BOOK: Infinite Assassins (2017)

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Infinite Assassins Year: 2017 Author: Peter Meredith Length: 410 pages If there was one thing that caused me to pick up this series, it was the cover for this book. Having not particularly liked the first book, Infinite Reality, I was hesitant to start this one. Between the two, I think Infinite Assassins is better, but it still has lots of issues that stem from the main character. It doesn’t help that there are still formatting and proofreading issues throughout the text that pulled me out of the story. I haven’t read much LitRPG, but this series definitely reads more like a “manly man” thriller than anything else. While Infinite Reality had the main character bemoaning the fact that he had to work with others to solve a problem, Infinite Assassins sees him strike out on his own. This fit the “lone wolf” archetype better, especially when linked with the player class he chose for this adventure. Unfortunately, he was so obsessed with human trafficking...
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MOVIE: Epic (2013)

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EpicYear: 2013Rating: PGLength: 102 minutes / 1.70 hours One reason I loved the film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) growing up was the different perspective it brought. When characters are tiny, a yard can be a vast forest. Steps are enormous cliffs. Danger is multiplied. This is not an original idea by any means, but shrinking down characters to experience a much smaller world seems to always have some merit. Even books like Micro have touched on this subject. Epic (2013) is merely another entry in the "miniaturization" trope, but with some good action and world-building to back it up. As with many films like this, Epic wraps its main character, M.K. (Amanda Seyfried) in the troubled trappings of a teenager who is somewhere she does not want to be. It takes an adventure in the nearby woods to appreciate her nerdy father (Jason Sudeikis) and his attempts to connect with her. This revelation is only loosely connected to the battle...
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VIDEO GAME: Prune (2015)

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PruneYear: 2015Rating: ETime Played: ~4 hours When I picked up a few months of Apple Arcade for free, I downloaded a handful of games to play on my phone. Prune was one that looked soothing, like Monument Valley. It also looked short, which I could appreciate. Once I got into it, I wished it was perhaps even a little shorter. The concept was solid, but the way it was executed on the touchscreen of my phone made me wanting more control over different aspects. If I wanted to play longer and complete the rest of the secret levels, I could...I just didn't want to. The objective of Prune is to let a tree grow until it flowers. This requires trimming off branches and limbs as it grows, allowing it to get around corners and eventually find life-giving sunlight to bloom. The almost random way these trees would grow was one of my frustrations with the game. I had to re-start so many...
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MOVIE: Monsters, Inc. (2001)

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Monsters, Inc.Year: 2001Rating: GLength: 92 minutes / 1.53 hours Early Pixar films always had a way of being grounded in our reality. The toys in Toy Story (1995) had to make sense as toys. The insects in A Bug's Life (1998) were all known insects. It wasn't until Monsters, Inc. (2001) when an entire world had to be created to explain the "monster in the closet" fear most children grow up with. And while this film is definitely another tech demo to show how good Pixar had gotten at simulating cloth and fur, the plot itself is one of the most original pieces Pixar has ever created. Coming up with dozens of different monster designs was only the first step. That Pixar created a world designed for these monsters to live and work in was the basic follow-up, but creating a whole system of door portals that could access any room in the human world was genius. And having screams power the...
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BOOK: Only Human (2018)

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Only HumanYear: 2018Author: Sylvain NeuvelLength: 352 pages While I was not actively looking forward to finishing this trilogy, I’m glad I finished it for the sense of closure it brought. I still think Sleeping Giants had such an intriguing concept in how it relayed information to the reader, but that you could only really make that work for a single book. With a cliffhanger in each book of the series, I was hoping Only Human would wrap up everything and provide a satisfying conclusion. It certainly did its best to answer all the questions that came up during the previous books, but the ending didn’t particularly wow me. The difficulty of maintaining a narrative through reports and journal entries is only exacerbated here because the human characters are the only ones who can convey what it is like to live on an alien planet. The jumping back and forth between the past and present was an OK way to hide some of...
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MOVIE: The LEGO Movie (2014)

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The LEGO MovieYear: 2014Rating: PGLength: 100 minutes / 1.67 hours As a child, LEGO was my toy of choice. I collected it. I built with it. The endless possibilities it provided gave me endless hours of entertainment. In translating this toy to the big screen, the primary concept of imaginative play is front and center. The LEGO Movie (2014) benefited from an alignment of two forces that made it into an instant classic. First, the animation accurately depicted the feel of these plastic bricks. Second, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have created another comedic masterpiece for kids and adults. The debt that The LEGO Movie owes to all the kids (and adults) who used the bricks to make their own stop-motion films is unavoidably huge. The LEGO video games were a bit more flexible in their character animations...sometimes to their detriment. By keeping the models stiff and abiding by the blocky limitations of the medium, The LEGO Movie made each scene feel...
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VIDEO GAME: Wonder Boy – The Dragon’s Trap (2017)

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Wonder Boy: The Dragon's TrapYear: 2017Rating: E10+Time Played: 306 minutes / 5.10 hours Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is one of those games that I learned about through a YouTube video and realized I already picked it up for free from the Epic Games Store. The revamped art style was intriguing, and the gameplay felt somewhat modern—even if it had changed little from the original SEGA Master Drive. All things considered, it was a fairly fun playthrough, and I got my money's worth (despite not spending any to buy it). The form change mechanic made the progression through this game even more interesting. Once I'd figured out how to play as one of the animal-based forms, I'd have to learn the next one and start my learning all over. Granted, the better armor and weapons I gained along the way made this easier each time. And with each new form, I'd find some other area of the map that I could now...
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MOVIE: Trap (2024)

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TrapYear: 2024Rating: PG-13Length: 105 minutes / 1.75 hours In recent years, I feel like M. Night Shyamalan has regained some of his talent as a director. This may be because I go into a Shyamalan movie expecting there will be some logical plot hole that would collapse the entire concept in an instant, but that there are enough logical "yeah, that makes sense" twists that it's an entertaining ride. Much like Old (2021), Trap (2024) is the latest of these kinds of films that feel like classic Shyamalan. As a father of a young daughter, I can only imagine which pop star my child will become obsessed with and want to see in concert. I probably relate to this movie because I know such an event is in my future. Simply put, though, Josh Hartnett does an excellent job of showing how a smile and a bit of confidence can get you anywhere. Well, that and being a straight white male...but that's...
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