Podcasts & Pathfinder (Final Battle)

Well today I'm suppose to release a new episode of my MASH 4077 podcast but I haven't even had time to edit it yet. So I spent the first four hours or so of today editing like crazy. I did mange to finish, upload and post it by noon. So Episode 91 of MASH 4077 podcast has been released. You can download or take a listen to it HERE.

The bulk of my day was taken up by our final D&D/Pathfinder session for the year. This was the conclusion of this current adventure. Most of us arrived around 2:30 as the session was to start at 3, but we got word that Will wasn't going to be there until 3:30 and then we had to wait for our Queen to arrive which wasn't until around 4:30 so there was a bit of a delay to start.

Once we started it was non-stop action. We broke out of the dungeons and made our way to the docks to rescue the Queen (who we thought was kidnapped). All of our magical items were stolen so it handicapped alot of us. It was a long and tough battle for over 9 hours. Will's character Giddeon died early on with several others getting close. Giddeon was resurrected about 2/3'ds through the game but many people were either unconscious or drowning for many hours of game play. At the end we did manage to win and I'm happy to saw that my little Halfing Mage did a pretty good job at holding his own. It was a great way to end this quest. We now take off the month of December and start our fifth adventure mid January.

I have been debating on taking off an adventure or so as these session take up some very valuable weekend time (twice a month). But when I think of not playing my little Halfling Mage it makes me sad.. so for now I'll continue to play Mr. Dashel Greenbottle.

No Hobbit Marathon For Me

So Hobbit tickets went on sale today and I was so pumped to pick up tickets to the IMAX Marathon of the first two Hobbit movies and then the premiere of the third Hobbit movie. I was ready to pounce on my computer at 9am when tickets went on sale. Days prior to this I tried to find someone to go with me and had no takers but I was determined to go even if it was solo. The main reason no one could go with me was because it's on a Monday, and at this moment I do not have a job after next week. So it would be okay for me to sit in a theater for 10 hours.

When 9am hit I jumped online and center seats were already selling out. I was going to buy two and try and find someone to go with me as it's still a few weeks away. But the prices for the tickets are $40 x2 = $80 and it got me thinking that I'm so far in debt and my job ending that I can't justify spending that kind of money on a movie.. even for a series that I love. Also if I do find a job I don't want to have to say I can't work that Monday because of this marathon. So I came to the conclusion that I shouldn't attend this marathon. I'm bummed as I have done the other marathons for LOTR and when the first Hobbit movie was released. But what can you do.

I'm holding out for a marathon of all six Peter Jackson's movies.. now that will be something amazing!!!

Geeky Underoos

Not much going on today in the geek world, but I have one thing I want to share with you guys.. 

Hot Topic is selling Underoos.. yes Underoos for Adults!!! How awesome is that. I haven't worn underoos in a very long time. Of course I went to the website and they are already sold out of the one I wanted..  Superman. I don't know how long they have been selling them but alot of the other men underoos are sold out so it may have been a while or they are just super popular. Hopefully they will restock them soon as they are on currently on sale. You can check them out HERE.

The Imitation Game - My Review

So my buddy Robert and I got to see a pre-release screening of Benedict Cumberbatch's new movie The Imitation Game. Here's a brief synopsis: The film portrays the race against time by Alan Turing and his team of code-breakers at Britain's top-secret Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, during the darkest days of World War II. The motley group of scholars, mathematicians, linguists, chess champions and intelligence officers had a powerful ally in Prime Minister Winston Churchill who authorized the provision of any resource they required. The film spans the key periods of Turing's life: his unhappy teenage years at boarding school; the triumph of his secret wartime work on the revolutionary electro-mechanical bombe that was capable of breaking 3,000 Enigma-generated naval codes a day; and the tragedy of his post-war decline following his conviction for gross indecency, a now-outdated criminal offence stemming from his admission of maintaining a homosexual relationship.

:::: THIS REVIEW WILL HAVE SPOILERS!!!!::::

I hadn't heard of Alan Turning (which I am ashamed/disappointed in) or seen any promotional material for this movie but when I got the invite and saw that it involved Cumberbatch, WW2 and Homosexuality I wanted to see it.. and I'm so glad I did.

The movie is set during three different key time periods of his life, his early teens, WWII and about 5 years after the war. Though the bulk of the movie does take place during the war. They jump back a forth between the time periods but I'm going to talk about each one separately. I really enjoyed his early teenage years. The young actor who they got to play a young Turning was amazing. I could really identify with this kid as he was different, bullied and lonely. But he did have one true friend a kid named Christopher. They had a special relationship, he was there for Alan when he was being bullied. They use to send cryptic message back and forth. It was heartbreaking what happens about midway through the film. Back from a two week vacation Alan writes in code " I love you " and plans to give it to Christopher but Christopher never returns. He dies while on vacation from Tuberculosis. Alan pretends that he doesn't care but you can see that it's killing him inside. And as an audience member your heart is just breaking.

As I said the bulk of the movie takes place during the War. We see lots of conflict at the beginning between Alan and his team before Joan (Keira Knightley) joins the team and teaches Alan how to work with others. Soon the team is a well oiled machine. Joan and Alan have a close relationship and when her parents want her to return home, Alan proposes. Later in the movie he confesses that he's a homosexual but she doesn't care, she loves him and enjoys his company. It's a very sweet moment but he's worried for her life as things are getting more and more complicated, so he claims he's never cared for her and the proposal is off. She knows somethings up and sticks around anyways. There is a great scene when they are about to pull the plug on his machine but his team stands behind him and says if they fire Alan the entire time will walk as well.

When they finally break the code they realize that they can't tell anyone as Hitler would know they broke it and create a new one. So this group has to decide mathematically which events they can stop and help and which ones they can do nothing about so they don't raise suspension... They have millions of lives in their hands.. they were playing god, I couldn't even imagine the pressure or guilt they felt... it's crazy.

The final time period is set about 5 years after the war and a detective is investigating a robbery at Alan's home. He suspects something is up with Alan but can't figure it out. He soon things Alan is a spy during the war but what he finds out, is that he's not a spy, Alan Turning is a homosexual. You can tell that the detective can care less that he's gay and when he finds out the truth as to what Alan did during the war you can see the conflict in his eyes. During this time in British history being a homosexual was against the law. You could tell the detective fells horrible as what he's uncovered. Turning is exposed and arrested for indecency. He has two choices to go to jail for 2 years or be medically treated for his "sickness" (aka chemical castration). There is a scene at the end when Joan visits Alan and you can tell that the medication is taking it's toll on him. She asks why he's doing it (taking the medicine) and he says he can't go jail and leave Christopher (the name he gave his machine/computer) and then he pleads with her to not let them take Christopher from him and leave him alone. 

I cried on and off during this film but with that scene I lost it. Blogging about it now is making me tear up. This man was so lonely and lost his true love when he was just a teenager. He was a national hero (though unknown at the time) and what the British government did to him was horrific. 

The very end of the movie there are titles that come up over video informing the viewer that Alan endured a year of this horrible medication treatment before committing suicide, he was only 41 years old. Also over 45,000 men were convicted for indecency (being homosexual) and also chemically castrated under that barbaric law.

On September 10th 2009, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for "the appalling way he was treated." The Queen granted him a posthumous pardon on December 24th 2013.

:::: END OF SPOILERS::::

Needless to say, I loved this movie. The performances were amazing especially Cumberbatch's, I see an Oscar nomination in his near future. This film was not only about the War and Enigma but also about social norms and sexism (with Joan's character). It's well paced and though the jumping back and forward in time is a bit jarring at first it, you do get use to it. It's uplifting, heart wrenching and though provoking. It's a movie that I won't watch everyday but like with most of my favorite dramas it's nice to watch once in a while. I will be purchasing this movie on Blu-ray when it comes out. I'm still hoping to get a screener of it in the next few months. 

I give The Imitation Game a solid A. I saw a quote from James Rocchi of Film.com that said it best. "Strong, stirring, triumphant and tragic, “The Imitation Game” may be about a man who changed the world, but it’s also about the world that destroyed a man."

Screeners and Hobbit Marathon

So I got a slip from UPS last night informing me that I had a delivery. I knew that it was some screeners and I also knew that I would not be home for them to delivery it today to I contacted them and asked for them to hold it and I'll pick it up.

I was up extra early to I could still get my 30/45 walk/jog in before getting ready for work. On my way to work I made a detour to Van Nuys to the UPS customer service building. I stood in line for about 20 minutes before finally getting my package. I was right it was screeners..

So screener season has officially begun... my first two screeners are from Warner Brothers, The Judge (which I have not seen yet) and The Lego Movie (which I have seen and loved). I'm super excited to see what I get this season. On average I should get about 30 screeners so this is just the beginning.

I heard today that IMAX theaters will be doing a Hobbit marathon before the release of the third and final movie, The Battle of the Five Armies. They are holding it on Monday Dec. 15th, which is a few days before the actual release. Luckily for me it's playing at the Universal City Walk IMAX. Tickets aren't on sale until Thursday but I plan on doing this.

The first Hobbit movie starts at 12:30 and the second will be around 3:30 and then the premiere of the third and final movie around 7pm. I did the same with Lord of the Rings when the third and final film came out for that. So it's kind of a tradition for me and for all I know this will be the last time I can do this for a Middle Earth movie. I'm still hoping for someone to join me but if not then I'll enjoy it solo. I'm still debating on dressing up in my Hobbit outfit or not.  Either way it's going to be a blast!!!!

Mom's 60th & Happy Veterans Day

No geeky news today.. just two personal items..

First I want to wish my Mom a happy 60th Birthday. She doesn't read my blog or even know what a blog is but I still wanted to wish her a very Happy Birthday.

Second I want to thank all the service men and women who have served, are serving and will serve in the future. I know that I could never serve in the military and I'm thankful for each and everyone one of you.

Happy Veterans Day

Looking for Work

Starting my fourth week working on this CNN Pilot. Things are moving along nicely. Though they have another month of editing ahead of them they can only afford me for another week so I'll be looking for another job starting Monday November 24th. So if you hear of a post production supervisor position opening up please let me know.

I might actually start another pilot that being done by a different company across the hall from where I am now. Nothing is set yet.. so I'll continue to search. I'd love to get on a show that's more then just a few weeks... finger crossed.

Podcasts & Pathfinder

Today I finished up my Alien Nation podcast that will be released tomorrow. And I got started on my next MASH 4077 podcast which is due to be released on Nov. 15th. I still have a few days but with my work schedule and being so tired after work it's tough to get in the edit time. I manged to get about 50% of the podcast edited. Since it's due next Saturday I'll have to force myself to work on it during the week after work sometime.

The bulk of my day was taken up by D&D/Pathfinder. This is our second to last session before this adventure is over, but with that said this session takes place before the session we did a few weeks ago (the LARPing Masqurade Murder Mystery Party), which actually takes place a few months before the trial we've been on for this adventure.. it's all kinds of Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey kind of stuff.

So we start off this adventure with the Queen ill and only the tears of some sort of toad creatures could help her. So we head out to find these creatures. First we had to travel across this fast moving river. There was a rope ferry with an old man working it. He said it would take 3 crossing to get all of us and our horses/ponies across.. there was a big a shenanigans but we did manage to get everyone over safely.

We made our way into the bog and heard a young girl scream, the party went to help and ran into lizard type creatures. They were more formidable then we expected and it took longer then we planned but we did manage to defeat them.

We found out that this girl's sister had been taken by these toad like creatures that we were in search of but she was no help in finding them. Luckily we have some good trackers on our team and they found what looked like frog like foot prints. The tracks lead us to these tree frog creatures, these were not the toad like creatures we were looking for. Some of the members of our party wanted to attack them, some wanted to leave them be as there were women and children present and we don't attack things just for the fun of it.

Our Gnome Phlig was able to talk to a boulder and he lead us in the right direction. As night fell we made it to a large open swampy area. Towards the back stood a tent and three old croons were standing in front of the entrance. There was no sign of the toad creatures but there were these large ponds in the clearing and we just knew they were going to spring out.. and that's what happen. As we battled the three croons they used some powerful magics on us and if they touched you they would do some serious damage.

But in the end we managed to get the tears to save the queen, finish off the croons and rescue the girls sister.. all in the days work for this gang.

This was another fun session.. not as hard as some of them in the past but defiantly not easy. As always I want to thank Dallas for putting in a ton of work on making this all happen. Just one more session to go before we call it quits for the year.