Severus Snape: The Usual Suspect

Discussion of literary choices for the name "Potter", an answer to the question "Why broomsticks?" And predictions for the upcoming summer movie.  Primarily discussion of Severus Snape as the most suspected, redeemed, and finally detested villain.  Who knows how the film will depict this delightfully slithering snake. Follow more Potteresque nonsense at @Bobocast on Twitter!

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Potter Rises: Finally the podcast shuts up about comic books and talks about the HP universe

The bobocast reintroduces itself as a Harry Potter comedy talk podcast. This episode is a brief introduction of our new sponsor, Flourish & Blotts, a chat about some of the differences in narrative structure between the books and the films, and a little middle name trivia. What's your favorite book and why? Email your answer to bobocast@gmail.com or @bobocast on twitter.

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Red State - A New Kevin Smith Film

Red State is the upcoming horror film by Kevin Smith.  Kevin Smith is the writer and director of classics such as Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and Dogma.  This new film, though, has a twist.

Red State is a horror movie.  It is not filled to the brim with dick & fart jokes and pot humor.  Red State is reported to not look like a Kevin Smith film--a sentiment that Smith himself touts with pride.  Red State is also not a political movie.  When the title was announced some vituperation from the political right came to bear, but previews and discussion of the film have revealed that it is certainly a horror film more than anything else, even when the internet seems to say otherwise.

Another twist on Red State is the way the film is being marketed.  Typically, a $10 million dollar film will cost another $5-10 million in its budget for marketing.  It's a typical Hollywood studio strategy.  You make a movie, then advertise the hell out of it to try and grab a wide audience.  Kevin Smith is taking a different route.

Magic Reviews: Plants vs Zombies

Buy this game.  Just buy it and play it.  Ok this isn't a review really, but more of an unprompted super-ad from the happiest player in the world.

Plants vs zombies is really fun for gamers and non-gamers alike.  The animations are fun and funky.  The gameplay is precise and clever, and it's simple yet fun as hell.

Also it's on sale for Halloween for $5.

Magic Reviews: Deuteronomy

Deuteronomnomnomy

Deuteronomy is the fifth book in a series packaged together in the Bible.

Yeah.  That Deuteronomy.

The old testament yall.

I review it.  I review anything.

I also take requests for reviews.

I also take money for good/bad reviews.

But fear not dear readers, nobody cares about my reviews so they are still unbribed and unbiased.  Well, other than my clear preference for weird crap.

Anyways, Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Torah, the Old Testament.  The main character is Moses, working together with God to try and get the Jews to stop being clowns and start doing right by God.  It's actually a summary of the previous books of history and law (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers), so it is the best of the books in terms of its writing, conciseness, and explanation.

Magic Reviews: Shambling Towards Hiroshima

Final Grade: This is the best book I have read this year.  

(Well ok it's tied for first place, but still...wow)

Shambling Towards Hiroshima is a novella set at the end of World War II.  The main character is an actor in B horror films.  The settings, characters, and conversations are throwbacks to this delicious campy time in Hollywood.  With oddball characters and the larger than life pomp of Hollywood in the 40's as a backdrop our main character finds the role of his life in a top secret military operation involving the impersonation of a familiar fire-breathing giant lizard.

  This story gets four things perfectly right:
 
   Storytelling
  Sci-fi
  Backdrop
  Fun

Magic Reviews: Country Mill

You've got Uncle John's, Andy T's, Parshallville, Dexter, Almar and others.  I've been to a few, and as a non-native Michigander I feel I bring a certain acumen to the judging and analysis of cider mills in the crisp Autumn in Michigan.

I'll review Country Mill Cider Mill today, because we just went there for some family fun.  Country Mill is in Charlotte, highlights include the Orchard Express, a pumpkin patch, some cider, a buttload of apples, supposedly a petting zoo, and some crap for the kiddies to play on.

Magic Reviews: BlackDiamondSkye

I review BlackDiamondSkye, a concert tour featuring Alice in Chains, The Deftones, and Mastodon. I am not happy with the rocking results of this threesome.  I can imagine way better threesomes.  Way better.

One of these bands sucks sweaty buttholes.

Magic Reviews: The God Engines

Magic Reviews The God Engines:

The God Engines is a short sci-fi book by John Scalzi. It was recently nominated for a 2010 Hugo Award for the best novella category.

So you're all like "WHAT THE HELL THIS BLOG IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUNNY CRAP AND NOT ABOUT SOME GEEKY BOOK!!!"

And I'm all like, "You aint my daddy. I review sci-fi on hhour.org if I want to. I read a book and I wanna talk about it - make me yo."

And you're like, "Yo dick I don't need this crap I can go to College Humor and get my jiggles instead of here - fuck this sci-fi bullsnap!"

And I'm like, "GO THEN!!! Click this link to College Humor and screw off!"

And then I'm like "HA HA HA YOU'RE BACK CAUSE I LINKED YOU BACK TO THIS POST! Eat. My. CAPSLOCK."

For those of you still with us, The God Engines is a short jaunt in a vague sci-fi world. There are enslaved gods that power space ships, a ruling god who commands his faithful, a heroic captain protagonist with, a love interest with a secret mission.

It's somewhat of your basic hero story. The protagonist has some choices and continuously tries to choose for the benefit of his crew. He needs to decide between his crew's safety and his faith, and in the process finds out some secrets about his god that doesn't sit so well with him.

The imagery in this novella is vague and brief. Some sci-fi you are painted a picture of the universe that is so in-depth and vivid that you can't tear yourself away from the page. The God Engines has little visual description. It's character and choice driven instead of world-driven. Although the action wouldn't take place without the world, it doesn't rely on the descriptions to move the story.

The ending is amazing. It makes this book. Reading this I had a pretty good idea of how it would end. The ending wasn't inconceivable, but it was unexpected. It was an ending you don't normally find in stories. Fantastic, and worth the entire read in my opinion.

Final Grade: Pretty cool - support your local library and check it out.

And you're like, "I DIDN'T READ YOUR DUMB REVIEW I JUST SCROLLED TO THA BOTTOM TO MAKE SURE NOBODY COMMENTED ON IT FOOL!"

And I'm like, "i got owned..." And then I frownyface.