Book Review: The Call of Cthulhu and other Weird Tales by HP Lovecraft (Vintage Classics)

Introduction:

Howard Phillips Lovecraft, was an American sci-fi, horror fiction author, who often based his stories on "cosmic horror". Most of his stories were published between 1920's-1930's, and although you might have never read his stories before, but you have definitely seen something that are inspired by HP Lovecraft's horror stories. For example, if you are a Metallica fan, you would know that the band has an instrumental song "The Call of Cthulhu", which is inspired by the Lovecraft story of the same name. Or "Arkham Asylum" in the Batman mythos, is inspired by Lovecraft's fictional American city of "Arkham".

Stephen King, have said that Lovecraft, is "The twentith century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale". While some other said Lovecraft is the comparable to Edgar Allan Poe in terms of his wild imagination, and the ability to weave the most spine chilling tales of the unimaginable.

Personally, I have never been a fan of horror fiction, and I have never picked up any of Stephen King's novels, and I am only about one third of way into a massive Edgar Alan Poe collection. However, I've always wanted to read some HP Lovecraft stories, only because I heard that back in the 30's, HP Lovecraft was a good friend of my most favorite author "Robert E. Howard", the creator of Conan the Cimmerian. This duo, is kind of similar to J.R.R. Tolkein and C.S. Lewis, the only difference is that HP Lovecraft is an atheist, and Robert E. Howard, has a very strange view about the world that is obviously twisted. Unlike the friendship between Tolkein and Lewis where both are Christians.

Anyway, I was not sure which collection of HP Lovecraft to buy. There is a book published by Library America, featuring most of Lovecraft's famous stories, and there is another volume called "Necronomicon", published by GollanczF, a massive tome containing a well collected library of Lovecraft's literary works. As a new comer to HP Lovecraft, I wasn't sure if it would be worth it to invest the bucks into getting those collector's books. Until one day, during a casual walkthrough at the book store, I stumbled across this book, "The Call of Cthulhu and the other Weird tales of HP Lovecraft", published by Vintage classics, the book only costs 12 dollars. At 551 pages, contains 12 of Lovecraft's most mind shattering horror stories.

In the last 2 weeks, I have been reading this book after work, while hiding under my blankets and paging through stories after stories of fantastic cosmic horror tales. And I have come to the conclusion that, HP Lovecraft not only has a great command of the English language, but he also seem to have the unique ability to weave sci-fi horror stories by using the combination of scientific and prose language. A style of which I have yet to see in most modern authors. Undoubtedly, Lovecraft is a great writer, and his stories are good. It is enough to send chills up your spine, and make you want to lit small lights while you are sleeping at night.

My thoughts:

What are my thoughts are Lovecraft's stories?

Well, to begin with. I am quite offended by the racist remarks and quotes in Lovecraft's writings. I have no doubt that Lovecraft, is obviously xenophobic and racist at the same time. This is evident in his stories where he continuously degraded people coming from non-English or non-white backgrounds.

However, if you are going to delve in HP Lovecraft's writings, and you are a Christian it might be worthwhile to note that there is a recurring theme in all of his writings. See, all of Lovecraft's horror stories are based on one concept. That human beings are created as a joke, an accident by an ancient alien species that ruled the earth millions of years ago. As Lovecraft described in "At the mountain of madness". An alien species came to this planet eons ago, and created life as an experiment, and through evolution, life have reached the diversity that exist now on the face of this planet. In "The Call of Cthulhu", Lovecraft have created this fictional race of aliens, who were rulers of the earth until a major disaster struck them that caused their decline, and in the story, it was said that one day, their high priest Cthulhu shall rise again to rule over the world, and destroy human kind on his ascension.

Therefore, I sensed that Lovecraft had embedded his atheistic belief that the universe, is a cruel place and that our existence, is but a joke and a freak accident. Nothing more.... Another theme I detected in Lovecraft's stories is that, in most of his stories, Lovecraft often create fictional occult groups that worships the evil alien race that created life on earth. I wonder if Lovecraft was trying to compare religious groups with the occult groups in his stories.

Overall, I sensed a lot of atheistic undertone in Lovecraft's stories. Furthermore, I detected that Lovecraft is out there trying to mock religious people. However, it is interesting to see that a lot of elements of the modern "neo-atheist" belief was already flourishing back in the 1930's.

As a Christian, while I did appreciate Lovecraft's horror tales, and find them worthwhile reading because of its undeniable literary values, but at the same time. I have to make my stand and point out the illogical view of atheist thinking, and I disagree with Lovecraft's atheistic view presented in his writings.

How can people really believe that the universe is a cruel place, and all that ever existed is nothing but a joke?

Can you really believe that? Can we really believe that? To take on this atheistic worldview, will mean that love, for example has no meaning at all. The love for your family and friends, will be nothing but a sick joke if our existence is an ultimate sarcastic joke with no purpose nor meaning.

The universe, was not meant to be a cruel place with no purpose nor meaning. In Genesis chapter 1, it said "God" created the universe. It is a creation process with structure, purpose and meaning, with every step of creation, the bible says "And God saw that it was good". See, when God created everything, it was meant to be "GOOD", with "good" purpose and "good" meaning, not cruel and meaningless as the neo atheist view want us to believe.

Unlike Lovecraft's evil alien race who created life on earth, who sees human beings as nothing but playthings and a joke. The God of Christianity, is a loving and just creator who loves His own creations so much that He even gave his only son, Jesus Christ to the world, to save the those who believe in Him for eternal life (John 3:16: For God so loved the world that He gave his only son, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life).

So what do you believe? Do you believe that the universe is cruel and our existence has no meaning? Or are you unsure and don't want to think about it, only focusing on the things of the present? I implore you to use your common sense, which belief is right ? To believe that life, love, family, friends, and everything has no meaning, purpose and will end with aboslute nothingness, because it's all an accident? Or to believe that everything has meaning and purpose because there is a God that loves us so much that he even gave us his only son, Jesus Christ and there is hope, with something true and eternal?

This, is I think, the most important question and decision that we all have to make, at some stage of our lives. I can only pray that you will make the right one before it is too late. For the space-time continuum for us creatures, is a one way arrow, with our lives fading away but as glimpse of the blurring past millenia from now. At the end, only what we believe will matter at the end of this seemingly everlasting continuum, when we meet our creator.

Book rating: 4/5

Movie review: Conan the Barbarian 3D

Robert E. Howard, the founding father of sword and sorcery literature, is also the creator of one of the most iconic characters in modern literature. Conan the Cimmerian, since the first Conan story was published in the weird tale magazine back in the 1930's. 80 years after the author's death, Conan has appeared in hundreds of different media productions: books, movies, comic books, video games, TV series, and even board games.

In 1982, John Milus directed the movie "Conan the Barbarian", starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Although Arnold's Conan movie was not faithful to the original material, and was somewhat dull. The movie is considered as a cult classic today. The 1984 sequel "Conan the Destroyer", once starred by Arnie was, to be honest, a joke of a movie that was almost not watchable.

Almost 30 years later, big Hollywood studio decided to throw in big budget to reboot the Conan franchise. After a few would-be directors dropped out of the project, they finally settled with Marcus Nispel to direct a new film for the world's most legendary barbarian.

In order for me to review this movie, I will have to talk about Marcus Nispel a little bit more. To be brief, this man's entire movie directing career consist of remakes of horror movies. And so far, Mr. Nispel has yet to come come up with a movie that is even half decent.. I remember seeing an action epic movie, "Pathfinder", directed by Marcus Nispel, and I have to say that although the movie is action packed, but it bored me to death. So when I first heard that Marcus Nispel was going to direct the new Conan movie, immediately I thought the movie was going to be nothing short of a disaster. So having introducing this background, now I can go into the actual review.

The story of Conan the Barbarian is a very simple one. The bad guy is looking to re-assemble an ancient, evil relic that will give him power to rule the world. He comes to young Conan's village with his lackeys to seek a piece of that relic. They slaughtered the entire village, and killed Conan's father in front of him. Young Conan escaped, grew up big and strong, and by chance stumble upon the bad guy again. Vowed for revenge, tracked down the baddies and his lackeys, and killed them all.. barbarian style..

As a promotion strategy, the movie studio even released the movie novel a month before the movie's release. I happened to have read the movie novel of Conan the Barbarian, and I thought it actually had a half decent story. Therefore, my expectation about the movie went up a little bit despite the fact that Marcus Nispel was the director.

Then I saw the movie in the cinema, in 3D... and guess what? Being a Conan fan, I am very disappointed at how the movie turn out to be. No, it is actually not a very bad movie, but it certainly wasn't a good movie at all. From my opinion, there are only two redeeming qualities about this new Conan movie, with everything else bad, so let me talk about the good stuff first:

Firstly, the new actor who plays Conan (Jason Momoa), has done a terrific job portraying Conan. I am glad that they finally chose the right guy to play Conan. Gone is the brutish blonde haired, blue eyed, body building, viking (Northern European) look alike Arnold with unnatural sized biceps, clumsy sword play with awkward immobility problems.

Instead, the new Conan (Jason Momoa) is almost exactly what Robert E. Howard described Conan to be in his books. Black haired, bronze skin, powerfully built but athletic with incredible agility. Jason Momoa portrayed Conan as an anti hero who is dark, brooding, intelligent but not overly sophisticated, barbaric yet not primitive. Just like Robert E. Howard wanted Conan to be when he created Conan in front of his typewriter in 1932.

The second thing I like, are the action scenes and the aesthetics of this movie. The action scenes are very well done, the sword fights are great. This is attributed to Jason Momoa's physicality and the well rehearsed choreography. Conan moves with great fluidity, and the action scenes really brought to life Howard's description in his books that "Conan moves with the speed of a panther and strikes like a wounded lion". The aesthetics, although with heavily CGI effect, looks great in this movie.

Other than choice of actor, action scenes and aesthetics. Everything else about this movie is bad..

Marcus Nispel, has talents when it comes to directing action scenes and has a good taste for aesthetics. However, he has no idea how to make a movie flow smoothly. This two hour long movie has non-stop actions, but jumps from one battle scene into another, with a formulaic 30 seconds dialogue in between to connect the fight scenes. The result is an extremely fragmented, choppy movie that has zero character development, and laughable story progression.

All of the character development, background stories and character interactions present in the movie novel (pre-released by the movie studio) are all absent in the actual film! This movie feels like a 1980's video game with 30 second dialogues between boss fights that serves as mission debrief! Personally, I think Marcus Nispel is coming very close to Edwood in terms of bad directing.

Or perhaps, the movie studio has decided to cut out all the story stuff so they can make the movie shorter and fit into the standard 2 hours running time. Hence more screening time and more sales turn over.. if that is the case, I hope they will release the uncut version because I am willing to give this movie another chance.

In terms of violence, sex and nudity. This movie has some sex scenes and nudity, but it is not very bad. However, in terms of violence, it is definitely quite heavy. In Australia, this movie has MA15+ rating. However, I think it should have been R-rated due to heavy violence. There are a lot of bloood and gore as Conan engages on his personal vendetta. So I don't think this is a movie for everyone, especially if you are very sensitive about heavy violence.

Important things to think about:

There is one thing that I think is worth mentioning. In one of the scenes in the movie, Conan's romance interest asked Conan if he thinks the gods have purposes for people in this world. To Conan replied, he is not concerned about after life, and said "I live, I love, I slay, and I am content".

Now let's think about what Conan is saying here for a moment. Do you really believe that human beings serve no higher purpose other than to "live in the moment"? Note that existentialism and Nietzsche's philosophy is heavily embedded in all of Robert E. Howard's original Conan stories. Although I am a Conan fan, but I have always disagreed with Howard's view of existentialism. This is because I am a Christian, and I believe that the Bible says human beings are created by God with a special purpose, which was lived out to the full in the life of Jesus Christ in his 33 years on earth. So if you are reading this, do you really think that we have no special purpose in this world other than being content with all the material things of this world and our own works? See, Robert E. Howard, a master story writer with excellent command of English, created Conan, the world's most legendary Barbarian. Their works and stories are stuff of mythical proportion, yet both Howard and Conan will not be here forever. They are like flowers that blooms and will fade away into the sands of time, one day be forgotten. Just like this attempt to reboot the franchise will eventually fade in a few years time.

So where do you invest your life in? In the material things of the present? Or will you invest your life in the things that are eternal? Maybe it is time to think about this question before it is too late.

Final verdict:

Story 3/10: Marcus Nispel, is pretty close to Edwood as a terrible director. The plots are so choppy and fragmented that the film feels like a 2 hour long UFC pay-per-view. The only redeemable part of the story is Jason Momoa's portrayal as Conan.

Cinematography 9/10: The action scenes are great, once again attributed to Jason Momoa's ability to carry the physical role of Conan. The aesthetics are beautiful, the color contrasts, designs, production values are all top notch. In terms of cinematography, this is one of those style over substance movie. There is probably no need to watch this movie in 3D, as the 3D effects are not spectacular.

Sex and nudity: medium - There is about 30 seconds of sex scenes, and some nudity scenes, but it is not very explicit, compared to many modern day films.

Violence: Very high - There are a lot of blood and gore, the violence level is pretty high and the body count is high. If you don't like movies with a lot of violence, then I would suggest skipping this one for your own good.

Final score: 6/10 - Conan the Barbarian 3D, is a really average movie, a typical action flick and a classic example of how the movie producer, studio and the director has ruined great potentials of a concept in favor of capitalizing cash earning. Only Jason Momoa's acting, the action scenes and the aesthetics saved the movie from being a total disaster.. A sequel is probably coming in a few years time, I sincerely Mr. Nispel won't be the director again.. until the day when Hollywood decide to grow up and make a Conan movie worthy and faithful to Robert E. Howard's books, I would remain to be a fan of Conan because of those 80 years old Robert E. Howard tales.

Movie Review: Captain America: The First Avenger

With American economy in crisis and the possibility that the American government might default because of debt. It is a bit ironic that a movie with a title "Captain America" is released at this time. However, Paramount has decided to bring audiences the origin story of the first avenger, an icon of the ideal hero from an era when heroes embodied all the virtues that a hero should have.

Let me start this review by saying that, while the story development of this movie is not the best among the superhero movies I've seen. However, in terms of the messages the story is trying to convey, I have to honestly say it is one of the best I've seen.

Story:

The premises is set in WW2. In USA, the government is trying to recruit young men to fight against the Nazi. Steve Rogers, a 90 pound weakling also wanted to join the army to fight the Nazi. However, because of he is physically weak, he failed at every army recruitment test. By chance, he stumbled upon an opportunity to be enrolled in the "super solider" program. After a few selection test, Steve Rogers was selected to receive the "super solider" enhancement. Which transformed his body, giving him super human physicality. After the enhancement procedure was complete, the laboratory was attacked by a Nazi secret organisation called "Hydra". The inventor of the super solider program was killed in the attack, and Steven Roger became the first and the last super solider. Upon investigating the attack, Rogers discovered an evil plot by the leader of the Hydra, a mad scientist "Red Skull" and had to stop him before it is too late...

The story is very simple and straight forward, it is no complicated and easy to understand. Like I said before, the story is certainly not the best movie plot ever, but there are reasons that I would highly recommend this film. I will talk about them next.

My thoughts on the movie:

Most people, especially Christians will like many of the messages conveyed in this film. Not because of its fancy 3D and special effects, or its great production value and costume design. I think people will like this film, because of the character of the protagonist, Steve Rogers.

In the beginning of the movie, we are introduced to Steve Rogers as a 90 pound but very brave weakling, being bullied his entire life, can't even pass recruitment tests to join the army. However, at the end of the day it was his persistence and his desire to serve his country, to fight against Nazi that got him enrolled in the selection test for the super soldier program.

After Steven Rogers joined the selection test, he pretty much came last in all the physical tests because he is naturally weak. Eventually he was chosen to receive the enhancement, because he was humble and have the courage of self sacrifice. In one of the scenes, the commander questioned the scientist's decision of choosing the weak Steven Rogers to receive the enhancement, As a test, he threw a fake grenade into the crowd of the "would be" contestants for super solider program. All the contestants ran for cover, only Steven Rogers ran towards the grenade, cover it with his body while shouting for everyone to take cover.

Later when Rogers asked the scientist why he was chosen to be the super solider despite his weak physical status. The scientist replied by telling Rogers that, the reason why he chose Rogers is because he is weak and small. As the scientist explained, power amplifies who you are inside. The strong takes the power for granted and let it go to their heads, while the weak given strength will remember what it was like before, so they have the compassion to use it responsibly and for good. The theme of humility and thankfulness is very strong here, and a lot of scripture truth resonated in this theme.

The third great theme in the movie was shown in one of the conversation between Steven Rogers and his love interest. As Roger confessed to his love interest that he never danced with a girl before, the girl asked him why. Which Rogers replied saying that he was "waiting for the right partner". This is such an important and refreshing message to our modern culture where instantaneous gratification and pre-marital sex are so common, the importance of be able to say "no" and resist the temptation until you are married to your spouse. It is worthwhile to mention that in this film, there are no sex or nudity scenes, this emphasized that Steven Rogers really was a man of his words and was waiting for "the right partner". This is really good and refreshing considering that Hollywood movies usually embrace pre-marital sex.

At the end of the film, as Steven Roger's love interest looked into his file, a photo came out, it was not the photo of Captain America in his full superhuman glory, but a photo of Steven Roger before he receive the enhancement, a 90 pound weakling who is a real hero because of who he is in the inside.

This film really told a fine story that emphasize the importance that character is more important than outer appearance(such as abilities or personal qualities). For Christians, it is a good reminder for us not to fix our eyes on outer appearances, but to focus and fix our eyes on Jesus, so we can be more like Jesus and develop Godly characters to serve God and others because of grace. Everything, including the abilities we have, are gifts from God, so we ought to receive it with a humble heart and use that the gifts responsibly, with compassion and a desire for good just like Captain America.

Final score:

Story (8/10): Although a linear plot, the movie Captain America manages to remember the long abandoned, good values that are missing in our modern culture, and present them well on the big screen. Plenty of scripture truth can be found in this movie.

Production value and cinematography (9/10): I saw the movie in 3D (everything is 3D now days..), the costume and set design was excellent, the lighting contrast of the pictures and the costume design really bring the audiences back to the era of 1940's.

Sex/Nudity (none): It is refreshing to see a Hollywood movie that encourages people to wait for the right partner, with the implied meaning of saying "NO" to pre-marital sex until marriage. There are no sex or nudity scenes in this movie and it is very clean.

Violence (medium): It is a superhero movie, there are plenty of actions going on. There are a few scenes with blood, so I think this is at least a PG film.

Final verdict (8.2/10): I really enjoyed Captain America, it is even better than Thor which came out a few months ago. It is good entertainment with good things that we can take away with us. And a great reminder to our consumer based, material obsessed society about the the values of humility, courage, thankfulness, sacrifice and that character is more important than outer appearance. This is a movie that I can highly recommend to all of my friends.

Top 5 worst movies ever made: The master of disaster piece

Everyone loves good movies, there aren't many people who would intentionally watch bad movies and praise them, because that just wouldn't make sence.. but what about really, really bad movies? Yep, I am talking about movies that are so bad that have become cult classic? While everyone might have one of two of these movies in mind, but I have compiled, what I think the top 5 worst movies ever made. When you are really bored one day and want to waste sometime, or if you are a curious soul such as myself. Take out these 5 movies and watch them, and well... have a good laugh.

5. Sword and the Sorcerer (1982):

Don't let the cover design fool you. Making into number 5 of my list is none other than the 1982 fantasy movie, Sword and the Sorcerer. This movie was made in the glorious 80's when fantasy movies were the big thing. Following Conan the Barbarian, Red Sonja, a bunch of these copy cat, wanna be fantasy movies came out from the pool of Hollywood production.

This movie features a tri-blade that can be fired at range to kill people, get the idea? Not only that, the movie is filled with cheesy moments and cliche that will have you laugh the whole way through, and trust me, you will laugh because it is not meant to be funny.

4. Battlefield Earth (2000):

It is fair to say that this movie single-handedly ended John Travolta's career... Based on the novel written by L. Ron Hubbard (the founder of the church of Scientology). Yes, this movie is pretty much all about Scientology belief.

It was said that John Travolta, a long time believer of Scientology wanted to make this movie, but was unable to obtain funding from any major studio. So the man used his own money, and the movie was distributed by a movie studio, which went bankrupt after the movie's release because the film performed so badly in the box office.

Everything in this movie is just so.. crap.. not only does John Travolta appeared in the most ridiculous costume, but the movie manged to bore the audience to death with the most flat storyline and unmemorable characters ever to embrace the cinematic history (the only thing memorable was the stupid costumes). Originally, Travolta envisioned the movie to be a trilogy. Thank goodness it never happened because of the extremely poor box office performance.

3. Monster A go-go (1965):

This is one of the most dis-jointed movies ever made. The production was passed between different studios, and different actors/actresses were changed halfway to reprise the same role. Not only that, the story is stupid.. enough said.

This is way bad, really, really bad...

2. Catwoman (2004):

I watched this movie a few years ago. Just tell you how bad it is... after I watched the movie I could not understand why this movie is about catwoman. Furthermore, if you have insomnia and lack sleep, then watch this movie, it would probably cure your sleeping problem, because it will make you fall asleep.

Somehow, the script writer and the director has managed to not develop catwoman's character at all. The action squences were dull and the character so uninteresting that I literally fell asleep while watching this. When I woke up, the movie was about to end, I was uninterested I turned off the film and went to bed.

And the worst movie ever made is....

1. Plan 9 from outer space (1959):

Making into the glorious spot of "the worst movie ever made" is none other than the legendary, Plan 9 from outer space. Directed by the undisputed "worst director ever lived", the mythical Ed Wood himself.

This movie is in black and white, it has zombies, vampires and aliens all in one. It also features the most strange, bizzare, unrelated, disjointed, confusing, cheesy, cliched script and cinematography in the history of cinema.

Almost every scene in this movie is laughable, the special effects are shockingly bad even for a movie made in the 50's. On top of this, all the actors have uni-expression. I don't know if it is because Ed Wood can't make his actors/actresses act, or if they intentionally find the most untalented actors ever. Also, Ed Wood has no idea how to make a movie, it seems as if he just decided to take random shots with no real plan, or directions at all. I don't think anyone can make a movie this bad even if they tried. Only Ed Wood, has the strange talent of crafting such a bad movie, it is totally in its own league!

The result? This is a real disaster piece that is worthy of collection. Actually, I have a copy of this movie in my collection, because I think it is quite spectacular how bad this movie is. It is a real parody which is not intended to be a parody.

I guess it is true that there are two ways to be famous, either be really good at what you do, or be the worst at what you do. It certainly is true for Ed Wood's case. There is even a movie about Ed Wood, directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Deep as Ed Wood, check it out if you want.

Long live the memory of Ed Wood and Plan 9 from outer space!

Daniel's to play video game list, Q2 2011

2011 is the year of "supposed" AAA sequel release. Early in the year, Gothic 4 and Two Worlds 2 were released, and it is fair to say that Gothic 4 was a disaster piece, while Two Worlds 2 was an average game at best. The release of Dragon Age 2 did not perform as well as it should have, with major flaws like repeated use of dungeon design which enraged many fans of the franchise. However, CDProjekt Red's Witcher 2 turn out to be a major success, and one of the best RPG to be released in recent years.

Last month we saw the release of Dungeon Siege 3 and Fable 3 on PC. It turns out that these titles are disappointments and do not live up to the standard. It seems as if most of these AAA titles are not living up to the hype, and a promising year for video gaming is not living up to its expectation, with only Witcher 2 to save the day. So is Q2 of 2011 going to be better? Well, personally I have my eyes on these four upcoming games. Actually I am sure they are going to be great so I have already pre-ordered them at EB:

1. Deus Ex 3: Human Revolution (release date: 25th August 2011)

The first Deus Ex was an unique blend of first person shooting, together with RPG element, in an open world enviornment. The intriquing story and the original gameplay made Deus Ex one of the best FPS/RPG ever made.

In 2011, Square Enix is going to release the 3rd installment of Deus Ex. This is a prequel to both Deus Ex 1 and 2. The game will retain the original style of Deus Ex, an FPS/RPG. However, the developer has implemented some changes such as cover system and special takedown/stealth combo movements, where the camera would be zoomed out to 3rd person.

From what we have seen in the gameplay, it looks like this game is going to be a contender for game of the year. So keep an eye out for this one.

2. Batman: Arkham City (release date: 15 October 2011)

Batman: Arkham Aslyum was great. It was voted as "the best superhero video game" ever made. Not only that, it was a strong contender for game of the year 2009. The game featured an open environment, great combat system and one of the most well designed graphics ever seen.

In 2011, the developer Rocksteady studio is going to release the sequel in October. Batman: Arkham city will feature new villains, and this time the scope of the game will cover the entire city, not just the Arkham asylum anymore. The combat system has been revised and new features added. We can't wait to get our hands on the latest installment of the mask crusader's new adventure. I mean, everybody loves Batman, who doesn't like a dark, intelligent hero with physiological issues.

3. The Elder Scroll 5: Skyrim (release date: 11 November 2011)

TES IV: Oblivion was good, it was epic, and it was great. No one would doubt that despite the stupid level scaling system and some strange animations. After Fallout 3, we know that Bethesda can make RPGs, great RPG.

So the developer Bethesda is going to release the latest installment of the TES game, Skyrim. This time around, Bethesda has even gone to the extent to invent a "new language (language of the dragons)" for this game (as can be seen from the song in the Skyrim teaser trailer). If they have invented a new language for this game, I guess they really are putting a lot of effort into this game and it is a good thing. Personally, I think Skyrim is going to be definite contender for game of the year 2011 for sure, alongside Deus Ex 3 and Witcher 2.

4. Assassin's creed: Revelations (release date: 15 November 2011)

I have play all 3 Assassin's creed games. The first one was original, but had many flaws. Assassin's Creed 2 fixed all the problems in the first game and was one of my favorite action game of all time, despite the anti-climatic ending. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood on the other hand, had a more compact and less epic story, together with multiplayer support. Despite the multiplayer support, Brotherhood felt more repetitive than Assassin's creed 2. It was still a great game, but it felt more like an expansion than a new Assassin's Creed game.

Neverthless, I like them all. Because I think the story is more interesting than Dan Brown's novels. The story writer for Assassin's Creed has researched history really well, and one of my favorite aspect is that the game developers managed to duplicate those real life cities into the game world.

Anyway, in November UbiSoft will release the fourth installment for the Assassin's Creed series. Assassin's Creed: Revelation. In this game, the player will for the last time, play as Ezio Auditore in his last adventure. Not only that, the story will take place in the Middle East this time. This means a complete new storyline and the game should not feel like an expansion of AC2. From the cover art, it seems that Ezio is now and old man. UbiSoft has revealed that in Revelation, the player will also take control of Altair in certain parts of the game. This is all very interesting. With a revised multiplayer gameplay, a whole new storyline and new gameplay features, AC: Revelation seem like a very promising game instead. I have to say out of the four games I listed here, AC: Revelations is probably my most anticipated game.

Happy gaming!

Movie review: Transformers 3: Dark of the moon

It's loud, it's big, it's cliched... it's Michael Bay!

Ever since the first Transformers movie was released in 2007, the franchise has achieved amazing box office sales despite its cheesy storyline..

Don't get me wrong, I really liked the first Transformers movie. However, the 2nd Transformers movie had probably one of the worst storyline I've ever seen, equally as cheesy as Twilight..

Nevertheless, Transformers 2 made big bucks, and 2 years later. Director Michael Bay is back with "Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon". This is to be the last installment to the Transformers movie franchise (well, at least for a while apparently).

This time, Transformers 3 comes wrapped with modern cinematic technology. Yep, it is in 3D. It seems now days, all block busters must be made in 3D.

Since I foresaw the storyline was going to be... well mediocre at best, I decided to see Transformers 3 in all its visual glory to make up for the negativity in the story line. Therefore, I went to IMAX to see it. So let me talk about Bay's latest "explosive" media production.

Story:

In the 60's, NASA landed on the moon, on the surface people believed it was all part of the space race against USSR. While in truth, NASA landed on the moon to investigate a "strange impact' on the moon. The astronauts (Neil Armstrong included) found a giant alien spacecraft, and some dead mechanical beings inside the spacecraft. NASA took some samples, brand it top secret and case closed...

At present day, the Autobots are working with human governments to detect traces of Decpticons on earth, and also help human to keep peace on earth. The main protagonist Sam Witwicky, is now a university graduate, he has a new girlfriend (goodbye Megan Fox) and he is looking for his first job out of university, and having troubles getting a job (I know how hard this can be). Sam is no longer doing anything with the Autobots, and he is only concerned with starting a new life.

Meanwhile, on a mission to Russia, the Autobots discovered traces of Decepticons, and they found out that their former leader "Sentinel Prime" is in a dormant status on the spacecraft on the moon. As Sentinel Prime along has the knowledge on how to end the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons. Optimus Prime set out to the moon to revive Sentinel Prime, to discover the secrets before the Decepticons do.

After Sentinel Prime is revived, a series of unexpected events took place that would change the face of the earth forever...

So here is the brief description of the story. What do I think about the story? Well.. I have to say, although the story in Transformers 3 is better than the previous one, but it is still not a very good story, and I could smell cheese everywhere. But there are some good things about the story.

For example, I don't know if it is just me, but in every Transformers movie I always picture Optimus Prime as a Jesus like character. Why? Because in every movie, Optimus Prime is always fighting for freedom, for the weak, in a self sacrificial way. Or, could it be that even the secular world recognizes that a good leader, is someone who cares,fights for the weak, for freedom and in a self sacrificial way?

Or, if I may be as bold as saying that all the "good guys" in movies have these traits because they are all modelled after Jesus?

What a good question, if you are reading this and doesn't believe a word about the Bible, do you want to ponder upon this question?

Optimus Prime fights for freedom, in the first movie, he said "freedom is the right for all the sentient beings". And in Transformers 3, Optimus once again said "freedom is the right to all". In the movie, the bad guys think human are weak and derserves to be ruled over as slaves. However, Optimus Prime fights for human, because he thinks "freedom is the right for all sentient beings", he defends the freedom for human, a race that is both physically and less technologically advanced than him, even if it means his own potential death.

In this movie, some human are traitors and are willing to sell themselves off to Decepticons and become their slaves, as long as they get to live a good live after the bad guys take over the earth. Despite the fact that Optimus Prime and his Autobots have promised to fight for the freedom of humanity.

To be honest, when I finished watching this movie, the Bible passage that jumped into my head was Galatians 5:1.

Anyway, it seems that now days, "freedom" has become a noble concept, that is universally recognized as "good" in our society. Everyone likes freedom, in Braveheart, before William Wallace died, he shouted "for freedom". What a tear wrenching moment in the cinema!

However, I wonder if many people really know what "freedom" is. Is it freedom to do whatever we want? Sexual freedom? Or freedom to drink, or live anyway you want? The freedom to live a life that pleases us? I suspect these would be the most common answer on what people think freedom is all about. The problem is, if you look at these answers, they all point to one thing, "selfish desire and gratification". See, I think people have equated "freedom" with "self pleasure". We live in a society where people abuse freedom to do whatever we want, without caring for others.

And if people think having freedom equates to do whatever we want, then we cannot be more wrong. See, the more you gratify yourself with something, the more you become attached/addicted to it. So in a way, using freedom for self gratification actually make you a slave, loosing your freedom to the thing that you are attached to. Whether it be career, sex, alcohol, or whatever. If you think having freedom means you have the right to indulge these things as much as you want, you will become a slave to these things. How ironic is that?

So what is this freedom? How can you have true freedom? Well, the Bible says Jesus died for us, so we can have true freedom, and are no longer slaves to sin (see Galatians). This means that the this freedom is not independence from God, but actually this is a freedom that is dependence on God. At this point, if you wonder what this freedoms is, why don't you open up a Bible and start to read the story of Jesus? Or visit your local church? Take the first step, and this might just well be your first step into the true freedom that Jesus has given you , and me.

Cinamatography and visuals:

I saw Transformers 3 at IMAX, as I said before, the story of this movie is medicore at best. However, the multi-million dollar special effect came to save the day. At IMAX, the 3D effects were stunning. As an improvement over Transformers 2, Bay has used a lot of slow motion shots, so now the fights can be seen clearly. Unlike in the 2nd movie where all the fight scenes are blurry and too fast for human eyes.

Sound:

It's a Michael Bay movie, if it isn't explosive, loud with lots of noises, it's not Michael Bay.. enough said.

Final verdict:

Story 4/10: Unlike Transformers 2, where the story reminded me of some teenage romance drama. Transformers 3 has a story that is passable, however cheesy it may be. This is a movie with a medicore plot and some stupid moments. But after all, I like Optimus Prime, because he reminds me of Jesus, and that is good.

Visuals 9/10: The special effects are really good, you don't go see Transformers for a dramatic, Academy award winning storyline.. you see Transformers for the special effects, and the cool robotic, transformation scenes.

Sounds 9/10: Boom boom boom! Michael Bay comes to play..

Final score: 6/10: To be honest, Transformers 3 is a mindless, explosive action movie for holiday season. For a movie in this category, a running time of 157 minutes is a bit tedious. It's the kind of movie that you watch and go.. "wow, the special effects were good", and that's about it. Time to switch off your brain, and enjoy some robotic mayhem!

Book Review: Hrolf Kraki's Saga

So many modern sci-fi/fantasy books or movies are based on legends of old. One only has to compare Norse and Greek mythology against books written by Tolkein, Lewis, Rowling etc.. to see where present-day authors draw their inspirations from.

For example, when composing his Middle Earth mythology, author J.R.R. Tolkien based his tales based on four major classical epics: Beowulf, Saga of Volsung, Saga of Hrolf Kraki, and the legend of King Arthur. While most people have heard of Beowulf and King Arthur, not many people know the story of Saga of Volsung, or the legend of King Hrolf Kraki.

Introduction:

Saga of Volsung, and Hrolf Kraki, are two of the tales that belongs to a collection of Norse epic saga. In the Saga of Hrolf Kraki, the events can be dated to 5th or 6th AD. The original manuscript is composed by an anonymous author was probably written between 12 to 14 AD. Unlike the Saga of Volsung, which has been re-told in German as the epic poem Nibelungenlied, it has also received more attention as it was published as J.R.R Tolkien "The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun".

The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki on the other hand, never received such treatment, and this twisted, fantastic and heroic tale is almost forgotten in the sands the time. Which is really sad, not only because the Saga of Hrolf Kraki is actually contemporary with Beowulf, but also because Saga of Hrolf Kraki, is purely Northern, while King Hrolf is to Scandinavia as Arthur is to Britain, and Charlemagne to France.

Since Saga of Hrolf Kraki was written in Old English, as an epic poem (translated version is also contextualized as an epic poem) it is not easily accessible to readers of modern generation. In 1973, British Sci-Fi/Fantasy author Poul Anderson, after doing years of research, re-wrote Hrolf Kraki's Saga in a more or less contemporary language, and brought this ancient Danish legend back to live.

Story:

Hrolf Kraki's saga told the tragic tale of King Hrolf Kraki and his 12 heroic captains. This is a tale that takes after the tradition of Norse legends. Packed with elements of love, betrayal, violence, political conflicts, power struggle, revenge and survival. It is not a fairy tale for the kids, as it does not have a happy ending.

The story starts with the introduction of Hrolf Kraki's ancestral line, and how his father and his uncle took back the thrones of Denmark after his grandfather was murdered. His father, King Helgi, young and ruthless raped a Saxon Queen Olof, and she is conceived with a girl who she hated, and she named the child Ysra. She gave Yrsa to a peasant to raise, King Helgi never knew he had a child with Olof. 15 years later, a more matured King Helgi happened upon a teenage peasant girl, whose name is Ysra. Not knowing that Ysra is his own daughter, he fell in love with Ysra, and took her as his queen, and fathered her a boy child Hrolf. In the middle of their happiness, Queen Olof seize the moment for revenge, traveled to Denmark and revealed that Ysra is actually the child from their violent encounter years back. The revelation caused much suffering and grief in both King Helgi and Ysra. Ending with Ysra being forced to re-marry a greedy evil king in Sweden, and King Helgi being betrayed and died in a murderous ambush. Leaving Denmark in turmoil and Hrolf Kraki a troubled legacy.

The main story is about how Hrolf Kraki rose to power, and gathered the most renowned and mightiest warriors from across the Nordic countries under his banner. However, his half sister Skuld, is a witch who is jealous of Hrolf's position as the king of Denmark, and is always plotting his doom. Eventually, Hrolf and his warriors would fall under his own sister's plotting, and Denmark plunges into an era of darkness and violence for a century before it is re-united again.

Thoughts:

Hrolf Kraki's saga, is essentially a fantasy story with historical background. This is a story that has heroes, magical swords, elfs, monsters, werebears and epic battles. There are some really likable characters, for example, my favorite character is the bear-sized warrior Bodvar Bjarki, whose father was a werebear because of a curse. He was unmatched in combat, and faithful to Hrolf Kraki until his drew last breath in the final battle against Skuld.

The story not only portrayed the life and culture in pre-Christianized Nordic regions, but it also shows the cruelty of the pagan, Norse Gods. Especially the one-eyed Odin, who despised those who brings peace, and can only be pleased through battles. In Hrolf Kraki's saga, both King Hrolf and his champions did not like Odin much, because they longed to build a country where violence can end. However, under Odin's manipulation, Hrolf Kraki's hard works became but a spark for the hope of peace in Denmark.

These days, with the new atheism movement, when atheists attack Christianity, they often say that Jesus (or the God in the Bible), is just like any other pagan gods of old and are similar in nature. Some even made ridiculous statements that Jesus is based on Zeus and Thor.

I SAY THEY ARE WRONG! As I read more and more about Norse and Greek mythology, I see a dramatic difference between the pagan gods and Jesus. What difference?

Let's look at Zeus first. Zeus, is one of mythology's biggest mass rapist. He randomly impregnates beautiful women, and cares nothing for mankind but for himself. Zeus, led a rebellion against his own father Cronos. Zeus, is always plotting to get more power so he can remain as the head of the Olympian gods. His relationship with mankind is that of a mutual beneficiary relationship, where Zeus gets power from human's prayers, then Zeus in term bless people for their prayers and give men what they want. What kind of god is that? What kind of relationship is that? A business relationship?

Now let's look at Thor, Odin's son. Thor is a mighty warrior, the champion among the Asgardians. But Thor is always chasing after glory through battle and victories, and displays no real love nor care and has no unselfish motivations.

Let's look at Odin, a mighty God of War one-eyed Odin was, on his eight legged horse and magical spear he is invincible. Yet, Odin is blood thirsty, and cannot be pleased by peace. As we can see from Hrolf Kraki's saga, Odin is the master who plotted the downfall of Hrolf Kraki, because he doesn't want Hrolf Kraki to bring peace to Denmark, and therefore Odin caused 100 years of violence afterward. What kind of gods are Thor and Odin? Who can only be pleased through violence and battle, and do everything because of pride?

Finally, let's look at Jesus. Jesus, is God, but came as a man (John 10:30-33). Note, Jesus says that he is "THE GOD" who came in the flesh of a man, but he said he didn't come to be served, but to serve (Matthew 20:28). We see that this God, loves mankind so much that he dies a most shameful death on a cross to wash away humanity's sins. Compared to pagan gods such as Zeus, Thor or Odin, who are motivated by their pride and thirst for power. The God of Christianity, whose nature is displayed in Jesus (John 8:19), does everything because of love.

So tell us atheists, how is Jesus the same as Odin, Zeus or Thor?

Conclusion:

Hrolf Kraki's saga, is an ancient Danish tale of heroism, a tragic story of one's attempt to pull a country to peace and prosperity from its violent past. It is an attempt of reformation, the attempt is doomed to fail, just as all man and his works shall die. Any reformation, however noble and good attempted by human, shall fade as time passes. Real transformation however, is from God, and is eternal. Transformation is only possible because God is loving, caring, and has the power to restore everything from wrong to right. God (Jesus) is the true beacon of hope that humanity can lean on.

The Saga of Hrolf Kraki and his warriors is a story deserves to be remembered. This modern translation of an almost forgotten ancient epic is quite a special book indeed. Anyone interested in fantasy, epic legends or interest in Tolkien Middle Earth stories would definitely enjoy this book.

Rating: 4/5