MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL - There's enough negativity in the world so let me focus on the things I liked. -The acting of the lady holding the queen's umbrella. She had no lines but she is going to ACT dammit! -Aurora falling from a high place -Aurora falling from a different high place

Oh good gravy this movie is dragging ass. Well, at least it's almost over. Can't be much more than... *checks time* THERE'S STILL AN HOUR LEFT?!!!

Podcast time! There's more to life than video games. But not much more.

MALEFICENT - Genuinely bad movie due mostly to poorly plotted out narrative which sucks because there are excellent ideas at play and several moments that really sing. Aesthetically attractive and the score is great (save for a tonally inappropriate end credits cover of "Once Upon a Dream").

"Pearl Abyss is amazing! They've pushed out 15 patches for CRIMSON DESERT since it released 6 weeks ago!" I'd be more impressed if they finished the game BEFORE they started taking money for it.

If I film tonight and edit all day tomorrow, I could get my post-CSII video out a couple hours before we start COLD STEEL III this Sunday. But I don't want to spend my entire weekend working and I don't want the final video to feel rushed so I'm going to take a bit more time with it.

Alright! I successfully edited my video script down to 3250 words! "Edited it down from what?" 3252 words!

Works for me. I'm not bothered if the movie doesn't have characters/scenes from the game. As long as it captures the feeling of Resident Evil (and it's a varied series, so lots of diverse feelings to capture) and is a good movie, I'm happy. Particularly because ever one I've seen have been bad.

Well, that's certainly a bold and unexpected direction to take an adaptation of the classic Atari 2600 game.

It's not a cat but it's still cute!

I hate gen AI. I'm using it because I'm a QA analyst and part of my job is evaluating it (though no one seems to care that, in my professional opinion, it's shit). Anyway, for some reason ChatGPT decided to drop an Armenian word in part of its output and add an emoji pointing at... nothing.

What super patron Bryan wants, super patron Bryan gets. And super Patron Bryan wants a Sunday Stream dedicated to the opening hours of DRAGON QUEST VII: REIMAGINED. Happy to oblige!

I ran a test this morning and was able to stream for over 10 minutes with no disconnects and not a single dropped frame so hopefully this afternoon's Sunday Stream goes off without a hitch. See you at noon PST!

Well... crap. I'm not sure what's going on. My internet connection is fine but I'm unable to stream. So, no Molehill Mountain podcast tonight. Hopefully whatever is causing the issue will be resolved by tomorrow so it doesn't interfere with the Sunday Stream. Fingers crossed!

"Are you okay, Andrew?" Yeah, I'm just... I don't know. A little creeped out, I guess. "What happened?" Someone liked one of my comments. "...so?" On Twitter. "That's not so bad." A 13-year-old comment. "Oh. Yeah, that's a little ick." ... "..." ... "Good comment though?" Witty AF!

Sure, gen AI is trained on stolen data, environmentally destructive, increases cost/scarcity of PC components, enriches the worst people in the world, atrophies skill, and causes mental and physical harm BUT... It's also a shitty tool that's output is inconsistent and inaccurate.

YouTube - "Huh, weird. Every time I recommend a video made with generative AI, Andrew blocks the entire channel. Hmm... WAIT A MINUTE!!! I'm beginning to detect a pattern here! Yes, I've got it!!! I've been recommending the WRONG slop. Keep sending different slop until we find what he likes!"

I like it when marketing has enough confidence to just show a single sequence from the film and leave it at that.

Well this is super cool!

Unfortunately, the Sunday Stream crashed and I couldn't get it to reconnect but at least we got to see the twist! DRAGON QUEST VII is on the docket for next Sunday. See you then! (Hopefully, with a more stable connection!)

[Corrected Link] On today's Sunday Stream, we're playing OF THE DEVIL. Similar in gameplay to titles like Phoenix Wright, we play a public defender who must prove the innocence of a hapless murder suspect. Join me as we spend the afternoon getting our client off! (Phrasing. Tee-hee!)

I approach Diana in PRAGMATA the same way I approach baby penguins in SUPER MARIO 64.

DUST BUNNY - I LOVED it!!! Kid hires her hitman neighbor to kill the monster that lives under her bed and ate her foster parents. Aesthetically gorgeous with a fun, dark story book vibe, every performer is lockstep with this film's unique vibe that I found a delight from front to back.

Podcast time!

Hmm. Scene geography was initially confusing but that may just be an artifact of clipping the scene. The sound balance needs work and not every joke lands but there are some good ones and the song's fun and well executed so hey, I'm optimistic.

I'm very social when I'm drunk! "But Andrew, you don't drink." That's right. Now go away.

Do the various Resident Evil baddies genuinely believe that the ultimate lifeform is a slimy, tentacle monster covered in eyeballs or have they somehow fucked up in the exact same way for 30 years running?

Chappelle isn't as ignorant as he's putting on but hey, maybe this is the kick he needed to accept responsibility for the power that words can have! "And she should never do that to a person like me." Oh. "She made ME look bad" is his takeaway from this. That's the real problem. Of course.

Wow, even in the commercial AI get's it wrong. Golly, I sure hope a 10 degree difference isn't important in this context! Also, the AI appears to have hallucinated the entire gauge because the one in the insert isn't in the background so far as I can see. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBwx...

Silent Movie month on Movie Mandates comes to a close with METROPOLIS and we somehow spend the first several minutes complaining about the soundtrack. Of a silent movie.

PRAGMATA: "a Dad Game for fathers who actually like their kids." -Kenneth Shepard That's a hell of a pull quote.

ANACONDA - Not without its charm but, for me, its adventure elements were too thin to be exciting, it's too goofy to be horror, too carefree to have any tension, and as a comedy it left me wanting. I don't know. Maybe I just hate fun.

No Molehill Mountain podcast tonight but join me tomorrow for the Sunday Stream we'll play more RESIDENT EVIL 4 REMAKE and blow all the bad guys! Away. With the infinite rocket launcher.

There are three companion characters in METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN. 1. A horse. 2. A dog. 3. Who cares; you've already got a dog.

THRASH - It's okay. Honestly, a better natural disaster movie than shark movie but the various attacks are decently done and there are some fun moments. The biggest issue is the editing keeps deflating any tension the various scenes build and also makes the geography and passage of time confusing.

Sunday Stream Schedule 4/12 - RESIDENT EVIL 4 REMAKE - Infinite Rocket Launcher! 4/19 - OF THE DEVIL - Public defender must Phoenix Wright her way to her client's innocence! 4/26 - DRAGON QUEST VII - Byran's Patreon Reward! 5/3 - COLD STEEL III - Josette's gotta be in one of these, right?

No matter how strong I get, I will never feel as weak as I do trying to pull a sweaty shirt off my torso post workout.

WILLARD - Bad. Obnoxious score, edited like it can't wait to be over, and one of the single most unsympathetic protagonists I've ever seen. On the other hand, it's full of adorable, fluffy little rats so that counts for something. And the animal wrangling and training impresses so there's that.

For me, the worst part of a particularly nasty headache (the kind that feels like someone rhythmically tapping your skull with a ball-peen hammer) is boredom. While the throbbing is unpleasant, it preventing me from listening to music, playing games, watching movies, or reading is worse.

"You run?" A few miles every day, yeah. "You enjoy cardio?" Not at all. "How do you stay motivated." Sometimes I get to pet one of the neighborhood cats.

If I sell off all Leon's weapons, I can afford the Infinite Rocket Launcher. So, the question is, should I play more RESIDENT EVIL 4 next Sunday and make the Ganados go boom? Or should I switch to another game?

Little dude wandered a bit too far from the beach. (I'm about 4 miles inland.)

Leon will NOT baby bird Baby Eagle in RESIDENT EVIL 4. Let the Sunday Stream commence!

Podcast time! I just saw a movie based on a popular video game. It was awful. Let's talk about it!

FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY'S 2 - Wow. It's thunderingly terrible. Kernel of a good idea (aggrieved ghost) but non-sensical character motivations with poorly staged action (with two laudable exceptions) and, worst of all, mind-meltingly boring. It doesn't even have the decency to end, it just... stops.

6 hours in to FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY'S 2 I checked the time to see how much movie was left and somehow, I'm only 35 minutes in.

ARGH!!! I just spent several minutes trying to remember the Excel function that can split text on a delimiter before I remembered I could just use Flash Fill. When it comes to tools, sometimes the hard part isn't remembering how to do something, it's remembering everything it can do.

OUT OF THE PAST - Decent noir movie with enough double crosses and charisma to keep me happy for 90 minutes. What I particularly liked about this one is once Mitchum's character is burned by Greer's femme fatale, he falls out of infatuation with her for the rest of the movie.

Out on a run this evening, I passed a house and a dog started barking at me from behind the front door. It was a bark so odd sounding that I literally stopped in my tracks to listen to what sounded like a chihuahua trying to do an impression of turkey.

Finally, someone brave enough to set their shark movie trailer to a rendition (albeit, heavily modified) of BABY SHARK!!!