Video Games Live - Level 6

The last time Video Games Live was in Regina was in 2012 and all I remember was that it was also awesome then! After a six year hiatus from the Queen City, VGL returned on March 27th with an all new set list to the entertain the nerd-masses of our fair city.

The creator of Video Games Live, Tommy Tallarico, hosts each show and conducts banter with the audience. He always likes to get the crowd involved. This tour he didn't use any show promoters or venue bookers, because they always want him to go to larger centers and he said places like Saskatchewan always get left out, and he didn't want us to be left! No skipping over Sask this time!

Video Games Live has been performing live music shows since 2005 and holds the Guinness World Record for longest running symphony show. The March 27th show here in Regina was the 450th one! That is such an incredible achievement! Tallarico himself holds four Guinness World Record titles, including one for the most video games worked on in a lifetime at over 300. He's been in the business for something like 20 years and worked on games such as Cool Spot, Aladdin, Advent Rising, Metroid Prime and his personal favourite: Earthworm Jim.

All of the musicians used in the orchestra for Regina's show were local. Conductor, Bryan Deans is from Vancouver and has been traveling with Tallarico for the show's Canadian leg of the tour. Deans is a cellist and music educator. He started his own symphony called the Plastic Acid Orchestra and says they do "some crazy stuff." Deans first worked with Video Games Live in 2008 and has been addicted ever since. (You can check out PAO's stuff here: http://plasticacid.com/orchestra/)

Now, on to the SHOW! The Set-list was as follows:

Opened with a little TRON intro

Castlevania

Megaman

Metriod medley

Uncharted 2

Shadow of the Colossus

World of Warcraft - Mists of Pandaria

More Blizzard: Overwatch

Metal Gear Solid

Legend of Zelda

------- Intermission -------

Kingdom Hearts
Undertale
Ace Attorney
Earthworm Jim
Mario medley
Okami
Final Fantasy X
Chrono Trigger & Chrono Cross

Things that I noted from watching the videos during the music: Shadow of the Colossus has a really washed out colour palette; they could have done a better WoW option, like Wrath of the Lich King; Becca was very happy they played Legend of Zelda; Tallarico got special permission from Disney to make the video to go along with the Kingdom Hearts score; and the video that accompanied FFX was fan-made. Fun fact: VGL got a Billboard Top Ten with the Chrono Trigger & Chrono Cross piece. Listening to it brought back so many childhood memories for me; sitting on the floor of my brother's bedroom watching him play Chrono Trigger on the Super Nintendo. Awe, youth.

Tallarico is a major advocate for bringing the music of video games to a larger audience. He described it as "the soundtrack of your life while you play." Each track has a different meaning or brings back different memories for each player, it's each their own. He talked about how video games and their music inspire people to create: Remixing, DeviantArt, cosplay, YouTube, Twitch TV, and even speed-running. Tallarico always encourages the audience to call-out, take pictures, videos and interact during the show. And especially to post the photos and videos online.

Deans, Jason Paige and Tallarico arriving in Regina.
Image courtesy of Video Games Live Facebook page.

Audience interaction at the Regina show was fun. He teased an audience member for having a Mac with the comment of: "You can't play games on that, now can you?" There was one very chatty kid who said "Kill those people!" when the audience 'boo-ed' at the comment about video games causing violence. Tallarico even had everyone comment on the above picture on their FB page and answer a question and then from the responses picked one person (at random) and gave away a $1,000 digital music download gift certificate.

One of the other big things that Video Games Live does is run Kickstarter campaigns to make their albums. The next one being fundraised for is Level 6. They have done this successfully for three other albums, always exceeding the donations required. Tallarico says that VGL gains nothing from making the albums and that it is "all for the love of the music." You can check out the Kickstarter campaign here: Level 6 Album & Movie.

For this year's tour, VGL also brought along original Pokémon theme singer Jason Paige. So, when we got to the end with no Pokémon song, we all knew what we were getting for the encore and it did not disappoint. They threw a couple of giant blow-up pokeballs into the crowd and let them surf around while we got a Pokemon theme medley: intro music, battle theme and the Team Rocket motto, which everyone chanted along with it. 

Finally, Jason Paige came on to the stage and Tallarico showcased his custom-made Pikachu-themed guitar. Deans struck up the band and the house came down with a nostalgia-driven sing-a-long rendition of the original Pokemon cartoon theme song from the 90s. Becca and I belted out the words along with the crowd as images from the show traveled across the screens. The Pokemon theme is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, which is crazy to wrap my head around. All I can think about is being a kid and waking up Saturday mornings to watch the cartoon. Knowing all the words to the song and the Poke-Rap.

If you get the chance, and Video Games Live is coming to a city near you, go see them. No regrets. 

All details about Tommy Tallarico, Bryan Deans and Video Games Live were either said at the show or were confirmed accurate by their internet bios.

Howards End vs. Howards End

Yes, there are no apostrophes in the title of Howards End.

Both the 1992 movie and 2017 TV mini-series are based on the book of the same name by E. M. Forster. Written in 1910, the story follows three families in the wake of Mrs. Wilcox's death: the wealthy Wilcox family, the upper middle-class Schlegels and the lower-middle class Basts. The plot is full of lies, secrets, unconventional couples, revealed pasts, lovers, love-children, the class-divide, social appearances, and murder most foul! (It's actually manslaughter, but murder fits more with my list.) And to find out what happens to whom, you'll just have to watch one of them.

I've had my eye on doing a comparison piece of the two adaptations since the mini-series was announced last year. There is a 25-year gap between them and with that brings a bunch of differences to each directors take on the story, atmosphere, casting, etc.

Casting, for example in the 90s adaptation, had main characters Margaret and Helen Schlegel and Henry and Ruth Wilcox played by Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham-Carter, Anthony Hopkins and Vanessa Redgrave respectively. All big names back then, and even still now. Whereas the new mini-series had only two major actors, Hayley Atwell and Matthew Mcfadyen as Margret and Henry. Helen was played by a lesser known TV actress, and one of the Wilcox sons was played by another actor I only recognized because he was in the newest adaptation of Little Women from this year. The biggest difference with casting more established actors back when the movie came out could be the fact that the 90s version was movie compared to the new TV mini-series.

The plot of both versions covers all the same main topics, and there is little variation between them. I liked that because there was a semblance of continuity that way and neither one was really thrown off from the other. In the 2017 adaptation I found there was better and more development in areas that the movie lacked. You can't really blame the movie, its two hours versus four in length. However, one thing in particular I liked: there was more development of the characters' characters. You learned more about each family's history and members, which in turn helped with some of the plot points that were a bit lacking in the movie.

Other noteworthy differences that are in the new version: more development of Helen's time at Howards End (yes, it's a location), Tibby Schlegel is more frail and weird, Jackie is of colour and a lot less annoying than the 90s actress, Margaret and Henry butt heads more, and I feel like Macfadyen had way more emotional range as Henry than Hopkins. In fact, I think Atwell and Macfadyen were much better as Margaret and Henry than Thompson and Hopkins. I've also concluded that Bonham-Carter's flighty, passionate and little bit crazy 1992 Helen was better.

Both versions are very good, don't get me wrong. But everyone is biased as to which one they like more when given two options. I prefer the newer one. Some people hate remakes, but when you think about it, the 1992 movie is an adaptation of a book, so technically the book is the original. It's like when people try to compare the 1995 Pride and Prejudice mini-series to the 2005 movie. There is an argument to be made on the merits of both, but some forget the novel is the source and truest version.

I've also decided that I don't like Macfadyen with a beard, and he talks to much in the series. I want him to go back to the quiet and brooding Mr. Darcy from Pride & Prejudice (2005). Hayley Atwell is adorable. Period. The character of Charles Wilcox is a douche-canoe and both actors do him justice in this aspect. Even more-so in the 1992 version. And, lastly, I did not notice the overpowering background music problem that everyone claimed the mini-series had.

In conclusion, I recommend watching both. Like one or the other more, or like them equally, or like neither at all. Just give'em a watch.

Book Club: February's Choice - The Vagrant [D1]

The first book in a trilogy, The Vagrant by Peter Newman was a very different kind of book than I had ever read before. There was a lot of discussion among the book club members, and my husband, while we were reading it and the opinions were quite varied. It has sci-fi and fantasy elements throughout the story, which makes for an interesting, and sometimes difficult to follow, read.

Punctuated by flashbacks that take the reader back up to eight years before the story starts, the novel follows a character known only as the Vagrant as he travels north with a baby and a singing-sword. The world has been attacked in a great battle between humans and creatures from The Breach. The creatures, infernals, spread a tainted essence throughout the land of the south and the Vagrant must navigate his way north to complete his mission of finding sanctuary for the baby and delivering the sword to the Shining City. The flashbacks are placed throughout the book and take the reader through the details of the past; from when the great battle happens, all the way up to just before the story begins and the Vagrant starts his journey in New Horizon.

Because this book was more difficult to get through, we pushed the February meeting to mid-March to allow more of us to finish the book. In the end only two girls didn't finish: Rebecca only had 5 chapters left and she went the audio book route which apparently for this novel was long and had way too many pauses. She played us a sample and we all groaned. Elisha got half-way through and was really quite liking it, so she plans to finish it even though the discussion did give away some parts and the end.

Again, we were split on who liked it and who didn't. Majority I think liked it this time, where as January's book was majority didn't like it. An improvement, I guess. We all agreed that there wasn't enough description for characters, creatures and settings. It either needed more details in the story or illustrations to go along with it. It left too much up to the imagination and that led to differing opinions on what things looked like. We all also agreed that no one was able to get invested in the story until about half-way through. The investment either came from a particular character being introduced or from the Vagrant's treatment of the baby.

During the meeting's discussion, some unique comparisons were made. Harm and the Vagrant were compared to Frodo and Sam from the Lord of the the Rings. As were the Knights of Jade and Ash compared to the nine ring wraiths. The Hammer that Walks was compared to Brienne from Game of Thrones. The Breach, where the infernals come from, was likened to the underwater gateway the kaiju come through in Pacific Rim, as well as to the Fade from Dragon Age.

One theme we discussed, which is very underlying in the novel, is 'disposable-ness.' The infernals treat humans as disposable. Using their bodies to enhance themselves or protect themselves only to toss them away when they need new parts or people to help them. Club members even talked about how some parts of the book and story are disposable, not needed to get the point across. Even how the Vagrant doesn't dispose of the baby even though it slows him down on his mission (and is not his). It's even interesting on how the humans let the infernals use and abuse them so. Trying to survive with what they have after what happened and having no where left go.

This book has a lot of good reviews on Goodreads, which is why a few of us girls were quite excited to read it. It either lived up to its hype or was not quite what was expected, and that depends on which member you talk to. I personally liked it and was mostly just happy that my husband also read it and were able to discuss it together. Kaila said she just read it all in one go and didn't stop to think things over or take notes. Maybe that is the way to go about this story; don't look too much into things until the end.

The Vagrant is followed up by The Malice and concludes with The Seven. The back covers of each book kind of spoil the one that comes before, so Jason warned me, and I in turn warned Kaila, not to read the back covers of the other two books. Newman also wrote another novelette called The Hammer and the Goat which runs parallel to the events in The Vagrant. It tells the story of The Hammer that Walks and the goat when their left up to their own shenanigans. We all loved the goat as a character, so for it to be featured in another book is excellent. Such a crazy and defiant creature.

As February's choice trailed into March, our March choice is now going to be our April pick and allow us all some time to catch up on this next one. Since I already started the March book, I'm hoping to have it done fairly soon so that I can hopefully crank out a couple more books from my Reading Challenge before it is over at the end of April. (I can't believe it's already over.) I've got Transcendental by James Gunn and then The Sacred Book of the Werewolf by Victor Pelevin lined up before it comes to an end.

A Quiet Person, A Very Loud Mind

In honour of the passing of Stephen Hawking on March 14, 2018, I watched the film The Theory of Everything (2014). The movie follows, in particular, the early life of Hawking when he was diagnosed with motor neuron disease and his relationship with his first wife, Jane Wilde.

The movie was beautifully done and the acting done by Eddie Redmayne as Hawking and Felicity Jones as his wife Jane was beyond superb. I have not cried so much during a movie since The Reader (2008). I mean, I was crying for at least an hour and a half and the movie is only two hours long. *Phew* I was exhausted by the end. Not just because of the crying, but the movie is very emotional due to all of the challenges they face due to his disease.

Often dubbed 'one of the smartest people in the world' in his time; Hawking's theories on time, the beginning of the universe and black holes was visionary and revolutionary to the fields of physics and cosmology. I will not even pretend to know or understand his theories. He has been awarded many honours in his time for his work and contributions despite everything his disease put limits on: his movement and speech, but it did not - and he did not let it - put a limit on his mind. This fact alone is beyond inspiring.

The Theory of Everything film is based on the memoir of his wife Jane Hawking and their life together.(1) A quick Google search shows that most reviews of the movie detail it as pretty fact-based and very close to the actual life events. Hawking himself, after a screening of the movie, called it "broadly true" and "surprisingly honest" in portraying their marriage and life events.(2) The movie also sped-up the timeline in which events happen for dramatic effect. (For more info on the movie vs reality, see footnote 3 and 4 at the end of the post.)

(Left) Redmayne and Jones portraying Hawking and Jane in the movie.
(Right) Stephen and Jane Hawking on their wedding day in 1965. (2)

The casting choice of Jones and Redmayne was dead on for me. Particularly of Redmayne as Hawking. It is no wonder his portrayal of the celebrated physicist won him a nomination and win for the Academy Award for Best Actor.(5) Jones also did an outstanding performance as Jane Hawking; her struggles with caring for Stephen, raising their children, coping with his disability all while trying to complete her own PhD.

Hawking's passing affected me more than I thought it would. I have since done a lot of reading on his life and works, plus watched this emotional movie. Maybe that is why I cried so much? Either way, the more I read and learn, the more I can't fathom how unbelievably optimistic Hawking was about life, his condition and the future of science. He was always touted as witty and having a really good sense of humour. He tried to never let his disease get in the way of his pursuit of finding the one single equation to explain everything we know. He was an author, supervised 39 successful PhD students, was a director of research at Cambridge and numerous other notable feats during his life time.(6) He even wanted to go space! Was there no limit to his ambitions?

I recommend watching The Theory of Everything, but be prepared for a crying, snot-fest of emotional upheaval. Also, read about Stephen Hawking and get yourself a little familiar with his work. I'm sure his theories will continue to have an effect on the world of science for quite sometime to come.

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(1) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2015/02/17/theory/?utm_term=.afe9a30b30ac
(2) http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/theory-of-everything/
(3) http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/11/07/the_theory_of_everything_how_accurate_is_the_new_stephen_hawking_movie_starring.html
(4) http://ew.com/article/2014/11/14/theory-of-everything-fact-check/
(5) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1519666/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
(6) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking

Reading Challenge - #11. The Virgin Suicides

Our March Book Club meeting got pushed to mid-month, so that post will be coming next weekend. In the meantime, another book from my Reading Challenge has been crossed off - The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides.

If you don't/can't grasp this premise of this book from the title, then let me spell it out for you: five sisters commit suicide in the span of 18 months. Now after that, the rest of this post shouldn't come out as too many spoilers. However, please note this book is utterly depressing and sad despite being beautifully written. It paints a very vivid picture of life in the Lisbon household and yet never comes to a solid and satisfying ending. Which is part of why I really like this book.

First, I want to talk about the format of the novel. There are only five chapters. Is that supposed to represent the five Lisbon girls? It's not clear. I thought at first there would be one death a chapter, because that made sense, but that was also not the case. Each chapter varies in length as well. Then, I thought, maybe each chapter focused on one sister each, but that also turned out to be unfounded. I wonder what the author's intention was with so few chapters...

Anyway, on to the story! What follows is more of a summary of the book with a few of my thoughts dappled in. I am not going to assume to evaluate or decrypt this book and its story. I think everyone should develop their own thoughts and conclusion.

Narrated by a group of the neighbourhood boys, The Virgin Suicides, details the lives and deaths of the five Lisbon girls over the course of 18 months. The whole novel is told from their outside perspective and observations. The story takes pieces from the past and present as the boys, even many years later, are still trying to put together a conclusive reason as to why the Lisbon girls committed suicide. Throughout the book they list pieces of evidence they've collected that seem to give rhyme to reason, or context to behaviour, but nothing ever appears to provide an answer.

Starting with the attempted suicide, and then death, of the youngest daughter Cecilia, the novel is quite graphic in its descriptions of certain topics. At other times the narration is kind of aloof and dream-like, such as when the boys get a hold of Cecilia's diary. The boys appear to have a very good look into the lives of the Lisbon girls, but not one part of the book is ever told from the girls' perspective. The whole saga is stories or insights they've cultivated from their own brief encounters, or from those who also had their own brief turn in the girls inner-sanctum. Their most reliable source was Trip Fontaine, the school pretty-boy and resident womanizer. He fell in love with second-youngest, Lux, until it all fell apart at the homecoming dance when she returned home three hours after curfew. After which the Lisbon house became a maximum security prison.

The boys' sightings and encounters with the girls become scarce and they take more liberty with their day-dream scenarios, but these are punctuated by truthful accounts of what they do see. The burning of the Lux's records, to her having sex on the roof with strangers, and the girls circling the elm tree in their front yard to save it from getting cut down. The girls start to reach out to the boys via secret letters and Morse code using lamps in their bedroom window. Eventually this culminates in the final night when the rest of the Lisbon girls take their lives while the boys are at the house expecting they're actually there to save them.

They are never able to come up with a conclusion as to why all the girls died. The media focuses on their lives, but not why they committed suicide. The neighbours gossip about why they did it, but are only "mildly shocked" when the four girls do it in the same night. It's like they all expected it to happen at some point, it was just a matter of when. The boys find it so much harder to move on, even carrying it on into their adult lives and relationships.

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The movie was made six years after the novel was published, in 1999. Directed by Sophia Coppola, the movie has a very washed out quality to it, but I can definitely say the music is excellent. It really sets the mood and tone throughout the movie. Trip Fontaine's intro set to Magic Man by Heart is an absolute high-light of the film. Despite the big-name actors like Kirsten Dunst (Lux) and Josh Hartnett (Trip Fontaine) in the movie, it was the small details from the book that Coppola incorporated into the movie that made it a good adaptation for me. (I'd seen the movie before, a long time ago, but really only remembered two parts of it.)

Many of the more graphic things were left out of the film, but I still found it stayed quite true to the novel. I also found that the narration was more third-person than focusing on that it was the boys who were telling the story. (One of the actors playing the neighbourhood boys reminds me of an ex-boyfriend oddly enough.) It stood out to me while watching, that Cecilia's death takes a back-seat in the movie, whereas in the book it was a constant theme and was referred to quite often. The biggest thing I noticed was that Lux Lisbon is very much the main character - in both book and movie - despite the boys being the narrators and there being five Lisbon girls. I didn't really catch onto that until the movie was just about over.

Overall, I really like the book and the movie. Both are great together and as stand-alone without one another. I prefer the novel for being more in depth with characters, environment, story-arch and setting the tone, but that is always hard to put onto screen, no matter what the adaptation.

April Book Club book has been started and next reading challenge choice has been chosen; Transcendental by James Gunn, book one of the Transcendental Machine trilogy. (Not to be confused the with the other James Gunn, director of The Guardians of the Galaxy movies, fyi.)