We had a quiet Thanksgiving week here, just the “core” family. I had the first nice block of time off in a LONG time. It was nice to hang out with pretty much NOTHING on the schedule. We ate a ton of food, played some games (Heroes Incorporated, Mind Trap, Sims Unleashed), took the dogs for a walk, and caught up on some movies (Down By Law (9.5), Waiting for Guffman (8.0), Run Lola Run (9.0)). Ahhh…
Category: Consumption
9.0 Run Lola Run
Great pacing backed up by a nice time-sliced plot. Exhilirating!
“What’s in the bag?”
9.5 North By Northwest
Cary Grant is the definition of style in this Hitchcock classic. He’s Mr. Average, until he’s ensnared in a complicated plot of espionage. But incompetent lawmen, incessant misfortune – even the outright sinister plotting of his enemies – merely annoy him, highlighting how suave he is under pressure. You just have to see this one to “get it”.
9.0 Down With Love
Yeah, it’s a romantic comedy, but it has teeth. Lots of ’em. And lots of kitchy nods to the great 50’s classics like The Seven Year Itch. Sleeper of the summer!
9.0 Chris Rock: Never Scared
Economics, drugs, sexism, abortion, racism – this guy knows the REAL heart of the issues. He’s un-PC, crude, and brilliantly insightful, all at once. Oh, and FUNNY!!
Oh brother Dan, where art thou?
Had a great time last weekend with my brother – my brother, my suffering brother, come out to the Volga! We got in our road trip, jam session, all-night-gaming, high-stakes-casino-play, lan party, studio recording time, night out on the town (fort lauderdale in this instance) non-stop party all in a measly sixty or so hours. What a ride.
The Millers are planning on a trip up here around Thanksgiving, can’t wait, see ya soon! :P
9.0 Dodgeball
Vince in classic form. Evil Ben. Rocks. Go see it. End of story. And stick around afterwards for “Fatty did a funny”!
9.5 Heroes Incorporated
Wow! We had 5 hours of fun on Father’s Day with my gift of Heroes Incorporated! The game is fantastic – it’s got a solid foundation – chase down crime in city streets and roll the dice to beat it – bent by lots of juicy exceptions. There are superhero special powers, various gadgets, and “bonus cards” that you’re not always sure are worth using. Should you go all out crime fighting or try to stop the competition by throwing a super villian in their path? Everything you do has a cost, and it’s not often an easy choice – the sign of a great game. And while that’s all going on, you get to watch your superhero achieve greatness, gaining fighting power and gathering powerful gadgets. Fun cubed!
Friends Making Games!
Sam Clifford’s got his Heroes Incorporated boardgame onto store shelves! You can order a copy online from GameFest – if you look quickly you can see it still on the top of the newly released games list!
And in similar but unrelated news, for Reiley’s eighth (!) birthday, the day before yesterday, my folks sent her the boardgame version of Boxum!, the game for which John Carpenter made the PC version! It’s so great to hear that Boxum! is going strong, too – I don’t think my parents had any idea it was the game John did! I hope you’re getting something out of it, John. :P
Reiley also picked up Bohnanza, a really nice looking Rio Grande game with a decent amount of complexity. Andrea and I can’t wait to steal it and play!
Board gaming is everywhere! Whooo!
9.5 Blazing Saddles
Re-watched this old classic recently with boo, we were bustin’ a gut… it’s so hard to find stuff this brilliant any more… must have single-handedly made the word “nigger” laughable and irrelevant… big comic book larger-than-life laughs on a budget that was probably so small that Mel Brooks (and Richard Pryor and all the other writers) could get away with following impulses pretty much anywhere they went…
“‘scuse me while I whip this out…”
