Sunday, November 28, 2010

Brotherhood of Wolves

For something new I decided to try out a French film. Avoiding all the crazy mushy romances I went with the brotherhood of wolves, or Le pacte des loupes. It was a really good movie, but it would suffer a bit in American cinema I think. First off, it is about 2.5 hours long. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the pacing is a little slow than what I am used to and there are some extraneous interactions that would be left on the cutting room floor. That being said the character development is odd in that you feel connected to the characters but not completely and not until the end.
The story takes place in the time of trickle hats and powdered wigs as they are everywhere! In a provence of France there are some mysterious killings by a horrible beast and the king's taxidermist and his loyal companion are sent to get to the bottom of matters.
I did enjoy the movie, had to push myself through some slow parts but felt rewarded by the ending.
~Klint

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

revamping the list

I have realized that after I made the 30/30 list some values in my life have changed and I will be restructuring it to reflect said changes. 

Monday, November 8, 2010

Kinect is here!


Kinect is HERE!  I'm not usually a day one adopter, but this is too cool to pass up.  Kinect is a series of 2 or 3 cameras that track your whole body and let you interact with the Xbox 360.  It also has a microphone for voice interaction as well.  The only downside of Kinect I've had so far is thta it take a LOT of room to use properly.  We had to rearrange our living room a little bit and everytime we want to play a Kinect game we have to push the coffee table one way and a chair the other way, but it's not horrible.

The Kinect comes bundles with Kinect Adventures.  This game makes great use of the Kinect.  There are 5 different games that you are challenged with they can be really intense!  Rallyball is like getting locked in a raquetball court with insane dodgeballs, but you want to get hit by the dodgeballs so they destroy blocks.  This was one of the demos that they first showed off the Kinect's (then Natal) potential.  My oldest's favorite game is Reflex Ridge.  This is the one that can have your heart rate up after a few minutes of play.  You have to duck, jump, sidestep and pose around obstacles to get adventure pins.  This game looks AMAZING!  I really wasn't expecting a bundle game to impress me as much as this does.  It's powered by Unreal technology for those who play games.  the soundtrack is well done too.  It's not uncommon for my oldest (or me) to be bopping along during downtimes or between adventures, and the fun thing is that your avatar will be mirroring your movements on screen.

The Kinect is a blast!  I have read a number of bad reviews for some of the launch games, but for the sensor itself and Kinect Adventures, it is a home run!  As is go get it and run home and play it now!