Evil Presence - MTG 4E

You just KNOW something wicked creepy is hiding in the shadows, just out of sight.

Everlasting Memories (Cardcaptor Sakura #2) (1998 Anime)

This second dvd of the anime Cardcaptor Sakura, contains the following episodes:

• Sakura, the Panda and the Cute Shop
• Sakura and Memories of Her Mother
• Sakura’s First Attempt as a Thief!?!
• Sakura’s Rival Appears

This time around I watched these twice, once on the dvd with the subtitles and once on the bluray with the dubbed version. I must say, I did not care for the dub. Sakura sounds like a teenager, not a 10 year old, the pronunciation differences are more glaring (“Clow” is pronounced like “Glow”, not “Plow”) and references are more NorAm oriented than strictly Japanese or Chinese. I must also admit, that with my eyes and my old tv, I couldn’t tell the difference between the dvd and the bluray for resolution. It all looked the same to me.

The stories were just as saccharin as the previous ones and that’s why I skipped a month between reviews. Only so much concentrated sweetness I can handle at one time. But they were fun and I enjoyed them and that’s all that really matters when it comes to watching something on the tv.

Next time I will talk about the episodes themselves (hopefully).

The Dragon’s Den (The Metaframe War #3) 2Stars

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Dragon’s Den
Series: The Metaframe War #3
Author: Graeme Rodaughan
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 219
Words: 85K

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This is where I DNF the series and add Rodaughan to my list of Authors to Avoid

This read exactly like some mindless action video game, with “missions” and “side missions” that don’t make ANY sense if you give them more than a cursory examination.

In the previous book the Leader of the Order of Thoth (one faction of super humans who are fighting against the Vampires) was kidnapped by the Vampires and this book was all about the main characters trying to rescue him.

Once again, the author just doesn’t know how to write effective, mature leaders. The guy who Anton (the main character, The Chosen One) is following is as effective a leader as one of the Minions from the Despicable Me movies.

The Minion in the middle is the “Leader”…

He doesn’t lead, he doesn’t plan, he doesn’t do anything other than say obvious things like “Ok, we have to rescue the boss” or “Ok, we have to attack the vampires”. When Anton goes off the rails, he doesn’t corral him in any way. At the end, when his wife dies, he just gives up and Anton takes over as leader. We’re not talking about some jamoke with an office job here. This is supposed to be a guy who has successfully fought vampires for possibly decades. And he is a complete and utter joke.

In this same area, the other leaders are as much a joke as he is. There is a military guy working for the Vampires who totally gets outsmarted by Anton, in a helicopter duel. Then the kidnapped leader, while being corrupt, is also monumentally stupid and every decision he makes is bad. And finally, a group of Super Assassins from the Red Empire (another faction of super humans fighting the Vampires) are led by a guy who decides that keeping his word to a Vampire General is the thing to do even when she turns him and his entire team into vampires. They literally become the thing they were created to destroy and they don’t instantly kill each other in a death pact? That’s stupid. That’s beyond stupid, it’s 100% asinine.

Now we come to the biggest reason that I am stopping the series. Anton Slayde, the main character. He’s reckless, impulsive, anti-authority, selfish, self-centered, ignorant (which I can forgive, because ALL teenagers are ignorant, it’s why they have to be taught) but worst of all, he’s stupid. He’s beyond even asinine stupid. I’m debating whether it’s worth it to list all the things that led me to that conclusion.

1) His best friend is captured while allowing the rest of the group to escape the clutches of Shadowstone (the human military wing of the Vampires). So Anton insists on rescuing him with no real plan and puts everyone in jeopardy all over again.

2) His “plan” to rescue his friend involves hijacking a super tank and driving around the compound shooting stuff while looking for his friend, forcing the group to back him up or risking him being captured as well.

3) When that rescue doesn’t happen, he decides he still needs to rescue the guy, this time from an armored convoy that has four military equipped helicopters attached to it. He jumps out of the tank and onto the prison truck, once again forcing his team mates to follow or risk him being captured too.

4) All of this happens WHILE the leader of the Order is captured and being interrogated by Vampires. What’s the best way for a Vampire to interrogate a human? To turn him into a vampire of course, which then means his loyalty is now to the Vampires. Does Anton consider ANY of that, at all? Nope. Operational security, secrets, codes, it can all go take a flying leap because Anton has to rescue his friend, WHO VOLUNTEERED KNOWING THIS COULD HAPPEN IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!

5) Anton’s real goal is to kill the Vampire, General Armitage because she killed his parents. He can barely face a regular vampire, but fully expects to just waltz in and kill the most talented Vampire ever? He’s seen her in one fight, where she killed his mentor, who was about 100 times a better fighter than Anton. He has no idea of her style of fighting, her weaknesses or disposition. He knows nothing but is convinced by Plot Armor that he will be The Chosen One, to kill her.

6) I’m getting myself worked up, so I’m just going to stop.

I have a strict “No Stupid People” policy when it comes to the characters I read. I don’t mind if a minor side character is stupid, that just makes them fodder and I’m ok with fodder in my books. But for the main character to be like this, that’s only ok for 12-15 year olds. Anton is not in that age bracket.

The series has been toe’ing that Line of Stupid ever since book one, but it crossed it completely in this book. So I am done. I simply don’t care how the story ends because Plot Armor will overcome everything and I won’t read more Stupid.

★★☆☆☆

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From the Publisher

Synopsis – click to open

IT’S A TRAP! – Anton Slayne knows it’s a trap. One laid for him by his most powerful opponent – Chloe Armitage, rogue general of the Vampire Dominion.
The chase is on. Agents of the Red Empire and the Vampire Dominion have abducted Ramin Kain, the Head of the Order of Thoth. Anton and the Mirovar force team are the only ones in a position to act. They know Ramin is bait, but have to rescue him before he’s forced to reveal everything he knows to the Order’s sworn enemies.
Will Anton and his friends in the Mirovar force team rescue Ramin Kain, or will Chloe Armitage discover the secrets of the Order of Thoth, destroy the Mirovar force team, and enslave Anton to her will?

Bookstooge VS Predator or My Week VIII

Bookstooge Pros:

Ego big enough to repel a Star Destroyer.

Extremely good looking.

Reads a lot, so knowledgeable on many subjects.

Looks dashing in a cloak.

Predator Pros:

Invisible.

Has a spaceship that can kill you. And you. And you. All at the same time.

Likes to kill things, like you.

Bookstooge Cons:

Not a real person (that’s actually pretty big if you want to get nit picky).

Muscles aren’t as big as basketballs.

No spaceship (not a deal killer but it does give the high ground to The Pred)

Predator Cons:

Plug Ugly!

Can only read weapons manuals (no poetry for you ol’ softies).

Also not real.

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So, who would you bet on in:

A) A pizza eating contest

B) Cultivating a flower garden for the summer

C) Performing an interpretive rain dance

The fate of the free world rests on your decision dear reader, so vote wisely!

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Obviously,  with me being able to pump out garbage like that, I’ve had a good week!

Sabbath was a very relaxing, restful kind of day. It was just what I needed to finish off last week.

Sunday was our church’s annual picnic.  It’s the one time a year I get to play volleyball and I enjoy every second of it. I pay for that enjoyment the next day, as diving to the ground to save the ball hurts a little more now. But just to be clear, the ground has gotten much tougher, I’ve not gotten softer 😉

That guy would be 100% more awesome if he was bald

I’ve been looking forward to playing some casual volleyball ever since March. So what happens? It decides to rain. It didn’t rain all morning. We set the tents and tables and chairs up between 10-11am and while cloudy, no rain. We started the 3 grills around 11:45 and no rain. People start showing up at 11:55am, and voila, it starts to sprinkle. Then it starts to rain. Everyone huddled under the tents, but they weren’t rain proof and they started leaking. So everyone got umbrellas, under the tents. Funny thing is, the harder it rained, the better my mood! After we’d all eaten and hollered at each other (nobody was doing more walking than they had to), all the young people decided that playing volleyball in the rain was the thing to do. So they did. That is when I realized I’m fully middle aged. I was not even tempted the tiniest bit to go out there and play. So I watched and enjoyed myself.

Middle Age Level UP!

It is good to be reminded of where I am in Life. It is also good to be reminded where others are too. But I’m still going to judge them for not being the Ultimate Pizza Slayer like yours truly.

Currently Reading: The Hell-Hound of the Baskervilles

I just started this and I’ve not even made past the 2nd page and I’m already chortling away, again. I told Mrs B to expect many such chortlings over the coming evenings, that way she won’t ask what’s so funny, because while I find this hilarious, she doesn’t.

Last Contact (Galaxy's Edge #15) 2.5Stars

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Last Contact
Series: Galaxy’s Edge #15
Author: Jason Anspach & Nick Cole
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Military SF
Pages: 339
Words: 117K

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Thankfully, we didn’t spend the entire book with the Legion this time around. But that is the only reason I bumped this up half a star from the previous book. Of course, they immediately do the following and lose that half star.

Urmo is killed by Prisma. Ravi destroys the Dark Wanderer to protect Prisma, and thus the “contract” of the higher beings comes into play and Ravi is out of the picture. Rex is dead. Goth Sullus is dead. Everything that made this Star Wars’esque has slowly been removed and this book really finishes that process. Felt very much like a Scorched Earth way to get rid of elements the authors were no longer interested in.

I am a very disappointed camper right now.

★★✬☆☆

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From the Publisher

Wraith discovers crucial intel about the threat that past The Gap, beyond Galaxy’s Edge. Meanwhile, Prisma undertakes and arduous journey and the legionnaires of Zombie Squad search for Masters.

• All My “Galaxy’s Edge” Reviews
• Galaxy’s Edge: Season Two
• Galaxy’s Edge: Season One
• Galaxy’s Edge: Tyrus Rechs
• Galaxy’s Edge: The Savage Wars
• Galaxy’s Edge: Order of the Centurion
• Galaxy’s Edge: Dark Operator

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish (THGttG #4) 2.5Stars

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: So Long and Thanks for All the Fish
Series: THGttG #4
Author: Douglas Adams
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 224
Words: 44K

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This was marginally better than the previous book but only because it wasn’t so stupid. It wasn’t funnier, the plot wasn’t more concrete (still alphabet soup mixed up with mashed potatoes) and Arthur Dent plays a much bigger role (given what a disgusting specimen of wimpiness he is, that’s definitely not a good thing).

But it felt like Adams actually tried to tell a story instead of just writing drugged out scenes that belong in a Monty Python’esque kind of tv show. Not high praise, but it was enough of an improvement that I’ll keep on reading the series.

★★✬☆☆

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From Wikipedia

Synopsis – click to open

While hitchhiking through the galaxy, Arthur Dent is dropped off on a planet in a rainstorm. He appears to be in England on Earth, even though he had seen the planet destroyed by the Vogons. He has been gone for several years, but only a few months have passed on Earth. He hitches a lift with a man named Russell and his sister Fenchurch (nicknamed “Fenny”). Russell explains that Fenny, who is sitting in a drugged state in the back seat of the car, became delusional after worldwide mass hysteria, in which everyone hallucinated “big yellow spaceships” (the Vogon destructor ships that “demolished” the Earth). Arthur becomes curious about Fenchurch, but he is dropped off before he can ask more questions. Inside his inexplicably undamaged home, Arthur finds a gift-wrapped bowl inscribed with the words “So long and thanks for all the fish”, into which he puts his Babel Fish. Arthur thinks that Fenchurch is somehow connected to him and to the Earth’s destruction. He still has the ability to fly whenever he lets his thoughts wander.

Arthur puts his life in order, and then tries to find out more about Fenchurch. He happens to find her hitchhiking and picks her up. He obtains her phone number, but shortly thereafter loses it. He discovers her home by accident when he searches for the cave in which he had lived on prehistoric Earth; Fenchurch’s flat is built on the same spot. Arthur and Fenchurch find more circumstances connecting them. Fenchurch reveals that, moments before her “hallucinations”, she had an epiphany about how to make everything right, but then blacked out. She has not been able to recall the substance of the epiphany. Eventually discovering that Fenchurch’s feet do not touch the ground, Arthur teaches her how to fly. They have sex in the skies over London.

In her conversation with Arthur, Fenchurch learns about his adventures hitchhiking across the galaxy, and Arthur learns that all the dolphins disappeared shortly after the world hallucinations. Arthur and Fenchurch travel to California to see John Watson, an enigmatic scientist who claims to know why the dolphins disappeared. Watson has abandoned his original name in favour of “Wonko the Sane”, because he believes that the rest of the world’s population has gone mad. Watson shows them another bowl with the words “So long and thanks for all the fish” inscribed on it, and encourages them to listen to it. The bowl explains audibly that the dolphins, aware of the planet’s coming destruction, left Earth for an alternate dimension. Before leaving, they pulled the Earth from a parallel universe into this one and transported everyone and everything onto it from the one about to be destroyed. After the meeting, Fenchurch tells Arthur that, while he lost something and later found it, she found something and later lost it. She desires that they travel to space together, and that they reach the site where God’s Final Message to His Creation is written.

Ford Prefect discovers that the Hitchhiker’s Guide entry for Earth has been updated to include the volumes of text that he originally wrote, instead of the previous truncated entry, “Mostly harmless”. Curious, Ford hitchhikes across the galaxy to reach Earth. Eventually he uses the ship of a giant robot to land in the centre of London, causing a panic. In the chaos, Ford reunites with Arthur and the two of them and Fenchurch commandeer the robot’s ship. Arthur takes Fenchurch to the planet where God’s Final Message to His Creation is written, where they discover Marvin. Due to previous events, Marvin is now approximately 37 times older than the known age of the universe and is barely functional. With Arthur’s and Fenchurch’s help, Marvin reads the Message (“We apologise for the inconvenience”), utters the final words “I think… I feel good about it”, and dies happily.

• “The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide” (2009 Review)
• All of my “Douglas Adams” Reviews