Just finished watching Cyborg (1989) and End Of Days (1999)...

It Review: A Horror to be Imagined | Book Analysis

 

https://bookanalysis.com/stephen-king/it/review/

‘It’ tells a story of seven eleven-year-olds who face an ancient evil entity they call ‘It.’ Along with their daily social and family problems, the Losers club defeats It sending him to sleep. Twenty-seven years later, It awakens, and the group of once children fight the monster in one last attempt to kill it for good. Stephen King’s ‘It’ showed that there is always a triumph of good over evil.

In my view, many parts of Stephen King’s ‘It’ showed the transcendence of each member of the Losers as they left childhood into adulthood. For most people, the depiction of the members of the Losers club having an orgy marked the point they lost their innocence.

However, other events come to life that showed each member losing the elements of childhood in a specific way. For one, each member had a different fear as an adult. This, in itself, showed that they had gone beyond the point of being scared as little children. Another worthy event that marked members of the Losers club losing their innocence was their thinking. Bill felt the selfish thoughts of him using the rest of the club to get revenge was something only adults thought. One could say Bill had lost his innocence at that point.

Another feature noticed in the book is the victory of good over evil. One may think that the only problems the Losers club faced were ‘It’ and the Bowers gang, but the fact stands that the members of the Losers club had family and personal problems.

Throughout the story, each member of the Losers club faced hardship, and those hardships made them stronger. For Bill, him having to watch his parents become a shadow of themselves after they lost George was a cross he had to bear. For Beverly, it was having to withstand being abused by her father and husband. For Ben, being mocked for his obesity was a burden on him. For Eddie, it was facing his controlling mother, who didn’t want him to have anything to do with his friends. In the end, the suffering and hardships each member of the Losers club faced gave them the strength to triumph over evil.

‘It’ is a book that has a heavy impact on its reader. The book shows a town in a post-WWII era where bleakness and death reign. The horror of Derry is synonymous with the problems of society today. According to Christopher Lehman-Haupt of The New York Times.

It concerns the evil that has haunted America from time to time in the forms of crime, racial and religious bigotry, economic hardship, labor strife, and industrial pollution.

Though ‘It’ is a lengthy book with over a thousand pages, reading the book ignites curiosity to know what happens next. Stephen King’s innate detailed writing and events expression makes a reader engrossed in the book. It becomes as if one were in the same place at the same time with each character, one can feel the fear of the characters as each action is detailed. In my opinion ‘It’ is an excellent book worth the time.

Near Emery Barnes Park in Downtown Vancouver. Summer of 2018.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

 

https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/the-legend-of-zelda-a-link-between-worlds

Constants and variables – a high-brow theme of Bioshock Infinite, but one that’s just as appropriate for The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. In the land of Hyrule there’s always a princess, always a boyish hero, always dungeons to explore, gadgets to explore them with and always an overworld, full of monsters, magic and surprises, linking the whole shebang together.

In this, the latest Zelda is no different from any other. But then those variables come into play. On one level, like the New Super Mario Bros. games, A Link Between Worlds uses 3D graphics and recent technology to return to the 2D roots of a series. On another, it’s surprisingly innovative, taking risks with the established Zelda structure and finding out what happens when you do. Put it all together and you have one of the strongest games on the 3DS, or on any other handheld platform you could mention.

A Link Between Worlds has one specific vintage Zelda in its sights, and that’s the 1992 SNES classic A Link to the Past. It has the same top-down view, a broadly similar game world and is explicitly set up as a successor, though the hero, Link, and the princess, Zelda, are – as usual – not exactly the same people they were before.

It’s also styled in much the same way, with similar scenery, architecture and monsters, and a look that’s effectively what A Link to the Past might have resembled if it was being rendered in 3D on reasonably modern hardware. The aesthetic doesn’t have the charm and grace of the cartoon visuals of the Wind Waker HD, as used in The Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks on the old DS, and we can’t really say that we’re fond of Link’s latest look. Yet this style turns out to have some major plus points, which we’ll come to later.

The tale begins in the way so many Zeldas start; with an urgent summons and a critical event that drags Link into contact with an evil power: this time an art-obsessed sorcerer named Yuga. Yuga is busy transforming the Sages that defend Hyrule into feeble paintings, and is only too happy to do the same for Link should he get in the way. Luckily, his plan backfires, giving Link the ability to transform at will into a 2D drawing that can wander along walls and past 3D obstacles. Armed with this power and every tool at his disposal, Link must find three magic pendants and then claim the ultimate weapon – the Master Sword.

So far, so standard Zelda, albeit with a unique twist. Yet right from the start A Link Between Worlds starts to mix things up. Most Zelda games have a strict structure, where you journey through Hyrule to a dungeon, find a new piece of equipment, use the new kit to reach and then defeat the dungeon boss, and then use it to explore new areas and reach the next dungeon. Not so A Link Between Worlds. Now nearly all the equipment you need is available at the start, and you just need to rent or buy it from a mysterious bunny-eared merchant.

This has two effects. First, you need to keep bringing in the wonga if you want to get the gear you need. In fact, dying means you lose rented equipment, forcing you to return to your home and cough up more of your precious dosh. Zelda’s Rupees have never seemed so valuable or so much worth collecting.

Secondly, you have a lot more freedom in how you explore the dungeons. In the game’s first section you can opt to tackle dungeons two and three in either order. Once the action really kicks off you have even more dungeons in need of attention, and while you’re subtly encouraged to deal with some before others, it all really comes down to what you can afford, and whether you’re willing to rent or buy it.

It’s at this point that A Link Between Worlds throws in its second big mechanic. The first few hours have their share of tricky dungeons, asking you to make full use of two great gadgets – the Link lifting Tornado Rod and the always handy Hammer – not to mention Link’s new 2D form. Get beyond this, however, and the game opens up a whole new world, Lorule: a dark mirror image of Hyrule where a different princess, Hilda, is only just holding out against the forces of evil. Link can move between the two worlds by transforming into 2D form then creeping through psychedelic cracks in the walls, and the puzzles become as much about exploiting the constants and variables between the two worlds as using new equipment, solving puzzles and defeating all the monsters.   

Together, this handful of new ideas freshens up the Zelda gameplay, even as the presentation is raising nostalgic memories of Zeldas past. One of A Link Between Worlds’ key strengths is that it doesn’t tell you where to go or what to do, but leaves the situations lying within its two landscapes and giving (or at least renting) you the tools to do the job. There are hint and help systems built-in, like a handy fortune-teller, some helpful specs and a broomstick-based fast-travel system, but it’s great to see a game that makes you work out what you should do, even if it’s going to drag a few players towards the inevitable FAQs.

The best Zelda games are all-absorbing, dragging you from dungeon to dungeon with a mixture of sheer charm and the thrill of discovery. This is unquestionably one of the good ones. Along the way you’ll find the usual side-quests and eccentric characters plus some enjoyable mini-games, while collecting a range of gruesome ingredients for life-saving, damage-dealing potions. For a game with a reasonably small game world and a limited cast, there’s an awful lot of stuff here to get lost in.

That matters. A Link Between Worlds is on balance the best Zelda we’ve yet seen on a handheld, and one that can keep you sucked in for hours on end. It kept your writer going for two lengthy train journeys within hours of each other, where the time flew by like it was nothing. And while we usually poo-poo the 3DS’s 3D capabilities, they also count here.

The world and the dungeons are rendered with a palpable impression of depth that actually makes them easier to navigate with the 3D effect switched on, and that’s helped by the clean style of the graphics. There aren’t many 3DS games where the 3D actively encourages immersion, but here it does, adding a vertiginous edge to some of the environments, and making some of the boss battles genuinely spectacular.

The downside of some of the changes is that it can be frustrating. The help systems are unobtrusive and do nothing to break the magic of the world, but we can guarantee you’ll get stuck somewhere along the way, particularly once you have to switch from Hyrule to Lorule and back again. The routine of having to return home to re-rent equipment every time you die can spoil the flow, though being able to buy equipment later takes most of the pain away. And while we’re grumbling, the new systems for managing inventory and choosing items isn’t bad, but you can only use one piece of equipment at a time, and switching quickly from, say, the bombs to the typhoon rod is a pain.

Well, more of a niggling ache, really. A Link Between Worlds is sometimes a little too easy, and sometimes a little too tough, but it’s always utterly beguiling. It says something that with a new generation of super consoles just around the corner, some small part of us would rather find a desert island (with a plentiful supply of power) and settle down to make the very most of this pocket-sized marvel.

A Link Between Worlds has one foot embedded in the series’ past and one foot firmly in its future, and the result is another classic Legend of Zelda. It doesn’t have the visual flair of The Wind Waker and its DS progeny, but it makes up for it with fresher gameplay, some brilliant new ideas and a more freewheeling style of epic adventure.  Handheld games don’t get any better.

Jim Mattis on the Nickname "Mad Dog"

 

Jim Mattis tells Firing Line that "Mad Dog" came from the press and that Trump's "appeared to be quite fond of the nickname."

Now listening to Chariots Of Fire by Vangelis and The Bends by Radiohead...

Just finished watching X (1996) and American Ninja 2: The Confrontation (1987)...

Manga Entertainment released anime that can be cherished now

 

A still from X (1996), directed by Rintaro

One of the books that I'm particularly glad to have acquired several months ago is titled 'The Atlas of Legendary Places' by Jennifer Westwood and James Harpur. It was published in 1989, and I bought it at a used books store (Book Lovers in North Vancouver). It's rare for me to shop for new books because new books, or simply books that got published since the 21st century began, are very often poorly written and illustrated. The quality of books, like the quality of almost everything else in the West, began to seriously get worse after the 20th century came to an end. I do, however, go to Indigo Books and Music at times and look at what's available. One of the new books that I bought several months ago is titled 'An Illustrated History of 151 Video Games: A Detailed Guide to the Most Important Games' by Simon Parkin. According to the author, it's "a chronological history describing important games, but it's also a celebration of 151 games, holding up each example as a wonderful marriage of art, design and coding waiting to be played, enjoyed and experienced again." Like other modern books, it's not really that well written. It even contains some grammar errors. But I like how the book is structured, I like the author's choices, and I like that it features plenty of information and pictures. It's one of my favorite books in my collection. The book doesn't only include information about the 151 chosen games. It also includes information about video game consoles and it goes over the history of video games. One book that I bought recently is titled 'The Ultimate Playstation Games Collection: The 100 Greatest Games from Alien Isolation to Yakuzo' by Dan Peel. This book's intro page mentions that "Sony's PlayStation revolutionised the videogame industry. It wasn't the first home console, but it brought gaming to the masses in a way few other systems at the time managed to do. Now, more than 25 years after its initial release there are over 10,000 games spanning Sony's home and handheld consoles, and PlayStation leads the way in console exclusives. With so many experiences and genres to choose from, it can be daunting. But fear not! We've compiled 100 unmissable titles that no PlayStation fan's library should be without." I think that this new book is now my favorite book about video games. In addition to the list of 100 games, the book features articles from Retro Gamer, EDGE, and GamesRadar. Retro Gamer, in particular, is a magazine that I read frequently. Anyway, when it comes to 'The Atlas of Legendary Places', the book features a list of, and information about, some legendary and inspiring places around the world. I had been to two of the places on the list, which are the Alhambra in Spain and the Nile in Egypt. The Red Square, for example, is another one of the places that I had been to, but it's not mentioned in the book. The main reason why I bought this book is because it features beautiful photographs and illustrations. Since this book was published in the 20th century, the writing is excellent and often inspired. Reading about the Alhambra in this book not only reminded me of the time when I had seen this palace and walked through it. It also reminded me of the time when I read 'One Thousand and One Nights' more than a decade ago. This work is one of the most memorable and enjoyable classics that I've read. Having read it, I understand why it's such a popular book. Let's not forget that it influenced classics like Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade and Alexander Korda's The Thief of Bagdad (1940). While I'm on this subject, I can mention that I recently came across some quotes that I like by Averroes (Ibn Rushd), whose works are yet another great product of the Islamic Golden Age. Averroes didn't live in the Abbasid Caliphate, but he still had some interesting things to say. One quote of his is, "Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hate, and hate leads to violence. This is the equation." Anyway, the first chapter of 'The Atlas of Legendary Places', which is about the Eternal Realms, opens with the following introduction. "According to the Book of Genesis, God created the Garden of Eden, a lush idyllic place where plants and fruit-bearing trees abounded and the first man and woman lived in harmony with animals and birds. Such visions of an earthly paradise, places of wonder and delight, can be found in the myths of other cultures. The Greek philosopher Plato was the first to describe the island of Atlantis, where the inhabitants enjoyed a Golden Age existence of luxury and ease. In the same tradition is Avalon, an island of myth and magic, where enchantresses healed the wounds of those who came to them." Another book that I bought at the same time and in the same store is titled 'Art of the Western World: From Ancient Greece to Post Modernism' by Bruce Cole and Adelheid Gealt. It was published in 1989 too, and it's in good condition. In addition to featuring many beautiful photographs, the book is organized well. Before I bought it, I already had several very good books about art. A few of them are gifts from my mother. I will probably review them in future posts. Well, my mother doesn't only gift me with books from time to time. She also provides me with health advice from time to time because she reads a lot about how to avoid health problems. For example, for about a year already, she has been telling me that eating burned food and consuming liquids that are kept in plastic bottles or plastic containers can cause cancer. So, it's best to avoid drinking liquids out of plastic bottles, heating food in plastic containers, and keeping liquids in plastic containers because chemicals from plastics end up in food and liquids and then in the body if consumed. Moreover, cancer becomes more of a threat to people when they reach their mid-thirties. Anyway, when I was a student in elementary school and in high school, I took art classes. Therefore, I have an interest in art. There are some things that I've noticed about Western art after reading about it and looking at it. Western art has some characteristics that the arts of some other cultures don't have. For example, there are differences between Western art and Russian art. Western art very often features female nudity and depictions of horror or death. These characteristics are present not only in Western art but also in Western cinema. But cinema can be regarded as an art form, I suppose. These characteristics are not present in Russian art, for example. Russian literature too is different from Western literature in some ways. Western books and comics very often feature incredible individuals and heroes. For example, Arthur Conan Doyle wrote novels about an incredible detective (Sherlock Holmes). Ian Fleming wrote novels about an incredible secret service agent (James Bond). Stan Lee wrote comic books about incredible heroes (superheroes like Spider-Man and Iron Man). Russian literature, on the other hand, rarely features incredible individuals and heroes.

Two games that I recently finished playing are Final Fantasy X (2001) and God of War (2018). Playing and completing Final Fantasy X this time was my second time doing this. I guess that I don't really need to shower this game with praise because it's one of the best-selling video games ever and it's acknowledged as one of the best video games ever. After playing games like Dark Souls and Dark Souls II not that long ago, playing Final Fantasy X was a breeze and a piece of cake for me. Grinding for experience in Dark Souls is a tedious, lengthy, and sometimes challenging process. But, in Final Fantasy X, on the few occasions when I decided to grind for experience in order to have an easier time in battles, I spent at most only about an hour on doing this. Perhaps the biggest thing that makes Final Fantasy X a joy to play is its intriguing story. Yoshinori Kitase's direction was clearly very good. In addition, there's a memorable cast of characters, beautiful graphics and designs, a fitting and memorable music score by Nobuo Uematsu, and, of course, there's voice acting, which isn't as bad as some people say it is. I'd say that the voice acting in this game is mostly decent. By the way, the cover for the PS2 release of this game is one of the best video game covers in existence. So, playing Final Fantasy X again, almost a decade after I played it for the first time, was a soothing experience. God of War was also a breeze to play after playing Dark Souls. I was surprised by how quickly I was able to finish playing it. I think that it took me 20 to 30 hours to complete God of War, and I tried to complete every side mission that became available (I even defeated the valkyries). God of War is the first PS4 game that I've completed so far. Playing this game is a lot like playing Resident Evil 4 because it too has an over-the-shoulder camera. Well, I did play it on the easiest difficulty setting because I play video games mostly for the story and not for the challenge. God of War has already been acknowledged as a modern video game classic. So, I don't need to spend time on praising it. The graphics are obviously superb. The music score is effective, just like the music in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, though not particularly memorable. I would have preferred to play God of War on my laptop instead of on my PlayStation 4, which actually emits a considerable amount of heat  when it's turned on, but my laptop isn't powerful enough to run a game like God of War smoothly. As impressive as God of War is, I don't find it to be quite as memorable as the first two God of War games for the PlayStation 2. I haven't yet played God of War III. God of War is also not quite as memorable for me as Dead Space, which too has an over-the-shoulder free camera. I like the Dead Space trilogy a lot. I had an excellent time playing the Dead Space games on my laptop in the second half of 2021. I like these games as much as, or even more than, the first three Resident Evil games for the PS1. I played the Resident Evil games at the beginning of 2021 on one of my PSP handhelds, having bought them before the PlayStation Store on the PS3 was shut down. When the Resident Evil games were released in the 1990s, they were sort of considered to be blockbuster games. Well, now they can even be played on something like a smartphone or on an inexpensive handheld. The music scores for the Resident Evil games are fantastic, and I have them in my music collection. Resident Evil 2 is probably the most memorable one out of these games because it's longer, more polished, and more ambitious than the first game. Both Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2 have a haunting atmosphere, but almost every aspect of these games can be praised. Well, in Resident Evil 2, there's even a boss battle against a giant crocodile in a sewer. As for the films that I've seen lately, I can easily recommend X (1996). This film is one of a number of films that I own that had been distributed by Manga Entertainment in North America. The others include Angel Cop (1989),  Appleseed (1988), Black Jack: The Movie (1996), Black Magic (1987), Bounty Dog (1994), Dangaioh (1987), Ankoku Shinwa (1990), Devilman (1987), Fist of the North Star (1986), The Guyver: Bio-Booster Armor (1989), Junk Boy (1987), Landlock (1996), Super Dimensional Fortress Macross II: Lovers Again (1992), Mad Bull 34 (1990), New Dominion Tank Police (1993), Orguss 02 (1993), Psychic Wars (1991), Rayearth (1997), Red Hawk: Weapon of Death (1995), Shadow Skill (1995), Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation (2000), Sword for Truth (1990), Tokyo Revelation (1995), Vampire Wars (1991), Violence Jack (1986), Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise (1987), and Ghost Sweeper Mikami (1994). When I acquired some of these releases after graduating from high school, I enjoyed watching them but I didn't realize their value at that time. Now, some years later, I realize that the anime from the 1980s to the early-2000s  should be cherished because it's so much better and more original than the anime that began to be made in the mid-2000s. I have already gone over this observation of mine in an earlier post. If I take a film like X as an example, I can point out that its impressive hand-drawn animation alone makes it worth seeing and cherishing. It also makes modern anime look bland and amateurish in comparison. The film's director, Rintaro, directed another film that I like a lot too, which is Metropolis (2001). The other films that I enjoyed watching very much this year are The Bodyguard (1992), A Damsel in Distress (1937), The Thing (1982), Firestarter (1984), The Transformers: The Movie (1986), Backfire (1988), Flashdance (1983), My Bodyguard (1980), Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988), The General's Daughter (1999), 10 Rillington Place (1971), Absence of Malice (1981), Sudden Impact (1983), The Phantom (1996), Tom Horn (1980), Sisters (1972), 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984), Creepshow (1982), In This Our Life (1942), Blink (1993), Heaven Help Us (1985), Black Bart (1948), Ordinary People (1980), Under Siege (1992), Tombstone (1993), Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), and The Road to Wellville (1994). As I've already pointed out in an earlier post, seeing almost any film from the 20th century is a pleasure for me. Modern films are bland and amateurish in comparison. However, not every theater-going experience was bad or forgettable for me this year. I was impressed by Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, for example. I'm not some Marvel fanboy. In fact, I don't like to be a fan of anything. Therefore, I was honest when I reviewed Taika Waititi's sloppy, even disastrous, Thor: Love and Thunder. But Wakanda Forever is another success for Marvel Studios. Seeing this film was the best experience that I had in a theater in a long time. When the film came to an end, I thought that it's now my favorite film from Phase Four of the MCU. But, after thinking some more about this, I decided that Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness are on par with Wakanda Forever. Some people have claimed that Kevin Feige has been giving directors more creative freedom since Phase Four began. If this is indeed the case, I understand why the output of Phase Four was uneven when it comes to quality. Wakanda Forever has director Ryan Coogler's style all over it. First of all, there aren't many action scenes in the film because it seems to me that Coogler prefers to focus on character development. This doesn't become a problem in the film because the performances of the actors (especially of Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Michael B. Jordan, and Tenoch Huerta) are good, the cinematography is good (for a modern film), the direction is good, and the music is good. Therefore, the scenes of people talking aren't a snoozefest here. I cared about Shuri's struggle more than I cared about T'Challa's struggle in Black Panther (2018). It seems that Shuri intentionally puts on a suit that looks similar to N'Jadaka's suit from Black Panther because she wants to get revenge. I do like the first Black Panther film, which contains more action scenes, but I like Wakanda Forever more because it's directed better and because it's more polished. Perhaps the reasons why this is the case are because the film has a bigger budget ($250 million) and because production and filming took longer. Or the reason could have been because Feige was more involved in making Wakanda Forever as good as possible. I think that the filmmakers and the actors wanted to make a fitting tribute to Chadwick Boseman, who died in 2020, but they also didn't want the film to be a waterworks show. The country of Wakanda is a more believable place in Wakanda Forever than in Black Panther. Since Wakanda Forever is a Marvel Studios film, it might gross more than $1 billion by the end of its theatrical run. Its popularity also means that it has already gotten plenty of hate from the haters that hate its "woke" content and plenty of praise from the lovers that love the MCU. I'm neither a hater nor a lover of the MCU. I simply like it because it's a good film and because it's another fantastic addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Ice hockey riots in Vancouver

 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ice-hockey-riots-in-vancouver-135378

HUNDREDS of ice hockey fans went on the rampage in Canada after their team lost a showpiece final.

Vancouver Canucks supporters rioted after their side lost the prestigious Stanley Cup 4-0 at home to the Boston Bruins.

The mob torched cars and rubbish bins, overturned vehicles, smashed windows and showered giant TV screens with beer bottles.

Mayor Gregor Robertson said: “We have a small number of hooligans on the streets of Vancouver causing problems. It’s absolutely disgraceful and shameful and by no means represents the city of Vancouver. We have had an extraordinary run in the play-off, great celebration. What’s happened tonight is despicable.”

A store filled with smoke as thugs covered their faces with bandanas to continue the violence.

Canucks captain Henrik Sedin said: “It’s terrible. This city and province has a lot to be proud of, the team we have and the guys we have in here. It’s too bad.”

Riot cops used tear gas and drew truncheons as they battled to quell the trouble.

Police cars were also set alight and several people were treated for stab wounds.

God of War (PS4) - Easy Allies Review

 

God of War reinvents the franchise with deep combat and rewarding exploration.

Just finished watching The Fuma Conspiracy (1987) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)...

‘I turned myself into a Game of Thrones star – now women keep proposing marriage’: Ordinary Joe put on 10lbs of pure muscle to become real-life Khal Drago – and even speaks his LANGUAGE!

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2555818/I-turned-Game-Thrones-star-women-proposing-marriage-Ordinary-Joe-10lbs-pure-muscle-real-life-Khal-Drago-speaks-LANGUAGE.html

An obsessed Game of Thrones fan has put on 10lbs of pure muscle to transform himself into a hulking star of the show.

Rene Koiter, 29, spent ten months training to perfectly resemble the imposing character Khal Drogo, leader of the Dothraki.

Mr Koiter even employed a team of eight staff to help him with his professional transformation, so that he could look just like Khal - married to character Daenerys Targaryen.

When he first debuted his muscly new look at a staff party, the subsequent video went viral amassing over a quarter million hits on YouTube.

Since his makeover to the character - played by Jason Momoa -  the graphic designer has gained a legion of female fans and has been bombarded with marriage proposals from women online.

Mr Koiter, from Lake Forest, California said: 'Honestly, I had no idea what the reaction would be towards my transformation.

'Many marriage proposals have been flung at me.

'My joking response to these women is usually "Can you eat a horse heart like Daenerys famously does in the TV series?"

'Imagine my surprise when they come back to me, saying they would eat two hearts for me.

'It's flattering of course but I worry that people are mixing up the fantasy from the reality.

'Nevertheless, I do enjoy that the public are entertained because of this.'

Mr Koiter - who is already fluent in five languages - also learnt Dothraki, Khal Drogo's fictional dialect in the series for a complete makeover.

In order to beef up for his transformation, Mr Koiter attended a boot camp class three times a week, and worked out at a gym during his lunch breaks and took long walks on his days off.

He also took afternoon bike rides in the Californian sunshine to perfect his Khal Drogo tan.

His rigorous training regime means he is now able to flip an 850lbs tyre, equivalent in weight to the average horse.

Mr Koiter also completely changed his diet.

He said: 'I used to be a big cereal junkie - I would eat that for breakfast, lunch and dessert. But no more.

'I had to quit all sugars and simple carbs to achieve this look. Now I eat things like veggies, fruits, eggs, oatmeal, chicken, lean beef, fish and protein shakes.'

Rene enlisted the skills of a costume designer, make-up artist, hair stylist to create Khal Drogo's look.

He said: 'Drogo was indeed a juggernaut of a character to bring to life. The whole process took almost ten months and what I'll say is that you really need a team of people to build him properly.

'I spent months growing out my hair for extensions, pumping iron like a mad man and then mimicking his Dothraki speech and mannerisms.'

For his next project, Rene is considering transforming into another Game of Thrones' character, Jon Snow played by Kit Harington in the series.

The new series of Game of Thrones airs on 6 April 2014 and a 15-minute trailer for series 4 came out last night.

Rain In An Oak Forest by Ivan Shishkin, 1891.

 

Alaska that never was: Seward's Success

 

https://historicalaska.blogspot.com/2011/02/alaska-that-never-was-sewards-success.html

Today, in Alaska, there is much debate over building a bridge over Knik Arm from Anchorage to the largely undeveloped Point MacKenzie.  This infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" has garnered national attention for being an example of government waste.  Today, there is very little around Point MacKenzie.  Supporters of the bridge say that this will change with a bridge, which will allow development that will pay for itself.  While the ultimate outcome of the Knik Bridge argument is uncertain, it is interesting to note an idea that sprung from Alaska's early oil days 4 decades ago in the same spot.  This was Seward's Success.

Seward's Success was the ultimate futurist idea.  A city of 40,000 located at Point MacKenzie in a glass, climate controlled structure.  Touted as the world's first enclosed city, it was a dream thought up during the rush of money expected from the discovery of oil in Prudhoe Bay in 1968.  The idea was developed by Tandy Industries of Tulsa, with designers from Los Angeles.  Seward's Success would feature offices, shops and restaurants, an indoor sports arena, and housing units.  The temperature would be kept at 68 degrees all year round, with natural gas providing the power supply.

Transportation between Seward's Success and Anchorage would initially be a high speed tramway across Knik Arm.  Eventually, a monorail would connect the two cities and provide transportation within Seward's Success (cars were not to be allowed in the city).  Within the city, moving sidewalks would allow residents to move around the city.

So why is there no futuristic city at Point MacKenzie.  Ultimately, the idea was short lived.  In the early 1970s, the building of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline was held up in court.  With the expected onrush of people and dollars held up, the subcontractor could not make the payment on the lease.  And the dream of a glass city across from Anchorage fell away.  In all likelihood, the city would have been a failure.  Alaskans (or anyone else) would probably not go for living in what would basically be a gigantic shopping mall.  Seward's Success stands out as a social experiment that would have likely failed.  Still, it is fun to sit look northwest from downtown Anchorage across the two mile strait and wonder.

Retro-Futurism: 13 Failed Urban Design Ideas & Concepts

 

https://weburbanist.com/2010/08/30/retro-futurism-13-failed-urban-design-ideas/

Many an architect has dreamed up visionary plans for city centers, but few have actually seen their designs come to fruition in a real live urban setting. And while many such unbuilt concepts are technically viable, others are wacky, fanciful or downright bizarre. These 13 vintage urban design ideas for the future, from perfectly symmetrical egalitarian communities to the egotistical demands of a deranged dictator, will probably never become reality – and in many cases, we’re better off that way.

Gillette’s Metropolis

Before his name was inextricably connected to safety razors, King Camp Gillette had a utopian vision for the future which revolved around a waterfall-powered tiered city he dubbed ‘Metropolis’. All residents of this imagined city would have access to the same amenities including rooftop gardens in the perfectly round, precisely divided multi-functional buildings in which they would live, work, play and eat. Like many of Gillette’s ideas, the design never went anywhere, but it’s notably similar to many very modern 21st-century concepts for sustainable urban centers.

Broadacre City

Like Gillette’s Metropolis, Broadacre City was meant to be an urban utopia. But when renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright imagined the picture-perfect society of tomorrow, he saw not highly compact and efficient high-rises, but sprawling self-sustainable homesteads. Originally conceived in 1932, Broadacre City puts each homeowner in a self-built single-family home on an entire acre of land brimming with gardens. Complete with multiple cars per family, it would almost be an accurate prediction of future suburbia if not for the airplane in every front yard.

Atomurbia

If giving each and every family in America an acre of land seems impossible, imagine what life would be like if ‘Atomurbia’ had come to pass. This concept, published in a 1947 issue of Life magazine, detailed how to atomic bomb-proof America by spreading the population across the land in a geometric grid and relocating all industry into underground structures so that any single bomb would do a minimum of damage. The whole plan would have cost a measly 5 trillion dollars in today’s currency, and the authors – atomic scientists from Chicago – thought it could be pulled off within a decade.

Hotel Attraction

Antoni Gaudi’s architecture defines Barcelona, Spain even today with its fluid curves, reflective surfaces and organic shapes – but it would stick out like a sore thumb in the comparatively staid cityscape of Manhattan. Perhaps that’s what he had in mind for ‘Hotel Attraction’, commissioned in 1908 and also known as the Grand Hotel. The rounded, spaceship-like form would have risen in the exact spot where the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were later built, but the idea was ultimately abandoned. Gaudi’s unrealized design was actually considered as a possibility for the Ground Zero memorial after the attacks of September 11th, 2001.

Welthauptstadt

We all know that Adolf Hitler had many an ambitious plan that (thankfully) never came to pass – but few are aware of ‘Welthauptstadt’ (German for ‘World Capital’), the Fuhrer’s design for a new Berlin to be constructed after his expected victory in World War II. Taking elements from other empires around the world, Hitler imagined a broad ‘Avenue of Victory’ down the center as well as his very own ‘Arch of Triumph’. A test structure constructed in 1938 to determine whether Berlin’s marshy ground could have even held up such heavy Romanesque architecture (verdict: nope) still stands today.

Palace of Soviets

The Palace of Soviets would have been the world’s tallest structure at 100 meters high and crowned with a brightly lit hammer and sickle as a monument to Lenin on the site of the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Savior, if only the Nazis hadn’t invaded in 1941, putting a stop to construction. Its steel frame was disassembled for use in fortifications and bridges, and its foundations served as the world’s largest open-air swimming pool for a while before 1995 when the whole thing was filled in so that the cathedral could be rebuilt.

Ville Contemporaine

The architect known as Le Corbusier was an essential figure in the development of what we now know as modern architecture, and his many theoretical urban design projects aimed to make life better for residents of cramped cities. Displeased with the chaos of big cities, Le Corbusier designed ‘Ville Contemporaine’ as an orderly home to three million people where housing, industry and recreation all occupied distinct areas connected by roads that emphasized the use of personal vehicles for transportation.

Seward’s Success

If it was Seward’s Folly to purchase Alaska from the Russian Empire in the first place, perhaps Seward’s Success – a huge climate-controlled, glass-enclosed city for 40,000 people – could have made up for it. Or not. Proposed in 1968 and nixed in 1972, this unbuilt community was dreamed up after the discovery of oil reserves at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska when developers imagined droves of people coming to the area. The crowning jewel of the perpetually 68-degree dome would have been a 20-story Alaskan Petroleum Center, surrounded by housing, offices, retail space and an indoor sports arena.

Triton City

If not for a certain tell-tale 1960s aesthetic, Buckminster Fuller’s ‘Triton City’ could easily fit among today’s designs for floating eco-friendly cities. The futurist, architect and inventor was ahead of his time as usual when he imagined this tetrahedronal metropolis for Tokyo Bay, a seastead for up to 6,000 residents. Fuller wrote about the possibility of desalinating and recirculating seawater “in many useful and non-polluting ways” and using materials from obsolete buildings on land, which were hardly popular ideas at the time.

Future New York, “The City of Skyscrapers”

By 1925, many of New York City’s skyscrapers were already present, but futurists of the time envisioned not only a great deal more but a sort of aerial civilization complete with elevated train platforms and perhaps a rather unsafe number of aircraft flying around all at once.

New York City’s Dream Airport

All the airplanes in that 1925 postcard would definitely require a monumental airport in New York City, and what better location than right smack in midtown Manhattan? This concept  for “New York City’s Dream Airport” featured an astonishingly large – and some say ugly – runway platform. But for all of the prime real estate that this monstrosity would have devoured, it seems as if it could only handle a handful of planes at a time with absolutely zero  margin of error, sending errant planes straight into Central Park or the East River.

Slumless, Smokeless Cities

How do you build a city so egalitarian that slums are eliminated entirely, and nobody ever has to breathe in pollution? Sir Ebenezer Howard, the father of the garden city movement, believed that a careful layout with six satellite garden cities connected via canals to a densely populated central city would do the trick. Thoughtfully, the design included specially designated spaces for “Eplileptic Farms”, “Homes for Waifs”, “Homes for Inebriates” and an insane asylum.

Boozetown

“Just imagine a resort entirely centered on the culture of alcohol. A boozer’s paradise built expressly to facilitate drinking and the good times that naturally follow. Where the bars, clubs and liquor stores never close.” Mel Johnson’s ‘Boozetown’ was an entirely sincere proposal with street names like “Gin Lane” and “Bourbon Boulevard” that would have begun as a resort town in Middle America and eventually expanded into a full-sized adults-only city with permanent housing and its own suburbs. After many obsessed years of struggling for financing, Johnson gave up on his dream in 1960 and died in a mental hospital in 1962.

Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster Review - EIP Gaming

 

https://eip.gg/ffx-x2/reviews/final-fantasy-x-x-2-hd-remaster-review/

Final Fantasy X is one of the most popular games in the series to date, and many fans would say that it’s the greatest Final Fantasy ever released. It was the first Final Fantasy for the PS2, having a huge graphical upgrade, and being the first in the series to feature voice acting for the major characters. In it, players take control of Tidus, who suddenly gets pulled from his home in Zanarkand and taken to an unknown land. He joins a Summoner named Yuna on her Pilgrimage to save the world from Sin, while also trying to find a way back home. With its amazing story, strategic turn-based combat, and highly customizable Sphere Grid system, Final Fantasy X is a great entry in the series for both old and new fans.

Final Fantasy X-2 is the first direct sequel in the series and made a lot of big changes from the original game. The story takes place two years after the events of FFX and follows Yuna as she begins a new journey. The tonal shift may be off putting to some, but the game expands on the world of Spira, and allows you the freedom to explore it as much as you’d like. The combat for X-2 is much more fast paced compared to its predecessor, featuring an ATB (Active Time Battle) system, and the Dressphere system, allowing characters in your party to change their roles mid battle. While not as highly regard as FFX, its sequel is a fun game that’s worth playing, and its multiple endings and New Game+ even encourage multiple playthroughs.

The Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster bundles both of these games into one package and adds many new features to the game to give even veterans a fresh experience.

Graphical and Music Upgrades

Probably the most obvious improvement from this remaster is the graphical upgrade. Since this isn’t a full remake, the PS2 models are still used, but everything is retextured and smoothed out, adding much more detail to the environment, and making all of the character models look much better. Major characters are also remodeled, but the only thing that suffers from this are the faces. Some of the faces feel off compared to the original, and their eyes look less expressive, especially when the camera zooms in on them.

The music for Final Fantasy X has been given a complete overhaul. Just about every song in the game has a new arrangement to it, giving a new feel to areas and cutscenes. If you prefer the original versions of the music, you can easily toggle between the original and new soundtracks within FFX’s menu.

Added Content

The most exciting thing about the remaster is that we get the International versions of both X and X-2. These versions were Japan exclusive re-releases for the PS2, where many features, bosses and even story content were added.

FFX adds the Expert Sphere Grid. This is a complete reconfiguration of the Sphere Grid, where all of the characters start near the middle, and their paths are a lot more intertwined. This makes it a lot easier to build your characters off of their standard path (for example, Yuna can learn Black Magic spells much earlier in the game). Many new superbosses were also added, now giving you the option to fight Dark Aeons and Penance.

FFX-2 adds new Dresspheres (Festivalist and Psychic), and a Creature Creator system, which allows you to capture enemies and recruit them as your party members, along with a Monster Arena. Also added is the Last Mission, which is a new side story set three months after the events of X-2, featuring all new gameplay.

We even get some extra story content with Eternal Calm, a short movie set one year after the events of FFX, and Final Fantasy X -Will-, a 30-minute audio drama set after the events of FFX-2. PC players also get some optional boosts for both games. The main draw here is 2x/4x speed, which is really helpful when wanting to grind levels or farm materials. Other boosts include Supercharge and the ability to grant all items and abilities if you want to have a more casual playthrough.

For some reason, the remaster did not add the ability to skip cutscenes in either game. This can be frustrating if you get stuck in a boss fight because you will have to watch a potentially long cutscene before every attempt at the fight.

Replayability

With all of the added features, there is a ton of replay value in both X and X-2. For FFX, you can do another playthrough using the Expert Sphere Grid, or you can build the perfect party in order to take on the Dark Aeons and Penance. X-2 already had a lot of replay value for players who wanted to see all of the endings and try the countless party configurations using different Dresspheres. Now with the Creature Creator and Monster Arena, you can spend hours trying to build the perfect team and take on the new superbosses, or try to catch every monster and watch their story. Between both games, you can easily spend hundreds of hours in the world of Spira.

Verdict

Final Fantasy X is an amazing and highly influential game, while Final Fantasy X-2 is a really fun experience for those that don’t mind a huge change. With both titles being bundled together, having a great graphical upgrade, and having all of the International content included, I would highly recommend picking this up if you’re a fan of RPGs. Even if you played these before, there are plenty of new things to discover in the remaster, and if you’re looking to get into Final Fantasy for the first time, FFX is one of the best games to get you into the series.

Now listening to Godzilla by various artists and Stick It To Ya by Slaughter...

On St. Georges Avenue in North Vancouver. Autumn of 2018.

Just finished watching The Bodyguard (1992) and Self/Less (2015)...

X/1999 aka X The Movie Trailer HD (1996 Anime)

 

Book Review: The Odyssey Series: 2001, 2010, 2061, and 3001, by Arthur C. Clarke – National Space Society

 

https://space.nss.org/book-review-the-odyssey-series-2001-2010-2061-and-3001-by-arthur-c-clarke/

“The Greatest Science Fiction Novel of All Times and Our Time – ‘Dazzling’ — Time.” This statement appears on the cover of 2001. I won’t argue with Time magazine.

If you are a member of the National Space Society and have never read a science fiction book, this is the one science fiction book you should read. And you have to watch the movie which I consider to be one of the best ten movies ever made. Clarke wrote in the edition I reviewed [the ROC 1993 edition] that 2001 “has been called one of the most influential movies ever made and almost invariably turns up in the list of the all-time top ten” [p. viii]. It made my top ten.

This book is odd because of the way it was written. In the beginning section of this book, Clarke writes that in 1964 Stanley Kubrick, a movie producer and director, asked Clarke for an idea to make the “proverbial good science fiction movie” [p. vii]. The screenplay for the movie was a cooperative effort between Clarke and Kubrick, and when the movie was in production, the two of them were changing the screenplay as the film was being shot. Clarke writes that “toward the end [of the movie, the] novel and screenplay were being written simultaneously, with feedback in both directions” [p. xi]. The way movies are made, normally the novel is written first and separately, then a screenplay is developed from the novel. For 2001, the novel and screenplay were produced at the same time, therefore “odd.”

The movie has four distinct parts, whereas the novel has a discrete beginning, a middle and an ending, all blending into a single story. There are differences between the movie and the novel, but I would consider them to be minor.

The novel begins with man-apes fighting with each other. These man-apes discover a smooth black monolith but they have no interaction with this monolith.

Moving to 2001, Dr. Floyd is sent to the moon to investigate a smooth black monolith found there. This is a solid rectangular object with 1:4:9 dimensions, the squares of the first three integers. The geologists learn that the monolith is three million years old. Then the monolith sends a powerful signal aimed at Saturn (changed to Jupiter in the movie).

Discovery, a manned spacecraft, is sent on a mission to Saturn to see if the signal to Saturn would reveal something about the monolith. The active crew of this spaceship consists of  two men, Frank Poole and David Bowman, as well as three others who are in hibernation. The astronauts in hibernation are expected to be brought to life when the spacecraft reaches the vicinity of Saturn. The entire mission is under the direction of a human-like computer, HAL 9000.

HAL 9000 has secret information about the mission that Frank and David do not have. HAL discovers a plot between Frank and David to reduce HAL’s capability and HAL, fearing for the mission, is able to dispatch Frank into space. David, in his attempt to save Frank, is shut out of Discovery by HAL. But David is able to return to the ship and disables HAL.

Frank then goes on a short space journey in his attempt to learn more about the monolith and becomes part of the monolith. Frank’s statement as he enters the monolith is, “it’s full of stars.” The last twenty-eight pages describe Frank’s journey through space and time. It seems that Frank becomes a “Star-Child” without a physical body.

Arthur Clarke at first thought that this would be the end of his effort with the black monolith, and his characters. He writes in the introductory material that “I indignantly denied that any sequel was possible or that I had the slightest intention of writing one” [p. xii].  However, the scientific and photographic results from spacecraft of the solar system bodies led Clarke to change his mind.

2001 ended up being the first in a series of four books.  Each book describes some aspect of space flight into the solar system and a meeting with the monolith.

This first in the series describes the adventures of astronauts as they venture to Saturn in search of the identity of the black monolith.

Bioshock

 

https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/bioshock

Part of me wants to run counter to all the hype surrounding this game. “Look” I want to scream “It’s just another rooms and corridor 3D shooter. It isn’t doing anything that revolutionary. The AI isn’t as good as F.E.A.R. Half of the gameplay is straight out of Deus Ex and System Shock 2. The DirectX 10 enhancements aren’t all that great. Isn’t all the waffle about interactive art and moral choices getting a little bit out of scale?”

But the simple fact is that I can’t. Bioshock isn’t a game you can compare with others in terms of technical features, graphics and AI. The only way you can judge it is to take the experience as a whole. And frankly, on those terms, it’s out in a league of its own.

By now, you’re probably at least dimly aware of the basics. The game takes place in Rapture: an undersea city built as a utopia by a rich industrialist and a gaggle of intellectuals looking to escape the political and moral strictures of the surface world. Sadly, Rapture’s dream has gone horribly wrong. A mixture of deep-set corruption and dangerous substances has brought about its ruin. As you – the lone survivor of a mid-Atlantic aircrash – enter, Rapture is falling apart. Its tunnels are collapsing, leaks are everywhere, and its denizens have gone utterly, barking mad, splitting into gangs of ‘splicers’ who roam the halls and corridors in search of ‘plasmids’, ‘Eve’ and ‘Adam.’

Here things get a little murky. To survive in and escape from Rapture, ordinary weapons are not enough. For one thing, ammo is hardly in plentiful supply. For another, the splicers are so numerous and ferocious that it’s hard to pin them down with bullets alone. The only way to stay alive is to use the plasmids, genetic enhancements that enable you to harness the forces of fire, ice and electricity, create air traps or enrage splicer gangs so they fight one another, or use telekenisis to catch and throw objects around the room.

The problem is that plasmids rely on supplies of Eve to keep running, and on Adam if you want additional powers or upgrade your existing ones. Eve can be found just about everywhere, but Adam is a little more tricky. The only reliable source is to ‘harvest’ it from Little Sisters: the weird, child-like creatures you’ll see wandering around. This leaves you with two dilemmas. The first is physical – the Little Sisters are guarded by Big Daddies, hulking, armoured automatons with formidable offensive capabilities. The second is moral – is it ever right to do away with something that looks like a little girl, even if you’re told they’re not human and you never actually see what ‘harvesting’ entails?

All this is only the beginning, and I desperately want to avoid telling you anything that might spoil the experience for you. The storyline here isn’t imposed on you in countless cut-scenes, which are used sparingly and from the same first-person perspective, when at all. It’s drawn together from a dozen or more recorded voices, from the radio messages sent to you by the main cast of oddball characters, and just from the jingles, posters and public announcements that haunt Rapture’s private places and abandoned public spaces. If you just want to shoot things and destroy them in ever more inventive ways, Bioshock lets you wreak havoc with a vengeance, but there is something deeper going on here. I’ve played games where I’ve been gobsmacked, pumped with adrenaline or shivering with fear, but I haven’t encountered many that can manage to shock or disturb; that can make you feel pangs of guilt or pity or even something approaching tenderness. It’s not simply a case of creating atmosphere – Bioshock wants you to connect both emotionally and intellectually with its world.

Doing so isn’t difficult. Running on a tweaked version of the Unreal 3.0 engine with a lot of heavily customised shaders, Bioshock has to be seen to be believed. The water effects have got a lot of attention, and quite rightly so: the ripples that cloud your vision when you step through a sheet of pouring water is going to be imitated a lot over the next twelve months, and the reflection and displacement effects are completely and utterly wondrous. The lighting, too, is beautiful, with everything illuminated by harsh incandescents or an understated neon glow. Yet none of this would matter without one of the most cohesive and constantly impressive prolonged feats of production design I’ve ever seen in a video game.

From the masks and costumes worn by the splicers to the art deco architecture and the authentic period furniture littering every room, Rapture feels like a real underwater city in an advanced state of decay. While other FPS developers seem stuck in a stagnant relationship with industrial landscapes, jungles, barrels and crates, or forever feeding off inspiration from Aliens or The Matrix, the Bioshock team have let themselves go and create a world all of their own imagining. It draws on the work of Ayn Rand, the architecture of pre-War New York and the designs of Nazi architect, Albert Speer, but at no point does it feel totally indebted to any one influence. What’s more, the game packs in more variety than you might expect, with the glossy civic areas of Rapture covering a number of industrial zones, and some surprisingly beautiful scenery in the areas designed for leisure purposes.

What’s more, you can’t ignore the cinematic skill with which it’s all presented. Other games – The Darkness, Half-Life 2: Episode 1 – have done wonders with décor, lighting and motion to create a brooding tension or a sudden feeling of deep unease, but Bioshock takes it to a whole new level. This, you can’t help feeling, is what a truly great game is meant to be: not some dozy semi-interactive movie, but a world where your interaction is the biggest part of a rich, fully-realised experience.

Kudos, too, to the audio team – so much of Rapture’s rich atmosphere is conjured by the period music sounding out from slightly tinny speakers, or from the evocative voices that rise from abandoned recordings, or the radio messages that dish out guidance, mockery or assistance. In the early stages of the game, the mad mutterings of the various lurking splicers are a constant source of terror, to the point that the sudden appearance of the blood-crazed freak is practically a relief. And the lines they utter when they’re standing over your twitching corpse are packed with pitch-black humour.

You’ll get the latter more than you might like, but don’t worry. Bioshock eschews checkpoints or the usual save/reload nonsense in order to keep you constantly in the game and in the world. On dying, you instantly respawn with meagre quantities of health and Eve in a local ‘Vita-chamber’, meaning you don’t lose anything but your self-respect and a little time while you retrace your tracks. This is typical of the way the game handles its mechanics. You don’t organise your plasmid powers and passive abilities by pausing the action and going into some arcane status screen – you find a machine and get it to reprogram your mind and body. You can buy health and ammo from vending machines, or upgrades from a gatherer’s garden. At times, you can almost forget you’re playing a game.

And like Deus Ex, Thief and System Shock, Bioshock gives you freedom to do things your own way. It’s only on a second play through that you’ll truly realise how much scope the Plasmid system gives you to create your own character to match your own style and play. You scan specialise in hacking machines and security systems (done through a simple pipeline puzzle game) or in melee combat or in offensive Plasmid-based techniques. You can try to play using stealth, cunning and misdirection, or you can simply concentrate on all-out assault. As with Deus Ex, if you play through just the once you’ll only get to grips with half the game, if that.

Some people have a lukewarm response to the combat, but I think the creative use of Plasmids and the sheer viciousness of the splicers – particularly later variants tooled up with Plasmids of their own – makes up for the lack of what you might call advanced collaborative AI.

To be honest, if you can play Bioshock and you choose not to, then you’re as mad as the nuttiest splicer Rapture holds. Have your head examined before it’s too late. On the 360 it’s a no-brainer, and on a moderately specified PC – in one case an Athlon X2 3800 with an ageing Radeon X1800 GPU – a few detail concessions result in a smooth and still stunning experience. I was lucky enough to try it on a Quad Core system with an Asus GeForce 8800GTX, and it’s easily the best thing that I’ve ever seen.

Yet at risk of reiterating a point, it’s not the technology that matters here, but the fiction. Moments of Bioshock will haunt me for months to come, and I don’t believe for a second that I can resist Rapture’s lure and not return. Only time will tell where Bioshock sits in the pantheon of all-time greats, but if you buy one game this month, this year – let’s be clear, this whole decade – this is the one you shouldn’t miss.

The finest game of the current generation. Other games may match or surpass it on technology or features, but it’s hard to imagine anything competing in terms of storytelling prowess or overall vision. A masterpiece!