Moe Lane's Blog, page 609
January 19, 2022
Video of the Day, CONAN EXILES: Action Park edition.
Don’t know what Action Park is? Oh, do I have a book recommendation for you. …Which I have yet to read myself. Still, I’ve been told great things about that book.
GNARLY!
#commissioneearned
The LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER title reveal trailer.
Sigh. I’m going to watch this, you know. I’m going to watch it, and I’m going to be cranky about it, and I’m probably going to even agree beforehand that I shouldn’t watch it. But we all know I’m going to watch it. I may even convince myself that it’s not bad, really. The Ring’s insidious influence cannot be held off forever, after all.
Huzzah.
#commissionearned
January 18, 2022
The ‘Are my kids old enough to watch it?’ THE CUPHEAD SHOW Netflix trailer.
There’s nothing immediately gory or lascivious about THE CUPHEAD SHOW trailer, which is a point in its favor when figuring out whether to let my kids watch it.
And my kids liked Cuphead. Specifically, they liked the Cuphead plushies. I absolutely forbade them to play Cuphead the game, because by all accounts that game causes grown-ass adults to scream at the heavens and throw their computers out of windows without opening them first. God knows how actual kids would handle the stress of a standard level. Although they took the ban reasonably well, probably because they were watching a clip or two of some of those aforementioned grown-ass adults.
Skip ahead to 3:45 for the best one. It has a slightly slow burn, but it’s worth the ten-second buildup.
01/18/22 Snippet, DESERT.
Shootin’! And I need to fix Joe’s inner voice.
Patreon!At least it wasn’t in the spine, Joe told himself later. Or the guts. The carbine bullet just ripped a bloody furrow through the muscles along his back and didn’t hit an artery along the way. It was still a bloody mess of pain, and Joe didn’t hit the ground by his own choice.
But, to quote the orcish philosopher: That which does not kill me will not get a second chance. Joe might have fallen down, but he still had the gun. And he knew which direction to shoot, too. It was like there was a white hot arrow along his back saying The sonuvabitch is over that way. Joe decided to take the hint as he emptied his revolver.
Five shots and two hits later, there was an elf slumped in his saddle. And an orc with an empty gun; on the whole, Joe decided he’d rather have taken the train.
See what people are saying about FROZEN DREAMS!
The TINSEL RAIN Kickstarter starts in six weeks, so it’s time to remind folks about FROZEN DREAMS. See this blurb? It’s a great blurb:
“Elaborate, strange and unpredictable, Moe has created a vivid world that feels as if Mickey Spillane and J.R.R. Tolkien went out drinking and merged their mindsets in a buzzed brainstorming session. Snarky, smart, and fast-moving, all served up in rat-a-tat-tat tough guy patter. If Sam Spade played Dungeons and Dragons, it would turn out something like Frozen Dreams.”- Jim Geraghty, author of The Weed Agency and Between Two ScorpionsAnd, from the reviews:
“If you’re a fan of noir-flavored detective stories with more than a touch of magic and mayhem, serious world-building, and getting in the front door with indie fantasy, look no further.” – Bloodwedd Mallory, Author of the Unofficial Legends of the Secret World series“This is a beautiful fusion of noir detective story and fantasy, with some sly comments about celebrity culture and politics slipped in along the way. Thoroughly enjoyable and riveting; started the book last night and did not put it down until I was finished.”“Usually tongue-in-cheek books like this fail to be believable as stories in their own terms: too many silly but funny ideas overwhelm the story as a story. This book avoided that issue, despite its wildly out-there world-building.”There was one particularly bitter revenge-review the day of that got deleted by Amazon because the ‘reviewer’ clearly hadn’t read the book, but alas I didn’t get a screenshot in time. But I cherish that review just as much as the other ones. It’s important to know that you’ve made an emotional connection with your audience. Whatever that emotion happens to be.
#commissionearned
Microsoft to buy Blizzard.
The timing is impeccable: “Microsoft Gaming will acquire Activision Blizzard — the embattled video game publisher behind such hit franchises as Call of Duty, Warcraft, Overwatch and Candy Crush — in a $68.7 billion deal, the company said in a blog post Tuesday. The proposed price would make Activision Blizzard the largest acquisition in Microsoft’s history, even as Activision Blizzard grapples with multiple lawsuits and claims of a toxic work environment.”
…Damned if I know why they’re doing it, aside of course from the fact that even a company as messed up as Blizzard is still a gateway into what is inexplicably (to me*, at least) being called the ‘metaverse’ now. There’s money in them thair pixels, and Microsoft likes money. Which has somehow become one of the less annoying corporate attitudes out there. At least they’re not yelling at me all the time…
Moe Lane
*I get that it’s probably a READY PLAYER ONE reference. Not gonna lie; I didn’t bother watching the movie. I’m already, you know, kind of in this Metaverse thing? Why would I watch something that’s just showing a more narratively coherent version of my normal operating environment?
#commissionearned
Keywords: Daniel Radcliffe, Biopic, Weird Al Yankovic.
Via @JoePCunningham comes this extremely important news.
“Weird Al” Yankovic— the prolific musician behind humorous songs like “Eat It” and “Amish Paradise”— is getting the biopic treatment with help from Daniel Radcliffe.
Radcliffe will star as the five-time Grammy winner in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. The description for the film says it “holds nothing back, exploring every facet of Yankovic’s life, from his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like ‘Eat It’ and ‘Like a Surgeon’ to his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle. Weird: The Al Yankovic Story takes audiences on a truly unbelievable journey through Yankovic’s life and career, from gifted child prodigy to the greatest musical legend of all time.”
It’s going to be exclusively on… the Roku Channel, which is somehow perfect. And if you’re wondering how they got Daniel Radcliffe, I can only imagine that it’s because he wanted the role. One of the more entertaining things about Radcliffe is how much he enjoys doing whatever movie he damn well feels like doing. Hopefully they get Weird Al Yankovic to dub his songs, though. Or maybe they’ll get Radcliffe to dub one of Al’s. That’d be funny, too.
Moe Lane
PS: Of course I’m going to see this. I’d go see it in theaters.
#commissionearned
January 17, 2022
‘Heart of Gold.’
#commissionearned
For the record: we should have boycotted this Olympics.
I’m not going to link to the racist filth that our athletes are getting subjected to right now over in the PRC, particularly the ones who are African-American. You can find it, if you really need to see it. But I’ll say this: every one of our athletes should be on the next flight out of that country. Doesn’t really matter where to, either. Anywhere civilized will do.
