It’s time for another giveaway! This time around I’m giving away 5 pairs of tickets to a special screening of Red Dawn on March 11th in London.

I love the look of Red Dawn; I think it’s going to be so cheesy, but a lot of fun. It’s a remake of the 1984 movie of the same name, which starred Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen, and this time they’ve got quite an awesome cast as well. It stars Chris Hemsworth (Thor, Avengers Assemble) Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games), Josh Peck (The Wackness), Adrianne Palicki (G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Friday Night Lights), Connor Cruise (Seven), Isabel Lucas (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Watchmen, Grey’s Anatomy).

So I’ve got 5 pairs of tickets to giveaway. The special screening will be at a Central London screening room at 18:30. To enter the giveaway, just fill in the form below:

You’ll also get an extra entry if you mention the giveaway on Twitter with the hashtag #missgeeky, and another extra entry if you follow @Red_DawnUK. The competition is open to everyone, but you’ll be expected to make it to a Central London on March 11th at at 18:30. The winners will be drawn randomly and I will contact them on Friday March 7th.

Movies. Games. Books. TV shows. I love all of them and I wish I had more time to watch, play and read all the things I want to. I do notice though how I tend to go through “waves” of each of them: some weeks (like the weeks leading up to the Oscars) I’ll be mainly watching movies, while other weeks I’ll be mainly hooked on certain books and games. I’ve had this idea for a while now to do a visualization of all the stuff I’m addicted to, mashing up my movie data from Letterboxd, my gaming data from Raptr and my reading data from Goodreads. The only thing I’m missing is my TV show data, but I think that one tends to be quite consistent through most of the year.

When it comes to games the past two months, I think I mainly played in the first 2 weeks just after Christmas. I was pretty much playing Assassin’s Creed III and Darksiders II simultaneously, cause I had to share AC3 with Cristiano. The more I play though the more I notice how easier it becomes to switch to different controller controls: it just takes time!

Assassin’s Creed III

I’ve always enjoyed the Assassin’s Creed series. I loved the overarching scifi-y story with Desmond, the scrambling over rooftops and monuments with Altair and Ezio, and just that sense of history while you’re playing. And while most of that was in AC3, it was also the first game in the series that I’ve been disappointed by.

I wouldn’t say it’s a bad game. There are some annoying glitches, but overall it’s a fun game to play. I think the main reason I was disappointed by it is because of the protagonist Connor. He’s just so booooring and bland, there’s just no way to sympathise with him. Part of me wonders how much that’s got to do with the bad voice artist; would Connor have been more likeable in the hands voice of someone else? Or is it really a problem with the story? You never get a real story reason to do anything beyond the main missions. There’s this weird disconnect between the main and side missions, as if each side was written by someone else who had different ideas of who Connor was.

Despite that though I did spend hours wandering through the forests hunting animals and navigating the high seas completing missions. Both of those were a lof of fun and surprisingly relaxing. It’s weird though that it’s the new elements that made me like this game, while the old elements left me rather disappointed. Today’s news of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag sounds like it will be focusing more on the parts I did like and will hopefully be better than this one!

Darksiders 2

I can’t talk about Darksiders II without first mentioning how sad it is that Vigil Games is no more. I really liked the Darksiders games and would have loved to have seen a Darksiders III, especially cause that one would finally feature Fury, the whip wielding female Horseman of the Apocalypse. It’s such a shame, cause I think they had some great ideas and they were definitely games I enjoyed playing.

In Darksiders II you get to play as Death, our second Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Just like in the first Darksiders, the game is a nice balance of fighting battles, traversing areas and solving puzzles. As the story progresses, Death finds gadgets granting him special abilities like grappling and portal jumping. I loved discovering the new abilities and trying to use them to solve the different puzzles. Some of the puzzles can be quite tricky, and I quite like that most of them aren’t completely obvious at first glance. The fighting I struggled a bit more with, but once you get the hang of it, it can be quite fun.

Bioshock 2

I still haven’t finished Bioshock 2, but so far I’m sort of liking it. I mean I think I’m only about one third in, but from what I’ve played it seems very much the same as the first Bioshock. Weapons? Check. Magic Plasmas? Check. Tonics? Check. Research Camera? Check. There are some minor tweaks in equipping abilities and skills, but again most of it seem pretty much copy-paste from the previous game. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I was hoping for something a bit more than just a rehash of the first one.

I again love the look and feel of the game; it’s so cool exploring the different sections of Rapture and they’ve again managed to create some creepy yet gorgeous locations. I just wish there was something new, something innovative, something a bit different, than just the “same” game again.

For a while now I’ve had an idea that seems so obvious to me, I couldn’t understand why nobody had done it before. I always have my phone in my bag and so often miss phone calls or texts, because I don’t hear it go off. But what if I could wear a pretty bracelet that could notify me of all that?

I know there have been lately a lot of smart watches, but I honestly think those do too much. I’ve already got a smart phone I’ve invested in; the device on my wrist should simply notify me to check that phone. My own initial idea is a simple leather cuff that vibrates when your phone goes off, but it’s one of those projects that I wasn’t really sure where to start to kick it all off.

Well, it turns out I’m not the only one with that idea. There’s currently a Kickstarter project for just that: the EMBRACE+. It’s a bracelet that connects to your smartphone and notifies you by flashing different colors for different apps and contacts.

The bracelet isn’t exactly as I envisioned it, but it’s definitely the type of bracelet I’m looking for, so I’ve backed the project. They’re currently only at 13% of their target though, so I’m curious to see if they manage to fund it completely. Here’s their Kickstarter video:

What do you think of the smart bracelet idea? Do you think it could work?

I can’t quite believe how fast the past two months have flown by! I had planned to write up a review after every book I finished, but again I haven’t found the time to do that. I’m doing okayish with my book resolutions/challenges. I’ve managed not to buy a single book yet this year, although I’ve been sorely tempted by a few. I’ve been struggling more with my 52 books in 52 weeks though; I’m only on 6 books, while by now I should have finished 8 already. Hopefully I’ll catch up, but it’s trickier that I thought!

Be Still My Vampire Heart by Kerrelyn Sparks

This is the third book in Kerrelyn Spark’s Love at Stake series and again it’s a lot of fun. I’ve only just discovered her books and with thirteen books in the series I’ve got some serious catching up to do! So far it reminds me a lot of Lynsay Sands’ books: they’re funny, entertaining reads with a cool vampire world that doesn’t take itself too seriously. This one is about the general of the vampire army falling in love with a vampire slayer.

Lord of The Changing Winds by Rachel Neumeier

I struggled a lot with this book and it was almost a DNF (did not finish) for me. I already had bought the following two books though, so I thought I should at least give it a shot. The concept sounds interesting: a teenage girl, Kes, finds out she has the ability to heal griffins. I really wanted to like this book, but nothing about it stood out to me. The characters aren’t that likable, the story is pretty predictable and the world didn’t feel fleshed out.

The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks

I’m in two minds about this series. The first book starts off with a pretty harsh world, which only gets worse as the story progresses. Rape, incest, cannibalism… those aren’t really the things I look for in a book. Plus there was a certain lack of storytelling and world and character building; I constantly felt as if there was more to these characters and their backstories, but I just wasn’t seeing it. Maybe I’ve just been spoiled lately by books like The Name of The Wind, but I was missing the beauty in the way a story can be told.

And yet, despite all those things the story itself was pretty compelling; I managed to finish book one and two in 3 days, picking it up whenever I could find the time. It actually managed to surprise me; the first book alone has at least 4 twists towards the end (one of which I saw coming, the others were proper “OMG!” moments). It’s not the most brilliant series out there, but it’s definitely a good read. Interested? Why not enter my giveaway for the first book in the series?

My Lady Mage by Alexis Morgan

This is the first book in Alexis Morgan’s new Warriors of the Mist series. It’s a fantasy romance: it’s got your typical romance tropes, but it’s set in an interesting fantasy world. The “warriors” from the series title were damned by the gods to fight evil; they lie dormant under the mists of the river until they are called upon by those in need. In this book they are awakened by Merewen to save her people from her uncle’s cruelty. And obviously she falls in love with one of the damned warriors. The book manages to properly balance the fantasy and romance elements, turning it into a fun read. Each warrior is linked to an animal avatar and it’s fun discovering their backstories. I’m very curious to see how this story continues!

Time to announce the winners of the latest two MissGeeky Giveaways! You guys left some great comments on both posts with your favourite scifi movie and the create your own movie challenge. So who won?

The first giveaway winner was drawn randomly and will receive two Babylon 5 DVDs: The Gathering and The Lost Tales.

Drumroll, please! The winner is:

Jane!

With the comment:

I once wrote to Patrick Stewart to ask him to do a book signing at the retail shop I used to run. He refused as he didn’t have the time but was so lovely about it. How could anyone not adore him?

With the second giveaway I was giving away two copies of Skyfall, one of which was for the “best”/most creative/fun answer and one of which was drawn randomly.

Drumroll, please! The first winner is:

Steve!

With his comment:

Easy. It would be about a chainsaw wielding gang of giraffes called ‘The Long Horses’ who run riot around London bumping into people without apologising, standing on the left of the escalators, asking for Big Macs in Burger King and so on. Turns out they are simply misunderstood and are protesting the lack of tall, edible trees in the city and they just want equality for all giraffes.

I’d have Tom Selleck play the lead giraffe.

And the second winner is:

Jo!

With her comment:

I’m no good at thinking up movie ideas – something kick ass and inspiring, something you could watch to cheer you up, or motivate you. Maybe something with FemShep 🙂

Congrats to all the winners and enjoy your prizes! For those of you that didn’t win, why not try out my latest giveaway for The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks?

I had a lot of fun staying up and watching the Oscars on Sunday. I really enjoyed the show, even though I didn’t really like Seth MacFarlane as the host. He had some great moments (I loved the dances in his opening), but some of the jokes just weren’t funny.

I actually managed to watch all the movies from the main six categories (so Best Picture, Best Directing and the 4 Best acting categories) before the ceremony and came quite far with all the others. I tend to struggle with “Oscar” movies: some movies are just too depressing and serious, while I just want to relax and be entertained. I do end up watching things though that I most probably wouldn’t have given a chance and end up loving, which is the main reason I do this every year.

Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook is that type of movie that I think I normally wouldn’t have watched or if I had attempted it, I think I would have switched off twenty minutes in. It’s about Pat (Bradley Cooper), who after a stint in a mental institution moves back into his parents place to try to get his life back on track while dealing with bipolar disorder. In that first half an hour his character is just so unlikable and unrootable for; you just have to cringe at some of the things he does. Once Jennifer Lawrence’s character is introduced though (a recent widow with mental health problems of her own), it becomes a really sweet and interesting movie.

Beasts of The Southern Wild

Okay, I did not like this movie. I get what it was going for and I can see what people liked about it, but for me it just didn’t resonate at all. Beasts of The Southern Wild is about six-year-old Hushpuppy, who lives with her father in the Bathtub, a flood threatened bayou community. I think what I didn’t like about this movie is that to me it felt like it was glorifying poverty, turning the avoidance of using common sense into something magical and wise. Quvenzhané Wallis does give a stunning performance as Hushpuppy, but I never felt I cared for her or her father through the entire movie.

Amour

I loved Amour. It’s a sweet, but also brutal and harrowing tale about the final stages in a couple’s life. Georges and Anne are retired music teachers in their eighties, when Anne suffers a stroke paralysing half of her body. Both Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant give great performances as Georges and Anne, and you really feel for the suffering both of them go through.

Birthdays are awesome! I celebrated mine yesterday and it was just so much fun catching up with friends and family. I thought I’d share the fun with you all and hold another giveaway here! I know I still haven’t announced the winners of the previous giveaway, but don’t worry I’ll be contacting them today.

So what’s the giveaway for? One lucky reader will receive a copy of The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks. I just read the entire series and it’s great.

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment behind with your favourite birthday memory. You’ll also get a second entry if you’re following me on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway with the hashtag #missgeeky. The competition is open to everyone and it will end on March 3rd after which I’ll randomly draw a winner.

As regular readers will know, I’ve been trying my best to watch all the Oscar nominated movies this year. I’m going to fail massively on the Documentary, Foreign and Short categories, but I think I might actually manage watching everything else (which would be a first for me!). Reviewing all of those movies though… I’m not sure how far I’m going to get with those.

I’m going to at least try to review all the Best Picture nominations. I already blogged about Les Miserables, Life of Pi and Argo (read that blog post here), so only six more to go! I’ll do three today, and hopefully the remaining three tomorrow or Sunday.

Django Unchained

Here’s a confession: I still haven’t seen Reservoir Dogs or Jackie Brown and I didn’t really like Pulp Fiction. But I loved Kill Bill and Inglourious Basterds, and now also loved Django Unchained. Tarantino’s past three movies have been all over-the-top, odes-to-certain-genres, unique movie experiences, and I can’t help but admire his style.

In Django Unchained, Tarantino manages to blend the elements of a spaghetti western with 70s blaxploitation. And bizarrely that works. Jamie Foxx is excellent as the titular character Django, who turns from slave to bounty hunter. But it’s Christoph Waltz that again shines; there’s just something about the combination of him and Tarantino’s dialogue that makes it all awesome.

I know some people don’t like Tarantino’s movies, cause of the bloodiness and gore, but actually? I think it’s so over-the-top to the point of unrealism that it’s not gory. Blood exploding in a fountain after one shot? It makes me ponder the tech they used to get that effect and once I start thinking of all the gore in terms of special effects it all becomes laughable. Am I the only one that does that?

Lincoln

The West Wing meets American History 101. That’s the way I heard Lincoln described to me. And they weren’t wrong. I have to admit I think I normally would have struggled a bit with the background politics and history, but having just played Assassin’s Creed 3 I actually had recently read up on that bit of history (I know we covered it in high school, but it’s been a while).

Daniel Day-Lewis’s performance as Lincoln is awesome. It’s impressive how he breathes life into this character, without it turning into a caricature which I think in the hands of a lesser actor would have very easily happened. He fully deserves the Oscar this year, so I’ll be rooting for him on Sunday (although I don’t think my rooting is needed, he seems to be winning every award this year!).

Zero Dark Thirty

Zero Dark Thirty was one of the nominated movies I was least looking forward to. The topic just didn’t seem like something I’d be interested in and I wasn’t a huge fan of Kathryn Bigelow’s previous movie The Hurt Locker either. I have to admit though I was wrong and was pleasantly surprised by Zero Dark Thirty. Although “pleasantly” might be the wrong word. Zero Dark Thirty is a great movie, but it’s one I wouldn’t say is “enjoyable” or “fun”; it gives a stark, harsh, visceral look at the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks.

Even though you know how it’s going to end (well, I’m assuming most people would know how it ends) it still is exciting to see the entire story unfold. The first half of the film features a brutal and unsettling depiction of torture, making you aware of the disturbing lengths people went to to obtain the truth. Jessica Chastain gives a powerful performance as the CIA operative who is relentless in her search for bin Laden and in her belief of this one flimsy lead. Bigelow has managed to create a movie that is intense and exhilarating to watch, keeping you at the edge of your seat the entire time.

I love living in London. There’s always something cool going on or something interesting to do, no matter what you’re interested in. I realized that obviously it’s the perfect setting for a book series and started wondering what series out there are based in London?

I’m sure there are plenty more, but I came across this awesome sounding one God Save The Queen. Queen Victoria as a vampire? Current day steampunk? Werewolves, vampires and goblins? Comparisons to Seanan McGuire’s Toby Daye series? I need to get my hands on this book!

Here’s the description from Amazon:

The Year is 2012 – and Queen Victoria still rules with an immortal fist.

She’s the undead matriarch of a Britain where the Aristocracy is made up of werewolves and vampires, where goblins live underground and mothers know better than to let their children out after dark. A world where technology lives side by side with magic, where being nobility means being infected with the Plague (side-effects include undeath) and Hysteria is the popular affliction of the day.

Xandra Vardan is a member of the elite Royal Guard, and it’s her duty to protect the Aristocracy. But things get complicated when her sister goes missing. Xandra will not only realise she’s the prize in a dangerous power struggle – but she’ll also uncover a conspiracy that threatens to topple the empire itself.

God Save The Queen by Kate Locke is the first book in the Immortal Empire Series. It’s available on Amazon.co.uk for £5.59 and on Amazon.com for $11.55.

It’s less than a week to the Oscars and like every year I’m quite excited for it. I’ve been doing my best to watch most of the nominated movies; I’ve managed to come quite far, missing only a couple of the movies with multiple nominations.

I love some of the designs Olly Moss has created in the past, and this year he’s worked with The Academy and Gallery 1988 to create the official “85 Years of Oscars” poster for the 85th Academy Awards. It features the golden statue as the Best Picture winner of each year.

It’s awesome. I recommend having a look at the large version to see all the details.

How many Best Picture winners can you recognize?