It's three o'clock in the morning and I'm hungry so let's eat.
Hell of a time as any to start writing in this thing again. Instead of going on about how this time will be different and I'll really write something everyday, or maybe every other day, perhaps once a week at minimum, I'll spare myself and anyone who has still stuck around this long any false sense of hope and commitment and simply state that I'll be making posts "when I feel like it," or perhaps more accurately "when I have time." Not that my days since the beginning of February or whenever the last time I gave up on this thing have been chock full of interesting and exciting happenings in my life, but some excuse is better than no excuse. Rather than offer one for what I've been doing, I'll just jump right into some discussions:
Topic of Interest - Wanted: What's the deal with this comic/movie? Obviously, they are not the same thing, since the thought process that ran through my head when I heard there was a movie went something like this:
There's a movie called Wanted coming out soon.
Wasn't that some kind of comic book series?
Yeah, I vaguely remember that from when Erin and Liz worked at Chimera, I think they were reading it or something.
What was that about?
...
Didn't it have something to do with there being no Superheroes and the Bad Guys ran the world?
Sure, that sounds about right.
Wait, there's no SuperVillians in this movie?
It's just a league of Assassins?
This movie's going to suck! Rargh!!!!
And so on, with me expressing a bit of righteous indignation over the main plot being changed to a book I had never read. Completely logical.
But I was at Barnes and Noble the other day, saw the graphic novel and decided that if I had any interest in seeing the movie (which I did) I should read the book first so as to have some basis for my misplaced nerd rage.
Here's a good place for a SPOILER ALERT I guess.
What I ended up reading...disturbed me on several levels. This is no small feat, coming from someone who has made it through all of the grotesque murder sequences in American Psycho. First, that every single character in the comic was utterly corrupt and void of any sense of morals that could be seen as redeeming, right up to the end of the six issue run. And secondly, I didn't get it. I still don't get it. I don't get the point. Is there a point? I have vague feelings and such about what the author could have been aiming for, but nothing that jumps out at me and screams "Look! This is why you read this thing! Here's what it's all about!"
Thus, I had to go see the movie, since typically things in that media are "dumber," containing plotlines and meanings that are beautifully unsubtle to the point where they smash the audience repeatedly over the head with them. Finally all my questions would be answered. Except this wasn't the same story. I had forgotten that little part about where there were no SuperVillians, thus changing the entire point of the story after issue one. I'll admit the movie did a good job in showing Wesley's disillusionment with his life and his total lack of balls and control, but once Angelina Jolie showed up, the Black SuperVillian who was neither Black nor a SuperVillian in the movie, new questions altogether were raised. Why was the league killing these people? Just because a thousand year loom told them to? What was with the rat guy? Was he working with the real dad, or what? Did this movie really have a point besides showing curvy bullet paths and kinda cool action scenes? Has Morgan Freeman finally transcended his typecasting of Friendly Old Black Man into the role of Super Evil Bad Guy? The world may never know.
Topic of Interest - D&D Fourth Edition: Managed to get into a 4th game at Origins (which may be discussed further in an upcoming post) involving a return to the Moathouse from the Temple of Elemental Evil. It was the most fun I've had playing D&D in a while. The powers made sure that everybody was able to do something in combat, even if you're playing an Infernal Pact Warlock who has happened to run into three flaming skeletons that shoot fire orbs at you. Taylor has invited me to play in his upcoming campaign once it gets kicked off, and Bert is planning on running some sort of game next week for 4th. I really want to see how easy it is to DM the new system though, so I keep telling myself that I'm going to launch a game of my own sometime, but who knows when I'll have time or people for that to happen.
Topic of Interest - Wall-E: This movie was rated G. So why was it possibly my favorite movie thus far this year? Is this another sign of me losing my edge in my old age? Or is it just because I have a soft spot for cute little robots. My favorite character in Super Smash Brothers Brawl hands down is R.O.B., so we'll go with that explanation. Either way this movie was amazing. The lack of dialogue for the most part enhanced the characters' actions beyond what normally is accomplished in movies these days, especially one that is supposed to be a "kid's movie." Although that ending could have been so soul-crushingly devastating that all joy in the world would have been extinguished forever.
Topic of Interest - Girlfriends: I've somehow managed to acquire one of these again. It's an amazing feeling, and she's (demon_of_roses) an amazing person. Cryptic-ness and mystery are my specialty, so that's all I'll say about that for now.
Topic of Interest - Wanted: What's the deal with this comic/movie? Obviously, they are not the same thing, since the thought process that ran through my head when I heard there was a movie went something like this:
There's a movie called Wanted coming out soon.
Wasn't that some kind of comic book series?
Yeah, I vaguely remember that from when Erin and Liz worked at Chimera, I think they were reading it or something.
What was that about?
...
Didn't it have something to do with there being no Superheroes and the Bad Guys ran the world?
Sure, that sounds about right.
Wait, there's no SuperVillians in this movie?
It's just a league of Assassins?
This movie's going to suck! Rargh!!!!
And so on, with me expressing a bit of righteous indignation over the main plot being changed to a book I had never read. Completely logical.
But I was at Barnes and Noble the other day, saw the graphic novel and decided that if I had any interest in seeing the movie (which I did) I should read the book first so as to have some basis for my misplaced nerd rage.
Here's a good place for a SPOILER ALERT I guess.
What I ended up reading...disturbed me on several levels. This is no small feat, coming from someone who has made it through all of the grotesque murder sequences in American Psycho. First, that every single character in the comic was utterly corrupt and void of any sense of morals that could be seen as redeeming, right up to the end of the six issue run. And secondly, I didn't get it. I still don't get it. I don't get the point. Is there a point? I have vague feelings and such about what the author could have been aiming for, but nothing that jumps out at me and screams "Look! This is why you read this thing! Here's what it's all about!"
Thus, I had to go see the movie, since typically things in that media are "dumber," containing plotlines and meanings that are beautifully unsubtle to the point where they smash the audience repeatedly over the head with them. Finally all my questions would be answered. Except this wasn't the same story. I had forgotten that little part about where there were no SuperVillians, thus changing the entire point of the story after issue one. I'll admit the movie did a good job in showing Wesley's disillusionment with his life and his total lack of balls and control, but once Angelina Jolie showed up, the Black SuperVillian who was neither Black nor a SuperVillian in the movie, new questions altogether were raised. Why was the league killing these people? Just because a thousand year loom told them to? What was with the rat guy? Was he working with the real dad, or what? Did this movie really have a point besides showing curvy bullet paths and kinda cool action scenes? Has Morgan Freeman finally transcended his typecasting of Friendly Old Black Man into the role of Super Evil Bad Guy? The world may never know.
Topic of Interest - D&D Fourth Edition: Managed to get into a 4th game at Origins (which may be discussed further in an upcoming post) involving a return to the Moathouse from the Temple of Elemental Evil. It was the most fun I've had playing D&D in a while. The powers made sure that everybody was able to do something in combat, even if you're playing an Infernal Pact Warlock who has happened to run into three flaming skeletons that shoot fire orbs at you. Taylor has invited me to play in his upcoming campaign once it gets kicked off, and Bert is planning on running some sort of game next week for 4th. I really want to see how easy it is to DM the new system though, so I keep telling myself that I'm going to launch a game of my own sometime, but who knows when I'll have time or people for that to happen.
Topic of Interest - Wall-E: This movie was rated G. So why was it possibly my favorite movie thus far this year? Is this another sign of me losing my edge in my old age? Or is it just because I have a soft spot for cute little robots. My favorite character in Super Smash Brothers Brawl hands down is R.O.B., so we'll go with that explanation. Either way this movie was amazing. The lack of dialogue for the most part enhanced the characters' actions beyond what normally is accomplished in movies these days, especially one that is supposed to be a "kid's movie." Although that ending could have been so soul-crushingly devastating that all joy in the world would have been extinguished forever.
Topic of Interest - Girlfriends: I've somehow managed to acquire one of these again. It's an amazing feeling, and she's (demon_of_roses) an amazing person. Cryptic-ness and mystery are my specialty, so that's all I'll say about that for now.