Lords of Salem

Work has been extremely busy as of late but I had some spare time so I decided to write about watching The Lords of Salem to help get back into the swing of things. 

When I first saw that trailer I was pretty excited.  I had enjoyed all of Rob Zombie's previous film work.  House of 1,000 Corpses reminded me of all those crazy horror movies from the 80s that my buddies and I used to watch to all hours of the night, The Devil's Rejects was just a wild and crazy ride from start to finish, his first Halloween movie felt like Halloween in the Friday the 13th universe to me for some reason, and the second Halloween movie was just plain intense.  I thought that the Lords of Salem would continue this trend but I was mistaken.

 

I did enjoy the flashback sequence at the opening of the movie; in fact, the flashback sequences scattered throughout the movie were probably the best parts.  There were a few spots that put dark, twisted imagery to good use in the film also.  Other than that, it was a slow journey in the same vein as Rosemary's Baby with no real scares that I can recall.  In short, the film was very disappointing to me.  I believe it could have better if the story would have been told from several perspectives - use the flashback sequences, show the author that was a guest on the radio show researching a book and slowly uncovering the Lords of Salem, use the Sherry Zombie character and her perspective but also sprinkle in some of the other descendants and their stories.  He could have weaved the stories and flashbacks together until it all interconnects at the end.  Just a few thoughts....

 

 

 

 

redbox instant = thumbs down

I like the redbox and visit the local kiosks quite frequently.  When I heard about their new streaming service, redbox instant, I quickly signed up for the service to check out what they had to offer.  At first glance it sounds like a good deal - for only $7.99 a month you get 4 free rentals at a kiosk plus access to streaming movies - so I added to my roku instead of just using the laptop.  We picked out 4 DVDs from the kiosk and then went home to browse the channel on the roku to discover the rest of the story. 

 

Unlike Crackle, Hulu Plus, and Netflix there is an additional charge - $2 to $5 - for many of the offerings.  Basically, the crap or older stuff is free while the newer stuff costs extra in addition to the monthly charge.  If I want to pay extra then I will go through Amazon Instant video and rent a movie; the cost will be the same or less and the quality of the video will be higher.  Granted, there is crap on all of these streaming services but redbox instant seems to be weighted towards the crap.  At this point in time I must give redbox instant and big thumbs down and I do not recommend it at all.  If anyone has some recommendations for roku channels, I would like to hear about horror or science fiction offerings.   

 

In game related news, I will most likely post the updated list of steampunk role-playing games in a few more days.  I am still gathering some information.  

Insomnia Induced Rambling

My original plan was to do a post about the professions and guild system in Perilous Journeys today but that has changed after a bout of insomnia AND my 5 year old absolutely not sleeping steady at all last night.  I am posting some gaming related thoughts instead; some will relate to this blog and some will be related to just gaming in general. 

D&D Online: During my insomnia I noticed that the client for D&D Online had finished downloading.  I had wanted to try it so I did the final install and got the game up and running.  It isn't completely terrible BUT the only reason I tried it is because it is free to play now.  Don't be fooled, though, because only SOME of the options (this includes basic choices such as races or classes) are free and others have to be paid for.  I wasted a few hours on it but I would rather be playing real D&D or something like Diablo, Ultima, etc.   

The new Conan film: I saw it recently thanks to the redbox.  I enjoy the Howard stories the best but do realize that some of the pastiche work is worthwhile.  Although the film was nowhere close to authentic Howard I actually enjoyed it as a general fantasy movie. 

Netflix: I have been watching the hell out of some Netflix during the Christmas holiday this year.  I have seen some damn good stuff like The Beast and the True Grit remake.  I have also caught up on some stuff I missed in the original airing like Twin Peaks.  Finally, I have also seen quite a bit of crap to go along with it. 

Dungeon Crawl name change: I have some assorted notes on my blog about the Dungeon Crawl board game that I wanted to design at one point.  I pretty much figured the name was taken but I looked it up on board game geek and it definitely is in use by another product offering a similar play experience.  If I were to continue with the design then I need a new name and that seems to be my dilemna.  Many good names are already taken - Dungeon Crawl and Dungeon Delve (4E book) are just two examples.  I am not always good with naming stuff so this could wind up being a real challenge for me.

Gamer ADD:  I fully admit that I have a problem with taking on too many projects when it comes to gaming.  I don't think it's a bad thing and it seems to be pretty common.  I am just going to try and focus a little more on the completion of several that are important to me. 

Reading: I have surged in my reading lately; probably due to the fact that my employer took two and a half weeks down at Christmas/New Years.  The last book I read in 2011 was Christopher Paolini's Inheritance.  I know he has his fair share of haters out there, but I did enjoy it and thought the ending fit the story.  The first book I will finish reading in 2012 will be Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings.  I have tremendously enjoyed it and will pick up more books by Sanderson in the future.  Anybody following this blog have any recommendations for Sanderson's other works?

Enough rambling for now.  Maybe I will get to take a nap soon?