games

0424 – The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

the witcher 2 art-001

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (Polish: Wiedźmin 2: Zabójcy królów) is an action role-playing hack and slash video game developed by CD Projekt Red for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, OS X, and Linux. The game was released for Microsoft Windows in May 2011, for Xbox 360 and OS X in 2012, and for Linux in 2014.

It is a sequel to the 2007 video game The Witcher. Like its predecessor, the game is based on The Witcher series of fantasy novels by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The player directs the actions of Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter known as a Witcher. The fantasy world in which his adventures take place owes much to Polish history and Slavic mythology.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (MINIMUM): OS: Windows XP/Vista/7 // Processor: Intel 2.2 GHz Dual-Core or AMD 2.5 GHz Dual-Core // Memory: 1.5 GB (Win XP), 2GB (Win Vista/Win 7) // Graphics: GeForce 8800 (512 MB) or Radeon HD3850 (512 MB). Resolution: 1280×720. // DirectX®: DirectX 9.29 has to be installed. // Hard Drive: 25GB

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movies, music, Uncategorized

0402 – Drowning by Numbers (1988)

Drowning by Numbers is a 1988 British-Dutch film directed by Peter Greenaway.

The film’s plot centres on three married women — a grandmother, her daughter, and her niece — each named Cissie Colpitts. As the story progresses, each woman successively drowns her husband. The three Cissie Colpittses are played by Joan PlowrightJuliet Stevenson and Joely Richardson, while Bernard Hill plays the coroner, Madgett, who is cajoled into covering up the three crimes.

The structure, with similar stories repeated three times, is reminiscent of a fairy tale, most specifically ‘The Billy Goats Gruff‘, because Madgett is constantly promised greater rewards as he tries his luck with each of the Cissies in turn. The link to folklore is further established by Madgett’s son Smut, who recites the rules of various unusual games played by the characters as if they were ancient traditions. Many of these games are invented for the film, including:

  • Bees in the Trees
  • Dawn Card Castles
  • Deadman’s Catch
  • Flights of Fancy (or Reverse Strip Jump)
  • The Great Death Game
  • Hangman’s Cricket
  • The Hare and Hounds
  • Sheep and Tides

In Drowning by Numbers, number-counting, the rules of games and the repetitions of the plot are all devices which emphasise structure and symmetry. Through the course of the film each of the numbers 1 to 100 appear, the large majority in sequence, often seen in the background, sometimes spoken by the characters. 

The film is set and was shot in and around SouthwoldSuffolkEngland, with key landmarks such as the Victorian water towerSouthwold Lighthouse, and the estuary of the River Blyth clearly identifiable.

Music

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092929/

movies

0338 – Doomsday (2008)

spacetime coordinates: 2035 Glasgow // London

doomsday poster

Doomsday is a 2008 science fiction action horror film written and directed by Neil Marshall. The film takes place in the future in Scotland, which has been quarantined because of a deadly virus.

When the virus is found in London, political leaders send a team led by Major Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) to Scotland to find a possible cure. Sinclair’s team runs into two types of survivors: marauders and medieval knights. Doomsday was conceived by Marshall based on the idea of futuristic soldiers facing medieval knights.

doomsday poster 2

The director intended Doomsday as a tribute to post-apocalyptic films from the 1970s and 1980s,  (Conception)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0483607/

games

296 – Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power (2015)

Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power is a 2015 action role-playing platform and puzzle video game developed by Frozenbyte, released on August 20, 2015 for Microsoft Windows.  It is the sequel to Trine 2 and features a return of the series’ three protagonists and medieval fantasy location.

trine 3 1trine 3 2Trine_3_DeerTrine_3_The_Artifacts_of_Power_Background_The_Astral_Academytrine-3-the-artifacts-of-power-game-hd-wallpaper-1920x1080-44974-1680x1050trine-3-the-artifacts-of-power-screenshot-08 system requirements (minimum) – CPU: Intel Core i3/i5/i7 2.0 GHz CPU dual-core or 3.0 GHz AMD CPU. // OS: Windows 8 / 7 / Vista.  // VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce 260 / Radeon HD 4000 Series.

Trine 3: The Artifact of Power Exclusive Gameplay Video

movies

270 – Die Päpstin (2009)

spacetime coordinates:  9th century
Ingelheim am Rhein – the cathedral school in Dorestad – the Fulda monastery of Benedictines – Rome 

die-päpstin-04Pope Joan (German: Die Päpstin) is an international epic film produced by Bernd Eichinger, based on American novelist Donna Woolfolk Cross‘ novel of the same name about the legendary Pope Joan. Directed by Sönke Wortmann, it stars Johanna Wokalek as Joan, David Wenham as Gerold, her lover, and John Goodman as Pope Sergius II.

2009-die-päpstin-01die_ppstin-2The popular story of the ‘female Pope’ that has become widespread since the Middle Ages and thereafter. Pope Joan has been mentioned in works that were released several centuries after her supposed reign. Most modern scholars have dismissed the stories as fictional, due to lack of contemporary documentation, and the debunking of indirect evidence. Many theories abound that the lack of evidence is the result of successful attempts by the Catholic Church to erase Joan’s existence from history. The matter therefore remains controversial.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0458455/

movies

205 – The Physician (2013)

spacetime coordinates: 11th-century England >  Persia

der_medicus_the_physician

The Physician (German: Der Medicus) is a 2013 German adventure film based on the novel of the same name by Noah GordonThe film focuses on an orphan from an 11th-century English town whose mother died of a mysterious illness. The boy vows to study medicine and decides to travel to Persia.

El_Medico_Teaser_Poster_España_JPosters

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2101473/

movies

181 – King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)

spacetime coordinates:  late 5th and early 6th centuries AD Britain //  Londinium

king_arthur_legend_of_the_sword_ver10_xlg

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is a 2017 epic fantasy film directed by Guy Ritchie and written by Ritchie, Joby Harold and Lionel Wigram, inspired by Arthurian legends.  It was intended first installment of a planned six film series but the poor critical and box office performance of the film keeps the future for a franchise unclear.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1972591/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Arthur:_Legend_of_the_Sword

http://kingarthurmovie.com/