C.R. Langille's Blog, page 11

Survival Mini Post: Wild Edibles

It's been awhile since I posted a survival-related article. Just recently I was contacted by Colin from Basis Gear who liked one of my posts. Turns out he and his team also deal in the realm of survival and thought they would be a good fit for my blog. I checked out their link, and I have to agree. Here's a link to a website that details 62 wild edible plants. Each plant is detailed with quality photos and quick tips on identification and uses. Check it out.

http://basisgear.com/edible-wild-plants/

Spectral: A Movie Review

​If you haven’t seen this plastered everywhere on Netflix, then I don’t know what to say. Spectral released on 9 December 2016 as a Netflix Original movie. It’s directed by Nic Mathieu and stars Clayne Crawford, Emily Mortimer, and James Badge Dale to name a few. The short blurb for the movie according to IMDB is, A sci-fi/thriller story centered on a special-ops team that is dispatched to fight supernatural beings. On the surface, sure; however, the story is obviously deeper than that and a bit different. 
Like my other movie review posts, I’ll get into some spoilers a little later; however, sit back and enjoy this spoiler-free review. First off, this movie is actually pretty dang good. I was impressed with the special effects, the acting, and the story itself. When I watched the trailer I thought, okay, this could really go either way and I expected it to be a hot mess. However, after watching it I can say that it was impressive. Was it the most amazing thing I’ve watched all year? Not at all, but if you like action, sci-fi, or supernatural thrillers then do yourself a favor and watch this.

The blurb is a little misleading. First off, the special-ops team isn’t dispatched to fight supernatural beings. The spec-ops bubbas are already in the country of Moldova fighting against an insurgency for whatever blah-blah reason (doesn’t matter). They are all equipped with a high-tech set of goggles that are supposed to feed them information about their surroundings kind of like a HUD (Heads Up Display) you would see in a first-person shooter video game. As the spec-ops dudes are conducting their operations, they are picking up odd anomalies in their displays, fuzzy images that seem to move of their own accord, which then subsequently attack them, killing the operators instantly upon touch.

The lead engineer of the specialized goggles is called to the front lines to give his opinion on what’s happening. Things go from bad to worse as the “anomalies” become more aggressive and begin to spread throughout the city, attacking friend and foe alike.
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The entire first half of the movie felt very reminiscent of Aliens. You had your specialist (the lead engineer = Sigourney Weaver’s character), your battle-hardened military unit (spec-ops bubbas = Colonial Space Marines), your company rep (in this case a CIA Agent = the Weyland Yutani Company Man), and even armored assault vehicles. They move in, get their ass handed to them, and even run into a Newt equivalent. I halfway expected one of the spec-ops dudes to say that they would have to nuke it from orbit. 

Now don’t get me wrong, this isn't’ a bad thing. I love the movie, Aliens. It’s one of my favorites, so to have something conjure up that feeling was a good thing. Things take a turn as the movie moves forward, even bringing about an interesting twist at the end. Overall, I’d give this movie a 3.5/5.

​Now, onto the spoiler review…

If you haven’t watched this movie yet, please do before delving into this portion of my review. As I mentioned above, it’s a good flick and it deserves a watch.

I enjoyed the twist. Leading all the way up to the climax, the movie feeds you enough information to make you think that the anomalies are really angry spirits of the dead. They even threw in a fun effect of iron slowing them down. It made me think back to different lore I’ve read and seen about spirits being harmed by iron. There is a great scene where the spec-ops team is hiding out in an abandoned factory which is ringed by a line of iron shavings. The anomalies try to move past it, but get stuck and are unable to pass.

Where the movie begins to lose me, is near the end, where the lead engineer guy figures out that the anomalies aren’t spirits, rather some sort of man-made energy (i.e. a man-made weapon…which again harkens back to Aliens because the aliens are supposed to be a weapon that got out of hand). They track down the source of the things and then we get into a montage of the lead engineer and everyone rigging up energy weapons to fight them with “whatever was scavenged at the base.” The weapons he “rigs” up look pretty damn professional, they all look the same, and they all function perfectly. They don’t even test the weapons before they go head-to-head with the energy creatures. I kind of had to roll my eyes at that part and just go along with everything.

Turns out that the anomalies were made as weapons, but it begs the question, how did the opposition plan on utilizing them? It didn’t seem like there was any way to control them on the battlefield. In fact, they broke out and started killing everyone. I get the whole symbolism of creating a super weapon and then dealing with the consequences of your actions…but I can’t imagine that they would have been so careless. Perhaps I missed something.
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I also thought the fact that they had to harvest real people to make each weapon was kind of interesting. In a way, they really were ghosts or spirits. The craziness of the ending aside, it was still a good flick. Check it out if you have a couple hours to spare. 

Canyon Shadows Released!

From the author that brought you Consequence comes the next book in the Dark Tyrant Series.
 
Imprisoned since the creation of the world, an ancient cosmic being waits deep in the mountains near Canyon Shadows, Utah. He searches for the proper host in order to break free from his chains. That host draws near.
 
Sheriff Dan Blackwood is hiding a mysterious secret and even darker past. However, his deception could be the only thing that stands between the mountain and the world’s destruction.
 
Garrett Porter is an antiques dealer suffering from the recent loss of his wife and daughter. He travels to Canyon Shadows on the trail of a unique artifact but finds more than expected it the sleepy town.
 
Troy Grimes searches for answers regarding his father’s recent yet mysterious suicide. As his investigation brings him closer to Canyon Shadows, he begins to question what’s real and what’s not.
 
Templars, Anasazi, as well as Christian and Native American legends come together in this fast-paced novel of good, evil, and everything in-between.

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It's alive! The next book of my Dark Tyrant Series hit the streets on the 13th of December. I've added purchase links below. 

Click here to purchase:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2gC0wkd 
Barnes & Noble: ​http://bit.ly/2hxDY6h

A Review of Arrival

​I recently had the joy of watching The Arrival at my local movie theater. I had an idea of what it was about and heard good things from trusted sources, so I went in with high hopes and left not disappointed at all. The movie is directed by Denis Villeneuve and stars, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker to name a few.
 
I’m familiar with a couple of Villeneuve’s other movies, like Prisoners and Sicario, both of which I thought were okay flicks. However, from the movies of his that I’ve seen so far, I believe The Arrival is the best. The movie is based on Ted Chiang’s short story, “Story of Your Life.” I want to read the story when I get a chance and see how the movie stacks up to the written page.
 
The basic premise of the movie is that alien spacecraft land in 12 different spots around the globe. With no real way of communicating with the aliens, the United States Military enlists the aid of Louise Banks (Amy Adams) who is a linguistics professor. The tension begins to mount as the world’s nations start to diverge on how to deal with the aliens, also called heptapods because they have seven limbs, bringing to the world to brink of war.
 
This movie, while epic in some proportions is kind of a slow burn (which is good). It’s also one of those movies that you have to pay attention to or you might miss something. I’ll do a spoiler review below (don’t worry, I’ll give ample warning) but know that there’s a fun twist at the end and it’s one of those movies that would be great to watch at least twice. Once to be surprised, and once again to see how everything is connected.
 
Working with Amy Adams, is Jeremy Renner who plays Ian Donnelly, a theoretical physicist. While they clash in some ways, they quickly learn how to work together and form an effective team. The biggest challenge they face, which forms the plot of the story, is that they have to break through the communication barrier before time runs out.
 
As a linguist myself, I got a real kick out of how language was presented in this movie. In one scene that stands out, Forest Whitaker, who plays an Army Colonel, presses Amy Adams to get results and gives her hell for starting out with basics like hello, names and pronouns. Adams comes back with this little gem (I’m paraphrasing because I don’t remember it all exactly): “You want to get to this point: What is your purpose here? First, we have to establish the concept of a question. Then we have to establish ‘you’, and differentiate between the singular ‘you’ and the collective ‘you’ because perhaps they don’t act as individuals. Then we have to get them to understand the concept of what/why, because perhaps they don’t even question things in their culture and the concept of why doesn’t even exist.”
 
There was also a scene where they figure out that the Chinese are trying to break the communication barrier with the aliens by using Mahjong. Adams goes on to explain why this would change the frame of understanding by stating: “Imagine if we used chess. Our whole basis of communication would be based on victory and/or defeat.” It’s the little gems like these that made me smile and goes to show how important language is, and how unique it is to the culture it resides with. It’s also this concept that leads us into the spoiler territory. However, before I delve into the cave, I want to leave this little bit with the non-spoiler crew. If you are interested in aliens, linguistics, or good movies, do yourself a favor and see this show. Heck, even if you’re an H.P. Lovecraft buff, go see it. I’m not the first to point this out, but there are some Lovecraftian themes subtly weaved into this movie. I give it 4 out of 5 heptapods.
 
​Now, into the spoiler realm…as I mentioned above, culture can influence language, and as the movie points out, language can also influence how one views things. As the movie plays out, the scientists/professors are gaining a little bit of ground with communicating with the aliens. Throughout the show, Amy Adams is wracked with flashbacks of her daughter who died of a rare disease that didn’t have a cure. As the movie plays out, we find out that these aren’t flashbacks at all, but flash forwards. Apparently the heptapods don’t see time as we do and as Adams learns more and more of their language, it begins to shape how she interprets time.
 
As the story progresses, the unity of the 12 nations that are interacting with the heptapods begins to collapse. They all get different interpretations of a message from the aliens that reads as: use weapon, or give weapon. This starts the countdown as the 12 different countries try to figure out what it means with China taking an aggressive stance by threatening to take military action. In the twilight hour, Adams finally figures out that she is seeing into the future, realizing that her daughter and the death of her daughter hasn’t occurred yet, also realizing that the father of that child is Renner’s character. It’s about this time that Adams finds out that the “weapon” is their language, which will allow them to see time as they do. The aliens also mention that in 3000 years, they will need humanity’s help, which is why they are bestowing this gift to them.
 
She gets a vision on how to stop the attack on the aliens by calling the Chinese military commander. This is where things get a little hokey for me. One, in her vision, she’s at a dinner gala and meets the Chinese general who basically lays everything out on a plate for her on what she has to do such as, gives her his personal cell number, what his wife told him on his death bed, etc…he seems to know that giving her this information is important. My problem with this, is that how would the Chinese general know to do this? Does he see into the future as well? It just seems a little too convenient to me. Anyway, long story short, she saves the day and they all avoid global warfare…or even planetary warfare (for now…who knows what will happen in 3000 years when the heptapods need their help).
 
At the end, Adams and Renner are hugging and she has the knowledge of what is to come. She basically asks Renner, “If you could see your whole life laid out in front of you, would you change things?” In short, asking if he knew about their unborn daughter and what would happen, would he still choose to give birth to her? It’s a deep question, and really drives home what the movie is about…choice. That question lingered with me on the drive home from the theater. On one hand, you would miss out on ever having had any of those experiences or given life to another human being at all. On the other hand, you know that life is going to be cut short. Thinking to the love and bond I share with my daughters, it’s a heavy question. I know what the answer is.
 
But the real question is…what’s going to happen in 3000 years?

Magic in the Dark Tyrant Series

​There are many different types of magic to be found in the world of the Dark Tyrant Series. While I don’t want to spoil the secret for all of them, I would like to explain a little bit about the magic featured prominently in my first book, Consequence. The protagonist, Tobias, finds himself caught in a supernatural storm that’s raging across the world. The storm awakens a latent magical potential that has always been with him, but he didn’t know he had. It’s a power that passes through familial bonds (i.e. father to son, or mother to daughter). Toby’s father has the power, and was already able to utilize it before the storm rolled through his area.
 
The magic they can utilize is a type of life magic because it’s based on life energy. A skilled user of this type of magic can pull the life force out of nearby living organisms to fuel their powers. While in the book Toby and his father only use this power for offensive magic (they create burning golden energy and walls of force), the magic can be used for so much more to include: healing, moving objects with a power similar to telekinesis, warping time and space to teleport, and even ripping open gateways to other dimensions. Yet, there is always a price for such actions, for nothing is free.
 
To use this type of magic, you have to have an ample supply of life energy. As seen in the book, Toby first pulls life from the plants around him when he’s in the forest. While he’s channeling energy, the flora around him wilts and dies. This connection to the life around him gives him a radar of sorts, and allows him to “feel” the things surrounding him. Users of this type of magic can also pull life from other beings other than plants. The danger of this, is that the power becomes addictive and changes the magician. They can become drunk off the energy and will always want more and more, and many undisciplined users of this life magic have succumbed to the desire and have had to be eliminated (yes there are organizations dedicated to keeping magic users in check). 
​Another risk of using this type of magic, is that if there are no sources of life around, the user can pull on his/her own life energy. It should be fairly obvious that this is an extreme and potentially deadly practice. If the user pulls too much of their own energy, they risk burning out. While scholars haven’t been able to figure exactly why, they theorize that the body overheats and reacts with the energy until it will literally explode. Let’s just say that the Tunguska event in Siberia wasn’t a meteor.
 
There have been other noted side-effects from overdrawing on one’s own energy reserve to include loss of memory, blackouts, migraines, hallucinations, hearing voices, and even bad indigestion. To get around this, users of life magic have developed ways of storing reserves. Some will store energy in trinkets for later use, while others will hold energy directly in their own bodies. Storing energy in their own bodies will only work for a temporary time, as it will dissipate within a day.
 
The use of magic of any sorts is dangerous in the world of the Dark Tyrant series, for harnessing such powers generally draws the attention of unwanted beings. In the case of Toby, he drew the attention of a powerful demon in the Utah wilderness. While magic can be a boon, there are always consequences.

Skyrim Remastered

I wanted to take a step back and get away from marketing and promotion for just a minute. Speaking of which, I am not a fan of marketing or self-promotion at all, but it's a necessary evil I suppose. Anyway, I wanted to talk about the remastered version of Skyrim for PS4. I picked it up a few weeks ago and it only took about 10 minutes and I was hooked. I had a copy of Skyrim for the PC back in the day and played the living snot out of it, so I wasn't sure what was going to happen when I started this version. One, I didn't know since I logged so many hours back in the day if I would be bored trying to play it again. Two, I'd never played Skyrim on a console before, so I didn't know how it was going to go. Needless to say, neither one of those concerns turned out to be a big deal because I jumped in with both feet.

I've played both the Fallout franchise as well as the Elder Scrolls franchise and while I love both of them, I like the Elder Scrolls a bit better. I think it hearkens back to my days of paper and pencil RPGs and feeds some deep desire for sword and sorcery, which is exactly how I play my characters in the Elder Scrolls world: one-handed weapon in my right hand, destruction spell (usually fireball) in my left hand. The play is smooth on the controller and looks great on the PS4 (I'm betting the new PS4 4k upgrade makes it look even better).  Another nice bonus, is that the remastered edition comes with all the DLC which I never played. It was almost immediately apparent when I was getting attacked left and right by master vampires (damn bloodsuckers). 

What I like most about the Elder Scrolls, as well as Fallout, is how open the game really is. I could ignore the main quest line and just go be-bopping around doing my own thing for hours upon hours and be content. There's enough content packed into these games to last months and I generally find myself getting side-tracked with my own quests and goals that have nothing to do with the official quest tracks. I've played every Elder Scrolls game out there with the exception of Arena and Battlespire. I remember playing Daggerfall on my old 486 computer and being amazed at how immersive it was (not to mention getting lost in the massive dungeons...I'm glad they scaled those back a bit or started designing them a little better). 

Anyway, long story short, Skyrim is awesome. That is all.

Canyon Shadows Cover Reveal

Here's the cover for my newest novel, Canyon Shadows: A Novel in the Dark Tyrant Series. It's the second book in the series. 

Ouija: Origin of Evil Movie Review

I recently watched the movie, Ouija: Origin of Evil and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. It’s not perfect, mind you, but it had a number of interesting elements that spoke to something buried deep down in the dark recesses of my mind. I’ll set the scene first, then we’ll get into the review.
 
The movie is set in the ‘60’s in Los Angeles and centers on a widowed woman and her two daughters. The mother plays as a medium, offering to channel spirits for those willing to pay a price. However, the whole thing is a hoax with the woman enlisting the aid of her two daughters to help with certain effects in order to convince the suckers...er…clients, that what is happening is real.
 
The father died in an apparent car accident and all the family members deal with his death in different ways. The youngest daughter prays to him every night in a conversationalist tone, the mother keeps everything stuffed down deep and withdraws from religion, and the oldest daughter rebels in the most cliché of teen ways: sneaking out, drinking, etc…
 
It’s the oldest daughter's rebellion that leads us to the titular set piece of the story, the Ouija board. While sneaking out one night, her friends play with an Ouija board and nothing happens. The girls get busted and the teen daughter has to take the awkward ride home with the mom and we get some exposition, during which the teen says, hey, you should get an Ouija board for the business.
 
Of course the mother does, otherwise, this would be a fairly lame Ouija board movie with no real Ouija board. This is where things start to get a little interesting. The first time the mom starts using the board the youngest daughter who is upstairs and in a completely different room at the time goes into a trance and begins answering all the questions the mother asks.
 
The movie starts to ramp up and the little girl begins to use the board more and more, even by herself. She begins  to show some true ability and even channels what appears to be the father (however, any horror movie critic worth his/her salt will know that this is utter bullshit).
 
Things ramp when the girl gets more and more addicted to using the board thinking she’s talking to her father. Strange things start happening in the house which I think are included just for bullshit jump scare factor (more on that later). Lo, and behold the girls go to a catholic school, which is where we meet their principal who happens to be a priest. It’s when he comes over that things really pick up and get awesome. I don’t want to spoil it too much, but it has an Evil Dead feel without the campiness.
​First, let’s get through some of the bad points of the film and then I’ll end it with the high points. Jump scares are bullshit. I understand why they are included in horror movies, but they are cheap. This movie was chock full of jump scares, many of which didn’t really do anything to move the plot forward. Second, the movie is somewhat predictable. I pretty much knew when things were going to happen before they would, to include parts that were supposed to be surprises. It could be due to the fact that I’ve been inundated with horror since a young age, but come on, Hollywood, let’s think outside the box. Third, the first 2/3rds of this movie are kind of slow. It takes awhile to really get moving, but when it does, oh man, does it get moving. Fourth, there are some things explained near the end by the priest that feel a little too much like a bad info-dump, and a little too convenient. Apparently, the little girl writes some stuff down while possessed by one of the spirits, and writes it all in Polish (not a spoiler, that part is in the trailer). There just so happens to be a nun at the school that is from Poland and also knows some backstory as to what’s happening. I won’t spoil it, but I did roll my eyes at that part.
​Which brings us to the good points of the film. The last 3rd of the movie is awesome. It’s dark and creepy. They do some things in this movie that talk to the little dark creature in my body that helps me write horror. I even felt like it was an alternate universe me writing an Ouija board movie for a moment. They play around a lot with extra-wide grins and mouths and off-color eyes which are almost a staple of any of my horror stories. I also felt like the writers kind of knew some of the bad cliches that occur (i.e. not sending away other people to try and keep them from danger, not splitting up, etc…) and actually addressed them in the story. At one point the mother is trying to send her older daughter out of the house to keep her safe and the daughter responds by saying, “that’s my sister down there and I’m not leaving her.” Might not be the best explanation or reason, but at least they had a reason to not send her away. Near the end of the movie, keep your eyes on the background. This movie is similar to Insidious where a lot of the creepy stuff happens in the background. I love it when a movie does that because it’s subtle but effective. 
Overall, this was an entertaining movie and worth a watch. I liked a lot of the stylistic elements in the film and it’s one of the better horror movies to come out in a while. Is it amazing? No. But it was good. I give 3 1/2 out of 5 planchettes. 

In-Between Newsletter Preview

Still unsure if you want to sign up for my newsletter? Click here to see what went out last time. Plus, if you sign up before midnight, October 31st 2016, you'll be entered to win a signed copy of my book, Consequence. Sign up here! Email * Subscribe to Newsletter

Deer Hunt 2016

Within the last few years, I've developed a love/hate relationship with general season rifle hunting. For one, I love it, because it has so far been the only method I've ever harvested big game, and well, it's still hunting. On the other hand, I hate it, because for the most part, you can't make a turn without bumping into another set of blaze orange. This last weekend I went out hunting general rifle for buck deer near Scofield, Utah.
 
I went with my dad, two of my cousins, and their friend. Just as I had feared, the mountains were chock full of other hunters. I haven't seen that many hunters in my last few years of hunting combined. Orange and hunting rigs as far as you could see, sometimes lined up on the road like damned parade. Equally confusing to my emotions were the amount of buck deer we saw sitting in hunting camps, in the back of trucks, and/or tied to the back of ATV's. I think by the morning of day two (of my two-day hunt) we'd seen a total of five or six deer harvested by others. While I was happy and excited that people were having luck, each buck harvested limited the potential for my own success by a certain unknown margin (I suck at math so I'm not going to even attempt to figure this out).
 
Due to not having much time off, my dad and I were limited to the weekend of the opener to do our hunting. My cousin was gracious enough to take us out and show us around since he knew the area very well and had been successful many times before. The day before the hunt, my dad and I went to the North Springs Range where my uncle works as the range master and sighted in our guns. If you've never been to the North Springs Range, you're missing out. It's one of the best shooting facilities in the western USA. If you're ever out near Price, Utah, do yourself a favor and check it out. You won't be disappointed.
​The first day was a bust. We saw a lot of deer but only does. The only bucks we saw were the dead ones in the backs of trucks. The next day was much of the same; however, we had the help of my other cousin and his friend.  The early morning yielded the same results as the day before...does but no bucks. During an afternoon push through a wooded draw, I did successfully harvest a pine hen. I've never had pine hen before, so I'm excited to find out what they taste like.
 
Things were starting to look bleak, but as the afternoon wore on, my cousin had an idea to hike through an area that he bow hunted earlier in the ear. He mentioned he saw a lot of activity during the bow hunt and felt fairly confident that we could get close to some bucks. The catch? Well, it would require a lot of hiking. I was game, though, because the further we ventured out, the fewer hunters we would run into, and the chances of seeing something would increase.
 
Our adventure began around 1500 at the top of a mountain. We hiked down to almost the bottom, then skirted around the side of the mountain using a horse trail. At around 1730, we finally saw a small herd of deer. Lo and behold, the last deer in the herd was a small two-point! Everyone in the group knew I was heading out the next day so they let me take the shot. I ranged it at approximately 220 yards across the canyon to the other side, so I set my optics to the best settings I figured I should use, sat down on the ground and set my rifle in against my shoulder and knee. Perhaps it was the adrenaline or something, but my sight picture was all over the place. I tried to focus on my breathing and when the crosshairs finally fell into place over the deer, I squeezed the trigger. BLAM--the rifle went off and the deer hitched letting us know I'd hit it. It tried to run up the hill a bit, but quickly turned and sat down. I'd done it. I'd finally shot a buck after years of unsuccessful harvests. That elation turned to panicked frustration as the rest of the events unfolded. (Warning: pictures after the one below include pictures of the harvested deer. If things like that offend you, please stop here.)

​My cousin, keeping his eye on the buck, stated that it was still up. We had two options. One, we could let it sit there and die, or two, we could try and knock it down so it wouldn't suffer. We determined to go ahead and try and end it. Since I didn't couldn't see where it was, we had my other cousin take a shot at it. Long story short, he missed and it sent the buck running. We couldn't see where it went so we took off down the canyon, across the creek, and up the other side hoping to find it and kill it. All we found was a blood trail.
 
As we tracked the blood trail, my cousin's friend shouted out, saying he saw a two-point and it looked injured. We figured this was probably my lost buck, and told him to shoot it. He knocked it down and we moved in to start processing it. It took a bit to find the deer because it had rolled into a tree stump hole. If the other guy hadn’t been there to walk us into where he had shot it, I don’t think we would have ever found it. 
​We got to work, but it still took a bit to get the deer processed. Since we had to hike out a couple miles, I figured quartering it and taking the backstraps would be the best option. I also wanted the hide and head because I wanted to finally try and brain tan a deer hide. I packed out three quarters and some backstraps, my cousin took the hide/head, their friend took another quarter and the rest of the backstraps, and then my other cousin took extra gear from folks.
 
By the time we started hiking back, it was pitch black. There wasn’t a moon out and there was some slight cloud cover blocking the stars. It made the trek slow going, and coupled with the elevation, it took us a couple hours to finally make it back to the vehicle. I think it was the hardest I ever had to work to harvest a deer.
​Even while I was discouraged to be hunting around so many other hunters, I still enjoyed myself. Where else can you see amazing vistas, hear a pack of coyotes howling in a nearby canyon, see tons of wildlife to include a small herd of elk, and just have fun with friends and family? A bad day of hunting is still better than a great day in the office. Plus, the hunt ended on a high note with a successful harvest. All in all, it was a great time with some amazing memories (although I think I’ll jump back to archery and/or muzzleloader hunting for a few years).