Avengers: Age of Ultron or How AI is a Really Bad Idea and Will Probably Kill Us All *Spoilers*

So I finally got a chance to see Avengers: Age of Ultron today and I really enjoyed it. This is the second marvel film I've seen where I didn't have a concrete set of expectations as to what I was going to see. The first being Guardians of the Galaxy, where I had never read any of the comics, wasn't familiar with the characters and was really just expecting to have a good time. Age of Ultron is similar in that I hadn't had a chance to catch up on the Ultron arc so I just had the basis of the rest of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). This film is darker than the other MCU films but still retains the Joss Whedon trademark one-liners that had the audience laughing out loud. There's a lot going on with film. It does a lot of heavy lifting tying the previous installments to the upcoming films and the Infinity Gauntlet and Civil War storylines, introducing new characters Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Vision, and  still managing to be entertaining. The fight scenes are meticulously crafted and had the audience in my showing gasping aloud. Overall fan service abounds. Heavy spoilers from here on, so be warned.

Okay, now the elephant in the room. I don't really have a problem with the representation of Natasha in this film. I will give you that the romance sub-plot between her and Bruce was unnecessary. We already know that she has above-average skills of persuasion, and if there was an Avenger who could calm the Hulk it would probably be Nat anyway. That said, I don't think it detracted from her character in any way. I feel like her conversation with Bruce about her forced sterilization is more a moment in which they both mourn the loss of the ability to choose the path of their own lives than it is her admission of feeling like less of a woman because she is unable to have children. The whole section of the film at the farm is about each team member dealing with the nightmares the Scarlet Witch gave them and the full weight of what it means to be an Avenger. Each of them mourns the loss of normalcy and a sense of control, and I think Natasha's struggle isn't so different.

This movie also cements the wedge between Tony and Cap that preps for the Civil War arc. Steve is out of his element throughout the movie continuing where we left him after Winter Soldier. He continually struggles to adapt who is he as a hero and as a man to the realities of today's world and the enemies it faces. Steve is the past and Tony is the future, but Steve is learning quickly while Tony becomes increasingly paranoid. Tony Stark seems to long have been the fan favorite in these movies but his creation of Ultron makes him more a villain than he's been since the beginning of Iron Man. Ultron is a great villain and a great foil for both Tony and Vision. Spader was brilliantly cast in the part and is as menacing as he is snarky. He embodies a lot of modern fears about technology and anxieties about artificial intelligence. I love that he takes one brief look at the internet and decides that mankind has to go. Ultron's mining of Vibranium to make the giant floating island seems a little silly but I'm assuming that the Vibranium and the weird weapons dealer guy (played by a non-CG'd Andy Serkis) will feature more heavily in the upcoming Black Panther film. Like I said, there's a lot going on.

I liked the new additions to the MCU cast. In early stills Quicksilver came off super cheesy, but in the finished product he is likable and remarkably powerful. I feel like he was gone too soon. I can't wait to see where Scarlet Witch goes from here. She comes into her own late in the movie and as a new team comes together, she looks to be the most powerful apart from Vision. Oh man, Vision. So cool. Paul Bettany looks amazing as the synthetic human AI and has some of the best lines in the movie. I'm so excited to see what happens to him in upcoming installments although I can't help but wonder how the Infinity Stone makes its way out of his forehead into the Infinity Gauntlet. Overall, the new Avengers team assembling at the end of the movie looks promising as hell. The Iron Patriot, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Captain America and Black Widow. It's a big step forward in terms of representation both of women and people of color in the MCU.

Overall, Avengers: Age of Ultron is a great movie. It's entertaining, well-written and well paced. Is it perfect? No. But it lives up to the first film and creates a valuable bridge between the last phase of films and the next.

Heir to the...Jedi?

I'm not really sure how I feel about Heir to the Jedi which is why its been almost a week since I finished the book and I'm just now getting the review up. There are some really strong and creative aspects of the book but overall the story is forgettable. Heir to the Jedi (HTTJ) is the newest adult novel in the new Star Wars canon (and by adult I don't mean nsfw but not intended for children or teens, although how much fun would that be right?), although just by publication date. It was originally announced before the old EU was rebranded as Legends but it happens to fit in the timeline of the new canon. HTTJ takes place in the months after the Battle of Yavin and falls in with the other new additions, namely the three Marvel Star Wars storylines that are currently under way: Star Wars, Darth Vader and Princess Leia. All of these are excellent and I can wholeheartedly recommend them. It focuses on Luke as he's getting over Obi-Wan's death and coming to terms with his connection to the Force. What makes HTTJ unique, and hard to love, is its first person narrative. The whole book is told from Luke's perspective which is hard to get used to both for the reader and, it seems. The effect is that the book doesn't really feel like a Star Wars story. That and the vocabulary is awkward and not very in-universe. For example, how does the kid who grew up on the dirt-poor desert planet of Tatooine know about ice cream? He doesn't/shouldn't. After so many years of the EU the Star Wars vocabulary is established; fresher for shower, chrono for watch, caf for coffee and the like. So far the other novels have kept up with this tradition but Kevin Hearne is new to the franchise and I would love to know whether it was a conscious decision by the author or the editor to break with tradition. Dear god I know its pedantic, but these are the things that bother me while reading.

HTTJ is not without redeeming factors. Luke is at his most likable in this book and Hearne really captures the feeling of young, slightly dorky "I'm Luke Skywalker, I'm here to save you!" Luke rather than the dour Jedi master that we'd become so used to in the old EU. He feels like the Luke I fell in love with as a little girl. Luke's inner voice feels young and his infatuation with the other main character Nakari is sweet and endearing in sort of a puppy love way. He's also struggling to find his way and without Obi-Wan to guide him. He's coming off being the hero of the rebel alliance but its really done nothing to bolster his sense of self confidence. He's making little headway learning about the force and he's trying to grapple with his relationship with Darth Vader, the man he believes killed his father. He's trying to do what he can to help the rebellion but he feels like he's not as important as Leia. Luke and Nakari are tasked with retrieving an expert mathematician/hacker from Imperial custody and delivering her to a deserted planet to live in safety with her family. Along the way they are chased by imperial agents and get sold out by those they think they can trust. There is everything we hope for in a Star Wars novel but there is a greater focus on lesser known species and planets. 

Nakari is Luke's sidekick, love interest and biggest fan. She is an excellent character, and probably this book's brightest spot. She is a badass, confident, smart and creative. Their personal interactions are both awkward and endearing, although I personally could have done with a little more actual romance. Nakari is sort of a mentor to Luke and a cheerleader rather than a damsel in distress. 

The plot overall has some pacing issues, each battle scene is separated by and few pages of dialogue in a way that seems formulaic enough to be more at home in a video game than a novel. The entire book can be spit in tho three missions each with a different location. Perhaps this story my have been more effective told as a comic than a novel. The feeling of "what's at stake?" is largely missing. We can't argue that Luke and Nakari's mission is of vital importance to the success of the rebellion. 

The major problem with the book is also its biggest spoiler so here goes...

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**

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Nakari dies at the end. For no reason other than to cause Luke pain and give him a chance not to give in to the dark side. It's ridiculous. He could have had another reason, maybe anger or fear. It's just really unfortunate to waste a dynamic female character just to cause a man some pain. We've seen a few women in Luke's life get killed off in the old canon, but it always felt like it was because he was supposed to end up with Mara, but now there is no Mara. I just feel like it was lazy storytelling and I was hoping for more in the new canon. It proves that Lucasfilm/Disney/DelRay aren't listening to female fans yet, and that is really unfortunate.

Overall, unless you're a huge fan of all things Luke Skywalker, I would give this one a miss.

Many Bothans died to bring us this information

There's been a lot of big news in the Star Wars universe in the past week. Last week LucasFilm announced release dates for Episode VIII as well as the first of several planned stand-alone films, entitled Rogue One. Filming on Rogue One begins this summer in London and release is set for December 16, 2016 just less than a year after the premier of The Force Awakens. It will be directed by Gareth Edwards best known for his work on last year's Godzilla. The only star announced so far is Felicity Jones, who garnered an Oscar nod for her work on The Theory of Everything earlier this year.   Episode VIII is scheduled for release May 26, 2017, forty years and one day after the opening of A New Hope. It will be written and directed by up and comer Rian Johnson.

I have high hopes for Rogue One especially considering that Jones is the only star thus far. I'm hoping the rogue in the title refers to Rogue Squadron, an elite flight of X-Wing pilots founded and led by Luke Skywalker after the Battle of Yavin. Rogue Squadron was a staple in the books of the old expanded universe and it would be great to see them on the big screen, especially in the command of a woman. I'd love to see Jones as a Jaina Solo-esque character. It's possible, although highly unlikely that she could be Jaina. Although this is purely speculation, there is nothing to say what era the film is set in, all we know so far is that the story line stands apart from the main saga. I would love to see a few nods in upcoming stand alone films to the old EU. Those stories and characters are so dear to the hearts of so many fans that it would be nice to see that they haven't been completely discarded.

In addition, LucasFilm and Disney Publishing have announced that more than twenty upcoming books across all genres will lead up to the release of Episode VII in what they are calling the "Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens." All works released during this period, including comics, novels, children's activity books and reference books will be included in canon and will drop hints to the plot of The Force Awakens. It appears that there will be a fair amount of fodder for speculation enthusiasts. Many of the stories will retell parts of the original trilogy while others will fill in the time between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. I am interested to see if there will be a novelization released before the actual film like there was for The Phantom Menace. Also released this week was the cover art for Star Wars: Aftermath. Aftermath should be really exciting, as it represents the first new EU novel set after Return of the Jedi and has been touted as introducing people and places that will have significance in the new trilogy.

At the moment I'm working through some of the new comic arcs, Star Wars, Princess Leia, and Darth Vader and I'm about two-thirds of the ways through Heir to the Jedi. I couldn't be happier. The art in the Marvel comics is superb and the writing is tight and witty. Heir to the Jedi is an interesting departure as it is written in first person from Luke's point of view. It takes place right after the Battle of Yavin and it focuses on Luke's mourning the loss of Obi-Wan, his uncertainty of his force abilities and his anxieties about becoming a Jedi without an teacher to guide him. It is a unique portrayal and I am enjoying it. A full review will definitely follow :)

Sources: Star Wars.com, IMDB

Rachel Bach's Paradox Trilogy Review

Rachel Bach's Paradox trilogy is a sci-fi story set in a distant future where humans have colonized multiple worlds and have divided into two distinct cultural groups, Terrans and Paradoxians. Terran culture is much like our own, while Paradoxian culture is highly militarized with a government and religion that revolves around its sacred king. Deviana Morris is a Paradoxian mercenary with dreams of joining the most elite unit of armored soldiers, the Devastators. When given the chance to join the crew of the Glorious Fool, a group of misfits under the command of the mysterious and famously unlucky Brian Caldswell, she jumps at the chance. Surviving a tour with Caldswell may be her ticket straight to the top, but even with her custom armor and guns, Devi is not ready for the adventures that await her in space. 

First of all, I love that the Paradox books are sci-fi novels featuring a female lead character written by a woman author. Not as rare as it used to be, thankfully, but still notable and awesome. More than that, though the books are well written, the characters are engaging and the universe well thought out and fully realized. Devi is likable as a protagonist. She is a no non-sense badass in the model of Ripley from the Alien films. As the plot unfolds, however, Devi discovers that she is a better person than she gives herself credit for and she becomes more well-rounded. There is also a romantic subplot that is subtle enough not to bore the hard-core sci-fi fan but sweet enough to make my inner fangirl squeal. The battle scenes are intense and the pacing is good overall.

Now, lest anybody this is a totally biased review, and don't get me wrong I love these books and will probably read them over and over, there are a few things that are a bit problematic. One is the path of the romance. Without giving away anything, things seems to turn around pretty fast for no discernible reason there that "twue wuv." It feels a little bit artificial at times. The plot itself also comes to sort of an awkward end. There was a little too much book left after the climax and a even then a few things are still left unanswered. That said, there is always room for another book. *wink wink, nudge nudge* Bach (who also goes by Rachel Aaron when she's writing fantasy, in case you were wondering) has not ruled out the possibility when asked. Squee!

Overall, the Paradox trilogy are a fun read. Each book is hard to put down and Devi is an awesome female character to cheer for. Pick them up today, you won't be sorry.

Coming soon... a review of Rachel Aaron's Legend of Eli Monpress series. 

LootCrate takes a look back

This month's LootCrate theme was rewind. It was jam packed with all the nostalgic things nerds of a certain age loved back in the day in all their pixelated, low-res glory. I am a sucker for all things retro myself and this month didn't disappoint. I really like that the crate themes have broadened a little bit and gotten away from being quite so gaming heavy. I also appreciated that more of the items in this month's crate were really usable. 

This month included an exclusive tee featuring Voltron. The blue-on-black is subtle and has kind of a Tron-esque vibe that I love. I'm definitely going to be getting some serious mileage out of this one.

I really like that there are more usable items in this month's box. The 8-bit sunglasses probably won't replace my daily wearers, but they'll be fun for specific outfits and they're UVA rated so they're not just for costume. Probably my favorite item this month though is the Space Invaders tie from Black Tie Geek. I'm already working to put together a work outfit to feature it but it would also make a great headband for those who are not so necktie-inclined. The comic notebook is a small blank book pre-divided into panels for at-home comic artists. It even includes a small stencil for all the thought bubbles and sound effects.

Next up is this little guy, a 10-doh! figure by Squid Kids Ink. Its a little anthropomorphized NES cartridge. He's even got his own little zapper. Each one of these little guys features a parody of a classic Nintendo title. 

Last, but certainly not least this month's comic was Marvel Star Wars #1. This is Marvel's first Star Wars comic since 1987 and it was a great opening effort. The story takes place after the events of Episode IV and features Han Solo, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker sabotaging an imperial weapons depot. The art is outstanding and the storyline seems promising. I will definitely be picking up the other books in this arc.

All in all, this month was probably my favorite crate so far. If you're interested in a subscription or more information on LootCrate visit them here.

Bless me geek gods for I have sinned

I committed one of the ultimate sins of fandom today, especially as a fangirl. In the world of GamerGate, fake geek girl accusations and gatekeeping, it's important to spread the love and understanding within the fandom(s). But unfortunately that's exactly what I didn't do today. So here's the story and then I'll talk about why this is problematic. 

So I have a coworker who is a big fan of radio contests. She enters any and every contest she becomes aware of and frequently wins free tickets to concerts, sporting events and other conventions. Today she announced to me, the office's resident geek, that she was trying to win tickets to this weekend's "Wizard World thingy." For those who don't know, Wizard World puts on comic conventions across the country. Now this is where things went sideways. Rather than congratulate her on her interest in the nerdier side of life, I bristled. I felt, still feel, that entering to win tickets to something which you don't really want is silly and robs someone who really wants to go but can't afford to the chance to enjoy something they love. So anyway, I asked her why she'd want to go. "For the people watching," she replied cheerily. "Why," I asked, pressing further, hoping to make her either look or feel like an asshole, "so that you can point and laugh?" "So I can see all the people in their costumes, and they had a meet and greet with Bruce Campbell." "You don't even like comics," I snarked. "I sort of do," she replied. My next inclination was to administer a quiz, but another coworker interrupted and that, mercifully, was the end of it.

Now I feel that my behavior was problematic. Gatekeeping is a major problem in nerd culture. Because nerds tend to see ourselves as underdogs because of exclusion and bullying that they have experienced in the past, we tend to be very protective of the things we care about.* We tend to feel compelled to keep people out of the fandom who may not seem worthy. I'm not sure if this due to a fear that someone who might be mean or threatening may get in to the sanctum sanctorum or to the comforting feeling of superiority or power that being on the inside affords. I myself have thrive on the drunken power of knowing more than others. It feels damn good. I felt a mixture those feelings today; superiority, judgement, and most of all, butthurt. How dare she invade a space that has been mine! She was not worthy! *waves flaming sword of judgement* Worthiness has nothing to do with it. We should all be accepting of those who show interest in the thing that we like. Were you born with an encyclopedic knowledge of Star Wars? I think not. I'm sure there was some kind person, maybe a parent or and older sibling or friend who invited you in, answered your questions and was patient with you. We all could be that person for someone else. We should also learn to understand that a member of another fandom may feel just as strongly about their fandom as we do about ours, rather than judging him or her based on the fandom's relative popularity to others. We should be trying to grow nerd culture so that other people don't have to go through the feelings of being left out or being the only one who likes x or y. I let down the side today, I'm sorry guys. 

tl;dr Gatekeeping is bad...mmkay?

*I am making broad generalizations about nerd culture based on my own experience, I am aware that these vary greatly on the individual level. Bear with me.

Thoughts on Dragon Age: Inquisition

So my New Year's resolution was to write more, which I have to say I am failing at miserably. Though to be fair I have had a plague of a cold for a week now which has left me doing little besides sleeping, catching up on Legend of Korra and playing Dragon Age. I just hit the 40 hour mark so I figure I'm maybe half to two-thirds of the way through this play through. I'm definitely not what you'd call a completionist on an inaugural play though. This time I'm just soaking in the plot, getting comfortable with the combat system and falling in love with the characters.
Inquisition is my first Dragon Age game, which is weird for me because Bioware is my favorite studio. Mass Effect is my favorite game of all time followed by Mass Effect 3, 2 and Knights of the Old Republic. I played the demo for Dragon Age II back when but I felt lost playing it. The lore was too intense for a demo and the combat was too button-mashy. I never picked up DA2 and when presented with the choice of purchasing either it or DA:O I chose to sink back into Mass Effect again. But the hype was so epic for Inquisition that I was drawn in. I hadn't been gaming much lately and I wanted to revisit that obsessed fangirl feeling that Bioware games have always brought me, so I picked it up. Holy shit did it not disappoint. I'm hooked.
Inquisition is so pretty, even on the Xbox360. Thedas feels huge and there's so much to do, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and lost! DAI is easy to role play in. Wandering around the Hinterlands after the opening of the game feels so real. Its so big and there are huge mountains and forts and rivers and every few minutes some farmer or refugee is asking for a favor. You feel what the inquisitor feels, lost and put upon. I found myself talking out loud to my tv a lot, especially when I found the first dragon. There was a lot of screaming and running away. Then I sang the running away song from Monty Python while Solas slightly disapproved.  But now, this far in, my inquisitor feels like she's beginning to surround herself with friends, building a support system and coming into her own as a hero and as a person. I feel like she's definitely got her favorites; Dorian and Cassandra are her besties. And then there's Cullen *sigh* Cullen is my inquisitor's love interest and the scenes they have together are absolutely adorable. Their romance blossoms slowly as they fumble over each other like the big dorks they are. He's like a romance novel hero: strong and handsome, sensitive and haunted, capable and perfect. If only he was real. *ugly sobbing*
Quite simply, Inquisition feels as close to a perfect game as my mind is able to imagine. It is as big as Skyrim but it is filled with fully realized, fleshed out characters that are so engaging you'll wish they were really your friends. I have so many feels about this game but I feel like I should wait for a spoiler post when I've actually finished. If you haven't already, buy it, on any platform and play it as much as your can, you won't be sorry.

Oh Cullen you sexy beast <3