Rick Dakan

So, I'm still in Washington DC, which is blanketed in snow. The airport is still shut down, apparently they have to remove the snow by truck. I personally think it's all because the re-named it after Reagan.

Hopefull I'll be flying out tomorrow afternoon before the next storm comes in. I hope.

This is of course what MC Frontalot might call a "First World Problem," stuck in a nice hotel with internet access in my room. I actually just went out for a brief walk, which was cold but nice, but did I mention cold?

So I'm going to do my best to be productive here in my room, although I'm having a hard time getting motivated to do so.

Wow, this is a lame post. OK, maybe later today I'll have something to say worth reading.

Ahh, Tampa International Airport, I adore thee. Actually it's pretty nice. Long term parking is super easy and convenient, they have free wifi, and they've added these lovely workstations in the terminal with plenty of power outlets and comfortable chairs. Plus I was able to upgrade to first class for cheap, which will be the first time I've ever flown first class. All in all, a lovely start to my latest trip.

I'm headed up to Shmoocon in Washington DC, which is my favorite hacker con going. As per the norm these days, I'll be mostly sitting behind a table selling books. The extra exciting thing is that this is my first Shmoocon since Black Hat Blues came out, and a large chunk of that book is actually set at Shmoocon, so I'm hoping it does well there. Maybe I'll sell out on the first and second day and can thus go see some talks.

Not much blogging here of late, but that should change in a couple weeks. I'm really trying to get the Berlin novel first draft done, and I really haven't yet. I thought I'd finish over the weekend, but didn't. Only two chapters to go, which was true yesterday as well, except I wrote a chapter that then became two chapters, if you see what I mean. Anyway, almost done. Then I have a big paper to write about transmedia. Then I'll be done! Except for tons of revisions and my next Call of Cthulhu adventure and, well, a ton of other stuff.

But all that's for later. Right now, off to Shmoocon. And First Class. So let's see if those stories you hear about warm nuts are true or just some sort of urban legend...

OK, I've been seriously slacking on my own blog, but busy elsewhere. Mostly with getting this novel done!

Also, I've got a second post up at Joystiq - this one about the EA-approved addition of The Inferno they've released to coincide with the game.

Check it out here!

So it's taken me a while to get my review of the EPOC in front of you because I've been doing it for another site. In fact, for one of the biggest and best video game sites going, Joystiq.com. So go on over to Joystiq and read my thoughts, so to speak.

So I'm spreading my deep and meaningful video game commentary all over the Web these days. I've just started a regular weekly gig over at the excellent Moving Pixels blog on PopMatters.com.

You can read my first post here!

It's about 5 scientists and inventors I feel are worthy of their own games.

As I close in on the end, a little extra motivation to keep me going!

h/t to Amanda at Pandagon

So I've been slacking on the blogging here for a lot of reasons, mostly because I've been writing stuff for all kinds of other outlets.

First and foremost, I'm in the final stretch of finishing the first draft of my Berlin novel - as of today just four more chapters to go. The plan is to be finished by my 38th birthday, which is on Saturday, January 30th. That will leave me more than two weeks to write the big paper that's due on February 15th for my MFA program...

I've also been writing posts for some other blogs, more about which I'll reveal soon when they go up. In the meantime, you should totally read my review of Bayonetta, which just went up on Creative Loafing.

Also, I forgot to link to last week's review of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, which is also worth checking out.

Today's the day, my review of The Book of Eli is up over at Creative Loafing. Give it a read and see what I think.

For a rabid atheist, I think I do a pretty good job of keeping my own theology out of my assessment of this faith-based film. The Bible stuff certainly didn't bother me in the movie (although other things did).

I've been getting more movie review gigs, which is fun. This week I also got to see Book of Eli, but can't say anything about it yet.

Anyway, my review of The Spy Next Door is here at Creative Loafing.

The screening was kind of fun because it was a public preview so the theater was packed with families. As I overheard one father explaining to another, a free screening is a good value in these troubled economic times. Plus there was a group from a tae kwon do school that did an exhibition before the movie. It would've been excrutiating if the little 7 year old girls and boys weren't so darn adorable. Still, I think it's creepy to make kids call you sir at the end of every sentence like their teacher/sensei dude did.

I'm firmly in the “tired of vampires” camp, along with the “tired of zombies” camp. Hey, I was writing RPG products about vamps and zombies way back in the last millennium, I've had my fill. So a movie has to offer some fun or interesting twist to overcome my undead disinterest. Zombieland did it with comedy and cleverness, and True Blood works because of the sex and soap opera quotient. Daybreakers isn't relying on any of those things – it's a very somber, dark movie with not a chuckle or a smile or a titillating tease to be found. This is, as the soundtrack periodically drives home, A Serious Story of Drama and Horror.

Nothing wrong with that of course, and I had no great problems with the movie. Nothing stunned me either, or even really moved me very much, but there were some thought-provoking spins on the classic vampire tropes and I appreciated the film's willingness to occasionally go farther and darker than most casual viewers probable expect or even want.

The premise is straight-forward enough: 95% of the world is now made up of vampires, who live on a mix of very imperfect synthetic blood and real blood harvested from captive humans. This isn't some Gothic nightmare world – people have jobs and take the subway to work and drive cars around (with shielded windows and cameras for daytime driving. Your average vamp doesn't seem to be supernaturally strong and has none of the big time superpowers – flying or turning into a bat or hypnotizing people. The real monster vampires only emerge when a vampire doesn't get enough blood in their diet. Then they become nasty bat/man hybrid beasties who live below the subways and attack normal vampires when they get the chance. I really like this three-tiered set-up, with humans dwindling away at the bottom, average vampires balanced precariously in the middle, and the truly monstrous ones the inevitable fate of everyone unless a substitute for soon to be gone blood supplies is found.

I don't want to get into the plot too much, except to say that it moves right along and goes to some interesting places. The movie veers over the line from drama to cheeseball melodrama a few times, but for the most part it's, if not subtle, then at least constrained. Viewers like me wouldn't be out of line to see at as a metaphor for peak oil and the modern food crisis and a great big allegory for class conflict, and I'm sure all that it intentional. I didn't find it distracting and a few cases, like the vampire treatment of their monstrous alter-egos, I thought it was quite effective (although maybe oversold by the score).

So, maybe not much here for the die-hard True Blood or Twilight fan, but this is a solid addition to vampire cinema, which is probably all you need to know to make your decision about seeing it.