Movie Review - 007: SkyFail

The new James Bond movie has recieved a lot of good press, many people have told me it's a great movie and they're not wrong as such. They're just misguided.

Skyfall is a good action movie, it's a decent spy movie. It's even a pretty good homage to Bond films... but it is not a James Bond movie. Now before you rampage and get angry, let me explain myself.

James Bond has been a movie franchise for 50 years now (the first movie Dr No was released in 1962) and has developed a very specific formula and set of tropes over it's storied history. These tropes are what makes a Bond movie, and SkyFall does not do them justice.

When watching the movie, my first disappointment came in the first 2 minutes. There is no down-the-barrel shot to start the movie off. This is a basic tenant of the Bond formula. This is how you start. It takes 20 seconds of screen time and I don't see any reason not to do it. I feel it must be indicative of the creators mindset when making this movie that he felt he could just ditch this iconic image.

Then we move onto the controversial topic of the bond girl. It is true that previous incarnation of 007 have been rather sexist, and while that is a part of this character I can accept that it may need to be changed to conform to modern sensibilities. I have no issue with that. What I take issue with is the way in which SkyFall accomplishes this. It seems to me that in order to stop Bond being a sexist pig, they just removed the bond girl. This is a tragedy. Surely you could write a strong female counterpart to Bond that isn't just there as the target of objectification? To change the air of sexism you need to move Bond's opinions, not remove all the female characters.

This latest James Bond movie also has the lamest Q ever to grace the silver screen. If we're talking about gadgets, then the last Mission Impossible movie was a better bond film than this one. James Bond was always the Super Spy, fitted out with the most advanced equipment that Her Majesties Secret Service could envision. Don't get me wrong, I like the old DB5 coming back for a cameo and the McGuyver scene was cool... but that's not bond. He's all about the cutting edge, and this movie wasn't.

Finally we come to my biggest problem with this movie: Daniel Craig. I have nothing against him as an actor, even as an action star, but as Bond? James Bond is smooth. James Bond is cool. James Bond has style. Daniel Craig.... doesn't. He isn't even clean shaven for half the movie. He labors through some witty dialogue and even his best bond moment (when he's walking away from an explosion and takes a second to adjust the cuffs of his shirt) is so out of place with the rest of his performance that it's jarring. 

To me Skyfall feels like a spy movie that throws out the occational nostalgic tip of the hat to the James Bond franchise... but that doesn't make it a Bond movie.

So my final verdict: Go watch Skyfall, it's a fun movie... just don't expect James Bond.

-Odd
"No mister bond, I expect you to die." -Goldfinger (1964)

Geeks, Games and Greatness - Episode 20

Sorry for the delay in posting this, all. My internet connection at home has been down and I cannot access the podcast host from work. In any case, here is Episode 20 in which we chat about snakes, dogs, desert buses, sparkly vampires, heavy metal, old spears and new higgs.

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Email: oddcastblog@gmail.com

MtG FNM Report - RB Vampires

Yet another night of Vampires at Outer Limit's FNM. Here's what I played:

Mainboard	Sideboard
4 Stromkirk Noble	3 Tragic Slip
4 Falkenrath Exterminator	4 Annihilating Fire
4 Stromkirk Captain	4 Brimstone Volley
4 Vampire Nighthawk	4 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Olivia Voldaren
3 Bloodline Keeper
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Mizzium Mortars
4 Murder
2 Sign in Blood
1 Ring of Valkans
7 Swamp
8 Mountain
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit

Nothing has really changed in this list. I swapped the Deviant Glees from last time for a ring of Valkans, two Sign in Bloods and an extra swamp and swapped out the smelts in the sideboard for Tragic Slips because Predator Ooze is scary.

Round 1: 0-2 vs UW Control
*sigh* first round loss. My vamps really suffer to control. Against most builds I think I'd be okay, but this one played Misthollow Griffin with Moorland Haunt. I REALLY like this combo. Having a creature that is totally unkillable is a serious issue, and I'm definitely going to build this into my UW list.

Round 2: 2-0 vs UW Lifelink
Dominated in the second round against a lifelink aggro deck playing Chalice of Life, which is a card I really like. I was easily able to keep my opponent down enough that she couldn't flip the chalice.

Round 3: 2-0 vs GW Agro
This wasn't populate, and it wasn't GW Humans... not really sure what he was going for, but the vamps managed to keep the game on my plan so it wasn't an issue.

Round 4: 1-2 vs 4 Colour Control
Man, I hate playing against this deck. I got a god draw in the second game and managed to squash him before his card advantage took over. In the end I think it was Witchbane Orb that lost me the game. All my sideboard burn doesn't help me if I can't kill him with it.

So 2-2 for the night... not a great result, but I did draw two control decks. Unfortunate. I really need to come up with a deck that can answer both agro and control >.< not asking for much am I?

-Odd
"May the worthy spend an eternity in Blessed Sleep. May the wicked find the peace of oblivion." -Pillar of Flame, Flavour Text

MtG FNM Report - Izzet Combo

Yet another FNM report from Outer Limits. Last week I tried an Izzet combo deck... can you guess how that went? Anyway, here's the deck list:

Mainboard	Sideboard
4x Goblin Electromancer	4x Essence Scatter
4x Guttersnipe	4x Negate
4x Lobber Crew	4x Unsummon
3x Tandem Lookout	3x Think Twice
2x Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
4x Mizzium Mortars
4x Cyclonic Rift
4x Inaction Injunction
4x Izzet Charm
3x Curiosity
2x Jace, Architect of Thought
2x Steam Vents
2x Izzet

I'm not sure if this really counts as combo but the whole plan is to use Gutter Snipe or Lobber Crew with a Tandem Lookout or Curiosity. This means that I get a metric ton of card advantage and cast spells till my opponent dies.

Sounds good, hey? ..... ya.... ummm.... you'll see what happened.

Round 1: 1-2 vs GW Human Agro
First game went perfectly. I hit my curve and managed to delay him until my card advantage just took me completely out of range. I got a little mana screwed in the second two games, but really I just got out aggro'd.

Round 2: Bye
I got the bye. Irritating, but it's the first time I've ever had the bye at Outer Limits... so I really shouldn't complain.

Round 3: 1-2 vs Mono Green
Managed to pull out the first game on 1 life which was exciting, but lost the second two games to aggro. The combination of Predator Ooze, Rancor and Silverheart leaves my poor little Izzet deck cold.

Round 4: 2-0 vs UW Flash
Hey hey! I won a match! once again against the UW flash deck. Azorius charm does nothing against my creatures unless I attack which gives me enough time to build up.

So overall not a great, one win out of 3 games. I think the problem with this deck is that it really suffers to aggro and has a lot of games where it just ends up doing nothing. So not the best build for an Izzet deck, but I have some thoughts for some other ones and I'll be trying those out in the weeks to come.

Next FNM I will be playing my Vampires again, partially because I need to find some cards for my next Izzet build but mostly because I want to be doing the beat down instead of the other way around for a change :)

-Odd

“He has no patience for minds that do not inspire him or explode by trying.” – Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius, Flavour Text

MtG FNM Report - GU Defender Mill

Another FNM at Outer Limits last week. This time I decided to play something very different as I was getting a little bored of my Vampires week in and week out. So here's what I ended up running:

Mainboard	Sideboard
4x Gatecreeper Vine	4x Essence Scatter
4x Axebane Guardian	4x Negate
4x Doorkeeper
4x Fog Bank
4x Hover Barrier
4x Ludevic’s Test Subjects
2x Galvanic Alchemist
2x Jace, Architect of Thought
2x Inspiration
4x Increasing Confusion
4x Cyclonic Rift
11x Forrest
11x Island

So this deck is basically a really bad combo deck. Lots of defenders to mill with Doorkeeper and setup Axebane Guardian for a big Increasing Confusion. Fairly simple but very different from my aggro vampires. This deck even has an infinite mana combo with Axebane Guardian and Galvanic Alchemist.

I'd just like to point out that I have opened both my Jace's. I would never trade for this kind of card but it's worth so much that noone wants to trade it off of me, so I might as well play him.

Round 1: 2-0 vs UW Flash
Milled him out both games. Going into this tournament I was quite worried about the control match-up but it turns out that Increasing Confusion is very resilient to counter due to it's flashback and all his draw helps me mill. Great first match.

Round 2: 1-2 vs Golgari
Manged to mill him out in the first game but some unlucky land draws in the second and third coupled with a huge amount of destruction was just too much to overcome. This was a very strong opponent who eventually went on to win the night, so I'm not disappointed.

Round 3: 2-1 vs GWU tokens
Wow, the new Jace is absolutely crazy against a host of 1/1 tokens. Both my wins came due to flipping a Ludevic's Test Subjects and the one I lost was due to manascrew. Good performance.

Round 4: 0-2 vs 4 colour control
Let me start by saying that I really like this deck, it's just the sort of madness that I enjoy playing. Tons of board-sweep and cantrips make for a difficult game, but mainboard Elixir of Immortality and Laboratory freaking Maniac means that I never had a hope. Seriously. Laboratory god-damn Maniac. Jeez.

So I went 2-2 for the night and came in 5th. Not bad for an out of guild deck in this metagame. I was specifically impressed with Ludevic's Test Subject, after the opponent has seen them once they are a truly frightening drop :)

I had a ton of fun playing this. Even the games I won felt really stressful and close, which is a big change from my more point-and-shoot vampires. I think I will try a similar deck again once Gatecrash comes out and I can pick up some funny land and some useful spells from the Simic guild.

Next time I'll be trying out a Izzet build. So tune in next week to see how that went.
-Odd
"After several frustrating experiments, the visionary Ludevic realized he needed to create a monster that fed on torch-wielding mobs." -Ludevic's Abomination, flavour text

MtG FNM Report - RB Vampire

Another outing for my vampires at Friday Night Magic at Outer Limits

My Deck:

Mainboard	Sideboard
4 Stromkirk Noble	3 Smelt
4 Falkenrath Exterminator	4 Annihilating Fire
4 Stromkirk Captain	4 Brimstone Volley
4 Vampire Nighthawk	4 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Olivia Voldaren
3 Bloodline Keeper
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Mizzium Mortars
4 Murder
4 Deviant Glee
6 Swamp
8 Mountain
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit

This is much the same deck as I've been playing with the addition of Deviant Glees. I figure that the trample can help the vampires get through to pump themselves up, plus it can turn a late game Noble or Exterminator into a viable threat.






Round 1: 0-2 vs Monogreen
Really irritating to lose the first round. This was quite a strange deck... You don't see a lot of mono-colour in the current metagame. Turns out Blessings of Nature and Wolfir Avenger are quite irritating. Still, I'm pretty sure I could have won this handily if I hadn't been completely mana screwed both games.

Round 2: 2-0 vs BW Exalted
Same deck I've played every week (it seems like). It's improved a fair amount, but there's only so much you can do with exalted triggers.

Round 3: 2-0 vs Monored
The second mono coloured deck in the tournament. Nice a quick with lots of burn. I really like this deck as red is my favorite colour, but in any creature match-up the opponent needs to seriously outweigh my vampires and red just doesn't have the beef to compete.

Round 4: 2-0 vs Rakdos
Finnished off against a fairly standard Rakdos deck. It was quite good, but again Captains swing the balance and Olivia is the supreme finisher.

Despite losing the first round I came in fourth and picked up a couple boosters... so not a bad night. I'm a little disappointed that this deck still hasn't won the FNM as I think it is very possible. Next week I'll be running something very different.

The Deviant Glees did really well, trample is very handy.

-Odd
"I often think on how excited they must feel to be chosen as my prey." -Stromkirk Noble, Flavor Text

Corporate Head Hunters

I get a couple calls a month from agencies trying to poach me from my current employer. I am not opposed to these calls even though I am not looking to change jobs. It's always nice to know that your skills are in demand. It's quite an ego boost actually.

What I don't understand is the way in which these agencies do it. I have yet to speak to one who would give me any sort of detail about the proposed job. Not who it's for. Not how much they'll pay. Nothing.


Now if I was looking for a job and had approached them then they have every right to be cagey with their information, they hold all the cards in that situation. But I am  not looking for a job. I am quite happy where I am and I am certainly not going to jump ship based on a vague promise of a job I know nothing about.

Does that approach ever work? I doubt it. If I was so unhappy with my employer that I would jump at any offer, then I would be searching for a job and the head hunter would be unnecessary.

Maybe one of my readers could explain this to me? I'm baffled.

-Odd
"If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable" -Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Geeks, Games and Greatness - Episode 19

Here is episode 19 of the podcast. This week we discuss Doctor Who, Comic book movies, Magic the Gathering, Arrow, Disney buying Star Wars, various scientific breakthroughs and other assorted randomness.

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Odd's Twitter: @OddModlin
Ian's Twitter: @i4n0fd00m
Email: oddcastblog@gmail.com 

MtG FNM Report - RBU Vampires

Another weeks FNM at Outer Limits in Melville.

My Deck:

Mainboard	Sideboard
4x Stromkirk Noble	4 Smelt
4x Falkenrath Exterminator	4 Negate
4x Stromkirk Captain	4 Brimstone Volley
4x Vampire Nighthawk	3 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Olivia Voldaren
3 Bloodline Keeper
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Mizzium Mortars
3 Murder
4 Call to the Kindred
5 Swamp
6 Mountain
4 Island
1 Steam Vents
3 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit

So this particular build of my Vampires is strange. Splashing blue just for Call to the Kindred and Negates in the sideboard. I had originally tried this with two Nicol Bolas plainswalker but found that they were too slow. By that state of the game, I'm usually two or three life points off the win.

Round 1: 2-0 vs Selesna
My opponents deck came out very slowly and I just beat down with vampires. I didn't see a Call to the Kindred but the blue mana didn't mess me up too much, so it was fine.

Round 2: 2-1 vs BW Exalted
Pretty much the same deck I played against last week with much the same result. Played a Call to the Kindred game one, but the creature got snuffed before it activated. I also had to mulligan down the second game to 5 cards because of blue lands, which lost me the game. Not great, but took the win anyway.

Round 3: 2-0 vs Golgari
Quite a tough deck, but the vamps came out nicely both games without the blue splash messing me up. In a creature vs creature match, the first striking vampires (thank you Stromkirk Captain) take the game away from the opponent.

Round 4: 2-1 vs Golgari Zombies
Wow, these things are tough! I think this is the first time I've come up against a true Tier 1 deck and it was a serious battle. Blue land caused just enough problems first game to throw it but the deck behaved in games two and three with Olivia swooping in to save me on 2 and then 5 life. This was a great match... lots of fun.

Round 5: 1-2 vs Selesna 
Once again I was forced to mulligan to 5 in the first game, which I lost. Second game went well for me but lost the last game to the 5/5 hexproof flying Sigarda, Host of Herons. I was a little disappointed that I didn't see any Captains in these games, by my opponent played well and beat me fair and square.

Learning Points:
Call of the Kindred is not a competetive card. I knew this going in... but thought it would come off at least once. The problem is that it makes the enchanted creature a massive target and sets up an easy 2-for-1 for my opponent. It's also at 4 mana, at which point I'd really much rather be dropping an Olivia or a Bloodline Keeper.

I will still be using the Calls for my casual version of the Vampires as I want to play a Blood Tyrant and a Garza Zol in that.

Moral of the story: Vampires kick ass on their own and I really don't need to mess with the deck too much. I should just stick to what they do well and concentrate on keeping the deck streamlined and efficient. Having said that... I did come in second and came within an inch of winning the tournament undefeated, so I really can't complain.

-Odd
"No slinking in the dark for them, no luring whispers. They claim their prey in the speed and glory of the hunt" -Falkenrath Marauders (flavor text)