The weekend in review
In an attempt to keep posting regularly without just using little internet polls, here we go with the more interesting things I did during the weekend:
Rifftrax Live: Thursday afternoon I went with Nemuren, nekoewen andJennermech to San Francisco to watch Plan Nine from Outer Space. We had plenty of time, so it allowed us to hang out in the Japantown mall and then get lost around the city before we finally found the Castro Theater. While the theater was absolutely gorgeous once we got in, and there was a Organist playing live music soon after, Parking was a nightmare and Castro felt like some sort of Bizzaro Alabama caracature, with it's own brand of.... bars and rainbow flags hanging instead of the confederate one.
We got good seats right up in front. The riff was pretty funny but I could see why MST3K declared the film off limits- It unknowingly makes fun of itself. The sound system also needed work, as I had trouble listening to the jokes as it was drowned out by the movie sound track and while I did have a great deal of fun I was a little disappointed that Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbet took off right after they were done and didn't stick around especially considering they were late by 20 minutes.
Friday Night was Cloverfield, and it's about time we got a fun survivor story in the middle of a giant monster attack (the best Zombie movies have been doing that for decades). It felt just a little "MTV generation" with most of cast (who are pretty much unknowns) looking way too good, but it quickly went away when the monster hits. If you're looking for a film that hands you all the answers on a silver platter, this isn't for you. If you also easily suffer under "Cybersickness" this isn't for you either (Jenner got a little sick and dizzy through the film). It's just a piece of evidence, told from one video camera recording of the chaos that ensues, so take that as you will.
Saturday, due to miscommunication was spent at home, so I mostly played Wild Arms 5. I'm enjoying the story so far, the main hero is rather likable and the world's setup with a higher technological race that came to the planet 100 years ago and running the show over humans is an interesting set up.
Raspberry Heaven: While nekoewen has a really detailed account of our game last night right here, I began to wonder what the game's purpose was. It's a Lucky Star/Azumanga based concept- far flung from stopping mad bombers and zombie invasions from our usual games, the worst that happens in those shows is a girl getting conked by a volleyball or running out of their favorite food at the cafeteria.
When we played it, it reminded me more of the free-form Rps on AOL that I used to do except with a little more structure, and I can see it as "the warm up RPG you play when someone is getting food or taking a smoke break". I figure when the mechanics are "gotten" by the players, a game could get quickly wrapped up in 30 minutes (with about 3 scenes) which is about right considering the quick thrill of the 4 panel comics it's based on and I had a good deal of fun.
It has its mechanics taken from Uno, however once we played a few games of Uno while waiting for a player, I realized why I haven't played that game since elementary school: it's too damn easy, very little interaction between the players (like Monopoly- el autopilot is in effect) and way too luck based. Rh's rules advanced beyond that so I felt like I was challenged on what I could work into the scene depending on the cards I had, which is why I really enjoyed myself.
Rifftrax Live: Thursday afternoon I went with Nemuren, nekoewen andJennermech to San Francisco to watch Plan Nine from Outer Space. We had plenty of time, so it allowed us to hang out in the Japantown mall and then get lost around the city before we finally found the Castro Theater. While the theater was absolutely gorgeous once we got in, and there was a Organist playing live music soon after, Parking was a nightmare and Castro felt like some sort of Bizzaro Alabama caracature, with it's own brand of.... bars and rainbow flags hanging instead of the confederate one.
We got good seats right up in front. The riff was pretty funny but I could see why MST3K declared the film off limits- It unknowingly makes fun of itself. The sound system also needed work, as I had trouble listening to the jokes as it was drowned out by the movie sound track and while I did have a great deal of fun I was a little disappointed that Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbet took off right after they were done and didn't stick around especially considering they were late by 20 minutes.
Friday Night was Cloverfield, and it's about time we got a fun survivor story in the middle of a giant monster attack (the best Zombie movies have been doing that for decades). It felt just a little "MTV generation" with most of cast (who are pretty much unknowns) looking way too good, but it quickly went away when the monster hits. If you're looking for a film that hands you all the answers on a silver platter, this isn't for you. If you also easily suffer under "Cybersickness" this isn't for you either (Jenner got a little sick and dizzy through the film). It's just a piece of evidence, told from one video camera recording of the chaos that ensues, so take that as you will.
Saturday, due to miscommunication was spent at home, so I mostly played Wild Arms 5. I'm enjoying the story so far, the main hero is rather likable and the world's setup with a higher technological race that came to the planet 100 years ago and running the show over humans is an interesting set up.
Raspberry Heaven: While nekoewen has a really detailed account of our game last night right here, I began to wonder what the game's purpose was. It's a Lucky Star/Azumanga based concept- far flung from stopping mad bombers and zombie invasions from our usual games, the worst that happens in those shows is a girl getting conked by a volleyball or running out of their favorite food at the cafeteria.
When we played it, it reminded me more of the free-form Rps on AOL that I used to do except with a little more structure, and I can see it as "the warm up RPG you play when someone is getting food or taking a smoke break". I figure when the mechanics are "gotten" by the players, a game could get quickly wrapped up in 30 minutes (with about 3 scenes) which is about right considering the quick thrill of the 4 panel comics it's based on and I had a good deal of fun.
It has its mechanics taken from Uno, however once we played a few games of Uno while waiting for a player, I realized why I haven't played that game since elementary school: it's too damn easy, very little interaction between the players (like Monopoly- el autopilot is in effect) and way too luck based. Rh's rules advanced beyond that so I felt like I was challenged on what I could work into the scene depending on the cards I had, which is why I really enjoyed myself.