The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles

Last year I called Oblivion my favorite game of 2006, and that opinion sticks. Good points can be made about the generic fantasy setting, reduced depth compared to Morrowind, and some promises less than completely fulfilled, like the new AI which had some silly problems. But I still enjoyed the hell out of it for a long time, and continued to do so long after I wrote that. Pretty recently I added a whole bunch of content, including most of the add-ons, the enjoyable Knights of the Nine quest line, scads of user-created stuff, and the expansion released last year, Shivering Isles. It all adds to an already huge game, and Isles in particular revitalized my interest in the game and its history.

Shivering Isles doesn't do that much to improve gameplay, there is some interesting additional weapons and magic, but it plays largely the same. What's great about it is how it steps up the enjoyability of the atmosphere. If you get into it, the Elder Scrolls series has some interesting lore and really intricate detail to it, although that's somewhat obscured by the blandness of Cyrodill, the province of Tamriel Oblivion mostly takes place in. That's not a problem with the expansion, which ships you over to the realm of Sheogorath, one of the other Daedric princes, who happens to be completely insane. Instead of lush hills and deciduous forests, the landscape is peppered with gigantic plants and mushrooms and all sorts of winding paths. Every resident is almost as crazy as Sheogorath in their own, unique way, and in contrast to Oblivion's pervasive seriousness, Shivering Isles is genuinely funny. It's always fun to meet new people and discover exactly what psychosis is bothering them that day. Sheogorath is the star attraction, and as far as talking heads that serve only to give you your next quest go, he's one of the most entertaining to listen to.

There's improvement in the amount of choice you have, too. Many quests in Oblivion gave you some choice about which way to go with a certain dilemma and the consequences varied, but those were mostly isolated incidents. There are a few choices you have in Isles that have real resonance with how the rest of the entire game plays out. It's still mostly the same, but it's different enough that your decisions seem to have an actual impact. In addition to all these design improvements, it's still an entertaining, rewarding RPG, and my only real complaint is that too many of the side quests are really just fetch quests, even if what you're fetching is more interesting than it usually is. There's still plenty I haven't seen, but I'd recommend it to anyone who has any interest in the series.

Battlestar Galactica - Season 1

I never saw the original series, so I can't say how much the new version owes to it or even how much of the plot is the same. All I can say is that what Battlestar Galactica is is one of the most visually impressive and interesting shows on television. Briefly, 40 years earlier, robots called Cylons, created by the humans of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, rebel and start a war, eventually being pushed back. During the miniseries which kicks off the show, the Cylons use new models that look and act exactly like humans to infiltrate human society and create an opening, allowing them to land a devastating blow, wiping out the vast majority of civilization and the military. Only one battleship, the Galactica, and about 50,000 humans survive. The attack was so effective that the Secretary of Education, 43rd in line of succession, has to become president.

The first season of the show focuses on the large scale space battles, delicate subterfuge, and complicated personal relationships involving the remaining humans. Anyone could be a Cylon, and some don't even know it, leading to a great sense of mystery and suspense. Evil robots aren't the only problem either, the setting is taken seriously, and the crew has to worry about fuel, water, and ammunition in addition to the constant threat of discovery as they search for Earth, the fabled thirteenth colony. Not even all the humans can stick together, as they're suspicious of each others' true natures and an old terrorist (or freedom fighter as some would call him) has a distressing amount of loyalty among some of the survivors. The core cast of characters is quite strong, and it's interesting to note how important women are in a male dominated sort of entertainment. The president and best pilot in the fleet are women, and the two most prominent of human-looking Cylons are two. There are multiple copies of each model, each with their own consciousness, and of those is currently locked inside the mind of one of the humans, and it's very interesting to see how she helps him and wonder where her allegiances really are. The end of the season is quite the cliffhanger, and I'm ready to jump into the second.

Midori

I wrote this for a class, which explains why it's a bit more analytical/spoiler-filled. Warning: do not watch this.

Midori is sort of a difficult film to make sense of, because so much of it is insane and disgusting for what appears to be the sake of it. There is little rhyme or reason to most of the events and decisions the characters make, and I couldn't tell if it was trying to be deeper than it appeared or just bad, although I'd lean towards the former. Most of the characters are just evil monsters who want to make Midori miserable, although she shows weakness in her inability to even attempt to leave the situation and willingness to jump into the arms of the first person to show her a little decency, even if he's not too good himself. The dwarf is like the serpent from the Garden of Eden, luring in the innocent with promises of good things before turning out to be as bad as everyone else.

Stylistically, I understand that its mean to shock, but I found it difficult to appreciate the bizarre violence and sexuality throughout. It wasn't really frightening, just distasteful. Animated by one man, it's pretty lacking in that department, with mediocre, inconsistent art and very little fluidity, although the music had some definite high points.

I wasn't sure what the story was trying to say. Until the dwarf appears, it's mostly a series of unprovoked, cruel happenings, as everything Midori cares for is abused, including herself. The dwarf helps her and seduces her, and after some troubles is about to leave with her with everybody more pleasant than before until he reveals it was all a sham and they all really still hate her for no reason. As a different sort of entertainment, it was interesting, but I have a hard time coming up with any real redeeming features of it.

Angel's Egg

I wrote this for a class, which explains why it's a bit more analytical/spoiler-filled.

I'm a bit divided on Angel's Egg stylistically. It has a unique look which serves its purpose, and the animation is fairly well done. But there are many lingering shots of either simple events or nothing at all, that seem to drag the film out without adding much substance. Did we really need to watch the two characters sit motionless in a dark room for what had to be literally at least three minutes to establish the scene? I say no.

The aforementioned characters are nameless, and it makes sense, as they have no personal details, not remembering who they are or why they're there. Like in most experimental film, they're not there to be people but to be tools for the story. She has an egg, and he wants to break it. Pretty straightforward and nonessential.

The whole work seems to be a comment on religion, particularly Christianity. Water is everywhere, and towards the end the world is flooding. The man tells the story of the ark, and at the end it appears that they're living on a giant beached ark. His weapon is in the shape of a cross, the symbol of Jesus' death, and he uses it to destroy the egg, the symbol of Jesus' birth. There is nothing in the egg, yet the girl held onto her belief in it for so long, perhaps a message that religion is meaningless. The girl seemed to age to maturity upon her death in the water, but around that time the movie ceased to make sense and I sort of lost focus against the onslaught of weird imagery. Message films are fine, but I prefer it when they don't obscure it with layers upon layers of abstraction.