Monday Night Gaming
After a dreary weekend and crawling back to work Monday, you know you want to game. You just know it. And if you wanted to buy a few games, they have those there too. Or you could buy some of my games I'm selling. True Story.
So, what have people been doing outside of gaming? On the media front, I've been slowly going through the DVDs of How I Met Your Mother (recommend), and moving through the queue of recent movies at a tolerable clip. (Netflix frees me up to turn the movie off if I decide it's over-rated or not to my taste. I liked Patton, Raging Bull was ok. I turned off City Lights and Annie Hall got sent after violating the "1 week without being watched" rule (which is a good sign that I wasn't that interested ... perhaps later).
Streaming I've been watching 30 Rock. Torchwood Season 2 and Children of Men just came out on streaming. I haven't seen Season 2, and what I saw of Season 1 was only ok, but Children of Men is a stunning piece of work (and the first Torchwood I saw, so accessible enough). A mini-series that would do the Twilight Zone proud. Not universally good (it would have been better as a 3-hour series, instead of 5, IMO) but well worth checking out. I added Season 2 to my queue in hopes that there's more gold amidst the dross.
And, of course, there's the standard popcorn fare. I just saw Star Trek 90210. It was fine. And you? What should I be watching? Will I watch the Oscars? Steve Martin is hosting, and he's the only host who has Oscar jokes I can remember more than a few days later. (On Bjork's famous swan dress -- "Whew, I almost wore that. That would have been awkward." On the writer's strike -- "Without writers we wouldn't get such classics as Dude, Where's my car. OK, I'm being unfair ... I had read the novel.") I guess I should check out the opening, at least.
posted by Brian @ 9:31 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Interesting that I had wanted to see Children of Men for a long time. Honestly, it's about the only movie I've been wanting to see for a long time. Of course, figuring that since it came out in 2006 and never seemed to garner much mainstream attention while it was in the theaters, I figured it was just one of those movies that I end up seeing well after the window that most normal people see movies (e.g. the Return of the King incident). I had checked several times to see if you could get it at a Redbox (you can't) or on Netflix streaming (you couldn't until recently, apparently) and I never felt motivated enough to drive to Blockbuster and try to find a copy there for whatever price they charge these days.
Lo and behold, I'm sitting in my call room at work on Friday night and coincidentally have the TV turned to USA Network and suddenly, randomly, Children of Men starts. Funny thing is, if I had NOT been at work, I would not have had the TV on and I never would have known it was on. But the stars aligned (TV on, right channel, brief lull in work-related duties), and I got to watch my movie.
I liked it a lot, but it's not one of those movies that makes you "feel good". It's more one of those movies that you admire just because there's not a lot else out there like it. The "dystopian future" setting is done pretty well and reminded me of 28 Days Later. The one shot sequences (which I hadn't heard about until discussing the movie with someone else later) are not immediately obvious, but they are impressive when it finally dawns on you that they are happening.
I think the only other movie on my to-see-eventually list now is District 9. Hopefully I get to this one before it leaves Redbox.
Ah, I got the title confused. It's Torchwood: Children of Earth. Children of Men is based on the PD James novel (which was quite good), I've seen part of it, but my DVD rental was scratched...
Well, in spite of Brian's mixup Children of Men is a pretty damn good movie.
I've recently been introduced to Big Bang Theory. It's a weird mix of old-school formulaic sit-com, but with a lot of really fantastically fun geek references. If nothing else, it's nice to see TV with smart people as protagonists.
If you haven't seen Hurt Locker, it's worth watching. This year was the year that a LOT of the Oscar nominees are movies that deserve watching, not just movies that critics love. District 9 is a surprisingly decent sci-fi film - it's surprising because it has no right to be as good as it is. There's logical plot holes galore, but the movie is compelling enough that you don't realize it until the next day.
If you haven't caught it before, season 1 of The Last Airbender is on Netflix on demand. Even my wife sat down and watched every episode with the the kids and me.
And on gaming related notes -- the expansion rules for Dungeon Lords are out...
Recent Netflix good stuff:
Inglourious Basterds (sic). Loved the camp and gratuitous violence and continual homage to action film classics.
Hurt Locker. I'm not a huge fan, but it didn't suck. As a part time military engineer, I work with explosive ordnance disposal guys a fair amount, and I've never encountered anything like the ones in the movie. Still, if you took the most exciting aspects of a couple dozen and smashed them into three guys, you'd probably have this movie.
Moon. If you enjoy 2001-style Sci-Fi, this is worth a rent.
Ripping Yarns. Its Palin and Jones immediately after Python. Great stuff and on instant watch. I particularly enjoyed the WW1 prison escape episode.
The Duelists. Somehow I missed this movie, but Ridley Scott, Napoleonics, and Harvey Keitel make for a good combo. Instant watch also.
That's enough from me right now. Back to cranking through the Sharpe series on DVD, again via Netflix.
I recommend Arrested Development.
Jon and Steve would agree I'm sure.
I'm kinda getting into Parks and Recreation, but its definitely the red-headed stepchild of NBC Thursday nights.
I also am liking Modern Family.
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