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This last week, after a couple of months of not playing any video games – more due to lack of time than lack of interest – I dusted off my copy of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for Gamecube.

My previous attempts at playing this game kept getting interrupted for one reason or another until I finally decided to put it aside and, only now, have I gotten back around to it. I have to say, this game is really fun.

The story is pretty engaging as the basis for the game. The prince has unleashed a curse upon his father’s kingdom and has to set things right with the help of a princess and a magic, sand-filled dagger which gives the prince the ability to control time on a limited basis. This time control ability is very interesting and original and gives the player the ability to correct his/her mistakes and gives an added dimension to how the game is played.

The animation and the artwork is really fluid and atmospheric. Obviously the middle-eastern influenced design makes it very exotic and lush and the animation, again, is very fluid and pretty seamless throughout.

The music fits quite nicely. While it is not middle-eastern it is definitely influenced by middle-eastern sounds and rhythm with some Indian flavor and some rock rounds it out to give it a contemporary soundscape.

The gameplay is very responsive and the fighting system is very intuitive. There is a tutorial through the early part of the game to teach you all of the prince’s acrobatic moves and, again, this is very seamless and ties directly into the game so you can hit the ground running.

This game is not very difficult, but is very pleasing to the eye and definitely fun to play. Most of your time will be spent solving puzzles with the occasional creature fight thrown in for good measure. There are sand-creatures that you have to fight which can be a little creepy so it definitely earns its T for Teen rating, especially for the more susceptible members of the audience, but generally the creatures are not super-scary as in a Resident Evil or one of the scarier horror game titles out there. In any case, this is more action adventure than horror.

This title came out in 2003 and there have been 2 direct sequels (which have gotten progressively dark and gory, so be careful) and a couple of spin-offs on the major game systems, but if you want to play the debut of Prince of Persia for the current generation of console systems (Xbox, Gamecube, Playstation2), try this one out.

4.5 out of 5 (and cheap if you can find it in a store or online)

Disney Buys Pixar

It's the end of an era - or possibly the beginning of a new one. The top headline in this morning's SF Chronicle is the acquisition of Pixar by Disney. Even though I've been reading articles and hearing rumors about it over the last few weeks, it seems almost unreal due to the fact that it has been a rocky road over the last couple of years in regards to the relationship between these two companies. And, while I think it's good for Disney, I hope that it doesn't become a problem for Pixar.

Most of Pixar's movies have been distributed by Disney. Under contract, 'Cars', which comes out later this year, would have been the last movie to be released within the terms of the original deal.

Over the course of their partnership, Pixar has been at the forefront of originality for anything released by Disney, while Disney itself is wallowing in re-treaded sequels, direct to DVD titles and, overall, lower quality and less original productions. It seems like Disney well over the last decade has been satisfied with trading on it's name and reputation only and neglecting the quality levels and craftsmanship that gave it that name to begin with.

Hopefully, Disney will continue to give Pixar its due autonomy to continue to produce quality entertainment - Steve Jobs (CEO of Pixar), maintaining a leadership role in Pixar through this deal seems like a good step in that direction. I just can't help but wonder what the long-term ramifications of this corporate partnership will be. Hopefully, Disney won't try to make Pixar do 'Cinderella 3-D', or 'Peter Pan Learns How to Shave', or 'Sleeping Beauty: The Revenge' or anything like that. I guess we'll just have to see how this story unfolds. Keep your fingers crossed.

Here's the Press Release from Pixar
Same Press Release on Disney's site

End of the Kong-A-Thon

Last week, we decided to close out our 'Kong-A-Thon'. This version of the Kong story was produced in the 70's (1976 to be exact) and it couldn't show it more. This version, by far, is the most dated piece of the bunch. Not only is the dialog 'corny', but some of the story points are laughable and I believe, out of the 3 versions, Kong himself is a very scale-challenged character. It's almost jarring how he changes size for different situations.

Up until this viewing, I myself thought it could've been the best of the bunch. Much like the James Bond movies, my first exposure to that character was in the Roger Moore era. It was only until much later that I saw Connery and realized that he was the definitive Bond. Anyway, this being my first Kong, it held a special, almost untouchable place in my heart, but this viewing shattered all of those illusions, where previously there was nothing to challenge it's standing.
Without putting too fine a point on it, there are many things wrong with this movie.

First, Jessica Lange. Don't get me wrong, but she is 'HOT' in this (her first) movie and arguably the best, only (visual) reason to watch this one, but her character is nothing but your stereotypical breathy, vacuous, bimbo, blonde.

Second, Kong himself. While I'm a big fan of Rick Baker's work, this is definitely not a high point. The Kong suit is not very convincing. He has since perfected his technique, but this suit is almost a joke by comparison to his later, more polished 'monkey suits' (Planet of the Apes, Gorillas in the Mist, Greystoke, etc.)

Finally, the special effects. Nothing would do them justice, but to watch the movie, but the special effects in this movie are pretty badly executed, even by 70's standards. For example, the compositing of Jessica Lange interacting with Kong, Kong over a non-motion-tracked background, rear projected action 'a la James Bond (see how it comes full circle?)' and (once again) a scale-changing Kong as well as bad continuity between Rick Baker in the Kong suit, to the animatronic hands and feet and the fully realized 40ft animatronic Kong, which is only seen for, at most, 1 minute's worth of screen time. (I guess I did sharpen that pencil pretty well.)

This one definitely did not hold up very well and, now, with a wealth of material to compare it to, it quickly fell to the bottom of the Kong heap.

With not much to redeem it, Kong '76 gets a 1.5 out of 5.

Fusillade of Vulgarities

Jane woke up this morning and it felt like her ship just landed. It feels like Fleet Week all over again.
The reason for this frikkin-frakkin was the fact that Hylah decided to make coffee for Jane before she woke up this morning. Now, while this, in and of itself, is usually not a bad thing, this morning, we had a guest over and, when this happens, Hylah usually gets over zealous in her 'watch what I can do' routine. Hylah put too much coffee in the machine, probably not enough water and definitely too much sugar in the final concoction.
Once the mixture hit Jane's palette, the flood gates came crashing down... Somehow, some choice lines from one of my favorite movies (A Christmas Story (1983)) are the only things that seem to do the situation justice.

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[...]=edited

"I have since heard of people under extreme duress speaking in strange tongues. I became conscious that a steady torrent of obscenities and swearing of all kinds was pouring out of [Jane] as [she] screamed."

"In the heat of battle [Jane] wove a tapestry of obscenities that as far as we know is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan."

"Now, I had heard that word at least ten times a day from [Jane]. [She] worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was [her] true medium; a master."
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It was pretty funny, when we all busted her on it and she realized what she was doing, we all had a big laugh, but it did raise the question. Can you buy Tourette's medication over the counter?

The Chronic(what?)cles of Narnia

OK, OK, I'm jumping on the bandwagon (and late at that), but here you go...

Click here if you want to laugh.

Couple of funny video links for everyone

What Is the Internet Really For?
Dance Like a White Guy!

End of X-mas and Kong (1933)

Yesterday, it was time to bite the bullet and take down our Christmas tree. Jane, a couple of days ago, had started taking the ornaments down, but, yesterday, we decided to pack all of that stuff back into their boxes and put them back in storage until the end of the year. We also finally took down and hauled out the tree for our Wednesday garbage pick up.

We kept it up for an extra week, because we got it so late in the season (1 week before X-mas) and we wanted to have it up a little longer. But it was definitely time to take it down as it was getting very dry and the cats, having chased each other in and out of it during it's stay in our living room, created quite a mess with all of the dry needles falling off of the tree due to their rambunctious behavior. It was nice to finally get the house back in order and cleaned up after the holidays.

We also decided to watch the original 1933 version of King Kong. Since the new movie, everything remotely related to King Kong has been polished off and released (or re-released) to the public. In this case, a Special Edition DVD of the original movie. It was really interesting to watch since I had never seen this version in it's entirety before and it was especially interesting to note the faithfulness to and the departures from this original in comparison to the Peter Jackson version (Wow, something has got to be did about my Englishes). Mainly, Hylah was so impressed with this current Kong, that it was by her request that we rented the original. In fact, at one point, she mentioned that she liked this version better. This being the original, it's almost difficult not to like this one best since the technology and craftsmanship used to bring this movie to screen back in 1933 must have been much more difficult to accomplish while testing every limit of the animation and technical crews' imaginations and endurance.

A couple of things that I noticed was the amount of humor in the original. The new one had some comedy in it, but this one seemed almost campy (in spots) by comparison. Also, the special effects in the 1933 Kong were very impressively executed for such an early piece of filmmaking. Finally, the transfer to DVD from, I'm sure, a well worn master was as good as you could ask for.

Now we're going to have to rent the 1976 version to round out the Kong trifecta (more on that later, if and when it happens).