The newest Humble Bundle is offering several Tom Clancy video games plus multiplayer beta!

Tom_Clancy's_Rainbow_Six_Siege_cover_artAs a writer, video game fan, and connoisseur of action titles (both in print and video form), Tom Clancy has always fascinated me. He’s one of the few people I’ve heard of who managed to establish name recognition in all three of those areas. Reading his books is one of the items on my bucket list, though to date I’ve only read Patriot Games. I would love to know what it’s like to have my name become a brand, setting the titles with my name apart from all the other titles that lack… such a distinction, regardless of whether or not I actually played an active role. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Tom Clancy was a prolific writer, which I am going to jot down as “Step One in My Quest of Financial Security and Name Recognition”, but he didn’t play much of a role in a number of the books, nor video games, that carry his name.

To drive that point home, a new Tom Clancy game is coming out in October, even though he sadly passed away in 2013. Continue reading “The newest Humble Bundle is offering several Tom Clancy video games plus multiplayer beta!”

Amusing Coincidences in My Life: Shadowgate, Empire’s End, Monuments Men

spot_shadowgate05
You can almost taste the sarcasm.

So THAT’S where that music is from!

For several years I, from time to time, have had this haunting piano tune enter my head. I’ve heard it somewhere before… but I couldn’t place where. The other day, I was randomly browsing my Steam account, and decided that my wishlist of 45 games needed to be cleaned up. I go over there, and discover- hey! One of the games I want is on an 80% sale, so it’s only $3! (This sale is now over- sorry. But Steam is always doing awesome sales, so it’s only a matter of time before it happens again.) It’s the new Shadowgate game that was released about a year ago. I randomly click on a few of the trailers, and… that haunting theme starts playing! Turns out it’s the death / game over theme from Shadowgate. Mystery solved! Continue reading “Amusing Coincidences in My Life: Shadowgate, Empire’s End, Monuments Men”

Have I Made a Mistake? Jerry Jenkins’ Empire’s End: Post #1: The Beginning

The following post is not an official review. It is merely my initial thoughts and first impressions of this title, which was provided to me by christianaudio.com. A review will be written and posted when I have completed the novel. 

I am going to have so much fun with this one. Or I am going to suffer horribly. Either way, it’s going to be a ride.

I participate in christianaudio.com’s Reviewers Program; however, I haven’t done much with it because they often offer audiobooks of publications that were essentially sermons in print form… that are now back in audio form often with someone else’s voice. It’s admittedly kind of odd now that I think about it. In any case, I stopped selecting those titles because I don’t know what to do with them. Do I agree with the teaching, do I disagree, do I find them helpful? Do I proclaim how wonderful they are like so many other reviews I read? I’m at a point in my life where I am… how do I say this… suspicious of pastors and Christian teachers of any stripe. Too many stories of abuse, misuse, self-glorifying zeal, and meaningless humility, both in the news and in my own experience. Reviewing their work? I’d rather not.

So when christianaudio finally offered a fiction book, I was excited. When I saw the author is Jerry B. Jenkins, I jumped for it.

Because, yes, this is going to be so… much… fun!

I think.  Continue reading “Have I Made a Mistake? Jerry Jenkins’ Empire’s End: Post #1: The Beginning”

Things of Interest: 01/19/15

I read and watch a lot of stuff on the Internet that I find interesting; plus, as a university student, I receive a lot of recommendations from students and teachers alike. In these posts, I share a few of the highlights I’ve come across.

  1. In celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s 90th birthday today, christianaudio.com is offering a free audiobook download of his Letter from Birmingham Jail for a couple of days only. All you need is an email address.

  2. The Washington Post has an article about Tyndale House ceasing publication of one of its heaven-tour-guide books, The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven. Apparently, the titular boy has been objecting to the book and denying its veracity for years.

  3. Cracked.com is a comedy site, but this particular article is quite insightful, in my opinion, and does a great job discussing the trouble with the way we react to attacks.

Crosswriting: King Henry VI, Part One

My quarter at the University of California: Riverside is well underway, and the reading/writing assignments are taking up a lot of my time. To ensure I don’t abandon the blog during this period, I am going to experiment with adapting what I write for homework assignments into blog posts. Such posts will be indicated with the title Crosswriting. If I write on something and you would like to see me expand upon it, by all means let me know.

When William Shakespeare began his career as a playwright, he didn’t start with the plays that are most famous today, such as Hamlet or Macbeth. Instead, he started with history plays: stage dramas that depicted the political turmoil of England a century or so earlier, particularly the famous War of the Roses. Some of the very first plays Shakespeare wrote were the three parts of Henry VI, though it appears he may have written Parts Two and Three before Part One- or, at least, that’s how their publishing dates are listed, not necessarily their performance dates. For my Shakespeare class this quarter, we started with King Henry VI, Part One.

Continue reading “Crosswriting: King Henry VI, Part One”