I have conquered November!

BAM said the lady! 

It was a close one this year, I pretty much wrote the brunt of my words in the last week or so, but though my finger tips are sore, and my brain is a little fuzzy, it was entirely worth it. There is nothing quite like NaNoWriMo! 

Now I will spend the day anxiously awaiting the rest of my guild, the beloved and exalted Guild of the Rough Draft - Rough Writer Order to complete their own challenges and obtain the prize. There can be more than one! (see what I did there?!)

Instant Watch - Snow White: A Tale of Terror

Since there has been a lot of buzz around the Huntsman trailer that came out I thought it'd be fun to watch Snow White: A Tale of Terror which popped up on the front page of our Netflix today. These events are likely related. I enjoyed it! At the very start and the end they make sure you know that this is the Grimm version of Snow White. To be perfectly honest, while I liked the movie, I can't say I enjoy Grimm over the happily ever after true love's kiss stories that I grew up with. I am pretending this movie is not about Snow White but some other chick who happens to really like poison apples.

Another thing that Grimm did - the dwarves get screwed! I feel bad for them! They should not have helped Snow White. They should have tossed her ass out as soon as crazy shit started going down and called it good. Also only one of them is an actual little person. The rest are normal sized. After watching this the "hi-ho hi-ho it's off to work we go" song will always make me sad.

It's kind of hard to get into this movie from the start. At first the step-mother doesn't seem so bad...she's just one attention whore fighting another attention whore (Snow White/the daughter/Lilli). I can see where she ends up going evil, they make that turn in the story extremely evident and jarring, but before that point I don't really get why Lilli is so disturbed by her. I mean, the lady brings her a puppy! What better way to trick little kids into liking you? On the flip side, I also don't understand why eventual crazy lady thinks Lilli is behind all her misfortune. That idea seems to come out of no where. Well, it comes out of the mirror, but still, crazy lady buys into it pretty quick. OK OK, so the logic probably ends when your mirror starts telling you to kill people, but still!

This was a pretty good horror movie. Not great, but it had some solid suspense and a few jumpy moments. I would recommend it for people who aren't huge on super scary movies but are looking for a bit of suspense and maybe a little faster pitter patter of the heart. Or if you just really like the Grimm version of fairy tales. I can't attest to how accurate this movie is in that respect, but I'm guessing they probably did a decent job.

Two things that have nothing to do with anything:

1) Holy crap, Sigourney Weaver is 62 (48 in this movie) but I'm pretty sure she hasn't aged since she hit 35. And don't tell me it's plastic surgery. Something must have happened on the set of Ghostbusters and now she's immortal!

2) The dude from Ally McBeal is one of the "dwarves" and that made me laugh.

Reasons Not To Buy Video Games At Launch

This is the third article I've seen that has said the exact same thing. Is it the holiday season? Or do these sites actually think this is a genius new concept? The benefits of waiting to order games is pretty damn obvious. (Most) People don't pre-order or order at launch because they're stupid they do it to either support their favorite dev or because waiting and salivating over a sexy new game sucks. I always have a list in my head of games I'll buy at launch and games I can wait to buy a year later 50% off on Steam.

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Reasons Not To Buy Video Games At Launch

via The Consumerist by Phil Villarreal on 11/16/11

The video game hype machine is geared to spend months -- and sometimes, years -- getting fans to want to line up at midnight sales and pounce on titles as soon as they become available. But it seldom makes financial sense to jump in immediately. You can stretch your gaming dollar by refusing to buy brand-new stuff.
Canadian Finance Blog offers several reasons day-one game purchases are a bad idea.
For starters, just-released games sometimes have bugs that aren't fixed until developers produce downloadable patches after the masses have discovered them. Also, publishers often hold back downloadable content weeks or months after launch to re-interest gamers, but those who wait for the DLC to become available before buying in don't have to take an awkward break before getting the full experience.
Waiting around also lets you buy used games online or at retail, often at hefty discounts. Publishers have started to fight back by charging used game purchasers to access features such as online play.
Lastly, the waiting game pays off best when the pre-release hype turns out to be unfounded and the game turns out to be a stinker. When a would-be blockbuster fails to live up to sales projections, publishers often slash the price in order to move more copies.
5 Reasons You Should Never Buy a Video Game at Launch [Canadian Finance Blog]

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Dragon Age: Redemption Finale

I just started playing Dragon Age: Origins and watching this short series has made me pretty excited about the game/Dragon Age universe. This was a pretty good ending, though man, Little Elf's girlfriend has some serious self-esteem issues. I'm kinda bummed that this had to be such a short series. I wound up feeling like it could have been a ton longer and still be awesome.

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Dragon Age: Redemption Finale

via Felicia Day by Felicia on 11/15/11

The last episode, the culmination of the characters, the end.
Well, it's been an amazing journey, and it makes me sad to end it because this episode really shows how amazing these characters would be together were they to journey farther. Josmael grew up, Nyree opened up, Cairn and Tallis find redemption. The acting and SFX in this is I think the best in the series, Doug Jones actually manages to humanize Saarebas in a wonderful way. I don't want to spoil anything for those who haven't watched, but I look forward to hearing your overall thoughts about the series in the comments below, especially those who experienced the DLC piece with Tallis as well, how those pieces work together.
And please tune in Tuesday night of the finale if you want to our Vokle chat (info and embed in the entry below this one!)

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Misfits

We've been watching Misfits on Hulu and I am digging this show! It is a dark comedy about a small group of young people who have been sentenced for various reasons to do community service. At the start of their punishment they are outside cleaning when a crazy looking lightening storm rolls in and the five of them get zapped. Once things calm down they discover that each of them has gained a superpower, each power fitting something about their lifestyle or personality. Over the course of the show they manage to get into much worse trouble than they started out with and find out that they were perhaps not the only ones who were effected by the storm. 

The show is absolutely hilarious and the situations they manage to get themselves into are brilliant. I just finished the first season, and oh man, it was possibly the best ending for a season I have ever seen. Just perfect. The show continues to surprise me around every turn and it is hard to predict where they are going to take it next, in a good way. The pacing is great. Most of the main characters are legit pretty terrible and/or messed up people, but it's so much so that you can't help but love them. And each one is very distinct and unique from the others.

I am really impressed with this show and I am excited to get started on season 2. I would highly recommend popping on the first episode and giving it a look!

watch instantly: Dumplings (no spoilers)

Dumplings was really the only "horror" movie we managed to watch on Halloween, but it was enough for me. I really like Bai Ling even though she tends to pick weird movie roles that are pretty hit and miss. This movie was definitely a hit. She was fantastic as the not so mentally stable cook behind the dumplings.

The movie is about a TV show actress who hears about these famous rejuvenation dumplings and despite her hesitation from knowing exactly what the secret ingredient in them is (something they make no secret of in the movie and I see the Netflix description gives it away lol. It's obvious from the start though), she starts on her dumpling youth therapy. The whole time the cook is poking and prodding her along, giving her the little push she needs to keep shoving the things down her throat. It gets to the point where she doesn't think her husband has noticed any change in her and she wants to go to a more "potent" formula. From there it gets even more horrific and disturbing which is pretty amazing considering the way they set up the premise has already set that bar pretty high.

I wouldn't call this movie graphic but it shows exactly what you need to see when you need to see it for maximum "holy shit is this really happening" factor. The movie keeps a really great pace and the whole thing is just disturbing. More than disturbing. There isn't a word for how disturbing this movie is. It's a very subtle disturbing too, which I think makes it even more shudder worthy.

In my book, that's a horror win. I would definitely recommend watching it.

It's also worth noting that abortion plays a role in this movie since there's not a whole lot of other ways to get her secret ingredient. However, it's used as part of the horror as well as a driver for some of the plot, so I don't think it would be offensive to anyone. Regardless of your views on the subject, the movie does a great job of not portraying it as positive or negative thing with regard to debate on the subject. It's just kinda there because it has to be and the way it's used adds to the "holy shit is this really happening".

A Nationwide Emergency Alert System Test Will Take Place On November 9, 2011

We got sent this information at work in case people get worried and call in, and since they gave us permission to re-share it I thought I'd post it here. Useful info to have:

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will conduct the first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). The EAS test will be broadcast at 2 PM Eastern (11 AM Pacific) on November 9th. All broadcast and cable programming in the U.S. will be interrupted at the same time  with EAS tones. The public will hear a message indicating that "This is a test." The audio message will be the same for both radio, television, and cable. Unlike the typical tests that the public may hear or see at random times, this one will be long….up to three and a half minutes. If people don't realize that it's a test, they may become alarmed.
The National-level EAS is a public alert and warning system that enables the President of the United States to address the American public during extreme emergencies. Similar to local EAS tests that are conducted frequently, the Nationwide Test will involve broadcast radio and television stations, cable television, satellite radio and television services and wireline providers across all states and territories.
For additional information, please see http://www.fema.gov/emergency/ipaws/eas_info.shtm

So when your radio or favorite TV show suddenly goes out tomorrow, don't fret! The zombies haven't come yet. They're only making sure everything works for when the zombies do come. 

the teddybears are rad

I like these guys. The music grows on you. Also, this music video is kind of awesome and super freaky. Swedish people are the best at that combination!

Grimm and Once Upon a Time (no spoilers)

I found it pretty amusing that these two shows came out around the same time. They are both about fairy tales being "real". One is more the Grimms' Fairy Tales version, which while I have never read them I know they have a reputation for being much darker than the more common versions of fairy tales with happy endings, which the other is based on.

Grimm was...OK. I couldn't really get into it. It had the feel of a same old plot sort of deal with the slight fairy tale twist. A person reaches a certain age or has an ability passed to them by the death of a relative to become the next "whatever". They are conveniently never taught about this family secret, despite the fact that they should have been raised from birth to understand it. I'm sure in this particular show they will have some annoying weak excuse later on as to why he was kept in the dark for so long. The first episode had enough action and details to keep my interest and held back just enough that I will probably continue watching the show, but I can see how more than a season of something like this could get old very quickly. There are only so many monsters to draw from, so many situations that can be creatively twisted when you have people who are bound by the "rules" of our world. Which actually brings me to another peeve I had with this show - the main characters are cops, but they spent the episode doing things that cops would never do and/or get sued and/or suspended for doing. It's hard to marry a suspension of reality with regard to fantasy creatures while at the same time trying to ground a show that same reality. Grimm utterly failed to do so. I'll watch it until it annoys me too much to continue.

Once Upon a Time was better. I liked the overlay of lightheartedness but gone wrong...the show had this feel of magic and fantasy, but then it was like that was broken because of events that happened to bring them there. I don't know if that makes sense, but it was the perfect sort of setting and feel for what was going on. The characters in it were much more interesting and I find myself curious to see where they take the show. The first episode is a little bit confusing. They switch between past and present too quickly and not always with a good transition so you're left with a few seconds of confusion as you try to orient yourself to one story or the other. I liked the subtlety of the main character's "super power" as she calls it, and she pulls off being gracious but strong willed well. I could see this show only getting more interesting as they unravel the mystery of how to save their little world and the setting makes it easy to believe in their reality within our own, much much better than Grimm does. I hope they can keep the show on track. I could see it easily jumping the shark in trying to keep the simple plot going. I'll definitely keep tuning in to see how it goes.

EDIT: Oh! I forgot the one thing I really didn't like about Once Upon a Time. They really try to drive home that our world is a horrible evil place. I liked the way Enchanted did it much better. I found the way Once Upon a Time tried to drive it home pretty tactless and harsh.