Yearly Archives - 2022

RE:Play Blood

“I live. Again.”That won’t last, Caleb.Well, it’s September, and these days that means it is Halloween season(?).  Fine, I’ll roll with it.  Time for a RE:Play that is holiday appropriate: Blood.All of the great Build engine FPS games of the 1990s were the product of eighties pop culture.  Shadow Warrior was based on Hong Kong action movies that had suddenly gone mainstream in America thanks to video rentals.  Plus, a lot of anime tropes. Did you know the human body contains over twenty-five gallons...

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Arktoons Roundup Sept 7, 2022

Welcome to the Arkhaven Roundup, a regular feature at the Arkhaven Blog on usually on Mondays but this week was kind of special.  It’s where I take a look at stuff that is new and interesting in the world of Arkhaven’s webtoons.If you aren’t familiar with Arktoons, this is meant more for you.  I am the Dark Herald, I do the blogging here at Arkhaven.  This blog is mostly pop culture news, reviews, and opinion, in short, the usual.But you aren’t here for...

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25 Million Views… Oh, R-E-A-L-L-Y

Hello, I'm the Dark Herald and I'm here to look at your books.Have you ever heard the phrase, “numbers don’t lie?”Accountants say that all the time… When they want a good laugh.Amazon is proudly claiming they have 25 million views for Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, on its very first day of streaming.  That is a nice ROUND number, isn’t it?  “25 million people viewed it.”  Always be careful with the exact wording.We can start with I don’t believe it...

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The Rings of Power episodes 1&2: Melkor Makes a TV Show

You would have to have had the hubris of Morgoth himself to take on this project.As a writer, I would have been terrified of it. . If the producers had come to me to finish the Unfinished Tales by Tolkien plus some original pastiche based on the Appendixes,  I wouldn't have touched it. A professional screenwriter said he would have told them.  “Look, I’ll require two years of prep time before I write word one.  I’ll need to completely immerse myself in...

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Guest Post by Hollywood Legend Geode

REPOST: I'm not getting Space 1999 part three up tonight. So, I'm bumping a post by Hollywood Legend Geode.The Dark Herald will be back tomorrow, today’s post is by our special guest blogger, Geode.I am going to kill my agent.  It’s going to be long, slow, and intensely excruciating. I am going to quantum project him a thousand years into the past with special instructions to my younger self.How did I, Hollywood legend Geode, end up in something...

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The Feminist Heroine’s Journey

Last night I found out about the now-required steps for properly representing a feminist heroine in movies and TV.It makes a lot of things very clear to me. Including how otherwise talented writers are so consistently ruined by these rules.First. The patriarchy is real and must be treated as such.  The female protagonist is oppressed by it.  This is not optional.Second.  She is already the key to a better world.  She has all the skills she’ll need, inherently.  She’s the Avatar, you just got to...

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The Sons of Sinon – The Spy Heroes

A tall man in black-tie stalks into a smoke-filled casino. His clothes are as immaculate as they are expensive. His watch is a Swiss luxury model and is guaranteed to withstand depths of 100 meters. His custom-tailored jacket doesn’t quite conceal a bulge beneath his left armpit. Arrogance is a part of him. His eyes are cold and hint of cruelty. He listens to the room with those eyes categorizing and dismissing every threat he detects.  Everyone watches him covertly. All...

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Arktoons Roundup August 28th 2022

Welcome to the Arkhaven Roundup, a regular feature at the Arkhaven Blog on Mondays.  Where I will be taking a look at stuff that is new and interesting in the world of Arkhaven’s webtoons.If you aren’t familiar with Arktoons, this is meant more for you.  I am the Dark Herald, I do the blogging here at Arkhaven.  This blog is mostly pop culture news, reviews, and opinion, in short, the usual.But you aren’t here for the blog.  You’re here for the webtoons.  Arkhaven is different...

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How Much Trouble Is Warner Brothers In?

It’s a bunch of little things that are adding up to bad news for Warner.The first thing was the cancelation of Batgirl, even the filmmakers admitted it needed some work, but they were pretty sure they could fix it.  But then Batgirl was canceled along with $850 million worth of other things that got shitcanned. Now I understood part of that. When Warner and Discovery merged a new entity was created and the “new” company Warner Brothers Discovery had a limited...

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New Batman Animated Series Canceled

This was supposed to be the Batman animated show that we really wanted.  It was going to be roughly set in a 1940s-like world.  Sure, it had the prince of Darkness Jar Jar Abrams and his devoted acolyte Matt Reeves (The Batman AKA Sparkly Batman) as the executive producers.  BUT it had Bruce Timm... BRUCE TIMM!!! On board as showrunner.  Bruce Timm of the beloved Batman the Animated Series was making another Batman cartoon and this one is on HBOmax.  This is the guy who...

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