Wow, it's been awhile

I've just noticed that we haven't updated this blog since March... Well as a new year resolution, I want to start updating this blog on hopefully a weekly basis. CC got busy with his primary (and mostly politcal) blog and well Books Movies and Video games had fallen to the wayside. well with the new year I promise more upkeep on our forgotten blogs.

thanks for following

Daphne of Argos, signing off

The Princess and the Frog

The Princess and the Frog, Disney's newest animated adventure to add to the long line of movies I remember from my childhood.

I admit, it was a long time coming for a BLACK princess to show up, (and she wasn't really a princess till the end).

and I admit, I was sceptical at first, since other reviews put it at The Lion King level or better. My all-time favorite Disney movie is The Lion King, so with that said, it had some MAJOR shoes to fill.

I have to say, the people who were behind this movie did a WONDERFUL job and it did live up to it's hype. It is one to keep and pass on to your kids/grand-kids, friends and what not.

Something Strange Going on...Something's Wrong...

I am actually well behind in writing this upcoming review. I've been playing (and soundly beating) the Ghostbusters video game for the Playstation 3 for months now, ever since buying it with my tax refund money. As a huge fan of the Ghostbusters since childhood, I can honestly say that the video game certainly does the franchise justice.

The year is 1991. The game begins as you, a newly hired cadet, are being fitted for your first training exercise as a Ghostbuster by the original members of the paranormal exterminator squad, Drs. Ray Stantz, Peter Venkman, and Egon Spengler (all voiced by the original actors from the movies.) After a training mission involving Slimer escaping the containment grid, wherein you're taught the basic principals of the game, you essentially reinact Slimer's capture from the first movie, with your character being the one causing most of the mayhem instead of the other veteran spook snatchers. The game even ends that part of the level in the Alhambra ballroom of the Sedgewick Hotel, where Slimer apparently originally manifested back in 1984.

Even this is not the end of your trek through the hotel, however, as a new ghost appears by the name of Pappi Sargasi, and you must track him down to bring things back to normal within the walls of the grand old hotel. Other locations used in the game include the New York Public Library, Times Square, and a headstone ridden cemetary in the middle of Central Park.

The weaponry from the game includes much of the technology used in the movies, including the PKE scanner, the Ecto 1 herse/ambulance, and of course the vaunted Proton Pack and Ghost Traps that made the movies famous. Weapon upgrades are acheived at key points during the game, usually right before your first use of them is required.

As one might expect, there are many ghosts to "bust" throughout the game, and this I found, though taking practice to master, is the most fun aspect of it all. I've always been a fan of shooters, but this one is unique in that you're not using a traditional gun, and you're not killing anything. Even when you fire at a human target, they simply cower in terror rather than express any sort of physical injury or pain.

Aside from the well thought out story, well performed voice acting, and action packed ghost catching, the game offers many different references from other parts of the franchise as well. The painting of Vigo, the Scourge of Carpathia and Sorrow of Moldavia can be found in the firehouse near the desk of Janine Melnitz (voiced by Annie Potts), and offers smart alec comments to anyone who gets close enough. I guess he must be bitter about being defeated two years prior to the game's beginning.

My favorite, though, is the answering machine found near the pool table in the top floor of the firehouse. Pressing the button on the machine gives you access to many humorous messages, including a witch belonging to Westchester Coven who has a guest coming from "the deep south", and a "Professor Jones" insisting that the painting of Vigo "belongs in a museum."

Overall I give the game four stars out of five. It loses a star simply because I thought it was too short. Can't wait for the sequel.

The Clown of God

I just finished "The Clown of God" by Tomie DePaola.

It's a heartwarming little story about an Juggler and his gift to Baby Jesus.
I would highly recommend this to anyone, child, teen or adult alike, along with any of Mr DePaola's other books. He is a Master of storytelling, and allowing his colorful pictures and words wash the pages with wonder.

Dante's Inferno: Probably the Only fun Journey to Hell Anyone Will Have

This review is not about a book. SHOCK!!!

I've been playing the new video game version of Dante's Inferno for the XBOX 360 for the last few days, and I must say I am pleasently surprised as well as horrified.

Let me be clear: I enjoy the game very much.

The reason I say I'm horrified is because the programmers acheived their goal of recreating Dante's version of Hell, with 9 circles, each housing a different variety of sinner from the Virtuous Pagans in Limbo to the Wrathful of the 9th circle.

The premise of the game is decidedly different from Dante's original intent, which was to paint a vivid picture of his fictional journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. Dante of course still journeys through each of the nine circles with the Roman poet Virgil as his guide, but for a much different reason. According to the story set by the game, Dante journeys through Hell to rescue his beloved wife, Beatrice, who was consigned their for succumbing to the sin of Lust after she and Dante got it on before he left for the Crusades, with the caveat that Dante would remain faithful. Well...he didn't. He gave himself to a slave girl and now he's every bit as guilty as her. The difference is that Dante is stil there in human form and has a whole host of supernatural powers at his disposal. Death's Scythe and a Holy Cross, used respectively for either damning or absolving the souls of demons and sinners you run across as you fight your way to Lucifer.

The game plays out smoothly, the controls working in perfect harmony to allow for involving combat sequences.

The graphics are beatifully dark and devilish, depictingn a truly horrifying picture of Satan's realm, with symbolism rampant throughout the scenery.

The story is very involving, with Dante being at once a sympathetic hero and a tragic villain who must seek redemption.

Most appealing about this game is that they do not shy away from mentioning anything resembling God. I have never seen a video game with this much appeal that has religious overtones so blatantly out there for all to see. At the same time, the game isn't all "in your face" about it's subject matter, providing a justification for using the power of the Holy Light of God to banish demons or absolve damned souls.

Virgil even shows up from time to time to provide exposition about the circles, even mentioning a few famous historical figures that were consigned to Satan's depths for whatever sin corresponds with their resident circle.

So play the game, and remember: Abandon all Hope, Ye Who Enter Here.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book Four: The Battle of the Labyrinth

Percy Jackson and The Olympians

Book Four

The Battle of the Labyrinth

 

By: Rick Riordan

pages 361

In the Fourth installment of this spell-bidingly great series, Percy Jackson comes one year closer to his 16th birthday and closer to the prophacy that is about him.

like the maze of the Labyrinth, this exciting chapter of the Percy Jackson saga is full of twists and turns and just as you think you figure out the prophacy, it turns out to be wrong.

You get to meet more of the Olympians, heroes, demigods, and monsters of greek myths that you grew up reading.

Riordan takes myths of old and gives them a modern twists in the Percy Jackson books, giving children a new way to look at the 'old boring myths'.

Be warned, this ends in a cliff hanger, so be ready to dash for book five, The Last Olympian. I know I can't wait to read it.

The Angel of Death

The Angel of Death

A Forensic Mystery by Alane Ferguson

260 pages 2006



If you like CSI, NCIS or any other crime drama out there on the market today, then I believe you'll love this book by Alane Ferguson.



This is actually the second book of Cameryn Mahoney, but it stands alone as an excellent read of itself. Even though there are some parts that are slow, you'll find yourself turning the page, absorbed more and more, trying to figure out who the murderer is even before Cameryn does. In a bizar case, a man is found dead in his room, no evidence found to point towards a killer, and what else, the man's eyes are completely gone. Could this have been a 'Perfect Murder'?



In Nail-biting suspense, Ferguson keeps her readers hooked and it shows that she did her research, and a lot of it. I would remcomend this book for older teens and adults, and anyone interested in going into the forensic field as a profession. I can't wait to find out more about Cameryn Mahoney.

Simple is Best in all Things

And never did that have more truth to it than in the fictionalized account of Glenn Beck's last Christmas with his mother. I recently read "The Christmas Sweater", written by him recently, and now on the NYT best seller list, to the chagrine of all liberals everywhere.

The story revolves around a young boy named Edward Lee. (Edward Lee is Beck's middle name.) Eddie is a boy who doesn't have much in the way of material possessions, but is surrounded by love and family his entire life, making him, in my mind, the richest man in the world.

Many of the accounts in the story are real, such as the real life name of his childhood family business where his father worked both as baker and owner, City Bakery, and the fact that both Edward's and Beck's mothers both died at an early age. The main difference is that in the story, Eddie's mother dies in a car accident. In reality, Beck's mother committed suicide when he was just 12 or 13 years of age.

That final Christmas, before his mother took her own life, Beck was given a handmade sweater by his mother, it being the only gift she could afford that year. It wasn't until much later in his life that Beck realized the importance of such a gift.

I highly reccommend this book to any and all looking for a chance at redemption, because that's what this book is about at it's core. Eddie is given a second chance at the end of the story, just as we all are entitled to second chances if we only seek to take advantage of them.

This past year has been a roller coaster for me, and The Christmas Sweater was a definite must read, even though I didn't know it at the time. The line that stuck out for me most was "the hardest part of every journey is realizing that you are worthy of the trip."

I haven't felt worthy of much these days, but now I believe I've turned that line of thinking into something more positive.

Idiots and Rogues

Interesting title, huh? I thought so myself.

The "idiots" I refer to are the ones we all argue with every day, and the ones that Glenn Beck's book "Arguing with Idiots" refute every damn time with those annoying little things called "facts".

As for the book itself, it was a quick read. I read it in record time, three days to be exact. I also found it very informative and humorous to boot. Glenn's ADD moments were good for a few laughs, as well as his list of the Top Ten Bastards of all time, with President Woodrow Wilson topping the list.