Book Review: Hard In Hightown!

Hey everyone, today we’re doing a book review! I recently got my hands on a long-awaited (as in was preordered for my birthday back in January) book from the Dragon Age universe: Hard In Hightown. I won’t go into any spoilers, for either the book or the games, so you should be good as far as that’s concerned. Let’s see how it is!

Alright, so the first thing you have to understand about Hard In Hightown is that it’s not a lore book that fleshes out the world in the same sense as the other novels, such as The Stolen Throne, The Calling, Asunder, or the canon comics (all of which are awesome too!). The characters you know and love from the games aren’t in this book. This is a fictional book from the world of the games made real. It was written by author, lovable rogue, and frustratingly-unromanceable dwarven companion of both Dragon Age II and Inquisition, Varric Tethras.

 so unfair....

 So this is kind of like having one of the Misery books from Stephen King’s work of the same name, or one of Harry Potter’s actual textbooks. So in that sense, it’s a really neat, unique entry into the series. And not only that, if you’re a player of the series, you can pick up chapters of the book for your codex. And now I have it in my actual hands!

So, you might ask, what kind of story is this? Well, it’s a pulpy, noir detective story. And at a modest 70 pages, it’s more of a novella. And when I say pulpy noir detective, I mean it. It leans into that trope hard. It has all the hallmarks: the grizzled detective (or City Guard in this case) who’s too old for this shit and two weeks from retirement, the overbearing police chief (or Captain-of-the-Guard), and the rookie partner. Okay, maybe that’s more 80’s police movies, but the point stands. Then we get into femme fatales, murder, shadowy groups, and ancient artifacts. If you’re on the up-and-up with the genre, I don’t think any of it will be particularly surprising, but it is really fun. And if you’re a fan, you can definitely see that Varric (or Mary Kirby, as the case may be) tends to write his friends into his stories. So those are some really fun easter eggs. 

I’m not sure what the negatives would be for the book. Probably that you need to at least having a passing knowledge of the Dragon Age universe for this to make sense. You can enjoy it as a novel on its own, but if you don’t know about the Chantry, or Andraste, or other in-world things, you’re probably not going to get the full picture. The big reveal at the end won’t make much sense if you don’t understand the importance of what it is. I also would’ve been okay with it being longer, to be honest. 70 pages with a number of full-page pictures? That’s literally nothing, especially since I’m a notoriously fast reader.

Overall, this was a super fun read. It’s one part The Maltese Falcon, one part Lethal Weapon. I highly recommend it, but again, it would probably be better if you were a fan. If you are, you should definitely check it out! I would personally love to see more of these. I’d even read Varric’s smutty romance series Swords and Shields, and I don't even like romance novels. 

you thought I was kidding? This is the in-game cover for it.

I’ll leave you with this promotional video where the voice actor for the character of Varric (Brian Bloom) gives you a little preview of what you’re in store for (read in Varric’s voice!).  

The Meg Spoiler Free Review

Hey everyone, we’re back with a new movie review. Today we’re talking about The Meg, (loosely) based on the book Meg by Steve Alten. So let’s talk about the latest giant shark flick, no spoilers ahead.

So what can we say about The Meg? I feel like I don’t have a lot to say about this one. It’s funny, when a movie is absolutely excellent or absolutely abhorrent, a review is usually quite easy to write. This movie was neither of those. It was a fun, action, shark movie that to me felt a bit throw-back-ish to the myriad of action movies I grew up watching (though not overdone to the point of straight up cheesiness). So that’s a bit trickier to write because you just end up saying everything was ‘fine’ or ‘good’ or whatever and you can only repeat yourself so many times. So let’s instead just talk about some of the things I liked about the movie, because when I think of it, there isn’t really anything I outright disliked about it.  Oh, and I actually haven't read the book, so no comparisons this time around.

-The ‘Meg’ itself. Okay, so this movie isn’t going to win any awards when it comes to special effects, but the shark looked pretty good. It wasn’t like something like Gods of Egypt where the CG was laughably horrendous, but you knew that shark was CGI. It wasn’t distracting though, it looked good. And there are some really neat shots, too and the underwater environments look really cool.  

-Pacing. I though the movie was well-paced. You weren’t sitting there wishing the shark would just jump up and eat someone just to get the plot moving. That would’ve been the greatest sin this movie could’ve committed, in my opinion. It’s one thing to be bad, because you can usually get some enjoyment out of that, but it’s so much worse to be boring. Lookin’ at you, Assassin’s Creed. 

-Jason Statham. There’s not really a reason here, I just like him and I’m all for watching him do his action-star thing. And, I mean he has a shirtless scene and that’s just a bonus. 

-Shuya Sophia Cai as Meiying. Lots of people complain about kids in movies, but this little girl was funny and sassy and had a really adorable rapport with Statham’s character, Jonas. 

It was super cute

-Li Bingbing as Suyin. It’s always nice when the ‘designated love interest’ is more than just a damsel in distress or otherwise useless character. She’s definitely a ‘harsh tsundere’, but she’s also smart and capable and willing to do what she needs to even if it’s dangerous. 

-There’s only one bad jumpscare. I hate jumpscares with a passion (mostly because they always get me even if I know they’re coming and they’re cheap) but this movie wasn’t full of them, for which I was profoundly grateful. I moved back in my seat a few time, anticipating one, but was pleasantly surprised when they didn’t materialize. They ran a trailer for The Nun beforehand and that one had a jumpscare that got me good, and I’m sure the people in front of us heard me drop a rather annoyed f-bomb in consequence. So head’s up for that one. 

-This movie and the people making it knew what it was they were making. Okay, sometimes you get a movie with a premise that demands a certain amount of, at least, self-awareness of how ridiculous the premise is. A lot of times, that movie will make the mistake of taking itself way too seriously. The Meg doesn’t do this. There is definite humor and some good quips, but more importantly, everybody understands what kind of movie this is. No one is taking it so super seriously that it gets overwrought and misses the whole fun part of the movie.

*ahem*

 We all know this ain’t Oscar bait, they all know this ain’t Oscar bait, and with everyone all on the same page, things work better. And that’s great, not everything needs to be Oscar bait. Sometimes you just need a good popcorn action movie. Yeah, maybe not all the characters are super well-defined, but you get enough to get you by and it works just fine.  

Well, I guess those are my thoughts on The Meg. Overall, as I said, it was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it. It’s currently sitting right middle of the road in my movies of 2018 list, and that’s a great description of it. My other half summed it up best when he said ‘If you don’t want a ‘highbrow’ shark movie like Jaws or The Shallows but you don’t want the schlock of Sharknado, et al., this is a great middle ground’. And it really is. I would recommend it. I know there are complaints about how it was PG-13, but I don’t really thing it lost that much for it. I mean, I don’t know how much more an R rating would’ve given the film except more gore and maybe language that’s not really that big a deal for me one way or the other. It was a lot of fun, and that’s what I wanted.   

Cosplay Update!

Since I guess this isn't really 'The Road to Comic-Con' anymore, I guess this will do as a title. But, just because the con is off, doesn't mean we aren't going to finish what we started! So let's have a look at our progress (including the first fully finished piece!). Image heavy post ahead.

Bracers
A little bit of work done here. The bracers themselves and the handplates are now attached to one another, and an elastic was added to the underside of the handplate to keep it on. I have straps for the bracers themselves but haven't put them on yet.

Shoulders
Finally got around to gluing the small spikes to the shoulders. The third shoulder piece still needs a big spike, but my first attempt at that fell apart. Better luck next time.

Treasure Goblin Loot
This is the part I didn't do. While I was working on other stuff, the elder spawn painted the shield, helmet, and bracers that will be part of his treasure goblin loot. All I have to say is, based on the job he did,  I'm going to have to step up my game. These are primed in black and painted with regular acrylics.

Wig #2
I have no idea when I'll get to wear this costume now, as it was supposed to be for Day 2 of the con. But, my wig is still in for it. I decided to do a real quick 'eyebrows' test with it, since mine are the wrong color and shape for the character. I see now the wig is a little crooked in the pictures, but it was late and I just wanted to see how it looked. The eyebrows do make a difference, I have to say.

Axe
I'm almost sad to say this is my final update on the axe. Yes, it is finally finished! Here are the final steps:

- Primer- the skull and spikes were all primed with Rustoleum Smoky Beige to get a bone-like colored base.

-Grey Wash- I made up a wash from black, a light grey, and a hint of dark brown (I believe the ratio was 1:5:1, respectively). This I gave two coats with a fairly stiff brush to get a nice texture, especially on the skull.

-Shoe polish- the next day, when everything was nice and dry, all the grey-washed areas got a coat of black shoe polish to weather them to the nice, dark color of the in-game item. To do this, cover the item with shoe polish, either by brush or with the sponge applicator. Let sit for a couple of minutes and then use a paper towel to dab off the excess. Repeat if necessary until desired look is achieved.

-Blade- the blade of the axe is quite shiny on the in-game axe, so I didn't shoe polish it. It is, however, blood-covered, especially along the blade, up the front, and on the skull. Start with a burnt sienna color and apply as desired.

Add red with it. Not directly over it, per se, but in around it so both colors can be seen.

I also dripped some red food coloring on it too, for more 'fresh-looking' blood drips, but that's totally optional. Let it all dry and seal with a clear matte spray.

-Handle- I had to repair the this as where I'd bent the broom handle had actually broken. I gave it a splint made from dowel, duct taped the crap out of it, and wrapped new cloth over top. The whole handle was shoe polished to weather the cloth, as well.

-Butt end- I realized I still had a broom end to cover. I rigged up something with a piece of foam, a piece of paper towel roll, and a plastic shot glass. They were painted black to finish things off.  Once the battery pack for the lights was secured back under the skull, then that was all!
And there it is, it's done!

Well, that's how things are going. This weekend is very exciting. We're going to be seeing The Meg (for our anniversary, no less!). I hope it's as ridiculous as it looks. I'll have a review for that afterwards, don't worry.