The Invisible Man
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My love/hate relationship with streaming movies early at home
For The Invisible Man, Universal Pictures decided to go the VOD route. It's hard to argue against the convenience of these early VOD releases, which also includes Universal's Emma, The Hunt and Disney's Onward.
Universal is releasing movies in theaters and at home on the same day
Movie studios have spent years considering releasing their films for home viewing at the same time they're in theaters, but have usually withdrawn those plans based on complaints by the theater chains. Now, with people staying home and theaters closing due to the coronavirus pandemic, Universal Pictures will be the first to try the scheme by offering movies that are currently in theaters for home rental at a price of $19.99 for a 48-hour viewing window. The first movies offered will start popping up on Friday, with The Hunt, Invisible Man and Emma available internationally via "a wide variety of the most popular on-demand services." It appears the Vudu is on the list, and we'd assume that other big names like iTunes and Amazon Video will also participates. The first movie to premiere under the new setup will be Trolls World Tour on April 20th.
Dracula, The Mummy and six other horror classics coming in a Blu-ray set October 2nd (video)
Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection will arrive on shelves October 2nd, and pack eight classic horror movies, all restored so they can be seen in the highest quality possible. Among the releases is Creature from the Black Lagoon restored for Blu-ray 3D (yes, like Dial M for Murder it was originally shot and released in 3D back in 1954), as well as Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, Bride of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man and Phantom of the Opera. This is all a part of the ongoing Universal centennial celebration that's seeing its vaults unleash many of our favorites for the first time in high definition. After the break you can check out a featurette detailing the process undertaken to prep Dracula for Blu-ray release, as well as a press release with details on all of the flicks and which extras are included for each movie. Of course, the downside of a pack like this is that it's pricey -- the MSRP is $160, but it's available for preorder on Amazon currently priced at $112.
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be an Engineer
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the thirty-fifth in a series of roleplaying guides about how to roleplay various aspects of the lore and gaming elements of WoW. Engineering has been my favorite profession in WoW, both in terms of its usefulness in the game, as well as its status as an awesome profession for roleplaying. Maybe it's just because I'm a huge fan of steampunk, but I find that those gadgets and funny things you can make with engineering have a certain style that goes beyond simple utility -- You just look at an engineer with his goggles, his mechanical mount, and maybe even some sort of robot or machine trailing along after him, and you immediately get the feeling that this is a character with character. No other profession can give you such a distinct characterization: you're not just a rogue, for example -- you're a scientist rogue!In addition to that, most other professions feel like "crafting" jobs added on to the regular game, which they are -- they may give you better stats in one area or another but otherwise don't add many new abilities. Engineering, on the other hand, gives you a lot of special abilities and buttons to push, all of which can start to feel like a special sub-class for your character, underneath whatever class he or she already has. In fact, as roleplayers, many of us play up our status as engineers as much or even more than our status as a hunter, warlock, rogue, or whatever. That engineering style is so persistent that it can define our characters more than anything else -- our own Palehoof practically defined this style in the column devoted to engineering that he used to write every week, before he lost his horns and his hooves in a bizzare scientific experiment (and decided thereafter to spend more time with his family). His commentaries on practical and theoretical engineering serve as excellent inspiration for all roleplayers who would call their characters engineers.
