I am still speechless after my Seahawks somehow won this weekend, so how about we watch the Batmobile bounce off Superman for awhile okay? Okay. Go Hawks!
Downton Abbey Is Back For One Last Year!
The sixth and final season has begun for Downton Abbey! It looks like the much promised change and rise of the middle class will finally hit the show this year, so we will see how the Granthams deal with the end of the Edwardian era. Honestly it seems like we have been waiting for this to happen since the show began, but it looks we will finally see the fall of aristocracy, well lower Lord and Ladies anyway. We can only hope that Tom comes back from America to say, “I told you so!”.
I will say that my biggest concern is what will happen to all the staff when all the jobs they have trained for all their lives disappear. The Granthams will be just fine I am sure since the show always seems to let them out of their troubles, with the exception of killing them off from time to time. I hope this last tour of Downton Abbey is a good one.
Investigate Star Wars: Before The Awakening!
Do you want to know a little bit more about the three major new Star Wars characters from Star Wars: The Force Awakens? You do! Do you have the Hoopla Digital app from your local library? Then you can read about Finn, Rey, Poe for free in the novella Star Wars: Before the Awakening by Greg Rucka. Otherwise it is $8.50 on Amazon.
You are not going to learn anything ground breaking in Star Wars: Before the Awakening, so feel free to read it even if you haven’t seen the movie yet. It just provides a little background information on the new crew in three short stories. Like why Finn can use a light saber, why Rey is so good at fixing things, and how Poe got in to the Resistance. Plus just a little more info on what the Resistance is in the first place.
Actually you get the most Force Awakens background info out of Poe’s story which makes his the most worth reading. Though I did like the little tease of how things work in The First Order with Finn. Rey’s story is good, but you don’t get any new info. Just that she works hard on Jakku. Fun but lacking any substance.
Star Wars: Before the Awakening was a good little read and easy to recommend to Star Wars fans. Especially if you have the Hoopla app and can read it for free. Since it is so short, I might wait for the price to drop if you are Hoopla-less. I enjoyed spending a little more time with the three new lead characters, and I suspect you will too.
Shmee Ventures Into The Badlands!
You know what the holiday season is good for? Binge watching TV shows. Mostly the wife and I binge watched Harry Potter, but we did manage to squeeze in ‘Into the Badlands’. The new Kung-Fu show from AMC. The story was a little iffy, but the action was top-notch.
‘Into the Badlands’ is about a post-apocalyptic future where guns have been outlawed, and Barons rule the Badlands with their sword wielding ‘Clipper’ forces. A young boy (Aramis Knight) has been found with a mysterious past and amazing powers, and everyone is trying to use him to escape or rule the Badlands.
Really the setup is just an excuse for everyone to punch each other, and it relies to much on a bunch of killers deciding to take people alive for ‘reasons’. Though it does get much better as it goes. I think it just takes awhile to find its footing. Which is a shame for a short six episode season. Though the punching is really good!
Much like the story, the actors all seem to get better as the show moves along. I think they start to get a better feel for the roles they are playing. Maybe they were able to come up with some personal motivation for the punching or something. I do think some better dialog would help them out.
All in all I liked ‘Into the Badlands’, and I would like to see a season two. It would be nice to have it be a truly good show, and not just the best Kung-Fu show on television. I look forward to next year with great interest to see if we are in for more stylized punching. If you need a little more action on your TV set you should give ‘Into the Badlands’ a shot. You will probably like what you see.
Shmee’s 5 Most Anticipated Games For 2016!
It stands to reason that if I gave you the movies I am looking forward to this year yesterday, that I would give you the games I am looking forward to this year today! Doesn’t it? I think it does. There are a lot of good games coming out this year, but here are my top five!
What do you get with Crackdown 3? How about a city that you can totally destroy with all your friends! Crackdown has always been about multiplayer chaos, and I hope that and it delivers that and more this spring!
Quantum Break is the only original IP on this list, which is kind of sad, but it also shows how much faith I have in Remedy (the creators of Max Payne) to make a fun and exciting third person shooter.
3: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
When Eidos Montreal took over the Deus Ex franchise with Human Revolution I was surprised with how great it was, so I am very excited for their follow-up Mankind Divided. I was bummed to find out this game had been pushed back to August from February, but luckily I have a ton of games to play still from last year!
After Mass Effect 3’s great but not Mass Effect amazing outing, I am trying not to get too excited for this game, but come on! It is a new Mass Effect game! One of the greatest RPG franchises of all time is coming back! Only my irrational love of Hitman keeps this game from being number one on my list.
IO Interactive as all but apologized for Hitman: Absolution, so they are trying to make things right by having an online, customizable, and always growing game for you to take out targets from the shadows! This sound like the Hitman game I have always wanted, so it has to be my number one game!
That is my list! What games are you looking forward to this year? Or have they all been postponed to 2017 already (Scalebound anyone)?