games

0314 – BioShock (2007 video game)

spacetime coordinates: 1960, the underwater city of Rapture

BioShock is a first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Boston (later Irrational Games) and 2K Australia, and published by 2K Games.

The game’s concept was developed by Irrational’s creative lead, Ken Levine, and incorporates ideas by 20th century dystopian and utopian thinkers such as Ayn RandGeorge Orwell, and Aldous Huxley, as well as historical figures such as John D. Rockefeller. The game is considered a spiritual successor to the System Shock series, on which many of Irrational’s team including Levine had worked previously.

BioShock is set in 1960. The player guides the protagonist, Jack, after his airplane crashes in the ocean near the bathysphere terminus that leads to the underwater city of Rapture. Built by the business magnate Andrew Ryan, the city was intended to be an isolated utopia, but the discovery of ADAM, a genetic material which can be used to grant superhuman powers, initiated the city’s turbulent decline. Jack tries to find a way to escape, fighting through hordes of ADAM-obsessed enemies, and the iconic, deadly Big Daddies, while engaging with the few sane humans that remain and eventually learning of Rapture’s past. The player, as Jack, is able to defeat foes in a number of ways by using weapons, utilizing plasmids that give unique powers, and by turning Rapture’s own defenses against them. BioShockincludes elements of role-playing games, giving the player different approaches in engaging enemies such as by stealth, as well as moral choices of saving or killing characters; additionally, the game and biopunk theme borrow concepts from the survival horror genre.

Bioshock Trailer

BioShock received critical acclaim and was particularly praised by critics for its morality-based storyline, immersive environments, and its unique setting, and is considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time and a demonstration of video game as an art form.

pc requirements (MINIMUM): Operating System: Windows XP (with Service Pack 2) or Windows Vista. CPU: Intel single-core Pentium 4 processor at 2.4GHz. RAM: 1 GB, Video Card:Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 128MB RAM and Pixel Shader 3.0 (NVIDIA 6600 or better/ATI X1300 or better, excluding ATI X1550)


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movies

0278 – Mongol (2007)

spacetime coordinates: 1172 – 1206  Mongolia

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Mongol (Монгол), also known as Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan  is a 2007 Russian semi-historical epic film directed by Sergei Bodrov, about the early life of Temüjin (inspired by The Secret History of the Mongols), who later came to be known as Genghis Khan. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Bodrov and Arif Aliev. It was produced by Bodrov, Sergei Selyanov and Anton Melnik and stars Tadanobu AsanoSun Honglei and Chuluuny Khulan in the main roles. Mongol explores abduction, kinship and the repercussions of war.

The film was a co-production between companies in Russia, Germany and Kazakhstan, intended to be the first part of a trilogy about Genghis Khan. (Sequel)

mongol-movie-poster-genghis-khan

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416044/

movies

261 – The Keeping Room (2014)

spacetime coordinates: the american south, 1865

The Keeping Room is a 2014 American  western | thriller film directed by Daniel Barber and written by Julia Hart. The film stars Brit MarlingHailee SteinfeldMuna OtaruSam WorthingtonAmy Nuttall, and Ned Dennehy.

the keeping roomLeft without men in the dying days of the American Civil War, three Southern women—two white sisters and one African-American slave—must fight to defend their home and themselves from two rogue soldiers who have broken off from the fast-approaching Union Army.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2488778/

series

258 – Westworld (TV Series 2016– )

westworld 1Westworld is an American science fiction western thriller television series created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy for HBO. It is based on the 1973 film of the same name, which was written and directed by American novelist Michael Crichton, and to a lesser extent on the 1976 sequel Futureworld. It is the second TV series based on the two films, the first being the short-lived 1980 series Beyond Westworld. Nolan and Joy serve as executive producers along with J. J. AbramsJerry Weintraub, and Bryan Burk, with Nolan directing the pilot. The first season premiered on October 2, 2016, concluded on December 4, 2016, and consisted of ten episodes.  In November 2016, HBO renewed the show for a ten-episode second season, planned for a debut in early 2018.

westworld 2The story takes place in the fictional Westworld, a technologically advanced Wild West-themed amusement park populated by android hosts. Westworld caters to high-paying guests, who may indulge in whatever they wish within the park, without fear of retaliation from the hosts.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0475784/

movies

251 – Apocalypto (2006)

spacetime coordinates:  pre-Columbian Yucatan and Guatemala, 1502

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Apocalypto is a 2006 American epic adventure film directed and produced by Mel Gibson and written by Gibson and Farhad Safinia.  Similar to Gibson’s earlier film The Passion of the Christ, all dialogue is in a modern approximation of the ancient language of the setting. Here, the Yucatec Maya language is used, with English and other language subtitles, which sometimes refer to the language as Mayan.

apocalypto_cover

Themes

Historical Accuracy

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movies

223 – Pompeii (2014)

spacetime coordinates: Pompeii 79 A.D.

pompeii-film

Pompeii is a 2014 3D romantic historical disaster film produced and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson.  An international co-production between the United States, Germany and Canada,  it is inspired by and based on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. that destroyed Pompeii, a city of the Roman Empire. The film stars Kit HaringtonEmily BrowningCarrie-Anne MossAdewale Akinnuoye-AgbajeJessica Lucas, with Jared Harris, and Kiefer Sutherland.

historical accuracy

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1921064/

movies

0208 – Get Out (2017)

get out 1

Get Out is a 2017 American horror film written, co-produced and directed by Jordan Peele, in his directorial debut. The film stars Daniel KaluuyaAllison WilliamsBradley WhitfordCaleb Landry JonesStephen RootKeith Stanfield and Catherine Keener, and follows a young interracial couple who visit the mysterious estate of the woman’s parents.

get out 2

themes

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5052448/