The art of Flyte

Title : Septimus Heap Book 2 - Flyte
Author : Angie Sage
Illustrator : Mark Zug
ISBN : ISBN 978-0-7475-8449-0


Warning! Spoilers ahead!

Flyte is the 2nd book of the Septimus Heap series. Magyk, the 1st book in the series, is one of my favourite children novel. Let's see how much Flyte can live up to its predecessor.

The book sees the return of the main villain in book 1, Dom Daniel, in his quest to take over the Castle, which is where all our protagonists lived. But this time, he let his newest Apprentice do his dirty work for him (because he is practically just a skeleton after the event in book 1). The book also explores the new lives of our protagonists; Jenna who is now the Young Queen who lived in the Palace, and Septimus Heap who is now the Apprentice to the Extra Ordinary Wizard, Marcia Overstrand. Since the title of the book is Flyte, the main story also involved the ancient art of flying which is thought to be lost.

In general, the story is good with a lot of humor, adventure and a bit of suspense and mystery which will have readers eager to find out what will happen next. Personally, I find the early chapters of the book quite boring but fortunately the story gets interesting as the chapters continues, especially when Septimus begins to embark on his journey to find Jenna who had been kidnapped.

The returning characters are all fun to read about with Aunt Zelda being my absolute favourite. I love reading every chapters she's in. There are also some characters, who are briefly mentioned in book 1, that got featured in more details this time like Jannit Marten, Boy 409 and the 4 Heap brothers that lived in the forest. Some new characters are also introduced like Beetle, Una Brakket, Sleuth (a former tennis ball) and Spit Fyre (Septimus's dragon pet).

I really love the idea of making Simon Heap, the eldest Heap brothers, the main antagonist for this book. I found his character to be the most human from all the other characters; his anger, frustration, self-pity and desire really shone through the pages of the book, I mean I can really relate to his emotions. He's a great character and I wish he would make a comeback in later books in the series.

To sum it up, I think Flyte is a great book but I have to say that Magyk is better. I still love the series though and hopefully book 3, Physik, would be even better.

New trailers for X-Men: First Class

Two new trailers for this movie can be found on the internet in the last few days. It looks awesome, as I mentioned it in my earlier post. However, nothing is certain until the movie's release. Hopefully the story would be as good as what the trailers had portrayed thus far.

X-Men: First Class would be released in June 2011.

You can click here to watch both trailers at UGO.

Resident Evil 4 ~ The rescue mission

Before I begin this review, I would like to state that the game I played for this game was the PS2 version.

Resident Evil 4 is a hugely popular and highly praised video game from Capcom and was released in 2005. Considered as one of the most influential video games in the 2000's, Resident Evil 4 is a commercial and critical success.

In general, the plot centers around Leon S. Kennedy, recruited by the US Secret Service, who must travel to a remote village in Europe to rescue the US President's daughter, Ashley Graham, that had been kidnapped by a mysterious cult, Los Illuminados. Along the way, he met several key characters like the mysterious agent Ada Wong, the suave researcher Luis Sera, the former comrade Jack Krauser, the local castellan Ramon Salazar and the cult leader, Osmund Saddler.

As a horror-action video game, the plot was entertaining and engaging eventhough it was not really connected to the main storyline of the Resident Evil series which pretty much about the Umbrealla Corporation and its evil deeds. It's great to see how the main character, Leon, has grown since we last saw him in Resident Evil 2. Although the plot sometimes focus too heavily on action especially at the last half of the game, Resident Evil 4 still generally had a good horror storyline and manage to keep the tradition of the franchise in putting horror into the story.

The characters were pretty well-designed. I like how Leon was portrayed in this game, tough yet very cool. The President's daughter, Ashley, can be pretty annoying sometimes with her constant cry for help, but I like her voice actor and the way she delivered her dialogues. We had one tough girl in the game in the form of Ada Wong, who was a great addition to the game. She was just as mysterious as she was in Resident Evil 2. The primary antagonist, Saddler, was very good a character too, although I wished the developer polish him more to be a great villain, instead of just good.

A lot of the enemies that the player had to dispose however reminiscent of fantasy and action video game rather than a horror video game. The only enemies that creep me out are the generators. The breathing sound they made was really creepy. To be fair, although most enemies seem human (and some were regular animals), the game does have its scary moments like a burning enemy running out of a standing oven and enemy sneaking up on you with a chainsaw.

The visuals were, needless to say, amazing. The settings, especially the remote village and the big castle were ample in bringing in the spook feelings that associated with the previous installments. The island setting in the last half of the game however was too emphasized in action with its war-like setting which making me feel like I was playing an action or a world-war based video game rather than a horror one. The laboratories however reminded me of the previous games in the franchise, which was pretty good in keeping with the RE tradition.

The gameplay was a major shift from the previous installments of the series. The over-the-shoulder camera view was refreshing and very engaging when the characters get into action in blasting the skulls of the enemies. I read that many people criticized the fact that you can't move while in the aiming position, but for me personally, I don't really mind because I think I wouldn't use that feature anyway if its incorporated into the game (not because I'm a great player, but because I'm a novice player who can't even beat Devil May Cry chapter 3).

Overall, Resident Evil 4 was a great video game with a mixture of horror and action. Plus the bonus features you get after completing it were great too like Separate Ways and Ada Assignment. Definitely a worthy game for a Resident Evil fan.

Images courtesy of Wikipedia and IGN.

K-On! ~ Cute high school girls + Good music

Season 2 of K-On!! had just recently end its run on Animax Asia and I'm pretty sad about it. It's one of the best anime I'm watching on the channel right now and to watch its final episode was kind of sad and painful. The anime is about 5 high school girls (Yui, Ritsu, Mio, Tsumugi and a junior Azusa) with their school life and their love & passion for music. It's a light anime with no heavy themes, just about their friendship and similar passion for music. They were the members of the school's light music club and with only 5 members (yup, they were the only members of the club) they tried to keep the club alive.

The characters of the anime are really lovable with their crazy and kawai (that's cute in Japanese) personality. You just can't help but fall in love with them. The plot for each episode are really quite simple, usually about them practising their music (or lack of it which drives Azusa crazy), performing at the school carnival, going to the beach, or preparing for photo shoots for their school's magazine. Their music are pretty good too with a lot of J-pop flavour in it. Personally, I love the opening and ending themes for the anime. They are really good.

The series was originally a manga written and illustrated by Kakifly before being made into anime. The 1st and 2nd season of the anime are actually from the 1st series of the manga. The 2nd manga series will continue on their story in college. I can't wait to see them more in the 3rd season of the anime. I'm really going to miss them!!!

Image courtesy of Lightchan.

Pia Toscano ~ What a shock!!!

Pia Toscano had been eliminated from American Idol Season 10. What a shock right? Not in a million years I expect her to be eliminated this early. In fact, I thought she had a great chance to win this season. A great shock indeed.

For me personally, she's one of the perfect singer that had ever been in the competition. She sound perfect, she looks perfect, and she's awesome on stage. What a great loss to the show. I know it's rare for a contestant of the show to have a career if they got eliminated this early in the competition, but I really, really hoping that Pia could get a recording contract and get her singing career going after this. We will miss you Pia Toscano!

Writer's block

Okay, so I haven't post anything lately. I'm having writer's block. I'm not even sure if I can use that term for myself since I'm not even an active writer in any medium. But anyway, I'm having a hard time finding any suitable topic to write. Sometimes I want to review movies that I watch or albums that I bought but I cannot construct any sentence to begin my review. My mind went blank!

I need time to refresh my brain.

Hot movies for 2011's summer

Malaysia (my home country) doesn't have a four season cycle weather but let's just pretend that it has so that I could come out with this list. So what hot movies coming out this summer? I've made a list of some of the movies that might just interest me;

1. Thor

I'm not really sure if I'm into this after I watched the trailer but I think I'm going to give it a shot when it comes out in theaters. It seems to have heavy action and some deep story, but that just my thoughts. It could turn out the other way around.

2. X-men : First Class

I'm definitely going to see this. The X-men movies are some of my favourite with versatile characters and interesting abilities. Hopefully this one will turn out good, and set the tone for many more movies in the franchise to come.

3. Super 8

I'm not really sure if this movie will get a release here in my country but hopefully it will. I'm also not so sure what's it about, seems like some alien (or maybe experiment creatures) escaped from a train coach. Anyway, still excited for this movie to come out.

4. Green Lantern

Another superhero movie. This time with Ryan Reynolds in a kind-of-sexy superhero suit. He will definitely be the eye candy for the ladies. But I hope the story would be as good as the special effects we've seen in the trailer thus far.

5. Transfomers : Dark of the Moon

It's sure going to be a pack theater but I'm going to watch it anyway, maybe a few weeks after its release to avoid some of the crowd. I think this movie will be as big as the 2nd movie in terms of box office collection. Oh yeah it will. One of those movies where you could watch with your friends and have a great time at the theater.

6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows : Part 2

I would be crazy if I didn't go for this one. After an amazing movie that is Part 1, and after an amazing journey I had with the movie series, Part 2 is a MUST! Besides, it's the conclusion of the series. So definitely a must for all Potter fans.

7. Cowboys & Aliens

A rather unique theme; western meets science fiction. Mmm...a little indecisive on this one. The actors cast in this film are amazing though; Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde. Maybe I will go see it, after I hear some good reviews about it.

8. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

Another movie that I'm not sure whether it will get a release in Malaysia or not. And again, I hope, this one will too. The trailer looks good. Plus, it's co-written by Guillermo del Toro. I know it's a remake, but still...if Guillermo in it, then it will definitely be weirdly good.


So there you have it, my list of some of the interesting titles to come out in theaters this summer. Hopefully all of them will get a release here in Malaysia and hopefully all the movies are good too.