Seth Harris

TV Review – The Prisoner (2009)

The Prisoner (2009)
Written by Bill Gallagher
Directed by Nick Hurran

J.J. Abrams had a stranglehold on U.S. media by the late 2000s. Not just that, but films like The Bourne Identity and the shooting style of director Paul Greengrass clearly became a trend in film and television. These aren’t terrible styles to emulate for a Prisoner remake in that period. If we think about the increased paranoia post-9/11 surrounding the rise of the surveillance state, it seems to mesh quite well with the themes & ideas the original series co-creator & star Patrick McGoohan sought to explore. However, the original Prisoner was a product of the 1960s Cold War era. If you want to tell the story in a modern context, some changes must be made. I don’t think the changes this miniseries made were the right ones, though, and despite having a few clever bits, the overall show was a disappointment.

31 Days of Character Creation #26 – Spire, The City Must Fall

I saw the compelling review of this game on the YouTube Channel Quinn’s Quest and it made me want to play it at some point. If you haven’t seen Quinn’s Quest it is one of the best produced tabletop RPG review channels I’ve ever seen. Watching his videos introduced me to this and The Wildsea and also helped me know a game like Lancer wasn’t for my particular tastes. Spire is a game where the characters are Drow in a vertical city ruled by tyrants. The player characters are intent on bring this power structure down.

Comic Book Review – Superman by Geoff Johns Part Two

Superman: Escape from Bizarro World (2008)
Reprints Action Comics #855-857, Superman #140, DC Comics Presents #71, and The Man of Steel #5
Written by Geoff Johns, Richard Donner, Otto Binder, E. Nelson Bridwell, and John Byrne
Art by Eric Powell, Wayne Boring, Curt Swan, John Byrne, and Dick Giordano

Superman: Secret Origin (2009)
Reprints Superman: Secret Origin #1-6
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Gary Frank

Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes (2008)
Reprints Action Comics #858-863
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Gary Frank

It was Escape from Bizarro World where I started to think Richard Donner wasn’t as involved in Geoff Johns’s Action Comics run as suggested. Something about the story beyond Eric Powell’s art makes me believe The Goon creator had more of a hand plotting the story. It makes sense because his tone to Bizarro’s cube-shaped version of Earth feels very similar to his cult-hit comic book series. The Donner involvement was likely little more than he and Johns talking on the phone over coffee about plots, which generally served as a good marketing tool to bring readers to Action Comics at the time.

31 Days of Character Creation #25 – Savage Worlds

Savage Worlds is a game I’ve known about for over a decade, but just have never sat down to play. In solo tabletop RPG circles, I see it being written about often and decided to go through character creation to get a feel for the system. Savage Worlds doesn’t have an official setting, but many creators have made settings that add elements to character creation.

31 Days of Character Creation #24 – G.I. Joe

Ironically, I was a huge G.I. Joe fan as a kid. Jump to 43 and I think the U.S. military is one of the most evil institutions on the planet. Life is funny that way. I decided to make a character for the G.I. Joe, but with my take. I wanted this to be G.I. Joe as if it was continuing on in 2025 after being started in the 1960s. In this political climate things are not so black & white.

Movie Review – Ariel

Ariel (1988)
Written and directed by Aki Kaurismäki

The more I watch Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki’s work, the more I warm up to him. I haven’t seen a considerable amount so far, only Le Havre, Fallen Leaves, and now Ariel. I found myself adjusting to his tone & style in Le Havre and would probably enjoy it even more if I rewatched it. I loved Fallen Leaves, and Ariel is my favorite of all the films I’ve seen. It is also Kaurismäki’s personal favorite of his films thus far, the middle of what he labeled his Proletarian Trilogy.

31 Days of Character Creation #23 – Runequest 6e

I am conflicted over the Basic Roleplaying system, the engine that runs things like Call of Cthulhu and this game. I see these character sheets and my eyes just glaze over because it’s so much stuff. I’ve found the layout for the character creation process in these books is…not great. I think perhaps I’ve been spoiled from rules light games and systems with great flowcharts. I think I created this character correctly, but I’m not editing this. Took me three hours.

Movie Review – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Written and directed by Andrew Dominik

I have watched the films of Andrew Dominik in a slightly odd order. First, I saw Killing Them Softly, his third film. Then I watched Blonde, his dismal adaptation of a Joyce Carol Oates novel about Marilyn Monroe. Now I come to his second film, the one that garnered him attention in the States, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. It was an excellent film; kept its focus on the characters and never got caught up in the tropes of cinematic Westerns, which is the point.

31 Days of Character Creation #22 – Mutant Year Zero

After trying out The Electric State I became a big fan of the Free League model of games. Most of them use a variation on their proprietary Year Zero Engine which is fairly quick and easy to play with. I’d be eyeing this game as I have been on the lookout for something post-apocalyptic that wouldn’t be a resources number crunching chore to play. I like the way this game feels, so I think it may be what I was looking for.

31 Days of Character Creation #21 – His Majesty the Worm

Like I said a few days ago, fantasy dominates the tabletop roleplaying game world because of Dungeons & Dragons. However, we are in a golden of age of really creative fantasy/dungeon delving systems that do a lot different than the old classic. His Majesty the Worm is bleak and grim, just like Darkest Dungeons and has some interesting things going on in it.