Posted by Notcot on Feb 19, 2011 in
Cult Film 
The feature film The X-Files: I Want to Believe is a satisfying if unspectacular installment in the X-Files series, taking place an unspecified time after the show’s nine-year television run. Former agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) is now a doctor, while Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) is being hunted by his former agency and living in seclusion. He and Scully are summoned back by a case involving a missing agent and a former priest (Billy Connolly) who claims to be able to see clues to the agent’s whereabouts psychically, though his initial search turns up only a severed limb.
Don’t expect the usual cast of characters; the FBI has completely turned over (except for the George W. Bush portrait), and the only reason Scully and Mulder are back is because agent Dakota Whitney (Amanda Peet) remembers his success on similar cases involving the inexplicable. Don’t expect the same rogues’ gallery either; unlike the previous X-Files feature film, which was inextricably linked to the series’ convoluted mythology arc (and served as a bridge between the fifth and sixth seasons), I Want to Believe is a stand-alone piece that makes use of the series’ roots in horror/sci-fi and moody Vancouver, B.C., locales. Also unlike the previous film, which was almost self-consciously shot for the big screen, this film is on a smaller scale, like a double-length episode of the series. But it’s still a good reminder of the creepy vibe that hooked fans for years. And the relationship between Mulder and Scully? It seems to have resumed pretty much where it left off, at least when you take into account the long period of separation. But stick around for the end-credit sequence to take in all the possibilities for the future. –David Horiuchi, Amazon.com
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Tags: agent dana scully, amanda peet, amazon, Believe, credit sequence, Dakota, Dana, david duchovny, Disc, Doctor, Edition, exclusive, Files, files poster, fox mulder, Free, george w bush, gillian anderson, horror sci fi, initial search, installment, Mulder, mulder and scully, mythology arc, Poster, reason, rogues gallery, run, Scully, scully and mulder, Series, show, Television, Use, Want
Posted by Notcot on Feb 17, 2011 in
Steampunk 
Ichnographia urbis Londinii… (A Plan of the City of London, after the great FIRE, in the Year of Our Lord 1666.)
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An extremely scarce 1744 map of London showing Sir Christopher Wren’s plan for reconstructing the city following the 1666 Great Fire of London. In 1666 the Great Fire swept through the old Roman portions of London, laying waste to most of the original walled city. Christopher Wren, a well known architect of the period was quick to respond to the disaster as a opportunity to dramatically redesign and modernize London’s center. Wren having been schooled in Paris envisioned an elaborate classically influenced reconstruction of the city with broad avenues meeting in a series of Piazzas. Despite, or perhaps because of, Wren’s promptitude in producing a plan for a major post-fire reconstruction, his plan exhibits a number of dramatic errors. Wren did not take the city’s topography into account and consequently much of the this plan is unfeasible. Despite claims to the contrary in the document itself, Wren’s plan was never seriously considered by either the King or the Parliament.
Today Wren’s original 1666 plan is lost. This version was drawn in 1744 by the once fashionable engrave P. Fourdrinier, who claims to have replicated exactly a scarce 1724 original owned by the Earl of Pembroke. This map covers London along the north side of the Thames River from Strand Bridge to Great Tower Hill. Shows Wren’s detailed reconstruction plan, along with the regions originally destroyed by the Great Fire. Identifies the proposed locations of parochial churches, markets, piazzas, bridges and warehouses. A vignette in the lower left quadrant depicts Thamesis, the river god for which the Thames River is named. The upper left quadrant bears the image of a phoenix, suggesting that, like the mythical bird, London too would rise from its own ashes and be reborn in fire. The lower quadrants of this plate include the map’s title in both English and Latin as well as a detailed “Explanation of the Plan”.
This plan is highly uncommon and rarely appears outside of institutional collections.
Date: 1744 (dated)
References: Yale University, British Arts, Folio A G 11. British Library, Maps CC.5.a.197. Folger Library, MAP L85c no. 25.
Cartographer: Christopher Wren (October 20, 1632-February 25, 1723)
Christopher Wren was an English architect and geometer active in the later 16th and early 17th century. Wren is considered to be one of the most prolific and highly acclaimed English architects in history. In the late 17th century architecture such as we know it today did not exist, rather it was considered a branch of mathematics and as such was consequently an acceptable hobby for the gentleman of distinction. Wren acquired an interested in architecture as a young man and developed his interest through varied studies at Oxford. Wren career as a architect received a significant boost from the Great London Fire of 1666, which facilitated an almost complete reconstruction of much of the city. Wren is responsible for some 55 churches as well as numerous other significant works. In recognition of his accomplishments Wren was knighted on November 14, 1673. He was also a founding father of the Royal Society. Though sickly as a child, Wren lived to a ripe old age 90. Wren is said to have passed away after taking ill on a trip to London in order admire his greatest masterpiece, St. Pauls Cathedral.
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Posted by Notcot on Feb 17, 2011 in
Steampunk 
Follow-up to BioShock, 2K Games’ critically acclaimed and commercially successful 2007 release, BioShock 2 is a first-person shooter set in the fictional underwater city of Rapture. As in the original game, BioShock 2 features a blend of fast-paced action, exploration and puzzle-solving as players follow varying paths through the overarching storyline based on the decisions that they are forced to make at various points in the game. In addition to a further fleshing out of the franchise’s popular storyline, players can look forward to new characters, game mechanics, weapons, locations and a series first, multiplayer game options.
Set approximately 10 years after the events of the original BioShock, the halls of Rapture once again echo with sins of the past. Along the Atlantic coastline, a monster somehow familiar, yet still quite different from anything ever seen has been snatching little girls and bringing them back to the undersea city. It is a Big Sister, new denizens of Rapture who were once one of the forgotten little girls known as Little Sisters, known to inhabit the city’s dank halls. No longer a pawn used to harvest ADAM, the dangerously powerful gene-altering lifeblood of Rapture, from the bodies of others and in turn run the risk of being harvested herself, the Big Sister is now the fastest and most powerful thing in Rapture. You, on the other hand are the very first Big Daddy, in fact the prototype, that for some reason has reactivated. You are similar to the Big Daddies familiar from the original BioShock, but also very different in that you possess free will and no memory of the events of the past ten years. The question is, as you travel through the decrepit and beautiful fallen city beneath the waves, hunting for answers and the solution to your own survival, are you really the hunter, or the hunted?
The original shocked the video gaming world by not only being a great first person shooter, but also an intelligent one. Now one of the greatest stories in interactive fiction is getting another chapter, with a sequel set ten years later.
The most literate first person shooter of 2007 returns |
 The multiplayer mode features a completely different story and even developer |
 Will you save the Little Sisters or exploit them? |
 As a Big Daddy you can now venture outside of Rapture and onto the sea floor |
You play the original Big Daddy – a more independently minded prototype to the giant deep sea divers from the first game. The undersea world of Rapture has been taken over by the mysterious Big Sister, who has begun to kidnap children from coastal cities around the world.
A much larger range of plasmid powers are now available, as well as more standard weapons and the Big Daddy’s iconic rivet gun and drill. The game’s real conflict is emotional though, as you are once again forced to make a decision between sacrificing Little Sisters or protecting them and making your task even harder. Bioshock 2 will make you think, and not just about tactics.
Key Features
- Atlas shrugged: The award-winning story-telling of Bioshock continues with a new hero and a new threat in the underwater dystopia of Rapture.
- Evolve yourself: New plasmids, including new dual-wielded attacks, let you unleash amazing powers but at the cost of your humanity.
- Cry Little Sister: As the first Big Daddy you are far faster than the other lumbering giants, but equipped with the same weapons and the ability to venture onto the ocean floor.
- Big boss: Defend yourself against the constant attacks of Big Sister by setting up traps and ambushes, but always making sure you have an escape route!
- Separate lives: For the first time Bioshock has its own multiplayer mode – featuring a completely different story and created by developer Digital Extremes (Unreal Tournament 2004).
About the Developer: 2K Marin
Although founded in 2007 specifically to create new, original games the first release from this Californian developer will be Bioshock 2. The studio is relatively small and designed to work with Take-Two’s other developers, such as 2K Boston and 2K Australia in the case of Bioshock.
