Movie review and an idea

I have a lot of DVDs. Not a lot compared to some, way too many compared to others. There are some that I still haven't watched so I thought I would pop one on last night just so I can say that I have seen that film. I decided to watch the film 'Knowing' because I've always wanted to see it and got it as part of a 3 movie box set with 'Knowing' 'District 9' and 'Moon' for £5 (bargain!). I like Nicholas Cage and it seemed like an end of world sort of plot. Here's my brief summary of the plot and what I thought about it.

*** Contains spoilers - if you don't want to know what happens please skip over this bit! ***

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448011/

It starts with an old school which wants to celebrate its anniversary. The strange kid thinks of a time capsule which is the chosen idea. Each child must then draw a picture to be given to another child in 50 years time upon opening the capsule. The strange girl rights a long list of numbers. Nicholas Cage's son in the film receives this piece of paper. Cage is then fascinated and links all the numbers to a date with the number of deaths and the location at which it happens. No matter how hard he tries he can't find a way to stop anyone dying. He seeks out the family of the girl now dead, in search of answers. He ends up following the numbers to a location where aliens have set up to take certain survivors away from the Earth before everyone dies. Turns out the aliens have been whispering to the people they wish to save, telling them the numbers. Only people smart enough to follow the numbers survive. They take Cage's son and a girl met along the way and then everyone dies. The end.

So I skipped over a lot of the content in the film so that you could still watch it even if you did read this.. I would give it at least an 8/10. I really like the genre of disaster movies, preferably when they are completely made up so I know that nothing like that could ever happen. I was very impressed with the film until the very end when it turned out to be aliens. Aliens whispering to children. It seemed quite a cliche rather than just some crazy person predicting the future and leaving clues as to save the world. I guess that it what I was expecting though which made the ending more of a twist. All the acting is pretty good, some of it is pretty graphic in terms of the death scenes. Not a lot of blood but if you see it, you'll know what I mean. Definitely try and catch it if it is on the TV or like me, it has been laying around in your house for a while!

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My Mum works at a school and its world book day today so the staff were asked to dress up if they could. She managed to find the outfit which I wore during my last summer fair when I was in year 6. It still fit because it was a huge jumper but I'll let you guess who I went as. I remember this day because my Mum encourage me to do it saying that everyone else would be doing it as well. Only 6 people did and I was the oldest one being in year 6. It was quite embarrassing as I then had to get changed on the school field behind a giant inflatable slide. Fun times.

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I have had an idea for something that might be quite fun. It's something I will post when I have some free time on my hands. I was thinking about the customization aspects of games such as Skyrim and Mass Effect where you can make your own character. I was thinking - is it really possible to make the in game character look anything like you? I'm going to give it a go on 3 or 4 games: Mass Effect 3, Skyrim, Fallout: New Vegas and possible Dark Souls depending on the tools available in the creating screen. There have been games where you take a picture of yourself and it sticks your face onto your character. The problem was that it always distorted your face and made it flat and look dam silly!

Thanks for reading my post today. Share it if you can, would be much appreciated! Let me know what you thought, Blog ya later.

'Year Walk' - Swedish Folklore

I watch a lot of YouTube videos. Today I watched a video by vsauce3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MorQI2Q-BJI

In the video he covers a lot of worth while apps to download for the iOS and Android platforms. One which caught my eye was game called Year Walk. It's based on Swedish mythology and comes with a companion app which explains all of the mythical creatures and ideas within the game. Here are the links to the game/companion app:

Year Walk game

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/year-walk/id555916407?mt=8

Year Walk Companion app

https://itunes.apple.com/app/year-walk-companion/id597879895

(Both are links for iOS as I couldn't find a page for Android)

I haven't downloaded the game myself as I don't really want to get into the habit of paying for apps which I will probably just end up deleting anyway. I did download the companion app as the game sounded interesting.

The app describes a Year Walk - or Arsgang - as a very spiritual Swedish past time with the main goal to be able to look into the future. The Year Walker must not talk to anyone else, eat or drink or see fire on days such as May Day, Midsummer's Eve or New Years Eve. At midnight the Walker would make their way to the village church, being confronted by supernatural beings, then walk an intricate pattern in the cemetery and around the church to open their eyes to events of the next coming year. This process would also attract the Church Grim. The visions which the saw would not be clear, simply showing people dancing which could suggest who would die that year. A common thing to see would be weddings!

Along the way, there were 5 supernatural beings which my be encountered.

The Skogsraet or Huldra

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Huldra%27s_Nymphs.jpg

Huldra's are creatures of the forest who look after the trees, plants and animals. She was often depicted as a young woman who was very sad and lonely. She was capable of luring men into the woods to marry of kill. Although the Huldra was considered a bad thing, hunters often spoke of how she could bless there weapons so that they would have a successful hunt. It was often thought she would live in the heart of the forest in the largest tree which was surrounded by a grove bordered by smaller trees.

The Backahasten or Brook Horse

This pale horse is said to live near rivers or streams who would lure children to ride on its back. The horses spine would grow every time a new rider was upon its back. Once the horse felt satisfied, it would leap into the river drowning all of the children with it. Another creature which did the same was the Nix which lured young girls into the river to drown with a fiddle. Many believed these to be the same creature.

The Mylingen or Myling

Myling's were considered the product of infanticide, which was common in 19th century Sweden. The baby was usually killed due to problems with money or birth out of wedlock. Children were left in the woods on their own or drowned, who then became a Myling. They haunted the families which had left them by wailing or leading them astray in the woods. They often called for their mothers to breast feed them which would 'free' them to the other side. It was believed that whoever freed them would receive a gift. The Myling was associated with the Brook Horse if the child had been drowned.

The Nattravnen or Night Raven

http://beyondtheblackgate.blogspot.co.uk/2009_04_01_archive.html

The Night Raven is commonly associated with illness, disease and death. The bird was large, sharp beaked and had holes in it's wings which when looked through would cause illness. Others said that it was a large skeletal bird which would devour travellers out on nights worthy of a Year Walk. The origins of this creature are believed to be from a greedy man who was not buried properly upon death. His greed then transferred into a raven. Ravens like shiny things which could be associated with money and greed.

The Kyrkogrimen or Church Grim

The Church Grim is the most feared mythical creature in Swedish folklore and is considered bad luck to just talk about. The Grim guarded the church to ensure its well being. There are many stories which explained the existence of the Grim. It was common for an animal to be buried alive under the church as it was built which then became the Grim. A criminals heart removed from their body and placed in an animal carcass to be sacrificed then became the Grim. Some said the Grim was a creature attracted to churches to feed on the emotions of humans. There are many different ideas surrounding this creature.

I found this really interesting upon reading it. It has made me tempted to buy the game which has been very highly rated. Here are some links to reviews of the game and the developers website:

The Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/video-game-reviews/9889670/Year-Walk-review.html

The Metro

http://metro.co.uk/2013/02/27/year-walk-review-iphone-horror-3517262/

Eurogamer

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-02-19-year-walk-review

Simogo

http://simogo.com/games/yearwalk/

Thanks for reading! Please share this where you can and leave a comment!