October Challenge: The Raven (2012)

The Raven (2012)John Cusack stars as Edgar Allen Poe in the last few days of his life in the murder mystery with horror elements.   It's not exactly horror, but it has it's moments.Of course this is a completely fictionalized account of Poe's last days and a murderer that is using his poems and stories to act out some grisly murders.  There are some issues with the movie from a historical perspective; the first that jumped out at me was a newspaper talking about a "Serial Killer" a term that was still 130 years away from being invented.There are twists and turns and Cusack is great.  The movie did feel slow in some spots, but overall I rather enjoyed it.  I am not 100% sure it was horror though.Tally: Watched 22, New 17What...

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FantasyQuest 2012 (Fernwoods Garden, Philippines)

A compilation video of the event footage I managed to sneak during Fantasy Quest 2012 (Philippines). It was SUCH a beautiful event, I highly recommend anyone who can join the event to go and join it next year xD !You might notice the event missed out on a lot of the key events such as the Red Carpet walk, Guest signing and Grand Ball dance etc. Because I was personally involved in the key events I couldn't sneak out to film us =( I do have a lot of exclusive backstage footage with a lot of Yuegene Fay though wahahaha. Anyway, enjoy the compilation video and envy those who were there ...

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Binders full of Women?

Yeah have that too.And men, elves, dwarves, halflings, superheroes....but still mostly witch...

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October Challenge: Children of the Corn (2009)

Children of the Corn (2009)Caught this on the Sci-Fi channel recently.  I have not watched the Sci-Fi (or SyFy) is years, but I'll get to that.This is a remake of the original 1984 film (which I enjoyed) and the Stephen King short story (which I also enjoyed).  If anything this movie does cleave closer to the original story than the 84 movie did.  There are no overt demons and in some ways that almost makes the movie creepier.This movie though has it's own problems.  Despite the issues with the first movie this one will always come up short compared to it.  There is no "He's waiting for you Malachi!" moment here.The other is that our protagonists are completely unlikable. Don't get me wrong, Kandyse...

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Getting Ready for the Witch

I just sent my final copy of The Witch back to the publisher to get uploaded to DriveThruRPG soon. I honestly can't wait to get this out to you all.  It seems like I have been working on it forever. I started this blog in fact as a design blog to talk about the development of Eldritch Witchery and The Witch.A number of the monsters, magic items and spells that appear in the book I have posted here.My desire to do this book for "Basic Era" games was partially due to my involvment in the old-school game movement, but also because I had been going back to my copy of Moldvay's Basic Book and some of his ideas on what a witch should be.  I also wanted this book to capture what I felt were some of the best books on witches from the early...

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Blogwatch: Psychosexual Ravenloft

Back in the 2nd Ed days my game world of choice was Ravenloft.I loved all the gothic trappings mixed with heroic horror.  So even though I was a poor college student most of the time, I tried to get everything I could for this game.Including all the novels.Jack over at Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque is doing a series of reviews on the Ravenloft novels.  So I have been reading them.  The reviews that is.I can remember reading Ravenloft novels while in my apartment I shared with three other guys, I remember reading them while giving exams when I was a TA, I remember reading them and feeling guilty about it when I wasn't working on my dissertation. I don't remember them being quite this bad though.Oh, I remember...

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October Challenge: Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922)

This is one of my favorite movies about Witchcraft.Häxan: Witchcraft Through the AgesInstead of talking about it, here it is. I wanted to rewatch this one because, well I like it and to get me geared up for the release of my Witch books. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A4xanTally: Watched 20, New 15What are you watchi...

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Witches: Hex from Skylanders

It is no secret that I am a fan of the game Skylanders.  I even got caught up in all of the hype about collecting the figures and everything.  I am embarrassed (a little) to discuss the lengths I went too to get some of these figures.  There were other parents right there next to me, so I figured I was in good company.Well just when we all thought the madness was dying down, Activision is releasing the new Skylanders Giants this weekend.  New game, new figures, and your old figures can now go to level 15 (previously only 10).  Here we go again.I don’t think it is a stretch to  guess that my favorite character in the game is Hex, the dark elf witch of the “undead” element.  Early this year I stated her up for...

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White Dwarf Wednesday #36

It's Christmas in Mega-City One!  Well at least that what you would gather on the is December 1982 issue of White Dwarf.  The cover, an article, an editorial and at least three and half pages of ads are devoted to the new game from Games Workshop, Judge Dredd.   It was through White Dwarf in fact that I first learned about Judge Dredd.  So to me this seemed like a "comic book" game. Jumping ahead, Ian Livingstone introduces us to the new game in the editorial.   He also mentions that we will see more RPG material in 1983. The article on Dredd talks about the design of the game. Or rather an introduction to Judge Dredd and what process the author and designer, Ian Livingstone (ah..see how that worked out) went through...

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October Challenge: Le Frisson des Vampires (1971)

Le Frisson des Vampires (1971)Oh. Jean Rollin, you tempt me so.  I enjoyed Fascination last year and was hoping for something similar here.I did get something similar here, but this one was not quite as good as Fascination.Also known as "The Shiver of the Vampires" or "Thrill of the Vampire" this movie features plenty of blood, nudity, lesbian overtones and implied incest. So everything you would expect from a Jean Rollin film.The film follows the familiar ground of two young lovers coming upon a castle, in this case the castle of the young bride's cousins.  They hear the cousins are dead but go up to the castle anyway.  Here they encounter two servant girls that tell them their Masters will be along soon.  The cousins appear...

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Back to the Dungeon

Just picked this up today.I will let you all know how it ...

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How to Prep your skin before Cosplay

I realise a lot of Cosplayers (and I'm talking about experienced cosplayers!) are actually quite clueless when it comes to skin care. It was sometimes horrifying to see or hear how treat their skin. So I decided to do an amateur entry about skin for cosplay. Amateur because I'm not a guru xD  I'm not a skin guru so this post won't go into the nitty gritties. But I believe I’ve struggled with enough skin problems to at least have a couple of tips to dish. Hope it’s all helpful ! Because this topic is so extensive , I will break them up into parts for better explanation and categorising. This video and blog entry will focus on things to do before you apply make up. img alt="" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('81bda40c-0d50-4d22-bda9-07865b810055');...

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Monstrous Monday Roundup #3

Here are some more monsters for Monstrous Monday. We are at the half-way mark of October and the big day is just two-weeks away. By that I mean MONSTROUS MONDAY!From last week at Hit Adjacent Ally, http://hitadjacentally.blogspot.com/2012/10/monstrous-monday-addendum-wax-mockery.html and http://hitadjacentally.blogspot.com/2012/10/monstrous-monday-addendum-charnel-ape.htmlWe also have,Over at my other blog we have Invisible Pink Unicorns, http://freedomofnonbelief.blogspot.com/2012/10/monstrous-mondays-invisible-pink-unicorn.htmlSuper Parasites for the DC Adventures RPG, http://punverse.blogspot.com/2012/10/mastermind-monday-dcs-bloodlines.htmlArmor plated elephant thing that "teleports", http://www.savageafterworld.com/2012/10/savage-menagerie-ankylophant.htmlJapanese...

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October Challenge: Red Lights (2012)

Red Lights (2012)This one is a bit hard to classify.  It is certainly a thriller and has horror elements.  Plus just when you think it is all figured out, it gets turned on it's head.I will say this though. It was a good flick and kept me interested till very end.  The cast is great,  Cillian Murphy is fantastic and Sigourney Weaver and Robert De Niro are equally good as opponents.  My surprise was Elizabeth Olsen, the "other" Olsen sister.  She is quite good as well.  Though I'll admit I didn't quite buy relationship between Murphy's character and hers.  Oh well.The movie itself deals with a couple of paranormal investigators (Murphy and Weaver) and their attempts to disprove various...

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The Awakened Golem

Golems are a big part of the D&D game.  Well. Maybe not a *big* part, but they have their part to play.  What is interesting about them though is the varieties of myths that were pulled together to make them. The word Golem and the Clay Golem monster have their roots in Jewish folklore, horror and film.  The Flesh Golem is an homage to Frankenstein and his monster.Other Golems come from a variety of places.  The Iron and Stone Golems seem to have basis in tales, but the most likely origin seems to be the films featuring the Ray Harryhausen monsters, in particular the giant statue from Jason and the Argonauts (whose fertile ground also gave us Skeletons).The one thing that many of these stories have that the RPG monster...

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How I learned to stop worrying...

and like the Realms.(I don't quite love them yet)I have always been a Greyhawk fan. Some of my very first games were looking for ancient Suel mysteries or exploring the dirty streets of the Free City of Greyhawk.   While I ran my adventures in the Known World of Mystara, I played in Oerth and Greyhawk.For years I even combined the two into one world, and that worked out pretty well.I remember reading about the Realms in Dragon Mag and I was never impressed.  The increased fetishization of the Drow and Drizzt worship turned me off as well. I can't tell you how much I despised "Lloth", it's LOLTH goddamn it. Any way. I saw the Realms as an upstart to Greyhawk and not even a good one to be honest.   This oddly enough was right...

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October Challenge: Twins of Evil (1971)

Twins of Evil (1971)My love for Hammer films is well known and well documented.  I am also a huge fan of the Carmilla story.  So it really seems like a no-brainier that I had already seen all the movies in the Karnstien Trilogy. Except that I haven't.This movie works a little a prequel to The Vampire Lovers. This time we have a Count Karnstein.  I like the story itself is not a bad one.  Afterall the Karnsteins were supposed to be a family of evil, this current Count helps fill in some of those gaps.  We get a guest appearance from Mircalla who turns our count into a monster.  There are other call backs to the first movie in how the vampires can still move about during the day, but their shrouds they need...

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Tiger and Bunny Movie review

And so, Tiger & Bunny the Movie is now in Singapore! Much thanks to Golden Village for bringing the movie in exclusively ! The website states the movie to be 150 minutes but the actual run was like most Animated movies, only 90 minutes long. The movie is equipped with both Mandarin and English subtitles. The movie begun with a remake of the first episode of the series which took us aback. Kotetsu appeared in his original Hero suit and exactly like the first episode, He screwed up incredibly bad.  He soon found his agent company bought over by another company. And he is forced to pair up with an arrogant newbie; Barnaby Brooks Jr.  Yes, exactly like episode 1. Fans holding T&B plushie, taking pictures with the poster at...

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October Challenge: I am Legend

I am LegendOne of the things that I love doing (but irritates my wife) is watching multiple versions of the same movie.  This year I choose the various incarnations of Richard Matheson's "I am Legend".  I had read the book years ago back in grad school and I recalled seeing "The Omega Man" (which I ad always thought the Police song was based on).  Well the new I Am Legend was on so I figured what the heck.The Last Man on Earth (1964)Vincent Price stars as the Robert Neville character, Robert Morgan.  The interesting thing about this movie is that Matheson worked on the script, but decided that he didn't like it.   The vampires in this version are more of the classical, "Hammer" vampires.  Affected by...

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Zatannurday: Alouette Cosplay

A while back I featured a pic of a faux Justice League movie that featured Zatanna.Well I finally tracked down that Cosplayer, Alouette Cosplay, and she has done some more.Here are some of her DC Heroes. First up, Zatanna:DC: Sorcery Savant by ~AlouetteCosplay on deviantART:DC: A League of Their Own by ~AlouetteCosplay on deviantARTAnd as Black Canary, with an unknown Zatanna :DC: Fishnet Heroines by *AlouetteCosplay on deviantARTAs Catwoman with Poison Ivy, :DC: Double Team by *AlouetteCosplay on deviantARTAs Catwoman again with Harley, Ivy and the Bat. :DC: The Sirens and The Bat by ~AlouetteCosplay on deviantARTBatwoman (love this one) :DC: Twice Named by ~AlouetteCosplay on deviantARTAnd finally Black Canary :BC: Little Bird by *AlouetteCosplay...

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