American Ultra wasn’t quite the hot dumpster fire I’d feared it was going to be, but it wasn’t as enjoyable as I wanted it to be either. There was a definite sense of disjointedness to the story.

I wish they hadn’t discarded that original storyline of a woman loving a flawed man. That was some powerful stuff there. And those tiny morsels of it strewn through the Frankenstein monster of the rest of the movie made me sad.

As I was watching, I kept thinking “With some editing this could be a watchable movie.”

As it was, American Ultra was a dud.

KStew was charming as always. She did the best she could with some truly terrible dialogue.

Jesse Eisenberg left me cold. He’s always so glib. It takes away from whatever scene he’s in.

I can’t think of her name, but she’s a lovely lady in every TV show she’s in… Oh lordy. Someone needs to fire the makeup person, because that was definitely not some HD-ready foundation. And someone needs to yell at the editors for not smoothing the scenes up in post.

And then there’s Topher Grace.

Topher Grace.

Topher Grace.

Seriously, he’s got the role of sleazy badguy down pat. But he definitely should have pointed out how awful most of his lines were, and how they totally destroyed any credibility this movie might have had.

American Ultra is not a flaming dumpster fire. There are a few scenes that will hopefully be cut out and reused someday in a much better movie. But most of it does belong in a dumpster.

As you can see, a new section called Games has been added to the menu. That’s because I’ve begun making Visual Novels and CYOA games using Ren’py and Twine 2.

My first story written with Twine is complete. It’s called “Death and Layla Hanson” and you can play it for free.

Though I use the term “play” loosely, as it is a linear story with no choices. But I did figure out how headers, footers, and some customization in Harlowe* work while making “Death and Layla Hanson.”

Here’s the games page => Kimichee.com/gamelist
Here’s “Death and Layla Hanson” on Kimichee => kimichee.com/games/Death_and_Layla_Hanson.html
Here’s my itch.io page => harperkingsley.itch.io

“Death and Layla Hanson” begins with mentions of a death, but there’s no horror, gore, or anything terrible about it. Layla is simply dead and it’s a fact. The same with the presence of Death who has come to guide her to whatever comes next.

There are 20 screens comprising 2000+ words. And the story is COMPLETE.

* Harlowe is the format I’ve chosen to use with Twine 2. Some people prefer SugarCube, which followed from the original Twine.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I like The Legend of Mick Dodge. There’s been some really great and informative episodes.

Mick is super folksy, but he’s entertaining. He’s got a good voice to listen to, and he’s pretty much nice to everyone he meets.

His lifestyle might not be for most people, but seeing how he survives and thrives while living in the forest is survival edutainment worth watching.

I’ve seen him do some amazing things that I never would have thought of.

Things I like: bacon. Bob's Burgers. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. cats. cheese. chocolate. crossword puzzles. Dredd. eggrolls. fried chicken. gochujang. Hannigram. HEAs. HFNs. jigsaw puzzles. kimchi. lo mein noodles. mushrooms. nectarines. Nintendo Switch. paperback books. pineapple. pizza. potstickers. raspberry jam. Rick and Morty. sleeping in. snickerdoodles. spaghetti. strawberries. sudoku. tacos. tomatoes. vacations. vaccinations.