlord by Glenda Larke is available on Amazon.co.uk for £5.58 and on Amazon.com for $7.99.
Episode 177: “I really liked Lost, but I guess I still have a few questions about it”
If you haven’t seen the last episode of Lost yet:
beware
SPOILERS!
Last weekend I finally got around to watching this season of Lost, having to catch up on 15 episodes before being able to watch the finale! I know not everyone was happy with how it concluded, but I really enjoyed it and thought it was a fitting ending. Since the 3rd season, I was more invested in the characters than in the mysteries anyway, and it’s each character’s story that they ended up completing. I have to admit there were quite some questions left unanswered, but none that really bugged me. And unlike with BSG it all left me with a much more satisfied feeling.
As I said though, not every question was answered and I wasn’t the only one to realize that:
So what did you think of the end of Lost?
Video game movies… the bane of every video game geek. So many turn out to be terrible movies and they fail to capture what people loved about the games in the first place. The latest gamble is Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time based on the 2003 game of the same name.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Dastan, the titular prince. Dastan was originally an orphan, growing up on the streets and rooftops of the empire’s capital city, until one day after standing up for a friend on the marketplace, the king notices him and takes him in. Years later Dastan and his brothers are sent to the holy city of Alamut, ruled by the stubborn princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton). After being blamed for a crime he didn’t commit, Dastan is forced to flee the city with Tamina and prove his innocence.
I really enjoyed Prince of Persia, although it’s not without its faults. From the trailers, I was expecting a fun entertaining action movie, similar in vein to Pirates of the Caribbean or The Mummy (if you haven’t seen the trailer, check it out here). And it pretty much lived up to those expectations. If you didn’t like either of those movies, chances are you’re going to hate Prince of Persia too. If you loved those movies (which I did), I think you’ll be in for a treat.
Jake Gyllenhaal is great as prince Dastan. I had my doubts about him when his casting was announced, but he was exactly what I had imagined the prince to be. Charming, but at the same time rough and mischievous. Gemma Arterton is much better here than in Clash of the Titans, showing that with a decent script she can actually deliver. I loved the banter between her and Dastan!
The story is similar to the Sands of Time video game with Dastan finding a dagger with which he can travel a few seconds back into time. While not used frequently within the movie, it gives us a couple of gorgeous scenes where Dastan falls apart into sand while ‘traveling’ back. The rest of the plot is pretty okay, although a little bit on the predictable side and at times not as polished as it could have been (like bad guys suddenly appearing without any explanation). I like that they added the orphan backstory, giving a reason to why a prince would be jumping from ledges and rooftops.
And those action scenes where Dastan is jumping all over the place are fantastic. Both Gyllenhaal and the kid that played the younger Dastan did most of their stunts themselves, having trained closely with Parkours legend David Belle. I didn’t like the way most of these were filmed though: an overuse of slow-mo and angles that didn’t really work for me. Still the stunts were amazing to watch!
Is it a good video game to movie adaption? Yeah, I think it is. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a fun summer action movie with great action sequences that harken back to the video game. The plot is a bit simple, but it’s a good 2 hours of fun entertainment. And want to bet we’ll get a sequel soon?
Interesting links for May 19th through May 25th:
I’ve only just started this book, but so far it’s pretty intriguing. I’m only on page 12, yet I’m already completely hooked!
Here’s the description:
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is about Yeine, a 19 year old girl, who wants nothing more than a normal life in her homeland of Darr. But her mother was of the powerful Arameri family, and when Yeine is summoned to the capital city of Sky a month after her mother’s death, she cannot refuse. Dakarta, her grandfather and the Arameri patriarch, pits her against her two cousins as a potential heir to the throne.
If you’re not convinced yet, you can read the first three chapters on the author’s website.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin is available on Amazon.co.uk for £5.58 and on Amazon.com for $10.07.
As you all know, I’m quite a geeky girl with my fair share of gadgets and stuff I want to take with me when on the road. I’ve always been addicted to bags, which I think is to compensate for my lack of being able to have tons of shoes (I’ve said this in a previous post: my feet are 2 different sizes, so buying shoes is a nightmare).
After getting a new laptop bag for Christmas and talking about that new bag to friends, I realized there aren’t that many reviews out there about girly laptop or gadget bags. Some manufacturers still don’t even consider designing for women, with all their laptop bags still being huge and clunky, completely disregarding the female physique. However, there are quite a lot of companies out there with brilliant laptop bags for girls, but most of them aren’t reviewed that often. So I’m starting a new series of blog posts featuring all types of girly laptop and gadget bags.
I’ve always loved having different bags for different occasions. Unlike the more fashion focused girls though, with ‘different occasions’ I don’t mean ‘one bag to match my pink shoes and one bag to match my blue coat’ (generalizing a bit here, but I think you get my drift). No, what I mean is the combination of gadgets you take with you and the amount of space that requires.
For me that ranges from taking only my wallet+phone with me to going all out and bringing laptop, DSLR camera, book, phone, wallet plus an assortment of cables and other extra stuff. Different situations require different types of bags, and I love having a range of bags from which I can choose from, depending on what I’m taking with me.
So there are a couple of things my reviews will focus on which I hope you all will find useful:
1. How much fits in the bag? This is one of the main things I’ve failed to find when researching for bags online. You often can find out what size laptop fits in the bags, but beyond that? Will my clunky wallet fit? Or my DSLR? I’ll try to give you a good idea of what can and can’t fit in the bags.
2. How comfortable is the bag? Some bags look gorgeous, but will be a nightmare after carrying it for 2 hours straight.
3. How large is the bag? I’ll be posting photos of me carrying each bag to give you an idea how it looks like in comparison to a ‘normal’ person. I’ve seen a couple of bags online that looked great, only to find out that they were HUGE and looked ridiculous on me.
4. How many compartments/zippers etc? I’m a little bit neurotic what this concerns, but I can’t be the only one. I hate having to dive into my bag attempting to find my keys, lipstick or phone, so I prefer bags to have at least a small pocket or something where I can put stuff in besides the main compartment.
My first review for one of Crumpler’s latest bags will be up later this week, so keep an eye out for that post!
By now I think most of you have seen Iron Man 2 and I’m guessing you all noticed the amazing gadgets that Tony Stark uses. The transparent phone at his hearing, his holographic workshop where he ‘creates’ a new element, the ‘smart-glass’ coffee table… those were some cool looking interfaces.
It turns out that one company, Perception, was behind designing all of these. They’ve got a case study about designing for Iron Man 2 up on their website and it’s an interesting read. They first got involved with the design of the graphics during the Stark Expo presentation; so all the logos and animations that you saw behind Tony during the presentation. After that though they pitched their concept of the transparent phone and they got brought on board to develop more concept interfaces.
My favourite has got to be the ‘smart glass’ coffee table that Stark uses to do a background check on Natalie Rushman. Perception presented a couple of futuristic designs of a simple Google search:
At the end Perception worked on tying everything together, fusing their designs into the existing footage:
If you want to read more about what Perception did for Iron Man 2, head on over to their website for their case study. As I said above, it’s a great read and they were involved in designing a lot of the stuff that made the world of Iron Man 2 look futuristic and amazing.
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