So this has become a thing now. This movie just won’t let me go.
This is not a case of unrealistic expectations or fanboy outrage about how Tron “ought” to be done. I had adjusted my expectations: a bare bones story which served as a life support system for an astonishing 3D experience. I dismissed Ebert as being curmudgeonly, Massawyrm liked it and Dave had seen it *twice*. All good signs. Continue reading →
The movies I saw, in order of enjoyment:
1. Golden Slumber
2. Summer Wars
3. Sound of Noise
4. Drones
5. Let Me In
6. Ip Man 2
7. I Saw the Devil
8. Rubber
9. Agnosia
10. Transfer
11. Never Let Me Go
12. Outrage
13. RED
14. Corridor
15. Enter the Void
16. Bedevilled
17. The Dead
18. Troll Hunter
19. Rare Exports
20. Buried
21. Rammbock
22. Bibliotheque Pascal
23. True Legend
24. Bunraku
25. Hell Driver
Today I woke up early, showered and played a bit of Broken Sword on the iPhone. It’s a really well put together adventure game.
Then I went over to Nick and Amanda’s where I and their friend Ryan were meeting to go out hiking. We stopped and grabbed yummy kolaches first and then went to the park. I can’t remember the name of the park, but it was a great hiking trail.
Then we went to see Cop Out at the Alamo. Pretty silly movie. It could have been directed by anyone. As Kevin Smith didn’t write it, it didn’t seem to have anyone signature on the film.
After the film we went back to their place and watched Amanda play Heavy Rain for a few hours. Totally different game than what I experienced in the demo. I’m really looking forward to playing the game on my own. I can see what changes by making different decisions than Amanda.
I had to leave and go to Great Hall as I was playing in a Dominion Tournament. This was a slick operation. Everyone got personalized name badges to wear. We played three rounds, with three different load outs. They had these funky tournament rules where you played until 45 minutes were up or you ran out of *all* Victory cards. At first this sounded crazy, but it totally worked. You totaled your scores from each game and that was your tournament score. I ended up in 3rd place with 121 points. 1st was 125 and 2nd was 123, so it was close. Plus, the guy who got first place was taught by a guy that I had originally taught to play the game. Overall, it was a blast to play. It was like being in a geek poker tournament. Everyone was standing around, talking strategy, how each game had gone. Super fun.
Recently I decided to try reading the the Dune books in chronological order, including the extended universe books by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. I made it about 100 or so pages into the Butlerian Jihad before I couldn’t stand it. The story seemed epic and could have been interesting, but the writing was just so juvenile I couldn’t justify spending more time in the series.
So I satisfied my Dune craving by rewatching the Dune Extended Edition with Nick and Amanda. Despite the horribly dated effects, it is still awesome.
The little red light on top of my projector came on. While not quite as alarming as the Xbox’s red ring of death, the light is indeed a dreadful harbinger. The lamp has surpassed 1800 hours of use and needs replacing. Of all the material objects I possess, my projector is one I actually have attachment to. Without it, there would be no movies, no video games. The projector makes everything go. Without it, my PS3 is just a wedge-shaped hunk of (questionable) modern art.
Every month it seems that there is some event, some newly awakened need, which siphons away whatever extra money I might have. This month it will be the projector lamp.
I haven’t blogged much because I got into the mindset that this blog was “for” something and whatever I might be thinking about didn’t fit the profile. But then I remembered that the blog isn’t for anything at all except what I need it to be.
I’ve been consuming tons of media lately. Movies, video games, etc. Sometimes I will think “Oh no! I should be doing something else!” and start to panic. And then I remember why I am watching all the shows and playing the video games: The moment I stop being distracted, I panic or fall into despair. Unless I am creating something or enjoying something someone else has created, I get extremely unsettled and unhappy.
Despite all this dorking around, I have managed to find the energy to finish a new project. I’m not quite ready to announce anything, but some people have already had a chance to experience it. I was cheered last night when someone offered to pay for something I had made which they had received for free. So far, everyone invited to participate has done so, which gives me a wonderful feeling I rarely experience.
This will be updated as the festival continues.
The movies I have seen so far, in order of best experience:
1. Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant
2. A Town Called Panic
3. Stingray Sam
4. Paranormal Activity
5. Mandrill
6. Bronson
7. Toy Story 3D
8. A Serious Man
9. Fish Story
10. Metropia
11. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
12. Daybreakers
13. Krabat
15. Gentlemen Broncos
16. Antichrist
17. Dirty Mind
18. Crazy Racer
19. The Men Who Stare at Goats
20. Clive Barker’s Dread
21. Under the Mountain
22. Survival of the Dead
23. First Squad
24. K-20: The Fiend with 20 Faces
25. The Legend is Alive
26. Universal Soldier: A New Beginning
In which our protagonist attempts to summarize noteworthy events of the past several months.
I took improv classes for four months. Discovered I was funny without trying to be. Improv is hard because you’re not supposed to think about anything, and I’m, well, me. The improv scene is as cliquish and dramatic and jargony and strategic as the slam poetry scene. I don’t fit in to scenes. Continue reading →
My project to slough off all the excess stuff in my life continues.
My music collection has been digital for years, save for a few collectibles and albums by friends. I’ve gotten my DVD collection down to about 17 boxes. Out of print films that you can’t get on Netflix. So I’m no longer buying movies of the common variety.
I don’t have very many video games either. When I finish a game or get bored with it, I sell it. I just signed up for GameFly, so I will never buy another video game unless it falls into the small, evergreen category where Rock Band resides.
Movies and games are both heading into an all-digital delivery system. There are many reasons for this, but a big one for the publishers is that the secondhand market will die. You can’t resell your digital copy of The Dark Knight to someone on Amazon. GameStop will eventually become a store for classic used games from the 2000s. One day it will seem ridiculous that digital information was bonded to physical platters and cartridges.
I’ve thinned down my book collection to two small book shelves. As I finish books, I’ll sell them to Half Price Books or give them away. Again, I’m only going to be purchasing hard to find items or books which make practical sense to own. I converted a majority of my Amazon book wish list over to a reading list for my brand new account at the Austin Public Library system. Holy shit, is this a slick operation! The online catalog system is robust. I can have books held and delivered to my local branch. I only stumped the system once or twice whilst searching for graphic novels. Their collection of every series I care about is comprehensive. They even had a copy of the out of print Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana, which is basically steampunk porn. All for free. Why didn’t I do this sooner? Also, if there is a Kindle version of a book available, I’ll buy that over the dead tree version. The Kindle iPhone app is actually pretty great and I’ve been enjoying 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on it.
The board game collection remains pretty large. I’ll probably thin it down over the course of a few years, getting rid of the so-so games, keeping only the ones I truly love.
I’ve also been untethering my online life. I’ve moved more and more documents up into the cloud so I can access them from anywhere. I stopped using desktop clients for mail, scheduling, spreadsheets, and twittering. It’s all web-based now. I can do all of my communication from anywhere. It feels good to shut my computer down when I’m done working instead of having to check in on it for new messages.
My iPhone is proving more and more invaluable. Today I set up a wireless storage app so I can keep my writing and important documents backed up on a password protected micro web server. It’s like having a magic extradimensional 16GB pocket I can reach into at any time.
When I can afford it, I’ll probably replace my computer with a laptop. I like the idea of being able to grab a backpack and take off, bringing my entire world with me.
I feel lighter.
I just realized that the main reason I still have DVDs and books is so that other people can look at them and make a judgment about how awesome I am. They are decorative. This is the age of Netflix and Amazon. I don’t need all those things taking up space. Rare is the time when I absolutely must watch a particular film immediately. And being such a slow reader, I doubt I will be re-reading anything any time soon.
So I’m going to liquidate all my DVDs and books that aren’t rare or hard to get. I’m tired of dragging them around. If people need to know the movies and books I like, they can check any number of online sources.