Sunday, August 26, 2018

Virtual Tourist - Deus Ex: Mankind Divided 8/26/18

Morning all!

Mini Movie Reviews

Alpha

Alpha - There is a lot of gorgeous cinematography in this film. They start out us out with the crisis point then go back a week earlier. It's a gimmick they could have left out and made a better film due to it. It was nice to see some of the culture of the tribe, though the whole beating of the kids was not explained and didn't make much sense, especially the night before a long excursion. Several instances of anachronism, which were odd. Several cases where the boy had a chance to make things better for himself and didn't. (Hunter tent, sabertooth tiger pelt.) Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission)

Continuing the dog theme...

A-X-L

A-X-L - Adorable premise, blossoming AI escapes and gets adopted by a boy after getting bested by him. (Alpha dominance also showed in Alpha.) But a lot of problems with doing things for convenience and plot manipulation. Example: We see AXL use intelligence in evading pursuers and not being found, yet later he doesn't move back even though we see in his sensors he is aware of the weapon the person is pointing and the pool for gasoline at his feet. He claws things, but we never see the claws. Lots of little things that added up to take away from the film. Rating: 3 out of 5 Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission.

One funny thing was that in A-X-L they show pics of man and dog over the years and of course had one for ancient man and dog. Tying it back to Alpha. Heh heh. Oh, and today is National Dog Day! So you have doggie movies you can see to celebrate. :)

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - GARM

Left for dead, Jensen has made his way inside the GARM facility where the trap was spring. 


Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - Inside GARM 

View of the inside of GARM.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - GARM bridge 

Moving from building 1 to building 2 of the GARm facility. It looks so cold out there!


Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - Waterfalls at GARM 

There be waterfalls at GARM. Used for power generation?

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Slowly working my way to possible escape from this place.


Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - Helipad view

View of GARM from the helipad.


Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - GARM from a distance

View of the whole compound as I make my escape. Impressive looking, no?


Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Good to be back.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Crime waits for no one. 

 On the book trailer news - I've picked three possibles for the music for the trailer. As I've done in the past, I look to Kevin MacLeod for excellent royalty free tracks. Will I use Black Vortex, Phantom from Space, or Voltaic? Too soon to tell. :P

Sunday, August 12, 2018

The MEG and Starting on a Book Trailer for Alien Redemption

Morning, all!

I am going to go in a different direction this week. Since my SF novel "Alien Redemption" will be getting published in 2019, I need to start now in getting the word out and doing things to promote it. (With my lack of time, this will be tough! They always say you should start at least nine months in advance. Oi!)

So I figured I would occasionally share what I'm doing to prep for that. Before that though, let's do our weekly Mini Movie Review! :P

Mini Movie Review

The Meg

The MEG - The beginning of the film was really well done. They set up the hero, give us a glimpse into what has scarred him and then we start five years later. The Mana One and the mini-subs and our descent below the frost level are fantastic. Seeing the first view of this hidden underwater world was great! The whole section there, including the rescue, etc. was well worth it. It's only once that's over that it goes into what you initially expected, contrived situations to get people in the water. :P Meiying (Sophia Cai) was super adorable! She also adds much to the film. There are loads of familiar faces. Red herrings, weirdness, and more abound. It also has loads of JAWS in-jokes/homage. A million times better than Sharknado. :P

Rating: 3 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission)

Alien Redemption - Getting pieces for the Book Trailer pt 1

(And realizing I have not made a page at the website for this one yet. DOH! Something else for the To-Do List! :P)

So the first thing you have to do is try to find photos that somewhat resemble your vision. This could mean hours trolling through the different photo sites to locate those you can purchase rights on to use. I got pretty lucky yesterday and found a lot of what I needed at Adobe Stock.

I will need to do a lot of work on the pics I found, but it's one step closer to getting the book trailer done. :)

Here's the original I decided to use for the Holiday (Captain Ricardo Bennet's ship - and the location where many things happen in the first half of the book).

spaceship

I was looking for something that looked like a merchant class ship, and this one filled the need famously.

I needed to add stars and the name of the ship to the photo. Luckily I was able to find a tutorial for how to add a starry sky! Yay!

The Holiday - merchant class

You can't see the stars on this one. Too shrunk down. You should be able to click on it to get a bigger view. Let me get a different cut as well.

Side Cut of the Holiday

You can see the name and the stars.  It was bizarre how the artist had tapes with H's on different areas of the hull. Almost like this was destined. No? :P

Next is Turbic Station:

space station

Not the exact vision in the book, but close is good! It will give you an idea of the place. Turbic Station is at the edge of the Dominion in what is called the Fringes. The last bastion of civilized/charted space. They know it too, and you pay for the privilege. :P

Currently, I've only added stars to the background. May add some neon for the upper area where the exclusive part of the station serves rich clientele wanting to get away from all the restrictions of the civilized worlds.

Turbic Station at the Fringes

Lovely, no? :)

I have a ways to go! Had hoped to have a gif ready of the Holiday dashing across the screen, but I need to work on the angles. Maybe next time. :P

Next week ChibiChains and I will be at Animefest! If you are there, please come to the Dealers Room and say "Hi!".

Have a great week!
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