Tag Archives: Fantasy

Anthropology, Holidays, Movies/TV Shows, Religion & Spirituality, Uncategorized

Friday the 13th and the Ghost in My Backseat

3 Comments

Paraskevidekatriaphobia is the fear of Friday the 13th, and this evening, I had my weird Friday the 13th experience.

I was on my way home from dropping off my daughter at her school dance. As I was turning a corner I saw for a brief flash in my rearview mirror the image of a ghastly woman as if she was sitting in my back seat. She had a sort of bluish illumination with two dark eyes with blackened mascara-like smears running down her face. Nothing too original, but it did cause me a split second’s release of adrenaline. The best part is that I know exactly what I saw and why.

Yeah, kinda like that!

For uncertain reasons in the Western world and especially the United States when the 13th of the month falls on a Friday it is believed to be an unlucky day.

I grew up with this superstition and believed in it to whatever degree young children can believe in anything they have no ability to understand and no reason to believe other than the influence of their peers. The fact that I was a very young child at the beginnings of the extremely successful Friday the 13th movie franchise has shaded my view of the event in a particular light for me.

I’m not unique in this, these days Americans particularly see Friday the 13th as a scary and dark day, a sort of reverse holiday similar to Halloween without the costumes or trick-or-treating. It comes with its own myths and urban legends. Much like the Santa Claus at Christmas of the Easter Bunny in spring, the murderous hockey mask clad and machete wielding zombie Jason Vorheese from the Friday the 13th movies is and for a long time to come will be in the future attached to this spooky unholiday. This really is a testament more to the quality of the marketing of the franchise than the quality of the movies themselves that even as I child I found to be more funny than frightening, but I still love them. Jason lives in mythology alongside classic legendary supernatural evils like the Headless Horseman, Dracula, or Frankenstein.

There’s a fair amount of speculation regarding the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition, but no one really knows for sure. The number 13 has been considered an unlucky number for hundreds of years. This is so prevalent that most hotels do not even host a 13th floor. The numbers on an elevator will often go straight from 12 to 14 because many people are afraid to rent a room on the 13th floor. It might seem crazy, but it’s true.

The superstition of 13 being bad luck seems to have arisen during the middle ages and is assumed to have come from the story of the arrest of Jesus after the Last Supper when He and His twelve apostles were present equaling thirteen.  Similarly, the fact Jesus was crucified on the following day; Friday made that day a particularly infamous part of the week, one which Catholics and Orthodox Christians still consider a day of fasting. These two beliefs combined seem to be the origin of the superstition; two unlucky points occurring at once although the origins of Friday the 13th being especially unlucky didn’t seem to arise until the 19th century.

In the 20th century authors such as Maurice Druon in his novel Le Roi de fer (1955), and John J. Robinson in his book Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry (1989) postulated a connection between this superstition and the day on which the Knights Templar were arrested on charges of heresy by King Philip the IV of France, Friday the 13th of October 1307. This was echoed in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code (2003), and other books, memes and papers since then. Although this is one of my favorite hypotheses, the evidence to support this being the origin of the superstition is dubious at best. It’s more likely a combination of reasons.


In my car, as quickly as the ghastly woman had appeared in my rearview mirror she was gone, but I could still see the impression of her eyes. They were spots of dirt with what appeared to be smeared finger print running down the glass. As I was turning the corner the setting sun passed directly behind me for just a brief moment. The sun’s rays reflected off of the mirror in a manner framing the fingerprints in a glow and accentuating the smudges. Then my lizard brain took over and assembled this into an image I could make sense out of based on the fact I’ve been thinking about Friday the 13th and creepy stuff all day. When my daughter gets home from her dance we plan on watching some scary movies.

Human psychology is such a fascinating subject.


Media, Uncategorized

Star Trek Fleet Command Could Have Been Great. It Isn’t

2 Comments

Star Trek: Fleet Command is a player versus player (pvp) game designed by Scopely for mobile game play. I have played it almost daily for over a month at the time of this writing. Simply put; Star Trek: Fleet Command could have been a great game. It Isn’t

If you choose to play this game be prepared to pay a lot of money, or advance extremely slowly to the point of standstill.

The first 10 to 15 levels are really fun. There’s a steep learning curve, but the basics are easy to grasp in a short amount of time. The pvp aspect is more fun than the missions and really makes the game, and that at least improves as you exceed level 15.

Unfortunately once you advance past the 15th level the resources required to advance become harder and harder to obtain to the point of impossibility without spending several hundred dollars just to be the least bit competitive or no longer progress at all.

I’m not opposed to spending money on a game if it’s good and I get real bang for my buck, but Star Trek: Fleet Command is designed to milk players of their cash without delivering any real satisfaction. The packages available in the game aren’t particularly helpful and don’t really improve the game play much if at all.

After buying one package and using it to level up your ships, officers or station you just get stuck at another level until you’re willing to shell out even more cash for an even more expensive package. I’m at level 17, with some seriously good pvp stats, and I’m stuck again after spending more money than I care to admit.

Once you buy a $4.99 package it disappears forever and you can only buy the more expensive packages. Eventually, it seems only the $99 packages remain. This kind of intentional milking of players is unethical, especially since the money spent doesn’t really improve the playing experience.

This review is about genuine disappointment. When other players have complained and left the game, I kept playing and hoping to prove them wrong. I’ve played through and paid through some of the worst sticking points in the game. I endured the insane number of bugs in the beginning. I fully embraced the PvP aspect to the point I have some of the best PvP stats for my level than many other players I encounter. But at this point I’m just done.

It’s not fun anymore. The reward isn’t worth the grind. The sales aren’t worth the cash.

I won’t be uninstalling the app immediately. I might give it another week, but not another dollar. I’ll probably do a couple maneuvers or something to see if anything changes, but if this game does not improve significantly soon. I’m gone forever.

Star Trek: Fleet Command is the worst pay to win game I’ve ever encountered. It’s nonstop frustration because of the in game cost vs resource availability is horribly skewed. What makes it worse is the potential this game had for being great. It’s not a great game.

Update:
After about another month of checking in, the game never got any better. I did delete the game.


Media, Movies/TV Shows, Uncategorized

The Return of the Jedi is still a Great Movie

Tonight I’m watching Return of the Jedi with the girls.

You know, this movie takes a lot of flack, but when I was 8 it was the movie I was the most excited about seeing.

I saw Star Wars in the the theater before it was called “Episode IV”when I was three and no one knew what to expect, especially a toddler.

I didn’t even know The Empire Strikes Back was a thing until I saw the movie poster outside the theater some time before going to see it at the age of five.

But Jedi, I hassled my dad every day for months about going to see it until he threatened to not take me if I kept asking.

Return of the Jedi is the climax of the series. Even though it doesn’t have the high adventure of “A New Hope,” the introspection of “The Empire Strikes Back” and the Ewoks are kind of stupid, it’s still an amazing third act of one of the best epic dramas of western civilization.


Movies/TV Shows, Uncategorized

Rogue One: The Best Thing Since The Empire Strikes Back

Rogue One theatrical release poster, wikipedia commons

Like the movie-slacker I am, I waited until Christmas Day to go see Rogue One: A Star Wars Story because I don’t care much for long lines and crowded movie theaters.

I’ve been a Star Wars fan since I saw Episode IV: A New Hope in the theater on its first run. I was three years old.  Like a lot of old school Star Wars fans, I loved A New Hope (which we always just called Star Wars), and found The Empire Strikes Back to be an even better movie. Return of the Jedi was not as good as the others, but provided us with the answers and closure we needed.

Then sixteen years later the prequels happened and my confidence in the franchise was shaken.  After this and Lucas selling the rights to Disney, I was skeptical about Episode VII: The Force Awakens, but it turned out to be a pretty decent reboot from George Lucas’ blunders with episodes I, II, and III.  Then with the announcement of Rogue One, I was certainly full of anticipation but was careful not to have too high expectations.

Well, any concerns I had about the quality of this movie were thoroughly assuaged. Rogue One is a brilliant addition to the Star Wars franchise.

It’s Star Wars

Rogue One is a Star Wars story. Unlike the prequels which barely resembled the Star Wars we old-schoolers know and love, and even The Force Awakens to some degree, Rogue One is built from the ground up with the imagery, style and elements of the original trilogy.  There are enough Easter eggs and callbacks to the previous films to plant it firmly in the classic Star Wars universe, but done effectively in a manner that didn’t appear cheap or uninspired.  Rogue One was more Star Wars than I have seen in years.

It’s a War Movie

Rogue One is a war movie to its core.  There’s not a lot of mucking about with deep philosophical themes, political intrigue, romance, or building big mysteries to be revealed in later installments. In fact it resolves some questions we had about aspects of the storyline of A New Hope instead.  It’s darker, grittier and more violent than any of those that have come before it.  The ground combat scenes are as intense as those in classic war films such as The Thin Red Line, or Full Metal Jacket.  The space battle scenes are some of the most epic and action-packed of any of the films.

A Troubled Alliance

I think a lot of times in the past movies it seemed like the Rebel Alliance was a wholly unified and cooperative effort of revolutionaries with only the galaxy’s best interests at heart.  In Rogue One we get to see a more nuanced rebellion, a complex network of disenfranchised and dysfunctional systems.  We get to see a diverse range of Rebels from senators like Mon Mothma, to radical guerilla fighters, spies of questionable morals, and former imperials.

Darth Vader

The impact of seeing Darth Vader in action again is a quality of the film that can’t be overstated. He doesn’t play a huge role in the story, but it’s a significant one that really makes an impression and builds upon the menacing character we got to know in the original trilogy.

A Deeper Perspective on “A New Hope”

Rogue One takes place over a matter of a few days leading up to the opening scene of “A New Hope.” Multiple loose ends are tied and questions answered that had always lingered from the original story.  Perhaps most significantly, the two movies fit together more fluidly than any of the prequels or the original trilogy, or most sequels of any movies.  They almost seem like two acts of the same very long movie.  It’s hard to walk out of Rogue One and not feel compelled to rewatch A New Hope shortly afterward.

Cons

No movie is flawless and I’m not such a Star Wars fan boy to not admit flaws when they are present. There are a few criticisms worth mentioning.  To begin with the first thirty minutes or so of the movie is a little too fast-paced with scenes jumping around so much that it seems disjointed.  Fortunately this a rectified and everything becomes clear in the later acts of the film.  While Vader’s scenes are dynamic and dramatic, his suit looks a little off.  The chain that holds his cape around his neck in all the other movies is absent and his helmet doesn’t seem to fit properly as the neckline sticks out in front of the chest plate too much.  It’s a bit distracting and seems inauthentic but it’s the rest of Vader’s scenes are so great it hardly matters.  Michael Giacchino’s musical score isn’t quite up to par with John Williams’ masterpieces in the previous films, but it doesn’t detract from the movie in the least.

In many ways Rogue One is the Star Wars movie I have always wanted, but I got the Skywalker prequels instead.  Rogue One is well out of the league of the prequels.  It’s more intense than The Force Awakens, and a better all-around production than Return of the Jedi.  To me, it’s the best movie since The Empire Strikes Back.

         


Media, Movies/TV Shows, Uncategorized

The Walking Dead – More than Just Zombies

Honestly, I don’t care much for zombies or zombie movies. I’ve always found them to be a little juvenile. Most Zombie films always seem like a trite rip-off of Night of the Living Dead. Well, AMC’s series The Walking Dead, although not particularly original in its title is anything but a generic zombie story.  Actually, I think it’s pretty damned good.

In the interest of full disclosure, I only began watching the show halfway through the second season and I never read the comic book series off of which it is based.  I was aware of the show, but as I said I don’t care much for zombies, and I figured it was just a long drawn-out rehashing of that god-awful movie 28 Days Later.  One night however, I was bored and decided to give it viewing.  I was hooked from the very first episode I watched. After that, I made it a mission to backtrack and catch up with all the episodes I had missed.

While I don’t like zombies (can I say that enough?), I have always been a fan of post-apocalyptic themes.  There is just something that fascinates me about a devastated world, sparsely populated with rag-tag bands of survivalists fighting to reestablish some sense of civilization, fighting against roving gangs of marauders, monsters or aliens … whatever, in an increasingly neo-tribal, neo-medieval environment – and THAT is what The Walking Dead does right – so much that the zombies don’t even bother me.

            

The characters in The Walking Dead are very well developed, and the social dynamics of the main band of survivors are intense and believable. There is everything from sexual dynamics, racial tension, and marital problems. It is filled with action, adventure, drama, a bit of romance (but not too much mushy stuff), tragedy and just the right amount of gore without going overboard.  There is not a flat or one-dimensional character in the series, at least not one that sticks around for very long. And that could serve as a warning to new viewers – be careful which characters you get attached to. They might not last very long.

The story basically follows Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), a sheriff’s deputy in Georgia, whom after being shot in the line of duty wakes up in a hospital to a world populated by the cannibalistic living dead. He hooks up with a band of survivors, reuniting with his wife and son, and eventually finds himself thrust into a precarious leadership position. He begins the series as a down-home, mild-mannered, all-American family man. Then after many months of fighting zombies, marauders, back-stabbers, and watching his friends and loved-ones killed and “turned,” he begins to descend into a rather dark place. Even he is disturbed by his transformation.

The Walking Dead is a great series. In the end however, it is not about the zombies.  It’s really about people, humanity, love and cooperation.  It’s about being pushed to the breaking point and keeping it together. After society has completely broken down what’s important is more than just mere survival. It’s about finding a sense of meaning in a world of chaos. It’s about creating normalcy in an environment that is anything but normal. Each episode leaves you eagerly awaiting the next. And me personally, it leaves me pondering: “How would I have handled that?”