He's amazing at what he does. MATT: And final thank-yous to Warner Bros and Monolith Entertainment for letting us incorporate the Shadow of War soundtrack into our Critical Role soundtrack here on the air, so those will be coming into the new campaign. And, super excited, CD Projekt Red has been nice enough to allow us use of the Witcher series soundtrack to also incorporate into the campaign, which, honestly, when we started playing at home, the Witcher soundtrack was most of my music, and I couldn't use it when we started streaming, and so it's been a cool full-circle to be able to bring it back in. Plus it brings a unique flavor that works with the new campaign setting, so.
With that, I believe our announcements are done. Thank you for bearing with us. LAURA: Wait, we're going to give-- oh, that's-- MARISHA: Afterwards. SAM: There's one more announcement. MARISHA: Our announcement is our brand-new opening title sequence. Which I think we're ready for. MATT: So, as we bring it down, guys, let's go ahead and prepare to dive in to the new year and the new campaign for this episode of Critical Role. (yelling) [80s music] (laughter) MATT: And welcome back. TRAVIS: That was a new level. MATT: We've definitely returned to the table. Thank you, Sam. So. MARISHA: Wait, super fast. We've got to go through credits. Right? Okay this website. So normally we don't do this, and I did this once before when we released our other opening title sequence. Yeah, 50th. So we're going to do this again. These are just people who do so much and who do not get enough love. I'm going to shout them out. Sean Becker, who's the unsung hero of Geek and Sundry, he's the executive producer. T.J. Rotell, he's our production manager around here, he makes sure that we actually have cameras. Maxwell James, our producer that makes this show go every week. Dani Carr, our production coordinator, also huge producer here. Steve Sprinkles, who directed that amazing opening title sequence. SAM: That's not a real name! MARISHA: I know. I love it on the slate. It always says 'Sprinkles'. Jan-Michael Losada, who is our D.P., and is the same D.P. from last time. Tristan Savage-Tate, our first A.C. Sean Delahunt, who is our key grip. Tyler Hart, who is our gaffer, who gaffs everything around here, he's amazing. Jenny Newman, who did the amazing wardrobe. She sourced all the wardrobe. Wren Witting, who's one of our hair and makeup artists. Vanessa Marie, who is our second hair and makeup artist. Jose Sosa, who was our production assistant. Selina Ruthe-- LAURA: That's a lot of pieces of paper! MARISHA: I know. Selina Ruthe, who did additional photography, and she also does stuff every day. LAURA: Why didn't you put them on the same piece of paper? MARISHA: Because I didn't know there was going to be this many. Brandon Clark, who was our location manager. Pamela Joy, who shot all the photos for that, and Loretta Ritchert. LAURA: Yeah, they're with Heirloom Photography, and they did all of our thumbnails, too. They did that poster. ASHLEY: Go check them out on Instagram! MARISHA: Jason Charles Miller, who does our music. LIAM: Party on, Garthok! MARISHA: Sean Hudson, who does our post-production. And Andy Inglat, who edited that thing. Okay. I'm sweating a lot. MATT: That's okay. So. SAM: What a night. Well, guys... TALIESIN: This has been great. LIAM: Holy shit. MATT: Everyone. Everyone. SAM: Can we open our fricking books yet? MARISHA: Not yet. MATT: Welcome to Wildemount. The year is 835 P.D., or post-Divergence. This continent is divided both by jagged terrain and political powers. The Menagerie Coast, a collection of city-states united under the Clovis Concord, monopolizes the southwestern shores and ports of Wildemount, thriving on open trade and cultural freedom. Beyond the Cyrios Mountains lies the massive region known as Wynandir, bisected by the Ashkeeper Peaks. Eastern Wynandir houses the expansive wastes and turbulent badlands of Xhorhas, overrun with all manner of beasts and terrors, relics from the final battles of the Calamity that ruined that scarred landscape. Northward, you would find the Greying Wildlands, a lawless realm harboring a curse that has kept it unconquered by human hands. However, this story begins in the territory of Western Wynandir, within the boundaries of the Dwendalian Empire. Emerging 13 generations before, the Dwendalian Empire has slowly spread to encompass the surrounding societies of the region, absorbing the peoples of the Zemni Fields and the Marrow Valley, before finally conquering the Julous Dominion and taking the whole of Western Wynandir for the Empire. SAM: There will be no test. MATT: No. This is-- let me continue. Under the rule of the current King Bertrand Dwendal, now in his 68th year, most are left to their own devices. You live as you did before. The crown only takes a tithe of what you produce and earn. You follow its laws, worship its gods, and bow to its installed local leadership. In return, denizens of the Empire are protected from the chaotic horrors and shadowed evils that stalk the edges of the civilized lands. This accord has led to a prosperous century for the Empire, or at least the political elite. Tensions brew beneath the chafing watch of the Crown's Guard. Every temple is government-owned and run, and worship outside the approved idolatry is met with imprisonment. Rumors of military clashes at the eastern border near Xhorhas have many common folk on edge. Our story, however, begins much smaller. Here in the southern reaches of the Marrow Valley, beyond the entry gates of the Wuyun Gorge, lies the small rural town of Trostenwald. Bordering the blue waters of the Ustaloch, this town came to prominence near the turn of this recent century, when the surrounding fertile farmlands were discovered to produce a unique type of grain and wheat, leading to a boom of breweries. When the glut subsided, three large families stood triumphant in the local business of fermented delights. Now Trostenwald thrives on their exports of fish, crops, and ale. Here in this sleepy trade stop along the Amber Road, a handful of wandering destinies slowly begin to intersect. We begin in the early hours of the morning on the day of Grissen in a messy room on the second floor of the Nestled Nook Inn. A bleary-eyed, bruised man in a tattered coat slowly wakens from his lengthy sleep, catching his small, snoring ally curled at the foot of the bed. Liam, if you would like to describe your character, please. (nervous laughter) LAURA: Oh my god, no pressure! SAM: Were we supposed to prepare this? LIAM: I'm pretty filthy. I have a mess of reddish-brown hair, and really filthy road clothes. I wear a long coat that I slept in. I slept about 20 hours last night. Jeez. Unshaven, a bit of a mess. SAM: So far you're just talking about current Liam. LAURA: What color are your eyes? I need visual. LIAM: They're blue. That's it. It was a rough day yesterday, and-- that's it. MATT: And your name is? LIAM: Oh. Caleb. Caleb Widogast. MATT: All right. As your smaller friend curls awake, Sam, would you like to describe your character? SAM: Yeah. Um. I am a little goblin girl. (laughter) SAM: I am a goblin. So, you know, the green skin, the green hair, the yellow eyes. And she wears not-great clothes, just like her traveling companion there. She hides in the shadows a lot, because she knows goblins aren't welcome in this part, and that's about it. I mean, she's a little skittish, and right now she's probably stirring awake as well, right? MATT: Well. What's your name? SAM: Oh. Nott the Brave. MATT: So Caleb, as you come to consciousness, you glance over and can see, slowly snoring and rousing at about the same time, Nott's eyes blink open, her slowly groaning face looking over towards you. SAM: (high-pitched Cockney accent) Oh! You're finally awake, I see. Oh yeah, motherfuckers. It's on. You were out for quite some time, there. Rough day, eh? LIAM: (light German accent) Not our best day, no. SAM: No, I mean, usually you're so good at everything, but yesterday you were just-- maybe you needed the sleep, is what you needed. LIAM: Thank you. SAM: Well, don't thank me yet. I should probably tell you what happened while you were asleep. I mean, you were asleep for so long. I got bored, frankly. I was going through my pack and reorganizing. LIAM: Has anybody seen you-- seen you seen you? SAM: Well, I mean, many people? I got bored. You've never slept that long, so I left, I went downstairs, I thought I'd do a bit of window-shopping, and you know how sometimes I get the itch, you know? LIAM: I do. Did you make it back here okay, at night? SAM: I'm here, aren't I? LIAM: Yeah, you are. SAM: Yeah, I did. But I might have been spotted by a few of the Crown's Guard. LIAM: Did you have the mask on? SAM: No? No, I didn't. But they didn't catch me, so. Listen, I'm sorry, sometimes I get the urge, I've got to take something, you know? I was trying to replentish what you lost yesterday, and I failed. LIAM: Well, we-- (sighs)-- discussed coming to a bigger town. It's going to be a little more difficult now. You can't go-- it was easier on outskirts, it was easier in farms, but we can't do that here. SAM: I know, I'm sorry. Yeah. I know. You're right. Yep. I just got a little bit squiggly. That's all. LIAM: Okay. Well, I think today you should have the mask on at all times. SAM: Yeah, good idea, Caleb. LIAM: It's better when we're working together. If you need to steal something, do it with my help, all right? SAM: Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah. LIAM: Back up the conversation a minute. Thank you. I would not be alive if you had not-- you saved my life. So thank you. SAM: Ah, no problem. LIAM: Yesterday was really not great. SAM: Yeah, well, we'll do better today, right? LIAM: Sure. Sure we will. Are you hungry? SAM: Yeah, I'm starving. MATT: At this point, you notice the gentle smell of cooked meats and promises of mediocre porridge and eggs just barely begins to creep beneath the subtle floor of your room, meet your nostrils. LIAM: Well, Nott, what are we going to do today? I can go down and get breakfast and bring it up here. At least-- I don't know. I mean, I'm a little wary of just splashing back into the town right away. SAM: Let's go down, get some food. I'll come with you, 'cause as you said, we're better together. And we'll take it from there. You need some books and stuff, right? LIAM: Always. SAM: All right, well, that's on the to-do list. LIAM: All right, well, let's get something to eat, then. MATT: All right, so you prepare yourself with your mask set over? SAM: Yes, yeah, so I have a half a mask that covers my goblin face, and with the hood over, kind of obscures. Maybe it's not a goblin, maybe it's a little halfling person or something. MATT: Which is helpful. The southern, more rural region of the Empire, especially near Felderwin, which is one of the largest tilling and farming areas of the entire Empire, has a very heavy halfling population. And so while this city is not the core of it, you'd probably see a larger 20-25% of the population here in Trostenwald is halfling. So you pass off pretty decently as long as you keep away from discerning, intent eyes. So the two of you manage to gather your things for the time being, wander down the stairs from the top floor down to the base of the tavern, which, the air is already bustling with townsfolk and all manner of travelers preparing to take on the day's responsibilities. Yorda, the 40-something woman barkeep with shoulder-length blonde hair and weathered skin that you previously rented your room at the inn from, frantically darts behind the bar while the red-headed barmaid rushes from table to table. It seems that the clientele is a bit more than they were expecting this morning. Yorda yells from behind the bar to the barkeep, "Adelaine, two more brats and a bit of mush at the corner table." She looks up, "I'm working on it!" And she runs over and heads back to the kitchen. There's a faint bit of music as two slovenly-looking musicians in the corner are trying to work for tips with a small hat on the floor that it looks like nobody's thrown any coin into it. The tables are fairly busy, except for maybe two that appear to be available between the two of you guys, if you'd like to find a seat. LIAM: Okay. Sure. Is that easy to do, find a seat? MATT: Yeah, you walk over to it, you sit down. (laughter) LIAM: Is this how D&D works? SAM: What do we roll for? (laughter) MATT: You sit down, and due to the chaos that ensues around you, it takes a little while for Adelaine, the red-headed barmaid, to come by, and she scoots by the table. "I'm terribly sorry. What "can I get you?" SAM: You know, meat if you have it, but if you don't, that's okay, too. Potatoes, or bacon if it's on the menu, but really anything-- MATT: "I can get you all three, it's fine. What you want?" LIAM: A Trost for each of us, please. MATT: "For breakfast? I like you. All right, two Trosts and a bunch of meats. Be right back." And she rushes off, she pulls her hair back and ties it as she goes into the kitchen, getting ready for the midst of chaos. While you guys have a moment there at the table, you can hear conversation muttering around you, and you have a brief bit of privacy to discuss. LIAM: Yes, I need books, that's true, but did you find drink yesterday? SAM: I have a little left in my flask. LIAM: How much? SAM: Just a couple swigs. LIAM: So that's also on the to-do list, then. SAM: I mean, if you don't want me to get too jittery, yeah. LIAM: All right. Okay. So we'll do that first. SAM: All right. TRAVIS: I love her. (laughter) MATT: A short time passes before the two platters are rushed over and scattered across the front of your table with a clattering. Pile of meats there set for you, a little bit placed on the side, because you might need, especially with the look on your face-- Adelaine gives you a glance and goes, "Put something in your belly." Comes back and slides two Trosts to you. SAM: I remove my little mask, and then just go (eating noises).
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And they have been working on something for a while for us to kick off the new campaign. They made us a new table. If we can go to a camera view of this table they made for the campaign. (cheering) MATT: It's made out of English brown oak, the center Critical Role inlay is made of ash burl, is the background, and then rosewood for the d20 outline, wenge for the Critical Role words themselves, and silver stringing around the border.
It was built by hand in their Massachusetts office and workshop, and it was hand-rubbed oil on a wax finish. Over a hundred hours were put into this table. They did an incredible job, and we're super honored to have that here, and thank you guys for showing such an awesome appreciation for what we do. SAM: It smells really nice. LAURA: We have cubbies! MARISHA: It smells like wood in the studio, like fresh wood. SAM: And, when we get canceled, this is going to be a great dining room table. MATT: This is true! Thank you guys, Wyrmwood. If you aren't familiar with any of their stuff, go to wyrmwoodgaming.com, that's W-Y-R-M-wood Gaming dot com. They do awesome work. It's really super high-quality, it's great. So thank you guys. All right, so. Let's see. Updates we can get through. Laura, do you have an update for merch stuff in the new year? LAURA: (yells) Okay. Yes, I do. It's a new campaign, new us, new merch. I don't know which camera I'm looking at. SAM: That one. LAURA: So we released our teaser on socials, and everybody was like, "I want that as a poster!" So we listened to you, and we made it a poster! (cheering) SAM: It's a real poster? LAURA: It's a real poster! SAM: Oh, wow! LAURA: Look at this lameness that you could have on your wall! So yeah. It's in the store right now, you guys, and we printed a small amount, so those ones will be shipped faster, and then after that it'll just be pre-order, but I think it's all listed as pre-order, so just so you know. SAM: Can you photoshop out my crotch region? LAURA: No. TALIESIN: That would be a lot of photoshop, man. MATT: None of us have that much talent in post, Sam. LAURA: But let's just talk about this Matthew Mercer. MATT: Let's not talk about what I-- when I put that outfit on, I did not consider quite the permeation in my life it would become. So there's that. LAURA: So we can be with you always. Matt can stare at you while you sleep. LIAM: That's actually how Purvon dressed. MATT: God damn it. TALIESIN: Hey, first throwback! Well done. LAURA: Oh yeah. We've got to be careful, guys, because we have a lot of people that haven't watched the last campaign, or haven't finished the last campaign, so no spoilers for last campaign. SAM: I don't really remember it. TRAVIS: Well, we all died, so. MATT: That's true, yeah. Okay, next announcements: the Critical Role podcast we have currently up to date. All of Vox Machina's story, the whole first campaign, is now on the podcast. You can find it where the finest podcasts are downloaded. And do we have an update as far as the release schedule for this podcast? MARISHA: Yes, we do. They will be releasing one week after we are live. We'll be one week behind. SAM: On a Thursday? MARISHA: They will be releasing on Thursdays the week after. LAURA: Oh, so you can listen to it in the morning and watch it live at night. If you have a lot of free time. Or a really long drive, maybe. SAM: An extra eight hours to spend every Thursday. MATT: To be fair, you guys would have about as much free time on a Thursday as I would. Cool, so look forward to that. Comic book, issue four of Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins, Liam, when does that come out? LIAM: It is coming out on the 24th of this month. TRAVIS: Oh, make it sooner! LIAM: I've read it. It's so good, it's real good, it's so good. You guys, Vox Machina's story ended at this table, but it is going to live on and on and on-- at least for three more issues. MATT: Thank you very much. TRAVIS: Check it out everywhere. LIAM: Yeah, on Zune, on PalmPilot. Darkhorse app, Comixology, Limewire, finally. MARISHA: Napster. LAURA: I'm going to throw up. MATT: That's okay, guys, we've got a couple more things left. Thank you for hanging in there. As far as con appearances go, I actually fly tomorrow to Miami, Florida for Paradise City Comic Con. I'll be there tomorrow until Sunday. If you guys are in the area, come say hi at the convention. It should be fun. I have panels and signings and stuff. Hopefully see you there. Also, I'll be at Lexington Comic and Toy Con in Lexington, Kentucky, March 9-11, Otafest in Calgary, May 18-20, and A-Kon in Texas, June 7-10. ASHLEY: Jeez Louise, Matt. LAURA: We have Emerald City Comic Con, me and Travis. TRAVIS: First weekend of March. MATT: Badass. Cool. All right, so. Paring it down, finishing it up here. Thank you for your patience. With the new campaign, I want to renew our appreciation for and make sure that we push to you guys that we, from the very beginning, have been supporting a really amazing charity called 826, 826LA being our local chapter. They have 826 groups all over the United States that they do after-school creative writing, and a lot of great creative classes for children who are either underprivileged or don't have opportunities to go to these types of classes. They do wonderful, wonderful work, and we've been supporting them from the very beginning, and we're just doubling down on that for this new campaign. You guys as a community have been fantastic in supporting them, and all the charities that we've supported from the very beginning. Critmas every year has been a very prime example of that, so I just wanted to continue to push that forward, share the love, and a big thank-you to 826 for being such an amazing source of creative drive for so many young kids who normally wouldn't have that opportunity. So you guys are amazing, and show them your appreciation if you can. (cheering) MATT: Final shout-outs. One, thank you to Ian Phillips of Iron Tusk Painting, who has painted the miniatures for this campaign. (cheering) MATT: He actually painted me and Marisha's cake toppers for our wedding, and whenever you manage to see them in the campaign, you can know that it's his handiwork. Soon enough. ASHLEY: Also, fun fact about Ian Phillips: I grew up with him. He was one of my brother's best friends when we first moved out here to LA, and so when that name was floating around, I was like, wait a minute. And then we reconnected back on Instagram. It's such a crazy story. You know, Critical Role brings it all back around. (laughter) MATT: I love it. So you can follow him, @PaintingTusk on Twitter. LIAM: I've had him paint 20 to 30-- I'm kind of addicted-- 20 to 30 miniatures. They're amazing. MATT: Hello, everyone. (laughter) MATT: And welcome to tonight's episode of Critical Role, where a bunch of us nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and play the first game of our new campaign of Dungeons and Dragons. (cheering) MATT: Super excited to be back.
I've missed this a lot. Missed this-- oh, you guys will be fine. So yes. Glad you guys can join us, apparently in some crazy numbers. So welcome new viewers. Hope you enjoy your stay. So, without further ado, let's get this going so we can get through our announcements. Since it is our first episode of the year, of the campaign, I want to make sure that we get our announcements out of the way. We've got some cool stuff to talk about. First and foremost, we have two sponsors tonight. Our first sponsor-- and we're going into, for a time, a cool partnership with the folks at DnD Beyond, actually. They've been really awesome, and we've been talking, and anybody who hasn't seen it, it's an online digital tool where you can create your own D&D character, they have options to purchase any of the current D&D books out there, and then carry over any of the character options and racial options over into it, so you can basically use it as a tool. We'll be using it to help us out in the game as we go, 'cause it's actually got some pretty cool stuff. So excited about that. It is D-N-D Beyond, by the way, if you haven't seen, not the ampersand. It's D-N-D. LAURA: As in nnnn. MATT: Nnnn. But yeah, so they're going to be a long-term partner for the show, so working with us through the start of this campaign. We're super excited. But yeah. So we're excited. You can currently activate-- it should be now-- some Critical Role content on there. They should have available the Blood Hunter class that I created a couple of years ago, kind of refining. Should be available for you guys to find on the DnD Beyond, which I'm excited about, and there's a one-time discount of $10 off any digital book in the dndbeyond.com marketplace if you use the codeword 'beginnings' in there right now. So yeah, get a chance to check it out. TRAVIS: (vomiting noises) Would you like some? MATT: So yeah. I'm super excited to have that, guys. So you apply that code at checkout to make that happen, in case you're confused and trying to get it to work. There's a bunch of stuff to explore on there, and a bunch of cool ways to incorporate the existing breadth of D&D lore and options in there, and now you have some of our stuff in there as well, and hopefully more Critical Role content and Tal'Dorei content and Exandria content down the road to also be available on there as we go. Super excited about that. I'd like to thank you guys at DnD Beyond for being awesome. We also have our second sponsor. Sam, if you want to take it away. SAM: I'm our second sponsor. (laughter) LAURA: Thanks, Sam! SAM: No. Welcome, new viewers. Every week-- or many weeks, I am charged with writing the ad for the sponsor of that week. I did this one way back in mid-December, so it'll feel a little stale. (laughter) SAM: Sorry. I didn't have time to write a new one. Apologies to our sponsor. But our second sponsor tonight is Backblaze. They offer unlimited cloud backup for Macs and PCs. You can restore from the web or via hard drive. They'll even overnight FedEx a drive to you, and because it's Christmas season, I wrote this. 'Twas the night before Critmas when I clicked on my mouse, but the drive wasn't whirring; it had said 'Adi-ouse'. When up from the cloud there arose such a sight, I knew in a flash that my shit was all right. As I spat out my plate of cold chicken kiev, down my chimney came a weird little elf named Lev. I said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, how'd you get in my place?" Lev gave me a wink and punched me in the face. And suddenly he fired up a pipe and started to restore my computer from a backup he carted. My documents, like slash fiction from My Little Pony. My photos, like me naked, covered in bologna. He mumbled that you can get backed up at once for a merry little fee of $5 a month-s. You even get 15 days free if you scroll over to backblaze.com/criticalrole. And just like that, my computer was on. Lev greased up his body, and bam, he was gone. But I heard him exclaim, "Peace out, yo, whassup! Happy Backblaze to all, don't forget to back up!" (cheering) SAM: I'll write another one for Easter, I promise. (laughter) MATT: Thank you, Sam. So thank you, Backblaze. Happy to have you for our sponsor tonight as well. Also, as a heads-up, we've had our friends at Wyrmwood for a while have been awesomely providing Wyrmwood dice boxes and dice trays and dice towers to give away to people in the community. They have new boxes for all the players in the new campaign. Tell us a little about your book.
It’s a humorous mystery novel in which wealthy patriarch James Boyle is murdered in a bizarre fashion, and his relatives gather for the reading of his will. One by one, they start to die. A pair of amateur detectives, namely long-lost Boyle relative Bradley Smith, and a friend of his, reporter Eric Maxwell, take it upon themselves to solve the puzzle. What inspired you to write this book? An overdose of true crime books inspired me, and I developed an interest in narcissistic personality disorder and sociopaths. I went out and dug through some of the psychological research about the subject and decided to write a novel containing what I hope is an accurate description of the disorder. How are readers/reviewers reacting to your book? I’m getting pretty positive responses so far. Most people seem to like it. What was the biggest challenge you faced writing this book and how did you overcome it? Everything has to fit together perfectly. I’ve got scenes with a dozen characters all interacting at once, and they require a lot of coordination and thinking about probable outcomes. In a way, it’s like watching subatomic particles bouncing off each other according to their own internal logic. Mysteries also have to be clever enough to fool the other characters—and the reader—long enough to sustain suspense until the end. You also have to come up with good explanations for why the characters are deceived for so long. What is your next project? Though fiction comes naturally to me, and I really enjoy producing it, eventually I’d like to tackle some nonfiction. I love well-written essays, and I read a lot of history. My next book requires historical research, since it’s going to be set in the 1820s. Any advice for other writers/indie authors out there? You need to learn how to be meticulous and detail-oriented, and this will be tough if it’s not a natural part of your personality. Target each one of your writing weaknesses, and rewrite your book focusing on improving those particular areas. Be willing to rethink your writing. If a book/chapter/passage/sentence doesn’t work, rethink it until it does. Can you blend, reposition, cut, summarize, or change narrators to make your writing work? Being flexible and thinking outside your mental box are absolute gold in writing. Many authors are wedded to their rough drafts. Edit the heck out of your work. I often write my essay on my book to see what I need to improve. Have your computer read your story aloud to you, because it makes your mistakes much more obvious. In Service to the Mouse
by Jack Lindquist and Melinda J. Combs Chapman University Press/Neverland Media Copyright © 2010 ISBN: 978-0615410814 248 Pages $26.95 HardCover $8.99 Kindle Edition In Service to the Mouse by Jack Lindquist with Melinda J. Combs was sent to me as an electronic copy in response to a request for review. This is a light, loving reminiscence of a career working within one of the most public of public companies in the world. It is the chronicle of a man who touched millions of lives and whose influence is easy to understate standing as he did in the shadows of people who saw themselves as larger than life. My favorite quote from the book is the last paragraph: But after my 38-year adventure, the principal player who epitomizes the intangible that made it all important, all worthwhile, was that one little guy with the big black ears, the short red pants, and the white four-fingered gloves: Mickey Mouse. He predated Disneyland, and without him, there never would have been other theme parks throughout the world. In all the Disneylands throughout the world, from Tokyo Disneyland to Paris Disneyland and all the places to surely follow, his presence embodies the heart, the soul, the magic, and the promise of the child that dwells within us all. His appeal is universal — without a political or religious agenda — he is loved and accepted by children, seniors, and the young of heart at every age. He is Walt’s greatest creation and his greatest legacy. And he is my friend. Four Stars content, Five Stars everything else. I would give the book five stars all around based solely on what it contains, but having lived in the shadow of the Mouse most of my adult life, my concern is not with the contents of this worthy history, but rather in what was left out. The book is wonderfully well written. It is easy to read and is suitable for use as a middle school history book. It is organized in a logical order, not always chronologically, but deviating from the strict order of events as necessary to put them in their proper context. by B.E. Scully
CreateSpace Copyright © May 2011 ISBN: 978-1460907009 360 Pages $9.99 Paperback $2.99 Kindle I really really wanted to like this book, and I was totally enthralled by the first half of it. I love a good mystery where the lead character is not a police investigator or FBI detective. Here, we have Elle Bramasol who is a true crime writer who is elicited by a big Hollywood director named Eliot Kingman to write his story after he ends up in prison for the murder of one of his researchers. Elle is given access to a centuries old document in Kingman’s possession which turns out to be the diary of a vampire named Verland. And it is Verland’s story that Kingman really wants Bramasol to tell. Despite the “not so new” elements of this story, like I said, I was totally intrigued. It’s hard enough to try to reinvent a vampire story these days. Much of the book is the diary entries themselves, so while you are given a detailed perspective of Verland’s life, it had a real close feel to Seth Grahame-Smith’s “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” to me. Unfortunately, the diary is what killed it for me, no pun intended. I found myself caring less about Verland’s war time efforts in Germany and wanting to get back to Elle and Kingman and their real purpose. For me, the book also brought back elements of a classic fav of mine – Thomas Harris’s The Silence of the Lambs where we have a somewhat fragile heroine playing quid pro quo with a pompous genius behind bars in order to learn about a dangerous killer on the loose. Unfortunately, by the time we actually meet Verland he just isn’t as dynamic as any reader will expect and hope him to be. While Kingman is the human bringing up references to immortality because he longs to be a vampire, he is stagnant as a character being behind bars. The book is thrown off balance when the attention is given to Kingman’s research assistants instead who also have an odd obsession with death. By the end, Bramasol gets her story handed to her without really having to work for it, and in turn the reader is spoon fed a drama built around a vampire diary which turns out to be more developed than the story itself. |
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