Ugh I Feel Sick

So lately I have been feeling a little sick. Not so sick as to take to my bed or something like that but that level of tiredness and just slowness that can’t be identified as say a cold or an infection, anyway just thought I would mention it in case I keeled over.

So I have been trying and trying to grab myself a bargain PS3 over the past month or so unfortunately for me it has only served to open up a darker side of Ebay with two successful winning bids ending in my bid being refunded because obviously it was less than they were expecting to get. Totally kills my belief in the Ebay system with all of its talk on bidding being a contract and such.

I am still trying here and there to grab some bargains thinking about grabbing a new radio, we will have to see how things go with the PS3 for now it is an elusive dream though not as elusive as the next gen of gaming consoles which as of now start at $499.

So this week totally out of the blue when starting up WoW I saw on their little self ad thing that there was ½ off on all character services. If you’re not familiar with the game these character services are things like renaming your character, transferring to another realm or switching factions. For my purposes changing realms is the important thing as the size of your faction on your realm really impacts on the aspects of the game that you can participate in.

I took the time to move a level 90 Paladin to Ragnaros after talking to a friend of mine and checking out WowProgress and RealmPop and it seems pretty good so far.

BOOKS

So I have been reading a lot recently last month was especially busy, most of them have been pretty good, the only one I wasn’t that overly keen on was World War Z but that was just me and indeed each to their own. I finally got my hands of Fall of Night the penultimate Morganville Vampires novel. If you’re like me and love those books you can check out my Goodreads list by clicking on the Widget on the right of the blog.

EMPLOYMENT AND JOBS

As I write this I just finished the paperwork on my job searching for the job, things are not looking great on that front the jobs are starting to dry up they always do nearer the middle of the year. Still managing to find enough jobs but it is getting tougher and unfortunately after getting the interviews and not getting the jobs most of the prospective employers don’t give feedback.  

FILM REVIEW: Dragon Lore: Curse of the Shadow

Dragon Lore: Curse of the Shadow is a 2013 Fantasy Film directed by John Lyde and stars Danielle Chuchran, Richard McWilliams and Paul D. Hunt.The film was released on the 12 August 2013 and is 100 minutes long. The film is also known as SAGA – Curse of the Shadow and The Shadow Cabal.

PLOT

A ruthless elven bounty huntress (Nemyt) shoots down the dragon ridden by the fugitive orc shaman, Fangtor Bloodmoon. When Fangtor refuses to surrender quietly, the huntress must battle for her own life against the dangerous villain, and comes away with more than just his head.

WHY I BOUGHT IT

I think the last fantasy related film I watched was Dungeons and Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness which was cheesily awesome. That was early last year which shows that there is a distinct lack of actual fantasy films out there that get released. Not including those ones which are just fantasy period monster movies which are ok but they are not proper Fantasy with lots of interesting lore and characters with a little depth.

WHAT I THOUGHT

Where have you been all my life Dragon Lore this was such a fun watch. I will admit to having low expectations as I had not heard of Dragon Lore or SAGA before and I thought it was just a low budget film that might be good for a laugh, either with the film or at it. It turns out that the film was so much more than a cheap rip-off of fantasy tropes it was a gripping story.

Have you seen similar stuff before of course, does this film take the time to do it in an entertaining way? It certainly does in a solid story that will keep you interested.

What I liked most about this would have to be the fight choreography, for the most part it was as slick as it was brutal in parts, I was very impressed by the female lead and the actor who played the orc, often in action scenes it is the stuntman/actors who do all the heavy lifting while the main cast just do a sort of fighting by the numbers that is certainly not the case here.

What I didn’t like was the small scale of the project though I fully understand that because they kept the story tight and controlled which meant that overall it never felt cheap or like a run of the mill B movie.

I look at this film and think to myself if these guys were to get hold of the Wacraft license and do a film based on that lore I have a feeling that I certainly would not hate it. This is a fine example of doing more with less as this is a much smaller budget than the summer blockbuster crowd.

So in closing if you’re like me and the idea of a pseudo sin’dorei running around with a huge sword sounds like an entertaining night then Dragon Lore: Curse of The Shadow will be right up your alley.

BOOK REVIEW: Feed by Mira Grant

Feed is the first book in the Newsflesh series written by Mira Grant. It was published by Orbit on the 1^st May 2010 and the ISBN is 0316081051. Feed was a Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel in 2011. I purchased this book.

PLOT

The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED. Now, twenty years after the Rising, bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives - the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will get out, even if it kills them

WHY I BOUGHT IT

I thought I would give the zombie genre another try after not really syncing up with World War Z which just didn’t work for me. I only found out that Feed was award nominated while preparing this review but after the fact I can understand why.

I for one would be far more excited about the prospect of this being made into a instant blockbuster than World War Z but to be fair that has been out a heck of a lot longer.

WHAT I THOUGHT

I will be honest I went into this book more than a little wary after World War Z and the first few chapters I was beginning to roll my eyes in anticipation of another dry fact filled zombie adventure. Thankfully it began to pick up and then it started rolling on like a runaway express train. What Feed does is a lot of world building especially in the beginning which can make the reading tough going but get passed that and it is like a plane that has made it out of turbulence – smooth sailing.

The characters are fairly believable and very well written and you want to know what happens to all of them.

What I hated? Actually surprisingly little allowing for the fact that the first quarter of the book makes for hard reading but really nothing else particularly felt wrong or bothered me about this book. I would warn you though that it can get more than a little depressing so be prepared for that. The one thing I have to mention is the journalism propaganda and the endless talk of searching for the truth, it is so idealised that I was worried it was going to give me a cavity of put me in a sugar coma but that is just me and my very low opinion of journalism.

What I loved? The detail oh my goodness the level of detail was amazing that is the sort of world building that you might see in TV shows like the Star Trek franchise after TNG, the amount of lore they squeeze into that book is quite frankly breathtaking.

I also loved the way events weave together and the fact that it never just devolves into flesh chomping zombie hordes, there is also method to the madness as the conspiracy goes ever deeper and darker. One of the most interesting aspects of the book is how the zombie phenomenon came to be which I won’t spoil here but it is an interesting commentary on the human condition especially Western society. Read on to find out the whole story.

Feed is a great read which sucks you right into a richly detailed world be advised though this is the book in a trilogy so you’ll be left desperate to learn about the next chapter.