Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on November 19th, 2008
Real Pirates, Street Fighter IV Arcade, & Who exactly owns a particular piece of Software? - Welcome to the column that holds all rights and privileges to the work contained within, except there really is no work involved within known as Dare to Play the Game.
When you love a hobby such as video games and collecting dvds, you often find yourself running into problems. One of these problems is storage. The holidays are fast approaching and that spinner that is holding the majority of my dvd collection is filling up fast.
Posted in: Brain Blasters by David Annandale on November 15th, 2008
Time for a book recommendation.
Years ago (1992 to be precise), Christopher Golden edited Cut! Horror Writers on Horror Film. In and among the various essays in this fascinating tome were those special joys for the dip-in-dip-out reader: the list. John Skipp and Craig Spector offered “Death’s Rich Pageantry, or Skipp & Spector’s Handy-Dandy Splatterpunk Guide to the Horrors of Non-horror Film.” And Stanley Wiater contributed an essential guide for the daredevil viewer: “Disturbo 13: The Most Disturbing Horror Films Ever Made” (collect ‘em all!).
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on November 12th, 2008
Losing Suits, Being Less Ambitious & Outgrowing Games? - Welcome to the column that would only outgrow games if Obama admitted himself to be a level 70 Tauren Shaman known as Dare to Play the Game.
Tuesday was Veteran’s Day, hopefully most of you took a moment to observe what those brave men and women did for the United States of America. I offer the following piece of courage for those who might have missed the day.
Posted in: Brain Blasters by David Annandale on November 7th, 2008
A few weeks ago, I sung the praises of Forrest J. Ackerman and the childhood joys his Famous Monsters of Filmland gave me. Now comes sad word, already up on numerous websites, that he is ailing, and the end is very soon. (I have seen some statements that, in fact, he passed on yesterday, but nothing, fortunately, that strikes me as authoritative, as of yet.)
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on November 5th, 2008
Episodic Gaming, Circuit City closings, & Wii RPGs? - Welcome to the column that would get out and vote if only there was a candidate that supported more hot women in gaming known as Dare to Play the Game.
Yesterday was Election Day in the grand ole United States of America. While I could go on a nice rant about the person who got elected, this is not a politics column and I tend to steer far far away from such discussions.
Posted in: Brain Blasters by David Annandale on November 1st, 2008
Consider this column a companion piece to my review of Last House on the Beach. I mention therein that the finale of the film obviously inspired (to put it politely) that of Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof. I shouldn’t really use this opportunity to beat up on Death Proof all over again. But what struck me even more than the similarities between the two scenes was their instructive differences.
So, if you haven’t seen either of the films yet, consider this entire column a spoiler and leave now. Thank you.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on October 29th, 2008
Game Cards, MK & DC gets the T, & National Gaming Day! - Welcome to the column that should get a national holiday just as long as it doesn’t have to divulge what nation it actually belongs to known as Dare to Play the Game.
I spent the last week in Ohio, I’ll try to refrain from any major jokes about buckeyes or Deliverance music or how freaking hilly the state is. I like my states flat, just like I like my wom…errr that just doesn’t sound right.
Posted in: Brain Blasters by David Annandale on October 25th, 2008
Oh God, here we go again with another When I Was A Wee Lad memory. Sorry. But When I Was A Wee Lad, two of my favorite books were The Hammer Horror Film Omnibus, and The Second Hammer Horror Film Omnibus. Written by John Burke, each volume contained four novelizations of Hammer films, and for many a year, this was the only way I could experience the stories. It would be a long time before I saw the films in question. Still, most of those films I got under my belt some time ago, but one remained stubbornly out of reach, seen once on TV and then never again, VHS and then DVD releases apparently never on the horizon. That film was Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (1964), and the wait is finally over. It appears as one of four films on the Icons of Horror: Hammer Films 2-disc set. Accompanying it are The Gorgon (also novelized by Burke, and more about it another time), The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, and Scream of Fear.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on October 22nd, 2008
Little Big Planet causing controversy, Rockband goes a little country, and Golden Axe: Beast Rider is a bunch of rubbish - Welcome to the column that would say something about Ohio but there are people with pitchforks & torches and the Amish are a little poed off too known as Dare to Play the Game.
I am currently sitting in Ohio. Oh Hi Oh. We've had a nice time in the Buckeye state but keeping it mostly simplistic. The temperature has been very cool for this time of year at least for me. As a result I've come down with a slight cold or allergies or something that makes me all sneezy, runny nose, stuffy nose and general bad things with my nasal region.
Posted in: Brain Blasters by David Annandale on October 18th, 2008
Just the other week, I was singing the praises of [REC]. Today, I come to bury its American remake, Quarantine. At first glance, Quarantine is a virtual photocopy of its model. Scene follows scene in the same order, to the same (intended effect), to the same final shot. And yet somehow, the whole thing falls flat. How can this be? If the movies are identical, why aren’t they identically effective?
