March 2009 Archives

You know, for all the games with epic storylines and phenomenal graphics and a lot of happy blood splatter, I sometimes miss those old school games where all it was was you against the highscore.  There is something inherently satisifying to possess that kind of bragging right.  (I kicked my father's ass on Missile Command once. He never played with me again. heh.)

I think Geometry Wars is one of the better games out there to satisfy that blow-shit-up-for-points need.  We actually have Geometry Wars 2 for the 360, but either way, it's amazing a game that's so simple and colorful can be so damned addictive.  Oh, sure, you have achievements, but those, to me, aren't nearly as satisfying as the fact I have the high score on all of the stages except for one.  Granted, the achievements are a right bitch to get, which does make them worth the challenge, but you only get them once. A high score can always be a challenge to beat.

There are other games, like Bejeweled, but, you know, Geometry Wars has things that blow up.  They are things that blow up very prettily to really good music.  It reminds me of the old arcade cabinets into which I plunked hundreds of quarters.  Of course, those games were less pretty, but hey, this is a new generation, the evolution of the button-masher.

I've been geeking out a lot this week, what with Geometry Wars and the new netbook.  I think it's because we're going to MidSouth Con in Memphis this weekend.  It will be the first time I've ever stayed a whole weekend at a con.

Hell, it's only my second time attending a con.  The first time was MidSouth Con a couple of years ago and that was because the hubby and I needed to go be a happy little fanboy/girl couple at Terry Pratchett who was the guest of honor. (He's incredibly nice and just as funny in person as he is in his books.)

This year, I'm don't really know any of the major guests, but that's okay, I get to go to a con and get my geek on to the nth degree while wearing a corset and drooling on the dealer's tables.  It also doubles as a pity party.  Those of us going to the con were unable, for one reason or another, to attend Gulf Wars this year.   We are feeling quite sorry for ourselves.  There will be much flow of alcohol.

And, probably an equally steady flow of Febreeze.  Look, I don't care what anyone claims or says, cons bear every stereotype that people sneer at.  Some of you nerds stink.  Ya'll, seriously, it is not okay to crawl out of our mother's basement and proceed to spend a weekend sweating at a gaming table without even stopping for a shower.  The power of the nerd funk when we attended MidSouth last time was almost enough for me to start carrying soap grenades.  The hubby and some friends have discussed getting sprayers full of Febreeze to wear on their backs.   Who are you gonna call?  Funkbusters!  We already have plans to rob one of the maid service carts of all of those little soaps and either outright tossing them at the offenders or slipping them in their pockets.  I don't know where geeks get the idea that hygiene is optional at a con, but they are sadly mistaken.

And, don't get me started on the people wearing outfits they really, really shouldn't wear.  Spandex is a privilege, not a right.  (Still dreading a 300 pound Silk Spectre.)

Still, I'm excited about the trip.  Lots of great writing panels, some awesome movies, and tons of good art.  (I'd try to game, but the people who camp out at opening time and who will take up all the gaming slots by signing up all their friends is another gripe.)  I expect some serious fun to be had.

And, of course, there will be pictures.  Lots and lots of pictures.  So, prepare yourselves for the best and the worst.

This is assuming, of course, I'm sober enough to hold the camera straight.

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My stalker is entering the costume contest as a Miskatonic University Varsity Cheerleader.  That alone might require a video recorder.

I have to tell you guys that "Watchmen" impressed me far more than I really expected.  The hype had me thinking it probably was going to be fairly mediocre, and the fact I never read the series made me wonder if I'd really care.

Yes, that's right, I've never read the series.   I'm not sure if I want to even now.  It's not that I think it's good, bad, or even ugly, just that I'm not that into comics or graphic novels these days.  I used to collect comics, but you know, there is only so many times you can see your favorite character retconned before you just give up.  I got tired of the comics being more about how much money they could squeeze out of me rather than the development of a good storyline.

But, honestly, I don't think going into "Watchmen" with a blank slate point-of-view was all that bad of an idea.  There was at least one person in our group who had read and loved the series, and while he liked the movie, he did grumble a bit more than everyone else.

Not that I didn't have a grumble or two.  The movie wasn't without it's issues.  It ran very slow in places which made that nearly three hour running time longer than it already was.  Some of the acting was rather melodramatic.  While there was a definite hommage to the super hero posturing in comic books that was fun, there were a few times that the characters would "strike a pose" that I firmly believe was unintentional and hilarious as a result.  (Granted, that happens in all super hero movies.  Not sure why people feel the need to pose like an action figure once they put a costume on.)  Nixon's nose was distracting.  I'm pretty sure they were intentionally making a caricature of Nixon on the screen as I'm sure they did in the books.  Still, it had that Dick Tracy quality about his make up that was annoying and unnecessary.

This next grumble deserves its own paragraph.  What the hell was with Doctor Manhattan's schlong?  Look, nudity doesn't bother me.  The human body is the human body, and I don't think, like most idiotic Americans, that nudity is a bad thing.  And, you know, as a friend pointed out, it was nice, for once, that it was the guy that got the full frontal.  But, dude, after a while even the women in the audience were tired of looking at him.  Especially since the CG designers decided they would live vicariously through him and give him a wang big enough to use as a bat if he got tired of disassembling people down to their component parts.  They showed it as often as they could, and like Nixon's own phallic representation, it was distracting.  I did some reading on the Watchmen comic and consulted a few people, and from what I can tell, Moore and Gibbons worked rather hard to make Manhattan's nudity a non-issue.  Granted, they had to give him something because making him look like a blue Ken doll wouldn't have worked either, but it was rather understated so it was easier to shrug it off.  Yeah, not so much with this movie.  Geezus, least they could have done was make him more "average" size and less "porn star" size.  Now, I recognize that here in America we don't see that full-frontal stuff very often and okay, it'll be a little bit of a shock to the system regardless, but you know, when even the girls are getting bored, you've overdone it.

Now, that aside, the movie was beautifully filmed.  The special effects were awesome.  While there might not been enough of things going "boom" for a lot of comic movie goers, there was definitely plenty of blood to make up for it.  (Sometimes a little too much.)  While some purists might argue otherwise, the costuming wasn't obnoxious and fit with the tale.   (Ya'll seriously, most super hero costumes look like crap on the screen. They either change it or your heroes look as if they should be carrying a plastic pumpkin full of candy. Get over it.)  The individual stories of the characters they chose to delve deeper into were interesting and lent an acceptance to their various quirks.  (Except for the Comedian, who was just an asshole.)  It was dark, humorous, frightening, and complex.  By all rights, it was a good film.

The thing that did it for me despite its slow moments and Scene-hogging Schlong was the way it left you questioning.  Not about things that didn't happen, but about the things that did.  There was a lot of philosophising about human nature and the super hero idea.  The Comedian was adamant that humans basically suck, are violent bastards deep down, and while you could argue he was right, he tended to use that as an excuse to be a total bastard.  He could have been that super hero idea and tried to change humanity, but instead, he had a very "You can't change it, join it." attitude.  Funnily enough, Rorschach, while having a lot of the same attitude, seems less likely to shoot an innocent person in the face for no real reason at all.  Granted, in his opinion, there probably aren't that many innocent people, but he still has his very black and white morals and sticks by them, even when it could mean his own destruction.  Doctor Manhattan is so detached from humanity, he's not sure why he should even care, but yet, flip flops on its importance based on his feeling for Silk Spectre.  Silk Spectre and Night Owl seem to be on this path of "we are super heroes and we are meant to do the right thing, uphold justice, even though humans really do suck."  Ozymandias works to save humanity while looking down upon it, and while he seems to have a kind of faith that human nature can't be changed completely, you get the sense early one that he thinks it can be twisted used to do what must be done for the betterment of all.

In these ways, the story was very complex, for which I'm sure we can thank Alan Moore.  The incidents that happen, the decisions made by certain characters, leaves you wondering, if it came down to the wire, what would you do?  Would you be able to darken your soul to save the world?  Would the costs be too great or necessary?  Would you think humanity is worth saving at all?  Would you kill a friend to keep a secret that could affect the whole planet?  The lines between good and bad are often blurred, and this movie shows that while there are villians, sometimes someone who could be your worst enemy could also be your best friend.

I like a movie that raises discussion and causes examination of your own innate nature, and this one does that very well.

I was glad I got to see it and will most likely buy it.  It's not for everyone, that's for damn sure.  If you don't like blood, nudity, obligatory sex, or people running around in spandex, steer clear.  Otherwise, I suggest watching it less for the idea that it's a comic book movie and more as a movie by its own right.  It's got a few failings but still has a lot to offer an audience.

It definitely wasn't a waste of our $20.

4 out of 5 Kumquats

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The thing that worries me the most about this movie is how man people  who should not come within ten miles of anything related to spandex are going to cosplay as the Watchmen at MidSouth Con.  I don't know which possibility worries me the most, a 300 pound Silk Spectre or Doctor Manhattan with abs painted on his cheetos gut.

Not to sound old fashioned or anything, but I don't get TV these days.

We dropped cable about a year ago, and the only reason was, well, we were only watch a handful of channels.  At over a $100 a month, it just wasn't worth it.

Yeah, we have a killer sound system and a big ass TV.  I've actually had people question why we don't watch more TV then.  Well, that's because that killer sound system and big ass TV is for video games and movies.  I'm completely content with that.

Funnily enough, a lot of guys want that Manly Movie Theater, like women don't like that sort of thing.  Dude, anyone who doesn't like that should be put out in the snow.  I would spend more money on a theater room than any other part of our future house!  Hell, my dream house would have a theater room and a gaming room.  But, we not be rich, so we have to consolodate.

And, as it so happens, something like cable doesn't feature into it.

I don't miss it.

Recently, I was at my other massage job which is in a spa of sorts.  It's not like the first spa I worked in where I was just an LMT to bring in money.  This spa is mostly about massage that happens to do facials every once in a while.  I'm good with that.  Anyway, the owner's family walked in one day while she was in session, and I was waiting in the lobby.  They came bearing baby and 2-year-old.  The first thing the father did was turn on the one TV in the place to Nickolodeon and tell the 2-year-old to sit and watch TV just before he disappeared into the office to not be seen until they left.

Now, the annoyance of the monkey child climbing all over the furniture, eating enough candy to kill a moose, and getting into everything including my stuff was damn annoying, but even more so was the TV.  I don't know what was worse: Spongebob Squarepants or the commercials.  They were equally inane, honestly.  (Sadly, I used to like Spongebob, but it's gotten kind of repetitive, like everything else on cable.)

When they finally left, I flipped the damn annoying thing off and was met with blessed silence.

This doesn't mean I'm all about the silence - although the silence of a bitter, cold night is lovely - but it's like when the TV was on the noise didn't stop.

I guess I've gotten used to not having it, but damn, I don't want it back.  I like having it on my terms.  I turn on the boob tube when I want to watch movies or play video games.   Otherwise, it just sits there waiting for our commands.

There's something satisfying in that.

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Oh, sure, we won't know about the latest reality show, but honestly, isn't reality stranger and more exciting?  For instance, I have a friend who does computer forensics who has seen things that will make your hair curl...to say nothing of the one-eyed, three-legged, deaf chihuahua.