In a future yet to be, the third energy revolution is ushered in by the invention of the Shizuma Drive, and with it, mankind celebrates a new era of prosperity. But within the shadows of this bright new world, two great powers clash… So begins one of the greatest anime ever produced – Giant Robo: The Day The Earth Stood Still. A lushly produced and reimagined version of one of the classics of the "giant robot" subgenre, Giant Robo manages to go above and beyond its origin while remaining true to its roots. [ Continue reading... ]
Under the Influence: Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian
November 7, 2012 By 3 Comments
Know, O prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars - Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Babylon 5
November 5, 2012 By 13 Comments
"It was the dawn of the third age of mankind, ten years after the Earth-Minbari War. The Babylon Project was a dream given form. Its goal: to prevent another war by creating a place where humans and aliens could work out their differences peacefully. It's a port of call, home away from home for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs, and wanderers. Humans and aliens wrapped in two million, five hundred thousand tons of spinning metal, all alone in the night. It can be a dangerous place, but it's our last, best hope for peace. This [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Dragon Age
November 2, 2012 By 2 Comments
(When I went to post this, I mis-typed the title as "Dragon Abe"; I now have a vision of a draconic Abraham Lincoln) Around the same time I got Oblivion I also purchased Dragon Age, both highly recommended CRPGs for my new PS3. Dragon Age, also, did not disappoint. There were multiple possible character paths to enter the main plot, and I played several of them. This contrasts with Oblivion (and its sequel Skyrim), which will allow you to do all sorts of customization of your character during [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: The Fallout Series
October 31, 2012 By 10 Comments
During the Cold War, many people in the USA worried that one day the USSR would decide it was time for the long-fated final war and send the nukes raining down. (Undoubtedly, many people in the Soviet Union worried that the USA would make the same decision). This fear made its way into our literature for a couple of decades, spawning its own subgenre of postapocalyptic fiction which included such classics and less-classics as The Chrysalids, by John Wyndham, The Magic City by Nelson S. Bond, the later Mad Max movies, and TSR's Gamma [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Dragonball/Dragonball Z
October 29, 2012 By 3 Comments
SAA, NEGAI O IE. DONNA NEGAI MO HITOTSU DAKE KANAETE YAROU. (COME THEN, STATE YOUR WISH. I SHALL GRANT YOU ANY ONE WISH.) When Kathleen and I lived in Pittsburgh, I had made the acquaintance of a gentleman named Michael Collins. Mr. Collins was quite an anime enthusiast, and I often referred to him as our anime "pusher", as he had a fairly large collection and was willing to loan tapes to get us hooked into various shows. People can blame him for my having knowledge of quite a number of shows, including Sailor [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Persona 3 and Persona 4
October 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment
While they are separate games, the two most recent entries in the Persona series for the Shin Megami Tensei multiverse, Persona 3 and Persona 4, are connected enough that I feel they're best discussed together. The link for Persona 3 goes to the FES extended play version; and the link for Persona 4 goes to the soon-to-be-released Persona 4 Golden, which is also an expanded version. I actually played a small amount of the first Persona game way back when, but I couldn't play through enough of it at the time to [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
October 25, 2012 By 3 Comments
Having played The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, I looked forward very much to the chance to play Skyrim, the next installment in the Elder Scrolls franchise. Both installments of course share a good deal; they have very similar mechanics, are set in the same world (although in a different portion of it – Skyrim takes place in the eponymous region of Tamriel, while Oblivion took place in Cyrodil), and even begin with your characters in the same position: imprisoned by the local authorities. However, things are a bit more … [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Thoughts on the Chronicles of Narnia
October 24, 2012 By 10 Comments
Once upon a time, there was a man who had an image in his head, of a faun walking through a snowy wood, carrying parcels and with an umbrella held above him. And the man decided one day to write a story about that image, a story centered around some children sent away from London during the Blitz. The man was C. S. Lewis, and that story was The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the first of the Chronicles of Narnia to be written and published. The seven Narnia books – in internal chronological [ Continue reading... ]
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