Saturday, April 27, 2019

MadCap's Fiction Corner - "Seattle By Night: The Bad Briefcase, Part 3"

"This is...this is beyond insane."

"I don't even know how she could have managed it..."

"Do you think it's the genuine article?"

"Genuine? Possibly, but unlikely if-"

"Can you explain what this thing is?" Grace Penderghast was covered in blood, the backseat of her car was completely and utterly ruined, and she had a staked vampire still sitting there. And everyone was apparently losing their mind over a book in a briefcase that had been owned by a now headless, dead man. Overall, this night had been sunk into quite the irritating disappointment for the undead woman.

"MALLEUS MALEFICARUM, Maleficas, & earum hæresim, ut phramea potentissima conterens." The Gangrel still crouched over it, staring in shock, said almost immediately as though he were reading something.

"Yes, that's wonderful Gibberish, but what does it mean?" Grace huffed, recognizing neither the words, nor the language.

Friday, April 26, 2019

MadCap At The Movies - "Avengers: Endgame" (spoilers)

Okay, so I was going to do a non-spoiler review and a spoiler review and just rake in the mad ad revenue dollars...I mean, have one for those that wanted to avoid spoilers and those that didn't care or had already seen the movie. So that's what I'm going to do. This is the spoiler version of the review. If you don't want spoilers, then watch the movie and come back to read this one or check out the non-spoiler version here. Or, if you do not care about spoilers, then feel free to look beyond the cut to read.

We good? Good. Excelsior!

MadCap At The Movies - "Avengers: Endgame" (no spoilers)

Okay, so I was going to do a non-spoiler review and a spoiler review and just rake in the mad ad revenue dollars...I mean, have one for those that wanted to avoid spoilers and those that didn't care or had already seen the movie. So that's what I'm going to do. This is the no-spoiler version of the review. If you don't want spoilers, then feel free to proceed. If you want spoilers or you have already seen the movie, then feel free to check out the spoiler review here.

We good? Good. Excelsior!

Saturday, April 20, 2019

MadCap's Fiction Corner - "Minos Mayhem, Chapter 4"

Pergitor was even more dreary than Ordos had described it as being. Even from orbit, the planet was a dull gray, the same gray Calen remembered being the color painted onto trash collectors or the panels of a Star Destroyer. Like the Star Destroyers, it really only looked intimidating because it was a lot of gray.  Descent through the atmosphere sent them through equally dull, gray clouds down into a landscape of jagged, gray rocks that were disturbed only by the occasional blue-white lightning strike from the heavens to break up the overpowering mediocrity of the environment.

Also, the rain.

Pergitor was, it seemed, a very rainy planet.

"It’s a good thing we have the sensors going.” Calen commented through the sound of the pounding on the viewport. “I can’t make heads or tails otherwise."

"Sorry about that," Ordos had returned to the cockpit, standing behind the pilot's chair. "Had to check on an old friend. How's our ETA?"

"On our current path, it's uh..." Calen spared a half-glance over at the monitors that detailed their approach. "Roughly..."

"We are eleven minutes and fifty-six seconds from the appointed dock at the domed city of Gehenna." Red reported dutifully. When the droid realized both men were looking at it, it made a sound that almost sounded like a scoff. "I cannot help it if the efficiency of organics is limited."

Sunday, April 7, 2019

MadCap (and a Ginger!) At The Movies - "Shazam!"

Yep! Went out with stoopidkid425 again! He says hi, internet! Check him out on PSN!

Given that this movie will very likely be swamped by the oncoming Avengers: Endgame coming out later this month, I imagine that this film is going to need all the boosts it can get. And that's a shame, really, because it most definitely deserves the praise.

Yeah, I'm not going to sugar coat it - this film is good.

Very, very good.

Saturday, April 6, 2019

MadCap's Fiction Corner - "Seattle By Night: The Bad Briefcase, Part 2"

He didn't like the look of the place.

The Gangrel's eyes scoured the area, wary of the slightest movement. This early in the night, however, there were few to none out, just a few students either going to their late classes or leaving. It hadn't changed that much in thirty-two years, he realized. Ben often found himself stunned by how well the Masquerade kept the illusion going. These people got up in the morning, ate their meals, learned what they could, tried to make some sort of life for themselves, and went to bed unaware that all around them were beasts that could kill them without so much as a thought. And the Kindred were probably the least terrible things skulking around in the dark.

His hoodie up over his head, Ben didn't intend to stick around long. He'd thought to approach the building as a bird or perhaps some form of rat, but had decided to stick to human form. Less attention, less chance of being caught. Some part of his mind hated the idea, remembering a time when he could be more open, more vulnerable to his more beastly nature. But those nights were gone, now...and he told himself it was for the better. He put Vancouver out of his mind as he found the Liberal Arts building, walking around the edges of it to find the loading dock. Once he'd found it, he started toward it.

"Hold it right there." Ben froze, hearing the man speak. He turned, seeing a man dressed in the uniform of a campus security guard. Ben had heard him tailing him at least since he'd been at the front of the building, but hoped his pursuer would give up the ghost. Obviously, he wasn't allowed such mercies. "This is a restricted area, I'm going to have to see some identification, buddy." The Gangrel resisted the urge to sigh, and suppressed his first instinct. Even so, in the pockets of his hoodie, his hands twitched ever so slightly. "Well, c'mon. Out with it."

Friday, April 5, 2019

MadCap's Game Reviews - "The Sims 4"

So...I was bound to get dragged into it eventually, if only tangentially. My friends have been split right down the middle about The Sims series - they either love it or hate it beyond the capacity for rational thought. A lot of that boils down to the ownership of the franchise by Electronic Arts and the changes that have been made between the entries in the series. One thing I will immediately agree on is that EA is really taking the micro-transactions and downloadable content way too far. How do I know?

Right after the start menu (after taking an absurd amount of time to load up), your options for loading the game and changing your profile have six expansion packs, five game packs, and thirteen "stuff packs" that range anywhere from $9.99 to $39.99 USD.

That's a bit excessive for some shiny new coats of paint, EA.

Monday, April 1, 2019

MadCap's Reel Thoughts - "Murder By Death" (1976)

As a fan of the whodunnit genre, I'm here to showcase the absolutely worst that it has to offer. Namely, 1976's "Murder By Death". So what if it has a fantastic pedigree in a screenplay written by the legendary Neil Simon, an all-star cast including the likes of Alec Guiness, Maggie Smith, and Peter Sellers, and scoring that airs on both the creepy and the comedic with pin-point precision?

This is one of the most hackneyed and overdone pieces of trash ever to be put to film, and it is today - on this glorious April 1st, that I'm here to destroy it for your entertainment!