Author Archives: Enrique G

A Child’s Vision of Hell: The Black Hole

I originally wrote this for my own personal blog, which I’ve revived.  But it seemed like it belonged here too.

I had been wanting to write more but couldn’t really think of anything else to write about today until I saw the news in my FB feed that Ernest Borgnine had died at the age of 95.  The man had a very long and distinguished career as an actor, winning an Oscar in 1955.  He had more notable roles than the one I’m going to talk about, but my earliest memory of him as an actor was from the 1979 Disney movie The Black Hole.

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Wizards and Kings, Starcraft and Slow Rolling

Long ago when this blog first started up and I agreed to be a contributor, Mike suggested I put up a post about poker. Those of you who know me know that it’s much more than a hobby for me now, it’s bordering on a full time obsession. I’d struggled with the idea of doing so because I had a hard time visualizing the hook connecting it back to geekdom. It wasn’t until I’d let my contributions here lapse into dormancy that I realized the hook was there all along, I’d just not realized it. And that now as I get ready to try and take my game to another level that I find I might be part of a growing tradition where gambling and geekery overlap.

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The first hit is free

As a kid, video arcades were my babysitter much of the time. Mom and pop wanted to go see a movie my brothers and I weren’t interested in, we usually wound up at Putt Putt Golf & Games for a couple hours while they caught the flick. I don’t remember any games that became obsessive for me, other than maybe throwing down against my brothers in Street Fighter II or Cyberball.

Since I’ve gotten older, however, there have been numerous games that sink their hooks into me and won’t let me go. Everyone knows I’m a Rock Band fanatic. Also pretty hardcore into Left 4 Dead. I didn’t really think I got the Mass Effect phenomenon until I realized I’d started up a new career with a different character almost immediately after I finished the game with my first one. And don’t get me started on the Bioshock titles (please, Hollywood, if you’re going to turn every game into a movie, at least get this one right and put it in David Fincher’s hands if he’s interested).

But what is it that pulls me in? Story plays a big part in Bioshock, to a lesser degree in Mass Effect. But that certainly doesn’t explain Rock Band or my latest obsession Plants vs Zombies (if you’re not familiar with it, don’t laugh until you give it a shot. If you’re not sucked in after the first hour, you’re a better person than I).

Gameplay is obviously the key, but what is it about the game play that makes such a difference? I figured this is the best audience to pose the question to: what gets the jonesing started that you say “Just one more screen/mission/level…” and next thing you know you’ve lost a couple of hours and find yourself late to wherever you need to be?

Be still, the iPaddering of my heart

So trying to get started back in the routine of posting again maybe isn’t such a good idea on the verge of a product rollout…

As some of you know, Apple released a new toy this week. You might have seen a thing or two on the news about it. I had made up my mind to refrain from picking up an iPad initially, but I could only avoid succumbing to temptation for a couple of days before I was in line at my local Apple store picking one up.

I’m not tech savvy enough to comment much on the pros and cons of the hardware. I’m a hardcore iPhone user, so the software piece I was already used to. I think the thing I’m finding most interesting about it is the way some developers have used it to rethink the way we consumer media. I think once I find an RSS reader I like for this thing, my time spent with the printed word is going to shoot through the roof again. The Marvel Comics app alone is mind-blowing for how it’s made me look at a medium I thought I knew in a whole new light.

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Speaking of cheese

So I’m testing out the WordPress app for iPhone, and figured this tidbit was as good as any to share in the process.

While looking at box office totals for each year of the 80s to jog my memory, I found myself struck by the top 6 films of 1981. The first 5, in order:

Raiders of the Lost Ark
On Golden Pond
Superman II
Arthur
Stripes

Number 6 that year? The Cannonball Run. $72 million. MILLION!

Even sadder…I know I contributed to that figure. At least twice. To be fair, Adrienne Barbeau’s boobs figured…prominently…in my actions, I’m sure.

Vintage? Or archaic?

“You see, this profession is filled to the brim with unrealistic motherfuckers. Motherfuckers who thought their ass would age like wine. If you mean it turns to vinegar, it does. If you mean it gets better with age, it don’t.”

Marsellus Wallace, Pulp Fiction

Marsellus is talking about boxers in the above quote, but he could just as easily be talking about Hollywood or film in general.  Whether it is failing to utilize “actresses of a certain age” until they really need someone to play old old, or in a more technical light going back and touching up effects to erase wires and boom mikes that would otherwise be visible in the shot, film works very hard to facilitate an illusion.  Some of these sleights of hand hold up well no matter the number of years that have passed.  Others…not so much. Continue reading →

Terminate this: Salvation and McSuck

You know, as a card-carrying pinko-commie-hippie-liberal, I’m all for recycling.  Green planet and all that.

Which must mean that McG is Al Gore’s BFF, because I will be damned if I can think of a sci-fi movie he DIDN’T rip off in putting together Terminator: Salvation. Continue reading →

Set phasers on “closeted”

No, this place will not be all Trek all the time, but on the off chance you’ve not seen this video, I figure it’s as good a way as any to cap the Trek talk.  The music is “Closer” by NIN, so NSFW lyrics.  Keep your headphones handy and enjoy.