All posts in Geek

Uzumaki

I had to think about this one for a few days, whether or not it made the list. But I think the fact that it has gripped my mind for so long tells me something. I ordinarily do not like straight out horror films, but there is something about Japanese horror films which lure me. They never try to pretty them up. Sometimes, as in Ju-On (The Grudge), they are a straightforward account of inevitable doom. There is no mystery to be solved, no way to fight the darkness, no way to win. *That* is horror.

That’s what Uzumaki is. But it also manages to throw in humor, imagination, and a puzzling entity that engages the mind like a David Lynch creation. If I had to pick a favorite horror movie, it would be Uzumaki.

1. Brick
2. Inside Man
3. Day Watch
4. Night Watch
5. Howl’s Moving Castle
6. The Departed
7. Crash
8. Uzumaki
9. The Chronicles of Riddick
10. The Illusionist

The Departed and Crash

1. Brick
2. Inside Man
3. Day Watch
4. Night Watch
5. Howl’s Moving Castle
6. The Departed
7. Crash

8. The Chronicles of Riddick
9. The Illusionist
10. Lady in the Water

My RSS Feeds

Penny Arcade
Ain’t It Cool
Monica’s Blog
Wil Weaton’s Blog
Warren Ellis
Neil Gaiman
BetaNews
Amanda Unboomed
xkcd
Perry Bible Fellowship

Drey’s Top 10 Board Games

1. House of Whack
2. Puerto Rico
3. Caylus
4. Talisman
5. Cosmic Encounter
6. Runebound
7. Citadels
8. Carcassonne
9. Twilight Imperium v3
10. Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation

Updates

Eventually I will overhaul this site, but in the meantime I will do some housecleaning, update information and the like.

What I’m Reading Lately

Fell – Warren Ellis’ atmospheric crime serial.
Nextwave – More Ellis. Brilliant.
Knights of the Dinner Table – Too funny!
Eternals – I hate to say it, but Gaiman’s not blowing me away here.
Tron: Ghost in the Machine – Just started this series. Looks good so far.
The Talisman – Rereading this one. Haven’t read King in years.
Wired – Beck is on the cover. How can it be anything but good?
Knucklebones – Behind on my reading. Just got the latest issue with an article on Faidutti!

Loose Ends

Today Frayed ended. I decided to run it until the story came to an end or I was down to one player. I hadn’t heard from Dave’s player in about a month, so something must have happened to him. It was down to just Andy. The narratives were already too interwoven and it didn’t make sense to go on with just the one character, so I called it. It lasted a year and a half, which I think is a record for me. Some interesting story fodder there, perhaps. The world of the Aegis and John Hightower may appear again at some point.

I’ve accumulated quite a box of chocolates over the years: Neverworld, DreamPunk, P.A.W.N.S., and Frayed. Too bad I’m not a game designer or something… 😉

Done the Impossible

I finally got around to watching my copy of Done the Impossible. I guess I had put it off because I knew it would just make me sad, and it did. But it also evoked such wonderful feelings and thoughts. I’ve never been as affected by a TV show as I was with Firefly. I think it is due to the way it resonates with people and connects on this deep level. It’s not just a show. It’s important. It’s art. I can’t fully account for this passion for fictional characters. I feel like I somehow know the actors and Joss, like we could sit down and have a beer. I have these fantasies of winning the lottery and giving the money to Joss so he can keep telling the story.

Top 10 update

Too sleepy to say anything other than The Illusionist was beautiful and clever.

1. Brick
2. Inside Man
3. Day Watch
4. Night Watch
5. Howl’s Moving Castle
6. The Chronicles of Riddick
7. The Illusionist
8. Lady in the Water
9. Superman Returns
10. A Scanner Darkly

Flooded

Last night I went to see “An Inconvenient Truth” with some friends. We were about 10 minutes into it when the movie stopped, alarms went off and lights started to flash. We scurried outside, back into the rain. It had been raining for quite some time. I’ve lived here for around 8 years and I have never seen it rain so much. We huddled under the awning with the other theater goers, wondering what was happening. Some fire trucks had blocked off Central and 1st. TV news crews buzzed around.

John went to investigate. “Guys, you have *got* to come check this out!” We followed him out to the intersection. At first I didn’t know what I was looking for. My eyes tracked down from the train on the bridge down to Central, which seemed oddly level. Then I realized that there used to be a dip in the road where Central went under the bridge. That part of the street was completely under water. The tip of a truck’s roof could be seen poking above the water line. The firemen broke out a raft to paddle down Central River to investigate. Albuquerque isn’t set up to handle this much rainfall and the storm drains were erupting.

We got a refund and went to grab something to eat. The streets were flooded everywhere I drove and emergency vehicles splashed red and white light across the drowned landscape. It continued to rain most of the night.

My back yard is overgrown with plants. The entire city is becoming greener and the sky is often saturated with clouds. Eventually I’ll get to finish watching “An Inconvenient Truth,” but Al Gore is already preaching to the converted.