Dark Tower: Wolves of the Calla
Greetings, Wolves of the Calla is the fifth novel in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. It follows the adventures of Roland Deschain and his small group of comrades as they continue their search for the mystical Dark Tower. By finding the Tower, they hope to understand why their worlds as well as time itself are beginning to fall apart and once discovered Deschain hopes to reverse the trend. The book is a mixture of the fantasy and western genres and in this series King seems to be connecting his novels together. Father Callahan, the protagonist from Salem’s Lot, became a prominent character in this story and it is suggested that he will remain for the other books as he becomes a member of Roland’s group.
The plot begins with Roland and his team coming across a small farming community called Calla Bryn Sturgis in their travels. This is the first inhabited settlement they have come across for a long period of time and it is where they meet Father Callahan, who had originally lived in Earth but managed to find his way into Mid-World after the events of Salem’s Lot. It is revealed to the gunslinger by the villagers that the little village would soon be plunged into danger by a recurring threat known as the Wolves of Thunderclap. Initially, the nature of the Wolves is unknown but it is uncovered that they take one young child from a set of twins away from their families once every generation for an unknown reason.
The children are taken to Thunderclap, a hostile region that the villagers do not enter, and eventually the kids are returned to their families but lose their intelligence as well as die young in a violent manner. Andy, a messenger robot whose origins are unknown, informs the villagers that the Wolves would return to steal the children in one month’s time and so the people of Calla Bryn Sturgis are divided amongst themselves. Some want to resist the Wolves, believing that the arrival of the gunslingers could ensure victory while others are too frightened of the consequences if they resisted. A secondary plot is also established as it is revealed that Susannah, one of the five team members, is pregnant with a monster child and has developed another personality that threatens to take control of her mind.
As usual King builds up the pace slowly with an action scene at the end. This story was mostly based on tales of other characters and building lore for Calla Bryn Surgis, a large portion of the book is dedicated to Father Callahan recalling the events of Salem’s Lot which is based on vampires in America. The interaction between the five main characters, who all meet in the third book, is still a strong point of the adventure and helps move the bizarre storyline move along. The Dark Tower has expanded outside of the original novels, with prequel comic books centred on Roland and there are rumours of a possible film.
Plot=8/10
Characters=9/10
Wording=8/10
Overall=8/10
Quote of the day
You know what you are? You're a beard with an idiot hanging off it.
Bernard Black
Black Books
Fable
Greetings, Fable is a 2004 video game created by Lionhead Studios and was the first title released in the ongoing series. I had previously reviewed two of the sequels, Fable 2 and 3, on this blog a few years ago but this plot is set 500 years before the events of the second one. While there is an extended version of the game called the Lost Chapters, in which the storyline and characters are expanded upon, I only have the original version. I felt that a lot of the characters lacked development and personality but this may have been improved upon with the expanded edition by adding additional quests as well as new characters. As with the sequels, the protagonist’s appearance will change depending upon the player’s actions by choosing either good or evil options.
The story begins in Oakvale, a small village in the land of Albion, which is raided by thieves and in which the protagonist’s father is killed while his mother and sister are abducted. The main character, only a boy at this stage with no idea that he has latent powers, is rescued from the raid by a man named Maze. Maze is a member of the Heroes Guild, an organization that trains those with special gifts known as Heroes. The protagonist becomes an apprentice of the Guild training throughout his adolescence and becoming increasingly powerful and skilled as the years go by. The protagonist will also age throughout the game but this feature will only effect his appearance. As the Hero becomes more renowned by completing quests it is eventually revealed that his sister, a blind prophetess called Theresa, is alive and being forced to work for the bandit king and former Hero known as Twinblade. The Hero decides to go after the criminal and find his sister.
The story is quite short and reasonably simplistic without any overly interesting characters to move it forward, introducing the real villain half way through the game. There are plenty of side quests and pub games to make up for the short main plot but after playing the other two games first, it is a little odd not having a faithful dog to accompany you during quests. If the player wants to, the protagonist can marry NPCs, however the original Fable doesn’t allow the Hero to have any children, a feature that is included in the sequels. The Hero can also buy and rent property in many of the various areas in order to gain money. The OST was composed by the well known Danny Elfman and is quite memorable with his distinct style. Overall, it is a good game but feels a little short and there were no real interesting personalities to make it more engaging, however these issues may have been resolved in the Lost Chapters.
Plot=7/10
Characters=7/10
Graphics=7/10
Overall=7/10
Quote of the day
Is this about the Avengers? Which I know nothing about.
Pepper Pots
Avengers Assemble
The Quiz Part 5
Greetings, it is once again time for the annual quiz that takes place in November. This is the 5th quiz on the blog and like the previous entries it will have ten questions based mostly on the categories of books, films, television shows and games. The answers can be found at the bottom of the blog update.
1. What is the full title of the 2012 Hobbit film directed by peter Jackson?
2. Who said this- “Those of you helping us test the Repulsion Gel today, just follow the blue line on the floor. Those of you who volunteered to be injected with praying mantis DNA, I've got some good news and some bad news. Bad news is we're postponing those tests indefinitely. Good news is we've got a much better test for you: fighting an army of mantis men. Pick up a rifle and follow the yellow line. You'll know when the test starts.”
3. What do the initials of the Twin Peak’s character D.B. Cooper stand for?
4. What is the name of the actor who played Earl Hickey from My Name is Earl?
5. Who wrote the original James Bond novels?
6. How many seasons did the television show Friends have?
7. Name this character.
8. How many Indiana Jones films are there?
9. What is the name of the first book in the A song of Ice and Fire series?
10. What are the names of Homer and Marge’s children?
Spoilers
1. The Hobbit: An unexpected Journey
2. Cave Johnson
3. Dale Bartholomew
4. Jason Lee
5. Ian Fleming
6. 10
7. Gustavo Fring
8. 4
9. A Game of Thrones
10. Bart, Lisa and Maggie
Quote of the day
What do you know, the geek shall inherit the Earth
Paul
Paul
Monsters University
Greetings, Monsters University is a 2013 prequel to Pixar’s original 2001 film, Monsters Inc. It has retained most of its notable main cast such as Billy Crystal, John Goodman and Steve Buscemi reprising their roles as well as adding new members like Helen Mirren. While the film does not include or reference Boo, presumably because she wouldn’t have yet been born, it does elaborate on the relationship between Mike and Scully as well as setting the stage for Randall as a villain in Monster’s Inc. Some of the original characters also receive cameo roles towards the end of the film such as the slug like monster named Roz.
The plot begins with a very young Mike on a field trip to Monster’s Inc. While watching the scarers do their job he is inspired to grow up to be just like them, years pass and he begins to start his time at Monsters University. While he studies hard, Mike is held back by the fact that he isn’t frightening and this begins a rivalry with the slacking but naturally talented student, Scully, as they try to outcompete each other. Their contest disrupts the final exam and Dean Hardscrabble drops them both from the program because of it.
Mike attempts to prove his skills to the entire university by entering the scare games. He has to join the unprofessional team, Oozma Kappa, but reluctantly has to side with his opponent Scully if he wants to compete in the games. Therefore, in order to win Mike and Scully have to work together using their different skills as well as having to train with incompetent students. The different groups compete against each other in challenges with the main antagonists being the jock like students from Roar Omega Roar, which contains Mike’s old roommate and future enemy, Randall.
Monsters University was Pixar’s first prequel movie and it is one I enjoyed. It gave an interesting series of events by making the two protagonists rivals and set in motion the story line of Monsters Inc . In my opinion, the film does a good job of keeping true to the characters while giving them a history that doesn’t contradict their established personalities, especially since it has been over a decade since the original was made.
Plot=9/10
Characters=10/10
Animation=9/10
Overall=9/10
Quote of the day
I am the man with no name. Zapp Brannigan at your service.
Zapp Brannigan
Futurama
Misery (The Film)
Greetings, the 1990 film version of Misery was based on Stephen King’s 1987 novel with the same name. There are only a few main actors, namely James Caan as the famous writer Paul Sheldon and Kathy Bates as the mentally unstable nurse Annie Wilkes, who is strangely child like especially when upset, choosing strange words to express herself. Despite the fact there are a limited number of characters and the story is mostly constricted to one room, I still found it enjoyable as it was mostly devoted to watching Wilkes descend into a violent, obsessive individual. While I imagine the book would have created a greater tense atmosphere as well having a more developed background to the characters, the film did a good job for the amount of screen time it had.
The plot is fairly simple and begins with a severe blizzard occurring between Silver Creek in Colorado and Los Angeles. Paul Sheldon, the famous writer of the Misery novels, is unaware that a snow storm is kicking up as he is travelling in his car to get his latest book published. Due to the storm, Sheldon manages to crash his car in a remote area and is badly injured with both legs broken. Annie Wilkes, a fan of his who had been following him, manages to pry the author out of his car and brings him back to her nearby house.
At her home, Annie begins to treat the writer as it is revealed that she is a nurse. When Paul regains consciousness she claims that she is his number one fan. However, Sheldon soon realizes that Wilkes has no intention of freeing him, especially not after Paul had killed off her favourite fictional character from Misery. Wilkes forces the author to bring the character back to life in a new novel and claims that nobody is coming for him. As Annie’s unpleasant nature is discovered, Paul attempts to find a way to escape or if he has no other choice, to kill his obsessive number one fan.
I do believe some of the characters could have been better developed such as the old sheriff called Buster. While the sheriff does have an important role to play in finding out the whereabouts of Paul, he is more of a plot device than a character with an interesting personality. However, this is only a minor issue as the time dedicated to the protagonist and antagonist, as well as their uneasy relationship, is what really drives the story forward. It is an older film which lacks modern effects but none the less it provides the audience with some disturbing entertainment and is spurred on by the two main actors’ talents.
Plot=8/10
Characters=8/10
Special effects=7/10
Overall=8/10
Quote of the day
Well done. Here come the test results: "You are a horrible person." That's what it says: a horrible person. We weren't even testing for that.
GLaDOS
Portal 2
Portal 2
Greetings, Portal 2 is a 2011 video game and a sequel to the original Portal that was released in 2007. The single player campaign delves deeper into the lore of the Portal series by introducing new characters or expanding on individuals that are already established, creating new interactive elements that are required to complete tests such as repulsion or propulsion gel and creating a history for Aperture Science. The voice cast plays their roles excellently with Ellen McLain reprising her performance as the villainous AI GLaDOS, Stephen Merchant voices the moronic robot known as Wheatley and J.K Simmons takes on the role of Aperture's charismatic founder, Cave Johnson.
The plot is set an unspecified period of time after the events of the first Portal. GLaDOS has been killed and Chell had managed to leave briefly but was dragged back into the building at the end of the original game. It starts with Chell being awakened from her stasis room by Wheatley, who had discovered that she was still alive and supposedly the last remaining human in the facility. Once Wheatley introduces himself, he attempts to aid Chell in trying to escape once again from the test chambers. Chell is equipped with the portal gun to help her get around obstacles, but the only way to exit is going through the lair of the deactivated GLaDOS much to Wheatley's fear.
They accidentally reactivate her when they are in her territory. Once awake, a vengeful GLaDOS states to Chell that she had to relive through her final moments of being killed due to her black box and puts the silent protagonist back to completing test with the intent of murder. Wheatley continues to plan a way out as Chell buys time by solving the puzzles for the murderous AI. It is eventually decided that they could neutralize GLaDOS and allow Wheatley to take over the facility via the stalemate button.
It is a great game with a good use of puzzles, a nice atmospheric soundtrack and humour that is both witty as well as dark. The storyline itself is very entertaining and has an unexpected but interesting twist that drives a lot of the humour later on as the game progresses, often at the expense of Wheatley. I haven't yet played the co-op campaign but the single player is a great experience that keeps giving laughs,well hidden Easter eggs and secrets such Ratman's dens as well as interesting challenges from start to finish. It also had a brilliant ending that wrapped everything up nicely but unfortunately mean that there probably never will be a sequel,at least one that follows Chell.
Plot=10/10
Characters=10/10
Graphics=10/10
Overall=10/10
Quote of the day
Please note that we have added a consequence for failure. Any contact with the chamber floor will result in an "unsatisfactory" mark on your official testing record, followed by death. Good luck!
GLaDOS
Portal
