Green Phoenix - Microsoft Dinosaurs Retrospective

 

A few weeks back, I took a look at a classic "video game" of my childhood in Microsoft Dangerous Creatures, an interactive encyclopedia released in 1994. I adored this program immensely as a child as it helped to foster a passion for biology and the natural world. It's beautiful pictures and interactive guided tours were enough to stir the mind of an impressionable child to the wonders of the animals which now inhabit the world.

But what if I told you that Microsoft also released another interactive encyclopedia in the same vein, this time focusing on the lifeforms which called Earth home during the Mesozoic Era. Released in 1993, the same year that Jurassic Park revitalized public interest in dinosaurs and revolutionized our visual perception of them, Microsoft Dinosaurs attempted to capture that same degree of wonder through education and exploration. As I was a massive dinosaur nerd as a kid (and still am in point of fact), this was probably my favorite of the two encyclopedias.

But does that love hold up after all these years? Or has Microsoft Dinosaurs not aged as well as it should've, when compared Microsoft Dangerous Creatures?

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Tangent Knights: Caprice of Fate (Audio Drama) - Mini review

 

This is something very different, an audio drama. Now, I would like to go on record saying that we are not sponsored by Graphic Audio, but I am a big fan of them and this is a story that speaks to Tokusatsu fans. This will not be a very long review because I don't want to spoil too much. Click "read more" for my coverage. You can also click the image above to listen to this story yourself.

Dog Duty (Steam) - PC Game Review

 

Interested in some Action & Strategy gameplay that feels like an adventure RTS in the style of old school PC gaming? Then this is the game for you. Dog Duty is not a game that is easy to pickup and play, but giving it a chance and learning how it plays can yield some fun times.

Green Phoenix - Random Fanfiction Idea: The Secret of NIMH/Planet of the Apes

Before we begin the article, I have an announcement to make regarding the release of these articles. Starting next week and occurring roughly every 8 weeks or so (not including my month long vacations), I will be taking a week long mental health break from article writing.

The last two years have shown that my consistent article writing has been taking a severe toll on my mental health and affecting the quality of the articles that I bring to you all. With that in mind, it is my hope that these break weeks can be used to recuperate and use any build up of articles, building up articles without the fear of releasing one that week, and focusing on other projects and personal obligations without worrying about disappointing my readers.

Again, these will occur roughly every eight weeks or so starting next week, though that is not inherently a given as my break weeks will have to fit around my vacations as well. It is my genuine hope that these breaks will ensure a continued quality of articles and minimize the possibility of burnout.

Now with news out of the way, let's move on to the weirdest article topic that I've probably ever written.

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Now, I know what you're thinking when you read that title. This is absolutely the weirdest title for an article this dude has ever written. And the fact of the matter is is that you're not entirely wrong. I began my writing and review career by looking at either movies through my Phoenix 8 Productions work or fanfiction through my The Brony Critic channel. As a result, I have developed a deep respect and love for the artistry of fanfiction writing.

 

Fanfiction occupies a controversial sphere in our modern media. Utilizing already established intellectual properties to create unofficial content of unregulated quality might at first seem deeply troubling and rife with low quality trash, an assumption that at first glance might not be entirely inaccurate.

However, I also hold that fanfiction represents a unique field for practice and creative exploration for writers, allowing writers to skip some of the more difficult and laborious aspects of world-building in favor of focusing more directly on capturing the feel of a character or exposing the narrative strengths of a particular concept. Or simply using a existing property as a framework to enhance the world-building to a much higher degree.

Through this mindset, I have also begun working on various fanfiction ideas from time to time. In fact, I oftentimes have far too many to ever reasonably be able to work on them in any great capacity. But I still want others to hear about my story concepts, even if I never write it myself. So to that end, I decided to create a subset of my editorial segments as sort of a cross between the Building Better Backstories series and the free-form nature of the Let's Talk... articles; thus the creation of the Random Fanfiction Idea, or RFI.

For our first outing of RFI, I decided that we should discuss an idea that I got while watching Don Bluth's 1982 animated classic The Secret of NIMH.  The idea is fairly simple but possesses a fantastic narrative and thematic connection that could lead to a bunch of drama.

What if you wrote a fanfiction sequel to The Secret of NIMH inspired by the modern Planet of the Apes franchise? That is, what if you wrote a series of fanfiction's showing how the evolution of mouse and rat society eventually supplants human culture as a result of our own societal defects and systemic issues?

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The World is Your Weapon (Steam) - PC Game Review

 

Ever want a game that is cute, has hand drawn art, and a hilarious adventure? Look no further! The World is Your Weapon is a unique experience that is most definitely worth exploring. Click "read more" for my full review.

Green Phoenix - The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars Review

You all had to know that this was incoming.

After I reviewed The Brave Little Toaster and then its confusingly created direct-to-VHS sequel, The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue, that the third film in the trilogy, which was released a year before the second film in 1998, would have to have a review inbound. And sure enough, the focus of today's article is the final and weirdest entry in the...sigh... Brave Little Toaster trilogy.

I cannot believe that that is actually a thing.

And yet, The Brave Little Toaster goes to Mars is a very real entry in the franchise. From traveling the American wilderness to the vast reaches of space, Toaster and his friends sure have gotten far in their mechanical lives. And this film would also mark itself as the last performances of DeForrest Kelly, Thurl Ravenscroft, and Carol Channing. Quite a piece of notoriety for such an...eclectic film.

I grew up watching this film quite a few times and can remember quite a bit of the story, even before my rewatch. It has a presence in my childhood, however minor. And as you'll be able to tell, that presence was weird then and its weird now.

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Space Toads Mayhem (Steam) - PC game review

 

Here is a flashy little space shooter. I mean that quite literally, there are a lot of flashing white lights along with other nit-picks that hurt what could have been a nice little retro style shoot-em-up. Click "read more" for my full review.

Green Phoenix - Yes Man Review

Many of you may not really be aware of my hobbies and interests outside of film and television, though I have spoken about them to friends and mentioned them at various points on social media; but I have been a active participant in micronationalism since I was 14 years old. Micronationalism is, in its simplest form, a form of political organization where individuals declare their own sovereignty without legal recognition. It can be seen as a form of political LARPing but with a far more serious tone and intention.

I was drawn into the hobby after researching and uncovering several interesting micronational projects, including Molossia in Nevada, Sealand in the English Channel, and the Kingdom of Lovely, a humorous joke nation founded by comedian Danny Wallace for his BBC comedy show How to Start Your Own Country.

I felt the need to mention this because it was through How to Start Your Own Country that I was introduced to Wallace's other work like his 2005 book Yes Man, which eventually loosely inspired the 2008 Jim Carrey comedy of the same name.

It is this film that will be the subject of today's article. Apologies for the long description but I felt the need to mention it not only because I love my hobbies and relish the chance to explain them to outsiders, but also because this film's inclusion in my review schedule is so out of left field for my usual fare that I felt the need to explore why I wanted to talk about it.

So let's get right into it shall we?

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