The Fireside

At long last, I have seen all the extended editions of The Hobbit. Here is my complete, movie-by-movie (final) review, as well as the trilogy as a whole. I won't spoil anything, merely add or elaborate on the films themselves in regards to the extended films. This review covers the extended film footage only, not the documentaries.

Just last night, I saw the final 'Hunger Games' film, Mockingjay: Part 2 . Here is my [spoiler free] review.

Well folks, here is my latest Mario Maker offering!

Well, it's that time again - more Mario Maker levels from yours truly! Here are the codes for the batch uploaded most recently, and will be replaced on Nov. 20. This time, I went for Mario Bros 1 graphic style. I did 'New' for my 'game', but I wanted to go back to the roots. Also, at this point, no hills etc so my designs work with the original game's look, style and interface anyway, which would work great for Mario Bros. 3, and Mario World . A-1 :3A2F-0000-00D6-AF47 A-2 :46DA-0000-00D6-B02A A-3 :A237-0000-00D6-B139 A-4 :63AF-0000-00D6-B24E B-1 :4CA8-0000-00D6-B312 B-2 :405D-0000-00D6-B434 B-3 :5F47-0000-00D6-B541 B-4 :EF12-0000-00D6-B69E C-1 : 11E1-0000-00D6-B7D0 C-2 :561A-0000-00D6-B8A5 C-3 :D2BF-0000-00D6-B9FD C-4 :16BC-0000-00D6-BBDC D-1 :7E34-0000-00D6-BC91 D-2 :319B-0000-00D6-BD2E D-3 :13A1-0000-00D6-BDDF D-4:4C4B-0000-00D6-BFA3 ...and making a return: (these ones will 'stay' up when I change the levels on...

The wait is getting harder and harder. June 10 marks the release of Warcraft , the live action adaptation of the very first video game in the series. This is NOT a World of Warcraft film, but a Warcraft film. The First War. Orcs coming to Azeroth. Lothar & Durotan. So where to begin? First off, there’s been a new poster revealed. Not sure many will come after this, but if this is the final one, I’m happy. It reminds one of the video game box art of old. Also, this Friday, Nov 6 , marks the official, full reveal of the trailer. Glimpses of the film have been shown here and there over the years at BlizzCons, Comic Cons etc, but now, the WORLD will get its first, proper look at the film via footage. I’ve got my fingers crossed that the film itself will look good, and that it’s a great preview. Finally, while checking out some of the lore (books, etc) I made a discovery, not unknown to the fans – there is a prequel novel, and novelisation coming out, written b...

I’ve never been a fan of Halloween. I don’t ‘hate’ it, it’s just not my thing. I understand the appeal but I’ve never been stoked about it. First of all, I live in Canada. That means, having Halloween at the end of October, it’s a bit chilly to ‘go out’, especially in a costume. That’s regional, so we’ll let that slide. I’m not a fan of horror, but the expression : ‘Happy’ Halloween never seemed right. Why would one be 'happy' on a day about horror, terror and dead things? You're supposed to be scared witless...aren't you? To further my point – some, if not all, decorations are ‘kiddie’ or ‘childish’. A Frankenstein, vampire, skeleton or ghost would not be smiling or looking cuddly. They would have looks of horror, and have grotesque skin, head trauma or the like.  This also shows that Halloween is yet another ‘event’ for the kids. Again, cute costumes vs scary costumes. The ‘essence’ of Halloween are those haunted houses where stuff comes and scares you...

Another sample chapter from Brandon Sanderson's third Stormlight book has emerged. The good news, is that it is a flashback chapter, and contains no spoilers for books 1 and 2. I haven't read the books myself yet, but I look forward to it. Reading pile is quite large at the moment....I hope to jump in, if I were to guess, in the space between books 3 and 4. Anyway, here is the chapter....